{"id":107517,"date":"2024-09-27T13:00:48","date_gmt":"2024-09-27T06:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=107517"},"modified":"2024-09-27T13:00:48","modified_gmt":"2024-09-27T06:00:48","slug":"as-fans-hold-onto-old-memories-new-keepsakes-in-teams-farewell-to-oakland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=107517","title":{"rendered":"A\u2019s Fans Hold Onto Old Memories, New Keepsakes in Team\u2019s Farewell to Oakland"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure class=\"style_hfl21i-o_O-style_uhlm2\"\/>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_eg8wk3vpd\">In the end, what they wanted was the dirt. Some fans snuck in wrenches to try to remove seats, and some joked about walking off with urinals, but when 56 years at the Oakland Coliseum came to a drawn-out, then abrupt end, they pushed their way to the front row of seats; they stood, green shoulder to green shoulder; and they begged for the scrapings from the A\u2019s white shoes.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_j65gwrbic\">Members of the grounds crew filled dozens of shovels from home plate, the bullpen mounds, the warning track, then decanted the soil into the plastic cups and sandwich baggies and souvenir helmets of the people who waited nearly an hour after the final out for something they could take home with them, something they could touch when they struggled to believe this was real, something they could venerate later.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_x9acwss99\">\u201cIt\u2019s like ashes,\u201d mused one, a 30-something lifelong A\u2019s named Gryphon.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_u1zm42j6l\">Everyone wanted a piece of this place. Except John Fisher.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_ow2awpinf\">It was the dirt that they loved, and it was the dirt that they\u2019ll miss now. With a final 3\u20132 win over the <a class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_aoxits\" href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/team\/texas-rangers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Texas Rangers<\/a>, with a final dance to \u201cCelebration,\u201d with a final round of \u201cLet\u2019s go, Oakland\u201d cheers, the <a class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_aoxits\" href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/team\/oakland-athletics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Oakland A\u2019s<\/a> are no more. If Fisher, the A\u2019s owner\u2014in both the original sense, of possession, and the newer one, of embarrassment\u2014gets the Las Vegas ballpark he covets, it will be one of those sterile new stadiums, all glass and chrome and artificially distressed brick, artificial-intelligence renderings come to life, satellite offices for mid-level executives to take a break from their email jobs and discuss EBITDA. At the Coliseum they calculated ERA. Fans came straight from the night shift to day games\u2014sometimes showered, sometimes not\u2014and ran their hands along concrete walls stained with six decades of celebrations.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_li3oq32v2\">Dirt is evidence of life. And what lives they lived here! Shannon Riddell and his wife, Meg, who work in education, came here on their first date, 11 years ago; on Thursday, they brought their 9-month-old daughter, Clara, to her ninth game. Jorge Leon, who runs the fan group and nonprofit the Oakland 68s, met his wife in the bleachers here. Bobby Tselentis, who works in security at a casino, estimates he spent more of his childhood at the Coliseum than at his own house. He brought his 12-year-old daughter, Bailey, and 8-year-old son, Braden, here Thursday for one last reunion with what he calls his fan-ily. (Yes, the kids are named for Andrew and Dallas.) A tattoo of three elephants\u2014the A\u2019s mascot\u2014covers his left arm. \u201cI don\u2019t know what our fan base did to deserve this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_b58u6x263\">Nothing, of course. Perhaps no city deserves this less than Oakland, which has watched first the Warriors, then the Raiders and now the A\u2019s ditch the working-class, multiracial underdogs for those collections of luxury suites elsewhere. The A\u2019s could have had a new ballpark in Oakland, or they could have refurbished this one. It is no longer worth relitigating the ways Fisher failed these people.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div data-mm-id=\"_285nxqwlv\">\n<div class=\"style_120ff32\">\n<figure data-id=\"_285nxqwlv\" class=\"base_18xy8to\" data-mm-type=\"image\"><canvas class=\"style_1e28o3x-o_O-initial_9vayoh\"\/><picture class=\"base_1emrqjj-o_O-initial_fzbddc-o_O-style_1a1csmw\"><source\/><source\/><source\/><img class=\"base_1emrqjj-o_O-initial_fzbddc-o_O-style_1a1csmw\" alt=\"A\u2019s fans gather dirt from the team\u2019s final game in Oakland.\" title=\"A\u2019s fans gather dirt from the team\u2019s final game in Oakland.\"\/><\/picture><noscript><picture class=\"base_1emrqjj\"><source srcset=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,w_1080,h_1080,x_0,y_299\/c_fill,w_360,ar_1:1,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FvoltaxMediaLibrary%2Fmmsport%2Fsi%2F01j8rfj194yy4des68ep.jpg 1x, https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,w_1080,h_1080,x_0,y_299\/c_fill,w_720,ar_1:1,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FvoltaxMediaLibrary%2Fmmsport%2Fsi%2F01j8rfj194yy4des68ep.jpg 2x, https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,w_1080,h_1080,x_0,y_299\/c_fill,w_1080,ar_1:1,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FvoltaxMediaLibrary%2Fmmsport%2Fsi%2F01j8rfj194yy4des68ep.jpg 3x\" media=\"(max-width: 719px)\"\/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,w_1080,h_1080,x_0,y_299\/c_fill,w_620,ar_1:1,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FvoltaxMediaLibrary%2Fmmsport%2Fsi%2F01j8rfj194yy4des68ep.jpg 1x, https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,w_1080,h_1080,x_0,y_299\/c_fill,w_1240,ar_1:1,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FvoltaxMediaLibrary%2Fmmsport%2Fsi%2F01j8rfj194yy4des68ep.jpg 