SB Nation User Blog: sslinger

DLD 11-1: Bunny Rabbit

sslinger — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 17:05:00 -0000

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?

I don't have much, but we can listen to Lew this morning to see if he has anything new to say.

Poll

Should I:

Bunny what?

18 votes

Enter the Marin House raffle contest?

14 votes

Not enter the raffle contest?

3 votes

35 votes | Poll has closed

I Heart Joanna Sokol DLD 10-16

sslinger — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 16:24:48 -0000

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!

As if Clint Hurdle didn't seem like a likeable enough manager and the whole Rockies story plenty of fun to get behind, I heard about this on KNBR yesterday.

Today is special. We got our infuriating but lovable critter this way. Jon Carroll would be proud.

Dump away peoples.

Limerick Friday

sslinger — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 21:51:41 -0000

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

And more (I know they suck - these are harder than haikus!)

Jack Hannahan is now at third
Which would have been thought absurd
Before Chavvy went down
Though his fielding’s renown
He was hitting just like a big turd

Bob Geren will manage my team
Said Athletics GM Billy Bean
He no longer needs Macha
But maybe for socca’
He can nab good old Roy Keane

Add away - and feel free to include haikus as well.

Haiku Friday

sslinger — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 19:34:37 -0000

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.

Activated late
Shouting loud in the clubhouse
Milton a Padre

Melhuse in Texas
Reunited with Washington
Playing third like Chavvy

A’s season is lost
Disabled list took its toll
AN day to day

Now, AN, contribute away!

Road to Nowhere - NY & CLE Road Trip Diary (with pics)

sslinger — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 01:40:27 -0000

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.

It was a nice night out, and we had great seats on the third base line through a friend who works at MLB. Still not a great park, but with field level seats it's not nearly as bad as in some of the other sections with overhangs, etc. You can definitely see the construction going on for the new ballpark out there, which should be open by 2009.

Great baseball game, horrible ending for us with Casilla giving up the run in the 9th to spoil a great pitching effort by Blanton. So far, the A's were 0-2 on the trip.

Sunday, my daughter came down from Boston to meet us and go to the Serra exhibit. You could only photograph the two pieces out in the courtyard, and the pictures can't possibly do them justice, but suffice it to say the exhibit was overwhelming.

For those who've never heard of him, he's best known for his sculptures using huge plates of steel, and the scale of them creates just a completely physical experience. Very cool stuff, and if you're in or visit NY, I encourage you to go. Then we went into the park and just enjoyed the rest of the beautiful day in NY.

Needless to say, the A's got blown out by the Mets and were 0-3, and Ms. Sslinger & I were starting to get a bad feeling about the shape the baseball side of the trip was taking. Monday night we tried to find a sports bar that had the A's-Indians game on but had no luck, but with regular checks of the score on my cell phone we could see that series wasn't starting any better. Tuesday we left for Cleveland and went to the game with an old friend who lives there now. Jacobs Field is great, and we had awesome seats behind home plate. One of the cool things they have there is the Batter's Eye, a bar out in center that is open to all, so on nights with small crowds lots of fans just buy $7 upper deck seats and go straight there and hang out for the game. Nice deal.

After the game we went with our friend to the Ritz-Carlton for a drink, which is where the team stays. We saw Blanton come and go, Duke hang out in the bar, and Ms. Sslinger saw Crosby & Ellis. No one was looking too happy after the 5-run 9th inning gave the game away. The team now 0-5, and we were beginning to wonder if the trip was such a great idea.

Of course, in Cleveland, we had to go to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame/Museum, which was pretty cool. My favorite thing to learn - Tina Weymouth was a control freak! She wrote out instructions to the Talking Heads' road crew with some really specific details, then concluding with admonishments such as "it is your responsibility to wake yourself up and be at the gig on time or early" and "approach things with a no-nonsense attitude - if you anticipate problems you have a better chance of resolving them." Fun stuff. The original art for the cover of More Songs... was also cool - all those pictures in the squares that make up the album cover are individual 4"x4" Polaroid photos, and they're pieced together to make the total piece.

That night we were treated to a rain delay, but in the sprit of all the fans we met, the people sitting next to us were season ticket holders and they gave us passes to get into the Terrace Club, so we hung out up there during the delay.

And the A's finally won! Now 1-5, but at least we weren't going to go winless the entire trip. Yay! While we were out at the Batters Eye we had run into Barry, a fellow A's fan and Continental Airlines pilot who splits his time between San Lorenzo and Cleveland. We then met up with him and other A's fans after the game at the Thirsty Parrot. It was interesting meeting NRAFs from places like Buffalo and Indiana who had come for the games, and none of them were originally from the Bay Area. They had started following the team for the players, and because their friends were Yankees fans and that would suck. So the A's.

We had a great time in Cleveland, the ballpark and the people were awesome, but overall I can't really argue with Ichiro. We got to watch the final game in the airport as our flight back to NY was delayed, and we met a reserve catcher from Johns Hopkins U who was on his way to the UK to play some exhibitions. Pretty cool. We also met a family of 5 A's fans from Pleasanton doing the same road trip. But of course the A's lost again, so now 1-6.

Back to NY and we had tickets for a bunch of friends on Friday night. Before the game, we went to the Museum of the City of NY, which had an exhibit on baseball in NY from '47-'57, the years before the move west when all three NY teams were at their peak and almost every world series featured at least one if not two NY teams. A good way to prep for Yankee stadium.

