As we prepare to gather with family and friends for food and foot...oh wait, that's a bad word ‘round here, I wanted to take a moment to wish the ever-growing community here at Athletics Nation a warm and wonderful holiday.

In case you are suffering from heartburn or you've had enough of Uncle George's jokes, AN will be open all day today.  Feel free to sneak away and tell us who or what you are thANkful for- A's style.

Today is a day to give thanks to loved ones both near and far, but it is also to remember those who may not have so much to be thankful for. It was 25 years ago this week that this song was recorded, and its message still rings true today. It is not too often that I have a "Where were you" moment with a song, but this is one of them. I still remember sitting with my classmates in Journalism my senior year trying to pick out each artist as they sang their part.

I would be a turkey not to mention Nico's canned food drive from last Saturday.  It was well worth the trip to Berkeley to "witness the magic".  Kudos to his kids- no, not the four-legged kind in his backyard- who not only were as sweet as pumpkin pie, but happily handed out flyers in three separate shifts (and didn't even question the straight time pay!) to unsuspecting shoppers.  In restoring my faith in the human race, these fine folks were so inspired that they went about stuffing four barrels worth of food! The unofficial goal was two barrels, with everything beyond that considered, um, gravy.

OK, enough of the Thanksgiving clichés (I see you rolling your eyes). It's time to do my part for the feast. I am on Drinks Duty.  And if you think that's easy, try figuring out which beer, soda, juice, and wine to buy for some forty family members of all ages and tastes.

Before I forget, I am thANkful for the little team on Coliseum Way that continues to bring me joy after all these years, and for having an awesome group of people with whom to share my passion.

Be safe, and enjoy.

67M

Was I supposed to share? Oops. Happy Thanksgiving, AN! -Nico

I woke up early the morning of Sunday October 29, 1989, walked down to the 7-11, and proceeded to buy one of each newspaper on the stand that day.  Who knew that the images that adorned those sports pages would be brought back to life on a blog site some 20 years later?

Who knew that I would still be waiting for a Sunday like that one?

When we began this journey back in February, we saw an Oakland A's ball club coming off a heartbreaking end to their previous season, and my oldest sister Tonianne receiving the news that she had breast cancer:

I was so looking forward to Spring Training that year.  I knew we were on the verge, especially after they way things ended in '88.  Sadly, I really don't remember much of it. I started chemo in April.  I had my first treatment just before we took Patrick to his first A's game (he was 19 months). I know we sat in the first deck and I brought the baseball glove booster seat that you gave him for his first birthday. Everyone got a kick out of it. He didn't sit in it very long though; one of us ended up holding him most of the game.  I think that was the last time things felt normal for me that year.

Things were a little left of normal for Tony La Russa's A's that season, first with the rash of injuries to key players, then with unexpected competition from the likes of the Angels and Royals, and finally an earthquake that shook the Bay Area just minutes before the start of Game 3 of the World Series, which the A's led two games to none over the San Francisco Giants before Mother Nature crashed the party.

Tonianne, who was already one of the A's biggest fans before cancer, went to great lengths to show her true colors, though not intentionally:

The first chemo wasn't too bad and I don't think I was sick much if at all.  It all went downhill after that. One of the drugs I was given was a fluorescent green color.  I remember thinking Lasorda may think he bleeds Dodger blue but I really do have A's green running through my veins!

Continue reading this post »

I woke up early the morning of Sunday October 29, 1989, walked down to the 7-11, and proceeded to buy one of each newspaper on the stand that day.  Who knew that the images that adorned those sports pages would be brought back to life on a blog site some 20 years later?

Who knew that I would still be waiting for a Sunday like that one?

