I still get excited and react to a great play or feel good about a win, and I get annoyed when the team loses or someone looks bad, but the amount of time I spend thinking about it is less these days.

Especially in the sport of baseball, with so many games, there are going to be stinkers and there are going to be games where people don’t look like they have any business trying to throw or hit a baseball. Just as the great performances stand out, so do the awful ones. For most players, their norm is solidly in the middle of the two extremes.

A close loss? Look at what didn’t go right and improve on it. Flip it around if it’s a close win. Just try to keep doing what you did. Blowout wins or losses don’t mean much to me on either side unless it just looks like the team isn’t even trying. All I care about there is the effort and nobody getting hurt.

With a team like the Warriors, I was as into it as ever when they made the playoffs a couple years ago especially because I was too young to really go to many games back in the late 80s when I first started watching them, so getting playoff tickets to that series against Dallas and being part of that crowd was one of the best in-person experiences I’ve ever had. To see the team gutted like it was so quickly since then has left me not wanting to spend a cent on the team because I can’t support Cohan and Rowell in particular. So, as the season came to an end, I wasn’t even invested in it.

With the Sharks, I think I actually started losing some interest before the end of the regular season when they started to slump. Their first-round loss this year was a tremendous letdown, much worse than anyone was expecting after what they did in the regular season, but it’s becoming clear the team is not a good playoff team. It’s tough to get too invested in that when you expect them to bow out.

With the A’s, I’m just waiting for things to get better again. We were spoiled a bit in the early part of the decade with all the playoff appearances, but they had a similarity to the Sharks in that for whatever reason they couldn’t advance. They were in positions to numerous times and every time they failed to finish the job until 2006. I was at that one against the Twins and when Scutaro hit that ball down the line, that was another one of those moments you don’t forget as a fan. Then they went out fast against the Tigers and another season was over in a blink.

Now they’re struggling to put a complete team together again. They may have some good pitching but poor hitting. Or they may improve the offense but have question marks in the starting rotation. I’m just being patient because I don’t live or die with each season now. I’ve reached the point where I’ve prioritized sports as a luxury and an enjoyment, maybe a necessity in ways to go along with other things, something that connects me to other people I can talk to about the team and more, but I can’t say the A’s (or any sports team for that matter) are my life. I celebrate when they accomplish something, but I move on when they don’t. The highs are held onto but the lows are tossed aside quickly.

I don’t think we’ll ever see teams like the 70’s A’s or Yankees (Billy’s Bronx Zoo). Both were run by eccentric owners, both dealt with an unusual amount of in-fighting, and they both won a lot of games (half of the World Series titles that decade).

Oh, and Reggie was a central figure on both teams. Hmm. Coincidence?

Seriously, ESPN came ten years too late. When Reggie tangled with Bill North in June ’74, there was one reporter present. Today? Come on.

Then again, with all that coverage, things may have been a lot different. Teams are generally more careful about what they do or say. Generally.

As for these A’s, I didn’t have high expectations anyway. Sure games like last night still sting, but only until the next game’s first pitch, if not earlier. Just as the “euphoria” of Thursday’s victory lasted all of three minutes, when real life kicked in again. I don’t enjoy victories or lament losses for as long as I did when I was younger. And yeah, like FF says, it’s a long season.

On the other hand…if last night’s loss was a playoff game, well, I might be at Best Buy right now purchasing a new television.

I mentioned somewhere in another post that it’s easier for long-time fans to be patient (although that might not be the case with you?) because we’ve sen the highs and lows. The newer generation only remembers 2000-06. It’s a similiar situation to when the A’s first moved here. Nine straight winning seasons, five division titles, three WS in a row. And then 1977-79 happened, seemingly out of nowhere. And it was as if the world was ending, only you didn’t have a bunch of Internet friends to vent your frustrations with.

In the end, that is why the A’s appeal to me. Their staying power. My oldest sister used to listen to games on a tiny transistor radio, and I would have to wait for the paper to be delivered in the afternoon to read about it. Today my oldest niece TiVo’s the games, and the amount of information available at a moment’s notice is, well, overwhelming. But while the means have changed, our ideals remain the same. There is still- and always will be- a connection.

I feel like today’s players just don’t have the guts that the players in the 70s and 80s had. With all these little injuries and cat scans and pulled obliques and strained calves, I just want to scream sometimes, “Man up! What’s a little pain?” Getting into my late 30’s and all the aches and pains that go with it, it is hardly inspiring to see supposed athletes sitting out with a little muscle tweak. Does that mean I get to use the wheelchair cart at the supermarket because my knee is sore? (again!)

I was thinking about my impression of the first team I really followed, the 1984 San Diego Padres. To see if it was really accurate, I checked:
Player name, followed by the number of games they started:
C Terry Kennedy (147)
1B Steve Garvey (159)
2B Alan Wiggins (157)
3B Graig Nettles (119)
SS Garry Templeton (146)
LF Carmelo Martinez (142)
CF Kevin McReynolds (143)
RF Tony Gwynn (156)

I enjoyed reading your rant…and I often feel the same way…