By: Kelly Byrnes
The crowd is loud, the banners fly high in the sky and the smell of bacon is in the air (the night before was the Annual Bacon Friday). Sitting in the right field bleachers near section 149 are some of the most loyal fans you will meet in the game of baseball. It’s like stepping into Cheers where everyone knows everybody. They welcome their baseball family with open arms that are full of banners to be held high and flags to be waved during the game. This crowd is 100% paying attention to the game from pitch 1 to out 27. There is no denying these are loyal fans.
In mid-May I happened to be in Oakland on vacation and decided I would attend a game. I was lucky in that I was excepted for the night into this loyal group of fans, as if I was one of them. Every time an Oakland player came to bat the flags would wave. If the batter would get 3 balls in the count they would chant “Ball 4, Ball 4, Ball 4” as they tried to distract the opposing pitcher. This night the A’s where playing the Royals, Jeff Francoeur was playing right field. Throughout the night the fans had fun heckling him. Francoeur played along as if he was in on the joke, smiling and gesturing how close a ball was from being a homerun that turned out to be foul. Even the right fielder for Oakland Chris Young would motion to the crowd after every out. Every time there was a pitching change for Oakland section 149 would rock out to the entrance music. One of the things I was most looking forward to was the “Balfour Rage” and sure enough going into the 9th inning the A’s were up 2-1. When he walked out to his entrance music the crowd went nuts and didn’t stop for a good 5+ minutes. They are family and when someone says something bad about their family people go on the attack.
Recently Jon Heyman (CBS Sports.com writer and insider at MLB network) tweeted, “A shame the a’s and giants have to play these games at the coliseum while AT&T sits empty. #shame”. I don’t know what he meant by this but of course a lot of A’s fans took offense to that and why wouldn’t they. He’s taking a crack at something they love. Who knows when the last time him or any big-time sportswriter for that matter went out and interacted with the fans. Granted the Coliseum isn’t the best stadium out there, but they don’t care. All that matters is that they go out and cheer on the A’s win or lose. They deserved a new stadium. I really hope they get one soon and you better believe I would try my hardest to be there and show my support.
I’m a Dodgers fan first, a Mariners fan second and there isn’t any more room for any other teams. BUT after my experience at the Coliseum I could easily become an Oakland A’s fan. It was the most fun I have had at a game in a long long time. Thank you, O.co Coliseum, thank you RF Bleachers but most importantly Thank you Section 149 for letting me be part of your family for 1 night.
One last thing before I end this post. Everyone needs to check out Nick Badder’s MLB Blog 7000 Coliseum Way and like 7000 Coliseum Way on Facebook. Nick was a big reason why I had such a great experience in Oakland.