Opening day for me is a very special day, in fact it feels like Christmas! When I was a child my father would take me to the opening home game for the A's from about age 5 and up (I am 31 now). It was one of the rare times I could eat hot dogs, get ice cream and all sorts of goodies!!! This continued up until 1995 until after the strike. It took me about 3 years to come back to baseball games until the 1998 season, don't ask why lol, as the A's were terrible that season. There is always so much hope at the beginning of the baseball season! There is nothing else like Opening day in all of sports period! since about 2001, which is also the first year which I could legally drink beer my opening day tradition is to have my friends over watch every game on T.V barbeque it up, and compare our A's to the other teams that are on TV!

As for the A's first game itself until I moved from the Bay area in 2005 our goal was always to be one of the first ones in the stadium. We have to watch batting practice that is a must! Being there early also gave us great chances to talk with some of the players as well! I have to say that Eric Chavez was always one of the nicest, as well as Jason Giambi (and yes I have forgiven Jason for his betrayal). I was never into the whole tailgating thing although it does look like a lot of fun! My current tradition living in Portland Oregon now is to have my friends over before the A's game and we play a ritual game of softball that has been going on for the past 5 years now!!! So much fun!!! We then go to our local sports bar here and catch the A's game after our game! I also bring my laptop so I can converse with all of you as well and blow off some steam while watching the game!! Sorry I was so long winded opening day elicits a lot of memories from me. What is your Opening Day Tradition?