From: rsmith@strobe.ATC.Olivetti.Com (Russ Smith)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: GET OFF THE BANDWAGON!
Date: 4 Sep 92 21:51:02 GMT
Organization: Olivetti ATC; Cupertino CA, USA

In article <1992Sep4.203730.1289@newsgate.sps.mot.com> jeffh@pisces.sps.mot.com (Jeff Heilner) writes:
>When did all of you *supposed* Oakland A's "fans" become so? When they  
>acquired all of their winning talent? And now that you feel a large piece  
>is gone, you no longer feel the team is worthy of your support?

I don't know about Gidi, but I became a fan in 75 when I was 9 going on
10 years old. My first favorite A was Mitchell Page, then guys like
Norris, Rickey, and when Jose arrived he became my favorite. I've spent
alot of time in the past defending Jose's actions on this net, the only
time I've ever attacked him was his "cheer me or trade me" comment,
which I later retracted. 

As my post said, I object because of the timing, and the reason for the
trade. Idon't think they did it to improve the team long term, I think
they did it because they felt(for some twisted reason) that removing
Jose from the clubhouse would help the team. I don't buy it.

Shoot the thing that struck me the most from the highlights of Canseco
they showed the day after the trade, was 3 homers he hit as a rookie
that landed in the EMPTY bleachers at OAC. When was the last time the
bleachers were empty in Oakland, before Jose arrived is the answer.

I didn't want to renew my tickets for this year because of all the
shortsighted trades Alderson maded the previous 2 seasons. Trading
Jose for questionable reasons was just the capper. I'll still go
to A's game and still want them to win, but I won't fork over all the]
money for a weekend season ticket package, and spend months trying to
sell all the tickets I won't be able to use, anymore because frankly
I don't feel like the organization is headed in the right direction
(I don't know if they have a direction), and I don't want to mindlesslu
renew my ticket package so that Sandy and the A's think nobody cares
what they are doing. When we are offered the chance next year, we'll
decline and we'll indicate our reasons for declining. I'm not naive
to think that 2 fans not renewing will change Sandy Alderson's mind,
but I doubt we're the only ones who feel this way, and as a fan the
only recourse I have is to stop buying the product to show the team
I disagree.

In my case, I'm a Card fan #1 A's number 2, mys sister is in reverse.


>Please DON'T renew your season tickets, so that someone who wholeheartedly  
>supports the ** A's **, even when they feel things are not going in the  
>direction they would like, can have them.

I guess this is where we disagree, I don't condone blind faith in 
anything. I complained when the Cards traded for Galarraga, and I
complained when they demoted Zeile. I complained about this A's
trade, and I'm sure I'll complain again in the future.

Anybody who can be a St. Louis/Phoenix Cardinal fan since 1975,
and a UCLA Bruins college hoops fan since 75 must be pretty loyal
IMHO.
>OAKLAND A'S FAN **CONTINUOUSLY** since 1977!!! 
>
Beat ya by 2 years Jeff! Hell I even had a Shooty Babbitt poster in my
room as a kid, top that.




Russ Smith
*******************************************************************************
The amount of time spent brushing and flossing your teeth is inversely
proportional to how recent your last dental appointment was.
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> 
>--
>------------------------------------------------
>Jeff Heilner
>Motorola SPS - Tempe, AZ 
>Email: jeffh@pisces.sps.mot.com (NeXT)
>*** A'S *** SHARKS *** WARRIORS *** RAIDERS ***
>A'S MAGIC NUMBER: 25
>------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball