Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Go, A's!

Maybe it's been the unseasonably sunny, warm weather. Or maybe it's just the baseball fan's biological clock ticking. Whatever the reason, we're increasingly in the need of an Oakland baseball fix. So, with pitchers and catchers ready report to Arizona in a matter of days, we here at Baseball Oakland can't wait for the 2010 season to start.

Yeah, there are a lot of uncertainties surrounding Oakland's Athletics and the team's stadium situation. But even with all that uncertainty, it's nice to know we can still go to the Oakland Coliseum and rely on some things that will never change: the pitchers' mound is still 60 feet 6 inches from home plate, the flag-waving fans in the outfield bleachers are still the most loyal and knowledgeable in the country and Jack Cust will drop a routine fly ball at least once a month. Just kidding on that last one. Kind of.

The bottom line is we're fired up for another Oakland A's season. And we know you are, too. We'll be spending much of February and March buying A's tickets to enjoy games at the Coliseum. Hope to see you there.
posted by Baseball Oakland at 8:45 AM

2 comments:

sidecross said...

All Professional sports will be facing the same economic conditions just like the current conditions in today’s U.S. economy.

Professional Sports will face the same wall that Wall Street and AIG hit head on.

“…From 2000 to 2008, the number of poor people in the U.S. grew by 5.2 million, reaching nearly 40 million. That represented an increase of 15.4 percent in the poor population, which was more than twice the increase in the population as a whole during that period.”

“…more than 30 percent of the entire U.S. population — fell below 200 percent of the federal poverty line, which is a meager $21,834 for a family of four.”

“…The Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston put the matter in stark perspective after analyzing the employment challenges facing young people in Chicago: ‘Labor market conditions for 16-19 and 20-24-year-olds in the city of Chicago in 2009 are the equivalent of a Great Depression-era, especially for young black men’.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/23/opinion/23herbert.html?scp=6&sq=bob%20herbert&st=Search

The unemployment in California is now over 20%, but just take a look at how it breaks down by income.

“…The highest group, with household incomes of $150,000 or more, had an unemployment rate during that quarter of 3.2 percent. The next highest, with incomes of $100,000 to 149,999, had an unemployment rate of 4 percent.

Contrast those figures with the unemployment rate of the lowest group, which had annual household incomes of $12,499 or less. The unemployment rate of that group during the fourth quarter of last year was a staggering 30.8 percent. That’s more than five points higher than the overall jobless rate at the height of the Depression.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/09/opinion/09herbert.html?scp=3&sq=percentage%20of%20unemployment%20by%20income&st=cse

So who are going to enjoy a Major League Baseball game in 2010? It certainly will not be like professional baseball when the game was a working class and family outing. It will not even be like the ‘Jim Crow’ days of segregation when even lower class African Americans flocked to the baseball parks to watch the great players of the ‘Negro Leagues’.

I do not mean to rain on anyone’s parade, but to think MLB and Oakland will be having a great time this year watching baseball has not been reading the news.

February 16, 2010 at 4:47 PM
sidecross said...

I might also add that both the NFL and NBA are facing possible ‘lock outs’ during their next seasons.

If attendance revenue continues to fall as well as television rights and their advertising fall, professional sports in the U.S. may change in a big way.

February 20, 2010 at 11:00 AM

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