2x, https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,w_1080,h_1080,x_0,y_299\/c_fill,w_1240,ar_1:1,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FvoltaxMediaLibrary%2Fmmsport%2Fsi%2F01j8rfj194yy4des68ep.jpg 3x\" media=\"(max-width: 1079px)\"\/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,w_1080,h_1080,x_0,y_299\/c_fill,w_620,ar_1:1,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FvoltaxMediaLibrary%2Fmmsport%2Fsi%2F01j8rfj194yy4des68ep.jpg 1x, https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,w_1080,h_1080,x_0,y_299\/c_fill,w_1240,ar_1:1,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FvoltaxMediaLibrary%2Fmmsport%2Fsi%2F01j8rfj194yy4des68ep.jpg 2x, https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,w_1080,h_1080,x_0,y_299\/c_fill,w_1240,ar_1:1,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FvoltaxMediaLibrary%2Fmmsport%2Fsi%2F01j8rfj194yy4des68ep.jpg 3x\" media=\"(min-width: 1080px)\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"base_1emrqjj\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,w_1080,h_1080,x_0,y_299\/c_fill,w_620,ar_1:1,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/voltaxMediaLibrary\/mmsport\/si\/01j8rfj194yy4des68ep.jpg\" alt=\"A\u2019s fans gather dirt from the team\u2019s final game in Oakland.\" title=\"A\u2019s fans gather dirt from the team\u2019s final game in Oakland.\"\/><\/picture><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<p><figcaption class=\"tagStyle_1ulimm5-o_O-text_1j8vahs\">A\u2019s fans gather dirt from the team\u2019s final game in Oakland. \/ Stephanie Apstein\/Sports Illustrated<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_iykga86t1\">The 46,889 in attendance\u2014the A\u2019s final sellout crowd\u2014showed their frustration in the creative ways typical of Oaklanders: regular SELL THE TEAM chants, signs reading VEGAS BEWARE; IT\u2019S NOT US, IT\u2019S YOU; and DORIS GET UR KID (a message to Fisher\u2019s mother). Many of them wrestled with the idea of supporting the team financially by buying tickets. Some only bought from the secondary market. And some decided not to pay at all. T.J. Hamilton, a former Warriors ball boy and lifelong A\u2019s fan who came here straight from his graveyard shift for the postal service, said he planned to sneak in; he did not want to give Fisher his money. But he did intend to tip the concessionaires $20 each.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_1bxa5i8q4\">Some tepidly committed to following the team to Sacramento and perhaps eventually Las Vegas. Some will turn their backs on the franchise that turned its back on them. \u201cThe Oakland A\u2019s are sort of like my dad,\u201d said Leon. \u201cThey never wanted me.\u201d He added, \u201cIt\u2019s fine. I don\u2019t want them. I have a better thing going with the [independent baseball team] Oakland Ballers and the [division two soccer team] Oakland Roots.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_c8v16u1rl\">Perhaps a dozen knuckleheads threw garbage onto the field as the game ended. But most just watched and cheered. They loved this team and this place. It\u2019s dirt that gives fruits and vegetables\u2014and eventually the animals that consume them\u2014their distinct essence. You can drive through a town and learn from the buildings how the local wine will taste, because the rocks from which they construct houses are the same ones that flavor the grapes. The A\u2019s were not just in Oakland, they were\u00a0of\u00a0Oakland.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_zhe24hmv4\">Little leaguers watched games in the top deck for $2 apiece. The players served root beer floats to fans. Even now Rickey Henderson owns a home in Oakland. \u201cI still see him around Lake Merritt,\u201d said Hamilton. \u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018You know you\u2019re Rickey, right? You\u2019re just driving around and you\u2019re at the store and you\u2019re getting a beer?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_ey0pl80tc\">Rickey grew up here. So did Ean Avila, a high schooler who said he sold his clothes to pay for his $140 upper-deck tickets to Thursday\u2019s game. \u201cMy dad used to work three jobs to take us to A\u2019s games,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019d come home tired, and in the same, greasy clothes, he\u2019d take us to the game. I don\u2019t see my dad anymore. I don\u2019t see my brother anymore. So this is the last thing I have to connect them to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_rtx67amzr\">He left with a plastic cup of dirt, the only souvenir he wanted from the last day of his childhood. Many people came to the Coliseum today hoping to take something with them. Thia Bonadies, who works for an environmental nonprofit, wanted to leave something behind. Her father, Christopher, took her to hundreds of games here when she was a child. \u201cThis is where my dad taught me all about life,\u201d she said. \u201cSuit up and show up. It doesn\u2019t matter if you win or lose, it\u2019s how you play the game. Rely on your teammates. It\u2019s always a beautiful day when you\u2019re at the ballpark.\u201d He died in 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_e8rp363w9\">She cried as she watched the game today. \u201cThey won for you, Dad,\u201d she whispered. When it was over, she carried a small white pouch down the left field line, just past third base, and tipped it over and scattered his ashes on the warning track, where they will mix forever with the dirt of the place that meant so much to them all.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/oakland-as-final-home-game-fans-farewell\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the end, what they wanted was the dirt. Some fans snuck in wrenches to try to remove seats, and some joked about walking off with urinals, but when 56 &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=107517\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=107517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107517\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=107517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=107517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=107517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}