FanPost

Types of A's fans and a SJ Move

There has been a lot of heated argument in the comments about how a REAL A's fan feels about the move. A team move cuts so deep to what it means to be a fan of a team, that some people need to justify their opinions by mocking or heaping contempt on others.

The fact is that it's irrational to follow a sports team where none of the players are personally connected to us.  So what kind of fan are you?

1. Local community fan. For you, the Oakland A's do represent Oakland, and by extension the East Bay, and by metaphor the values of the East Bay community. The moneyball thing kind of slots into this: the A's are not the rich pretty boys, so they have to work a lot harder. You go to games, bring the kids, or your pals and like the fact that they play IN Oakland. You love $2 BART Wednesday, the fact that most tickets are cheap, and the fact that you can walk up and get playoff tickets, and just having them close and getting to be at the game.

If the A's move to SJ: the team is going to stop representing that community. Sorry, but SJ is simply not the East Bay. But SJ isn't completely different from Oakland, and at least it's not SF. So it's not the end of the world, but it's a negative.

You would stop following the A's if: they became The Los Angeles A's. Why should the location matter? It's because LA represents a rival community with (supposedly) opposite values.

2. Moneyball. You recognize the A's are one attempt to beat an unfair game. The A's bring us spunky nobodies from the Island of Broken Toys and magically they all overachieve together, and our favorites go on to be multi-multi-millionaires elsewhere.

If the A's go to San Jose: as long as they keep being efficient with their money, and we can up the payroll $20M, then you're all for it.

You would stop following the A's if: Billy Beane leaves and a non-Moneyballer (Pat Gillick?) took over.

3. Fans of Players. You are one of the screaming voices in the  "Mark Mulder leaning to touch the rosin bag" as. You adore your Zito bobblehead. You've adored Hatty since he was so charming at FanFest.  You know Chavvy's intro music. Or you can do the Tejada drum pattern, and you check his stats even with the O's. you appreciate the idea that our players play HARD and have to do twice as well as richer teams. This is a pretty old-school way to be a fan; nowadays with all the money going around, it's clear that most players aren't loyal to a fan base.

If the A's moved to SJ: the players are the same, the logo is probably staying the same. You don't mind, and maybe there will be more money coming down the pike for a decent starting rotation.

You would stop following the A's if: BB trades every player you like and replaces them with statistically-sound unpleasant bastards.

4. Randomly got sucked into it.  You started by liking McGwire or Dave Stewart, or Catfish Hunter; or you thought the green and gold were good colors; or the A's played well in the first game you saw, at the age of 7. Whatever. Something got you watching, and you got fond of the team.

Well, it turns out I'm a mix of all four types. Most fans probably have different amounts of each. I know that a San Jose move is not popular around the house, but we would still keep following the A's, especially if they can work out something about the traffic or, better, BART.  People who have actually tried to get to San Jose with East Bay public transit know that it is essentially impossible. I've tried. And it's about 45 minutes farther if you live north of the Coliseum. Each way. Maybe if you are lucky enough to be a student or childless, you can eat that 1.5 hours in traffic without blinking. But for a lot of us, it would be significantly harder to go to games.

Bottom line for me: the A's should stay in Oakland. They should only move to SJ if they could really boost payroll, which is not obvious to me. SJ is rather depressed right now.

But if they do move, we'll figure out how to get down there now and then, especially for the playoffs.