When we began this journey back in February, we saw an Oakland A's ball club coming off a heartbreaking end to their previous season, and my oldest sister Tonianne receiving the news that she had breast cancer:

I was so looking forward to Spring Training that year.  I knew we were on the verge, especially after they way things ended in '88.  Sadly, I really don't remember much of it. I started chemo in April.  I had my first treatment just before we took Patrick to his first A's game (he was 19 months). I know we sat in the first deck and I brought the baseball glove booster seat that you gave him for his first birthday. Everyone got a kick out of it. He didn't sit in it very long though; one of us ended up holding him most of the game.  I think that was the last time things felt normal for me that year.

Things were a little left of normal for Tony La Russa's A's that season, first with the rash of injuries to key players, then with unexpected competition from the likes of the Angels and Royals, and finally an earthquake that shook the Bay Area just minutes before the start of Game 3 of the World Series, which the A's led two games to none over the San Francisco Giants before Mother Nature crashed the party.

Tonianne, who was already one of the A's biggest fans before cancer, went to great lengths to show her true colors, though not intentionally:

The first chemo wasn't too bad and I don't think I was sick much if at all.  It all went downhill after that. One of the drugs I was given was a fluorescent green color.  I remember thinking Lasorda may think he bleeds Dodger blue but I really do have A's green running through my veins!

Continue reading this post »

Also known as Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants. He's the major's first repeat winner since Randy Johnson won the award four straight seasons from 1999-2002.

And they say marijuana isn't a performance-enhancer.

Oh I kid.

Discuss here.

Andre Agassi's "Open" is just the latest in a long, long line of literature in which an athlete comes clean.

The former tennis star admitted to using crystal meth in the 1990's, and then lied about it after failing a drug test.  Aside from the obvious that Agassi's DOC was not a PED, is there anyone left in the sporting world we can trust?  Do we even care?  Should we care?  I mean, the man wore a wig, for mullet's sake!

Surely these tell-alls are slightly more intriguing when the person telling all is someone of stature, a la Canseco, Torre, Agassi, et al; even more so when innocent bystanders are thrust under a bus in the process.

One writer wonders what other tennis players might reveal in their own autobiographies, including the story behind Sharpova's shrieking on the court:

I had a coach to hone my groundstrokes and another to fix my serve, so it made perfect sense to find someone who could perfect my grunt. To protect her identity, I'll call her Monica. Before a big tournament, I would always pay her a visit to work on my pitch range and timing. Not only did Monica improve the length and volume of my screeching, but most importantly, when to change the frequency. We developed special screeches for different situations in the match. If I was losing, I would break out the scream that sounded like I had come home to find my dog brutally murdered. We called it "Dead Dolce." Then there was the one I'd use when returning serve on a pivotal break point. It was an extended moan with a touch more bass than my standard scream. Before I met Monica, I was just a noisy teenager with some promise. She made me a Wimbledon champion.

A fond as I may be of Maria, I prefer to ponder a penning by Nico of his blogging days at Athletics Nation:

"I wanted Marquez banned from the beginning, but Blez had a soft spot for him for some reason.  Gad, how many posts on the 1974 A's can someone write?"

"People never got me.  No one even tried to know Cindi.  They only wanted to know the Nico living inside of me.  Truth is, I hated Nico."

"Most nights I'd sniff glue before a (game) thread."

Wait, that last one might be true.

I guess Andre and other athletes/artists feel that these confessions are somehow soul-cleansing, but isn't that what therapists are for?  I can't imagine he needs the money.

I just don't get the point.

Scrapbook Memories celebrates the 20th anniversary of Oakland's last World Series triumph.  Since the day they set foot in Arizona some seven months prior, the A's mission for 1989 was clear; a wildly successful 1988 season had ended with a thud, leaving a sour taste in their collective mouths, and a sense of unfinished business.  After disposing of the Toronto Blue Jays in five hard-fought games, the A's allowed a single run to the San Francisco Giants in the first two World Series contests, putting them two victories from being crowned champions for the first time since 1974.