We got to the game early enough to be able to partake of a beverage at Stan's, across from the stadium, as well as go to monument park.

We also caught the A's in BP, and I saw Piazza working on his throwing under the caring eye of Larry David. A scary moment, of course.

Our seats were in the nosebleeds, which provides for almost a vertical view. But the sky at night was beautiful.

As with the first two games we went to, this was a really good game but once again the A's came up short. At this point, the A's were 1-7 and we were spent from the agony of the losses. DMT Shooter, send me my required penance for losing faith and deciding not to go Saturday! Or, as I prefer to look at it, we changed up the mojo by not going. Gaudin pitched a beauty on Saturday, with the only blemish coming when I was at a friend's place and he turned on the game just in time to see the one hit of the game. Needless to say, I left soon thereafter. Sunday we couldn't watch the game on tv in our hotel or the airport, but we had our cab driver put it on the radio and we heard the great score. At least things were looking up at the end. We met a fellow A's fan at the airport, who had also been in Cleveland, and compared notes on the trip.

Traveling to follow the team was great, and both meeting A's fans on the road and talking baseball with the local fans really makes it all worthwhile. To a person, whenever the local fans realized we were there on the road following the team, they were very cool about it and appreciated the fandom. I can't wait for the next trip.

Oh, and we got the final score just as they were announcing to turn off all portable electronic devices. Sweet.

Ticket trade - Yankees

sslinger — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 18:11:21 -0000

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!

Guest Services discourages cheering?

sslinger — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 16:46:26 -0000

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.

Oakland Athletics Customer Service

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing to express my concern over an episode I witnessed at Tuesday night's (8/29) game against the Red Sox. I was sitting in the upper portion of section 125, and late in the game, I believe the 7th inning, with two on and two out and Mark Ellis at bat, two A's fans below us stood up to cheer for Ellis. Apparently, someone behind them complained and asked them to sit down, and soon a Guest Services person went down to tell them they had to sit. By their body language, their response seemed to be surprised and they motioned for others to stand but no one did, except a Sox fan standing next to them. Shortly thereafter, Security personnel arrived and quite clearly were motioning for the "standers" to come with them. They were not there to talk to them, they were there to remove them. After some resistance, the three "standers" were ultimately taken away, and presumably thrown out of the stadium.

I must point out that at no time were these fans acting threateningly, or taunting other fans, and unless I didn't notice I don't recall that they had been acting up throughout the game in a way that was purposely disruptive to the fans around them. I've seen that happen, and this wasn't one of those cases. I also recognize the need to provide a safe and comfortable environment, and generally appreciate the effort that both Guest Services and Security people put forth in sometimes-difficult situations. But this situation did not involve a dispute or taunting - as mentioned, there were two A's and one Sox fan that were standing and cheering. These fans simply wanted to stand up and root on their team, and for that they were thrown out of the game.

I may not have been so disturbed by this had I not witnessed a similar event a few weeks ago, when a couple stood up in a similar situation - late in the game, close score - and without even anyone complaining the Guest Services person quickly went over to tell them to sit down.

I had a lengthy conversation with the Guest Services person and another Security guard (not the one who did the tossing) after the event on Tuesday, as a number of us watching this whole process transpire were vocal about the unfairness of the treatment of the fans. He indicated his discomfort with the situation, and said he was only acting upon policy. When I mentioned the prior event that I witnessed, and that I had never seen this before at games, he agreed that as a long-time employee he had never seen this happen before this year.

So it appears you have a policy whereby fans are not allowed to stand up to cheer if no one else is standing around them. Or, that if someone seated complains about someone standing in front of them, Security can make the person in front sit down. I would be curious to know how this is defined - is there a threshold above which you can't complain, such as if no more than ten people are standing, those behind them have the right to make them sit, but if 11 or more are standing that constitutes a legitimate "rally cheer" that can't be opposed? Can fans complain about people standing in front of them to do the wave when there's no real rally going on?

Given the difficulty in attracting new fans to attend games, this heavy-handedness applied recently would seem to be a counterproductive policy that discourages fan support. I know if I were one of those three fans that got thrown out for standing up and cheering for Ellis, I would be reluctant to ever spend another dime at the stadium. This policy, however it is written, needs to be eliminated or, at the least, modified to allow for judgment in the case of late inning rallies.

AN Pre-occupation

sslinger — Wed, 20 Jul 2005 17:12:33 -0000

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.

Poll

What are you supposed to be doing when you're actually on AN?

Future Billy Beane (I'm a student and what I'm doing on here is contributing to my greater edumacation).

24 votes

Molding young minds (I'd never go online in the classroom, but during office hours...).

6 votes

I am the master of my own domain (self-employed, slacker, whatever - I can choose the time I spend on AN).

13 votes

Not a desk driver (no computer access at work, the only time I log on is at home).

7 votes

Sticking it to the MAN (they may be counting keystrokes but Big Corp/Gov that I work for can't see that I'm picking up a paycheck for my time on AN).

27 votes

I'm the boss so I can do what I want (including Firing Macha Now).

13 votes

Stealing time is stealing money (I wouldn't dream of wasting work time on something frivolous, only go on AN off work).

5 votes

95 votes | Poll has closed

A's Attendance

sslinger — Mon, 18 Jul 2005 20:37:40 -0000

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?

Baltimore

sslinger — Sat, 02 Apr 2005 18:52:55 -0000

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.