Having come up to the Pacific Northwest to finish my time as an undergrad (at The Evergreen State College in Olympia) I can often feel rather separated from my beloved team.  All of you at AN sure help, as does Gameday Audio, but still, I frequently miss my days back home in Northern California.  It's only natural, then, that when the A's come into Seattle, I dip into my student loan money and snag some tickets at Safeco.  

The past four days were no exception to this rule.  I drove up to Seattle on Thursday afternoon (what could be better than skipping class for baseball?) and promptly bought four tickets for each of the games.  And while I did, of course, love seeing Blanton, Zito, and Harden dominate the M's bats, while I did cherish Kotsay's homer and triple last night and Chavy's 2-run shot this afternoon, my favorite moment of the weekend took place before the second of the games had even started.

Being as devoted as I am to the green and gold, there was no way that I was going to show up ten minutes before game time and find my seat.  Oh no.  I had to get to Safeco two hours beforehand each night, both to see The Big Hurt work his magic in BP as well as to hopefully snag some autographs.  Anyhoo, I was down the left-field line on Friday night when Rich came out of the bullpen.  He was immediately bombarded by the calls of fans to come over and sign.  He was more than happy to oblige, signing everything from the commonplace (a lot of baseballs were handed over) to the cockamamie (why, oh why, would Mariner fans want him to sign the M's calendars that were given out that night?  Do they really want to be reminded that King Richard's our star, not theirs?)

At one point, I handed him a ball of my own and as he was signing, I told him that I still got goosebumps thinking about his game against the Rangers immediately after the All Star Break last year.  It was a random comment, and I really didn't expect much of a response, if any.  Instead, Rich momentarily stopped signing my basebal and looked up at me.  A huge smile crossed his face.  "That was fun," he said.  "That was just a lot of fun."  He proceeded to audibly run through the game again, telling me of his favorite moments, and just how excited he was to be on the mound that night.  All the while, he kept smiling.  

I'll tell you, AN, I'm pretty friggin' stoked to see our guys boasting a 5-2 record.  They were amazingly fun to watch and while there were moments of concern (I do hope Esteban's okay, just as I hope the bullpen's hiccup today was a one game only experience) they looked like every bit the contender we expect them to be.  

Be that as it may, I'm even more stoked that the guys on our team are as good guys as they are.  I know a lot of you were at FanFest so perhaps this is old news, but these A's have a genuine graciousness to them that is both exciting and enjoyable.  I hope you're proud of this team, AN.  You have every right to be, both on the field and off.