Just when it seemed there was nothing to derail Oakland's date with destiny, a massive earthquake shook the Bay Area a few minutes from the commencement of Game 3.  While the region healed, baseball took its proper place.  It would be a full ten days before the teams would again take the field at Candlestick Park.  Prior to 1989, the longest delay in World Series play was six days.  That was in 1911, and the participants were the (Philadelphia) A's and (New York) Giants.

ABC's Al Michaels, as told to a nationwide audience before Game 3, Part 2 (you can read the first part here):

"...And now on October 27, like a fighter who's taken a vicious blow to the stomach and has groggily arisen, this region moves on and moves ahead."

"And one part of that scenario is the resumption of the World Series.  No one in this ballpark tonight- no player, no vendor, no fan, no writer, no announcer, in fact, no one in this area period- can forger the images.  The column of smoke in the Marina.  The severed bridge.  The grotesque tangle of concrete in Oakland.  The pictures are embedded in our minds."

"And while the mourning and the suffering and the aftereffects will continue, in about thirty minutes the plate umpire, Vic Voltaggio will say ‘Play Ball', and the players will play, the vendors will sell, the announcers will announce, the crowd will exhort. And for many of the six million people in this region, it will be like revisiting Fantasyland."

"But Fantasyland is where baseball comes from anyway and maybe right about now that's the perfect place for a three-hour rest."

Oakland manager Tony La Russa had kept his players' eyes on the prize by flying them to Phoenix for two days of workouts, but clearly there was a wide array of emotions (excerpt from "Three Weeks in October"):

"We showed up in Arizona and there were all these people in the stands.  That really touched me.  It's like somebody was saying, ‘Baseball is great.  Baseball means something.'  When the day was over, I felt this tugging," he said, pointing to his heart.  "I had some positive vibes, but then I had another tug.  A different kind.  I was embarrassed.  I mean, aren't we supposed to feel guilty?  It confused the hell out of me.  When I drive by 880, I feel a lot of emotion.  Then about 10 miles down the road I'm getting full of myself.  And I start feeling guilty again."

La Russa said he would tell his team before Game 3: "Be honest.  If you feel good, you deserve to feel good.  They're calling this the forgotten World Series, but if you play well in this situation, it will have more meaning than any other World Series that has come before.  Nobody's ever been asked to do this."

Indeed.

Continue reading this post »

Scrapbook Memories celebrates the 20th anniversary of Oakland's last World Series triumph.  Since the day they set foot in Arizona some seven months prior, the A's mission for 1989 was clear; a wildly successful 1988 season had ended with a thud, leaving a sour taste in their collective mouths, and a sense of unfinished business.  After disposing of the Toronto Blue Jays in five hard-fought games, the A's allowed a single run to the San Francisco Giants in the first two World Series contests, putting them two victories from being crowned champions for the first time since 1974.

Just when it seemed there was nothing to derail Oakland's date with destiny, a massive earthquake shook the Bay Area a few minutes from the commencement of Game 3.  While the region healed, baseball took its proper place.  It would be a full ten days before the teams would again take the field at Candlestick Park.  Prior to 1989, the longest delay in World Series play was six days.  That was in 1911, and the participants were the (Philadelphia) A's and (New York) Giants.

ABC's Al Michaels, as told to a nationwide audience before Game 3, Part 2 (you can read the first part here):

"...And now on October 27, like a fighter who's taken a vicious blow to the stomach and has groggily arisen, this region moves on and moves ahead."

"And one part of that scenario is the resumption of the World Series.  No one in this ballpark tonight- no player, no vendor, no fan, no writer, no announcer, in fact, no one in this area period- can forger the images.  The column of smoke in the Marina.  The severed bridge.  The grotesque tangle of concrete in Oakland.  The pictures are embedded in our minds."

"And while the mourning and the suffering and the aftereffects will continue, in about thirty minutes the plate umpire, Vic Voltaggio will say ‘Play Ball', and the players will play, the vendors will sell, the announcers will announce, the crowd will exhort. And for many of the six million people in this region, it will be like revisiting Fantasyland."

