Questioning the Great Ones

An open letter from me to Cal Coach Jeff Tedford and Oakland A’s General Manager Billy Beane:

Forgive me, o masters of Bay Area sports, for I doubt thee.

First, to his holiness, Jeff Tedford. He who rescued my floundering team from the depths of 1-10 failure. He who brought back our axe from the great Satan, Stanford. He who (so nearly) took Cal football to the Rose Bowl; I find myself questioning your wisdom. At first, the losses seemed acceptable – no team, I thought, could go undefeated this year; so our upset at the hands of Oregon State was tolerable. But then, Cal lost twice more, salvaged a game against Washington State, and faced USC.

As I stood in the wet and cold for hours, watching my favorite team lose, the doubts came to my mind. Why, I though to myself, was Nate Longshore still in the game? Clearly he was hurt and the injury he sustained against Oregon affected his play and probably caused the interception that stopped Cal’s late rally. I doubted, coach Tedford, your abilities to manage the team – if you were too supportive of Longshore or if your style was too conservative.

I know, great Tedford, what you saved us from: the Holmoe era, no bowl games in years, and Stanford control of our axe for an eternity. When I watched my team in 2001, before you came, I could have never imagined playing as the #2 team in the nation in the hunt for the national championship game. But now that I have tasted victory in bowl games, coach Tedford; this failure has made me doubt your abilities as a coach. And as much as I regret this frustration I have with you, coach Tedford, I fear even more my anger with the Oakland A’s general manager.

I stood buy you through thick and thin, Billy Beane. When you traded away Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder for players that weren’t nearly as good, I accepted it as the way of the small-market team. When you didn’t even try to re-sign Miguel Tejada after the 2003 season, I was frustrated but again accepted it. But one week ago, I saw the news that put me over the edge. Marco Scutaro – one of the A’s most clutch and beloved players – was traded for two mediocre Single-A pitchers. Like I said, I’ve been in this position before. But after everything I have seen from the A’s this year, I doubt your abilities as a general manager.

You traded Frank Thomas for Mike Piazza, a player who (even in his prime) couldn’t challenge Frank Thomas’ power. The players that were supposed to lead the team – Rich Harden, Bobby Crosby, and Eric Chavez to name a few – were chronically out of the lineup with injuries. And to cap it all off, the A’s finished the year with a losing record (only one game better than the lowly Texas Rangers).  I know that I can’t blame you, Billy, for everything that has happened this year, but right now I want to. Right now I want to have the old Oakland A’s back and I really want to keep you from making some of the moves that have left me (as a fan and a follower of baseball) scratching my head.

I’m sorry Tedford and Beane for thinking that you have made the wrong decisions. I know that you made the teams I love great and that what has happened this year is not entirely your fault. However, watching my two favorite teams lose has made me ungrateful and frustrated with both of you. Please, Jeff Tedford and Billy Beane, take us back to the way it was.

Collie

A while back, I was about half-way through a blog entry about why I wasn’t happy with Formula 1. I planned to finish it up, include some details about the spy scandal, and then post it. Then came the news.

 

I received a text message from a friend that morning, telling me that one of my favorite racing drivers, Colin McRae, was dead. My initial feeling was disbelief, but soon it sunk in that the finest rally driver there ever was had been killed. He died in a helicopter crash along with his son and two family friends.

 

Let me preface this by saying that I rarely got to see Colin race. He joined the World Rally Championship five years before I was born, and won the WRC title in 1995, when I was all of four years old. My only time watching Colin live was at the 2006 Rally Turkey (when he was standing in for a hurt driver Sebastien Loeb) and the 2006 and 2007 X Games Rallies. But from just one moment of one event, I knew that Colin was a true champion.

 

Coming into the final stadium Super-Special stage in the 2006 Rally X Games, Colin was right on the tail of leader Travis Pastrana. By the time he entered the final jump and turns of the stage, he was almost two seconds in front of Pastrana, and was well on his way to the gold medal. But when he landed his car at the end of the jump, it dug into the ground and rolled. In true Collie fashion, though, the next second he was on all four wheels. Colin was back to racing, coming around the corner for second place.

 

That was the spirit I always admired and loved about Colin McRae. No matter what, he always fought for the win with every fiber of his body, and wouldn’t settle for anything less. Colin had the drive to fight for every bit of speed. He was also a hero to many, including me. That’s what has made his death so hard.

 

He may have just been a racing driver who made his name 6,000 miles away from where I am, and a person I never met, but I looked up to Colin McRae. Motorsports will never be the same without him, and I send my condolences to his family and all of the people who, like me, continue to be inspired by Colin.

 

Rest in peace, Collie.

An “Off” Off-Season for the A’s

As the MLB season quickly approaches, I look back on the A’s past off-season with dismay. It has been a bad off-season for the A’s, to say the least. First came Frank Thomas hopping the border into Canada to play for the Blue Jays. Next was Ron Washington – the beloved third base coach – leaving for a coaching job in Texas. After that, the A’s made it official that they were moving to Fremont in 2007. Then, later in December, Barry Zito announced he would play not for the cross-country New York Mets as many had hoped and expected, but rather for the cross-bay Giants.

After all of these letdowns, bad moves, and horrible news that have come from this off-season, after A’s fans lost their favorite coach, their new favorite players and their team, as the player who used to embody the A’s persona – Zito – leaves for our rival. Not only did he leave our team for a rival, he left for the largest contract ever given to a pitcher – $126
million over seven years.

Really, everything has gone downhill for the A’s since they won the ALDS over Minnesota. Since the A’s completed their sweep of the Twins, ending years of first-round frustration, absolutely nothing has gone right. Oakland was swept by Detroit in the ALCS, and then this miserable off-season began. We all felt great when the A’s finished the ALDS. We had finally made it into the second round; we were riding a wave of momentum; we were just destined to make it into the World Series, if not win it; and once we won the Series, all of our free agents were just gonna’ stay here and play another year. That’s what we thought – for lack of a better word, sigh.

But the thing is, we’ve been here before as A’s fans. In 2001, Oakland lost slugger (and cheater/sellout) Jason Giambi. During the 2004-2005 winter, we lost two of our best pitchers – Mark Mulder and Tim Hudson – in early and (in my mind) unnecessary trades; and back in 2003, we lost Miguel Tejada and Keith Foulke to free agency. But in all of the years after those disasters, the A’s have fought hard for a playoff spot or gone to the ALDS.

So maybe it won’t be so bad this year – perhaps Mike Piazza (a new A’s acquisition) will burst out and fill the role of power hitter vacated by Frank Thomas. Maybe there’s some new prospect down in Triple-A (there always is with this team) that will take Zito’s place as the wacky guy and fantastic pitcher. And maybe some Fremont zoning board will say that Lewis Wolfe can’t build his new stadium park and condo village anywhere but the city of Oakland.

We can only hope that this year, the A’s will bounce back like they have in those years past, and ask for a miracle to keep the Oakland A’s in Oakland.