Sunday, Random Sunday: It Echos...

"It echos, nobody hears." -Eddie Vedder, in a guttural roar while singing the song Faithfull on the record Yield by the band Pearl Jam.

As I recall from the lyric, Mr. Vedder was making a statement about prayer when singing this line. This is somewhat appropriate in the context of A's fandom. Personally, I have been mentally clutching a crucifix and seeking commune with a higher power who might be sympathetic to Green and Gold for about two decades now. But it is not a deity that I take umbrage with on this beautiful Sunday morning.

The shouts and screams that echo through the collective consciousness abound. So who exactly do we (the frog in my pocket and I) take umbrage with?

First and foremost it is Bud Selig. Dude... 679 days is a long, long time. I know. This is like a dead and decomposed horse taking a flogging of epic proportions. The kind that, if Data walked upon it in a cave beneath Astoria, Oregon he would say, "He's dead for sure." But it just needs to be said. Again. And again. Until it doesn't need to be said anymore.

Even Scott Boras is saying it.

Fish or cut bait already. I want to reward Mr. Josh Feinberg with his well deserved sale of a season ticket package and you are holding it up, Allan. Think of the little guy for once.

But onto a horse of a different color... Us.

And by us I mean more than me and the frog in my pocket.

"Some specifics, please," you might be saying.

1. Quit whining about KTRB and then saying "I wish the A's would find a radio presence like KNBR."

That is what KTRB could be. It is the entire point of moving to KTRB and it is the entire point of trying to buy the station away from the bank that now owns it.

Sure the signal sucks in certain places. Hopefully the A's buy the place, fix the transmission issues and the rest is history. Because if they don't, there simply isn't any other opportunity that even compares. No station that the A's can get to talk about them all day. No station that the A's can afford to buy. 

In short, root for KTRB. It is the "get the A's a radio platform for spewing Giantsesque propaganda" option that we all seem to want.

2. The A's marketing department has sucked, but it is getting better. Let's embrace this...

MC Hammer Bobblehead Day. Yellow Jerseys. RICKEY HENDERSON BOBBLEHEAD DAY.

The best companies I have ever had the privilege to work for were organizations that learned from their customers. This off season has given me reason to believe that the A's exceptional Baseball Operations staff might finally have a similarly talented Business Operations staff to help them. An organization that gets it. One that listens to the fans and balances low hanging fruit with long term vision.

The A's are focusing on their rich history for once. Ray Fosse, Stanley Burrell, Rickey Henderson and if rumors prove true, Gold jerseys. But that isn't the half of it.

Free hot dog night. Flexible ticket packages. Josh Feinberg posting on this blog. Clubhouse Confidential by Bob Rose. These guys are serious about reaching out to their fans, for once.

They deserve a forearm bash and the encouragement it takes to stick with something through the purgatory required for any long term vision to take hold and flourish. It's just around the bend.

3. Stop complaining that the A's don't go after big free agents and/or aren't interested in winning.

Adrian Beltre can kiss my asterisks. And so can anyone who claims the A's aren't interested in winning and haven't been for any period of time not known as 2008. Sure, the Matt Holliday trade looks like a beautiful disaster on par with the many fables referenced in Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah.  But wasn't that a direct attempt at trying to win? Oh how it burns to see Patrol Craft flourish, but good for him. The A's went after a proven commodity, in an attempt to win, in a year when the division was weak. Rolling the dice, sometimes, is the only way.

4. Stop ripping on each other.

Have we all read the things that people have been saying to each other in comments lately? Zoinks! My mom wasn't the best mom, but she taught me "If you don't have something nice to say..." The level of civility on this great resource is depressing. It usually is in the offseason, but some of the things lately have just been downright reDONKulous. We are better than this. Let's act like it.

In summary, at least we don't root for a team that just traded for Vernon Wells.