Well, it may not have been the first thing I said today, but they're the first words I've typed.  Still a lucky month?  Should I by into the Marin House raffle?

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I don't read Jon Carroll every day, but try to most days as he can generally be counted on for either some good fun or a thoughtful approach to a messy topic, and sometimes both.  Today was the good fun part, in which he merrily posted a letter from a reader who blasts him:

"As you know, I read the column whenever I remember from Vancouver on the Internet for tidbits of cleverness and happy memories of the bay that I love. Usually I love it and I smile at your witty repartee, which is why I want to emphasize that when I say the following I mean it with the utmost affection and respect and admiration of your writing style: (BAD WORD) YOU JON!!! I love the A'S!!!

Joanna Sokol, this DLD is for you!

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In a departure from Haiki Friday, here is a new game: Limerick Friday.  To start:

Behold the new era of Suzuki
His throwing arm like a bazooki
We may have lost grit
But at least he can hit
Kendall’s Cub surge is undoubtedly flukey

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With a nod to Secret Asian Man, Haiku Friday is back!  We discussed this on AN Day and lots of people encouraged me to do this, so here goes.

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I'm back from the road, where Ms. Sslinger and I went to NY, Cleveland and back to NY to follow the A's.  We hit the road with the promise of seeing some great baseball, some old friends, and taking in the local culture.

We got in Friday night and before heading up to a friend's place we stopped in at a bar to check on the opening game of the trip, only to see the inning when the Mets blew it open.  Oops. Our first game was Saturday night at Shea Stadium, and on the way out to the stadium on the 7 line, dressed in our green & gold, we had our first encounter with the local fan base.  The train had crossed over into Queens, maybe 3 or 4 stops in, when a bunch of guys got on the train in matching t-shirts from some bar saying something like "7th Annual Mets Pre-Game Party", and they had clearly been out there a while.  One of them spotted me and barked out " Hey, there's an A's fan!  Are you going to the Mets game?"  To which I responded "No, I'm going to the A's game", which cracked them all up and we talked baseball the rest of the way, commiserating about the end results of last year's playoffs.  The trip was on.

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I have a pair of tickets for Sunday's game against the Yankees but unfortunately I'll be on a plane at 6:15 am.  The seats are in Section 128, Row 17 close to the A's bullpen.  I'd like to trade for one of the other Yankees games, preferably Friday night. I'd normally use Ticket Services but they generally don't like to do swaps for big series (Yanks, Giants, etc).  If anyone here has a pair they'd like to swap, you can email me (it's in my profile).

Thanks and Go A's!

There have been a few diaries recently commenting about poor experiences with Guest Services at the ballpark.  I will reiterate what many have said, that service in the Ticket Services office is exemplary, but I too have had my share of recent interactions with ballpark services people that have left a bad taste in my mouth.  I have attached a copy of a letter I just sent to Customer Service about something that happened at Tuesday night's game.  I'll be interested to see the reactions from all of you.

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Sabriel's AN confessional II brought out a lot of work/play issues, with people either leaving work to go to weekday games or sneaking in some AN time during business hours.  I am actually sometimes amazed at how much discussion there is during the day, and even though we are represented across different time zones it's clear there is a lot of creative use of daylight hours going on.  So I thought it would be interesting to see what occupations our members have, and how they manage to contribute so much to our favorite pre-occupation.

It was really frustrating to see the attendance figures over the weekend.  Gorgeous weather, a division rival we're chasing, the team has been hot for over a month, and...the best we could do was 25,330?  So far this year we are averaging under 25,000/game which will leave us under 2 million if it doesn't improve.

Now, I understand that there are some factors that can't be changed that hurt the ability to capture the coveted "casual fan":

1.    No new stadium (I could go off on a rant about how the Coliseum is still a great place to watch a ballgame but that argument has been hashed about ad nauseum so I'll just leave it as gospel that a shiny new park will get shining happy people in the door)
2.    Losing stars - people who only barely pay attention, and read Ratto, think that by losing Giambi, Tejada, Hudson and Mulder means the team is not worth watching, and starting slow seemed to confirm this
3.    No flagship radio station beating the drums for the team 24-7

Given these factors, and with the Giants as competition for the casual fan in the market (with 1&3 covered), it is an uphill battle to be sure.  But it still galls me to see so many empty seats for a key series to start the second half of the season.

So, as there are a lot of smart people on this site, let's weigh in on how the A's get more butts in the seats?  Is it marketing?  (They have some cute ads, but the whole "A's Brand" thing goes nowhere.  Giving away cars isn't really doing anything either.)  Direct sales in the community?  Better use of the internet?  Guerilla AN marketing blitz?  (No, not a rally gorilla.)

Or, should I just relax and enjoy the short beer (and bathroom) lines, put my trust in Billy and Lew that they'll get a new stadium in place HERE and secure a strong media deal, and know that some treasures are best shared by the few rather than the many?

Business trip came through, I'll be at the Baltimore game Wednesday night.  Eck & CyZito at least have said they'd be there, anyone else?  I'll be with a local business acquaintance, but would like to meet up with any ANers there at some point.  Pre-game?  Post our seat numnbers?  Any suggestions on how to get together welcomed.