"But Fantasyland is where baseball comes from anyway and maybe right about now that's the perfect place for a three-hour rest."

Oakland manager Tony La Russa had kept his players' eyes on the prize by flying them to Phoenix for two days of workouts, but clearly there was a wide array of emotions (excerpt from "Three Weeks in October"):

"We showed up in Arizona and there were all these people in the stands.  That really touched me.  It's like somebody was saying, ‘Baseball is great.  Baseball means something.'  When the day was over, I felt this tugging," he said, pointing to his heart.  "I had some positive vibes, but then I had another tug.  A different kind.  I was embarrassed.  I mean, aren't we supposed to feel guilty?  It confused the hell out of me.  When I drive by 880, I feel a lot of emotion.  Then about 10 miles down the road I'm getting full of myself.  And I start feeling guilty again."

La Russa said he would tell his team before Game 3: "Be honest.  If you feel good, you deserve to feel good.  They're calling this the forgotten World Series, but if you play well in this situation, it will have more meaning than any other World Series that has come before.  Nobody's ever been asked to do this."

Indeed.

Continue reading this post »

What a year, huh?

My first season as a front-page writer is officially in the books, and it was an amazing- and often humbling- experience.  No question, I had some very large shoes to fill.  But I had two wonderful coaches in Nico and baseballgirl, for whom this has become old hat.  I wish to personally thank them- and Tyler- for their patience and support this year.

On the eve of Athletic Nation's sixth birthday, I think it is safe to say that this has been the site's most trying season- and this says nothing of the team's performance on the field.  I will spare you the gory details, but "meta-thread" was an all-too popular phrase around here for awhile.  And just as we have become accustomed to seeing favorite ballplayers leave Oakland for greener pastures, AN lost a core group of people that had come up through the site's farm system.

But I am not here to talk about what Athletics Nation is not.  Just like that little team over at 7000 Coliseum Way has done through the years, AN will rebuild and continue to reinvent itself.  Maybe it's not the site you once knew and were fond of; well hell, neither are the A's, but we keep showing up.  And if you feel the urge to wax nostalgic over Jennifer, do it. It's no different than getting teary-eyed over Marco.  Look, I am the last guy to tell you not to talk about the past.

I don't mind looking ahead either, and I will echo Nico's sentiments about sticking around for the off-season.  For many of you, this is the most wonderful time of the year, when rosterbation and speculation take over Athletics Nation.

There might be a retro piece or two from yours truly, including the conclusion of Scrapbook Memories, and the Decade in Review.  If you are into that sort of thing.

And for the non-statsy, game-thread crowd, we will keep you entertained.  Maybe Leopold Bloom and I will find the time to renew our DLD rivalry.  (Or like Rickey working with Jemile Weeks, maybe monkeyball will come out of hiding and show us how it's done).  Perhaps someone would like to take on the arduous task of bringing back the QOTM's.  I know Nico has some other fun stuff planned, as do I, but why spoil the surprise?

So there will be plenty to see and do to get you through the winter.  And remember, Spring Training tickets go on sale December 8...if you weren't sure what to get me for Christmas.

As for the new-look Athletics Nation, I'll leave the interior design comments for someone else.  For me, it doesn't matter what the house looks like.

It's who lives there that counts.

More photos » by Matt Slocum - AP

Have a Coke and a smile, Chase.

Browse more photos »

Well the tease was on in the 9th, but thanks in part to a 6-4-3 double play off the bat of Derek Jeter, there will be at least one more baseball game in 2009.

Chase Utley homered twice, the second one providing insurance the Phillies ultimately needed, and Cliff Lee, even in human form, was good enough to send this Series back to New York.

Utley joins Reggie Jackson as the only men to hit five home runs in a single Series.

See you Wednesday.

A pair of Chase Utley homeruns ties him with Reggie Jackson for most (5) in a single Series. Meanwhile, Cliff Lee does his best, well, Cliff Lee. Phillies in Phront 8-4.