Unfinished Business

The A's are losing for the first time since 1998.  In '99, we came back on the map and challenged the Sox for the wild card when no one expected us to.  From '00 - '03, we were good, very good.  In '04, we all thought we would get back to the postseason - I mean we had the big 3.  But what makes losing right now so difficult, and what makes the term rebuilding feel so agonizing is because we have unfinished business.  If we had won the World Series one of those years, this transition wouldn't hurt so much for me.  But because we were so incredibly close 4 years in a row did us in.  Every fan and every analyst knows that in a 7 game series we would have been tough in any of those years, but getting there was the problem.  And what hurts the most is the way we lost the last time.  That truly hurt.  I was there, the coliseum was about to literally erupt, but no, we had to do it again.  My point is that that sour taste is in all of our mouths, hasnt left, and probably wont until we get there again.  Maybe if we had won it all one those years, we could deal with losing now because we had one with our core guys.  But I guess we have to accept that that core is gone now, and we need to pave the way for a new one.  Hopefully this will happen sooner rather than later.  Because the sooner we get back, the sooner we can handle our unfinished business.