Oakland A’s Continue Pushing San Francisco Giants For Rights to San Jose

With spring training quickly approaching a new player has entered into the talks to encourage the San Francisco Giants to release their hold on San Jose, so that – if given the chance – the Oakland A’s can move there. That player is none other than former San Jose mayor and lifelong Giants fan, Tom McEnery.

The Mercury News has the full story, which explains a great deal about the situation if this is your first time hearing about it. As a rare fan of both ball clubs – no really, I like them both – I hope that the Giants get over themselves and realize that A’s and Giants fans are nothing alike. That’s why it’s hard for me to believe that the Giants would lose South Bay fans to the A’s – as owner Bill Neukom continues to say – if the Green and Gold does in fact make the move. And for A’s fans, the sooner the better, because as the Mercury News says:

The timing matters, too: McEnery says he believes that MLB Commissioner Bud Selig’s decision on allowing an A’s stadium near Diridon Station will come soon. And he fears Selig’s decision will go against San Jose unless the Giants drop their opposition.

In other words, all the fans pissed off about the idea of the team leaving Oakland for Fremont or San Jose are going to be a whole lot more upset when the team waves goodbye to the entire Bay Area, thanks in part, to your San Francisco Giants.

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Michael Lizarraga: Division 1’s First Deaf Player

Soooo, this isn’t exactly Bay Area sports, but Cal’s straw hat band is mentioned in the article and the kid grew up in Northern California, so I’m taking advantage of my administrative powers and bending the rules a bit for this post.

Say hello to Michael Lizarraga, the NCAA Division 1’s first deaf basketball player. The New York Times ran a feature on him earlier this week and after reading it, I just had to share. I hope once you read it, you’ll do the same!

A’s Staying in Oakland After All?

I personally think it’s a long shot, but after talk of moving to Fremont and San Jose, we’re now back to talking about the team staying put thanks to the Oakland City Council voting Tuesday night to spend as much as $750,000 on an environmental study for a new ballpark south of Jack London Square. The full story’s here.

It’ll be interesting to see how much longer owner Lew Wolff allows this stadium drama to play out. From folks close to Wolff, it sounds like he’s a patient guy with an awesome plan for a new stadium, but he was already voicing frustration back in July and with the Giants getting so much attention for winning the World Series, I’m sure Wolff’s more eager than ever to get the ball rolling on some new digs.

If you’re unfamiliar with the saga of the A’s new stadium, here’s a great 3-part interview with Wolff from last month. (The links to Pts 1 & 2 are at the top of the page, so be sure to read those first)

So what do you think, will the team stay in Oakland? And if not, where do you think they’ll land?