Oakland Athletics

Photo © Photo by Minesweeper.

Road Trip to Oakland Coliseum

Officially known as McAfee Coliseum (since no one knew that Network Associates produces the McAfee anti-virus software), it gets critized by local press and it used to fall in the middle of team ratings. But now with more new parks, and with the Lew Wolff management doing a number of things to make the ballpark less pleasant, it's now fallen to a level of the criticism that used to be undeserved. I mean, it's a multipurpose stadium and one can feel a bit removed from the field, and it's not Fenway, but then again, thank goodness it's not Fenway. Still, the Coliseum is easy to get to by car or BART, they have a wide range of microbrew beers on tap, the WestSide Bar, and restaurant can be a good option particularly on a very cold evening. There's plenty of vegetarian food. People are knowledgeable about baseball. You can generally move to other seats, but they've closed off the third level upper deck ('view' level) which will hurt families and lower income people, but I guess they don't care. There is an 'all you can eat' section on the third deck for 2008. It'll be interesting to see how that changes the norms of fan behavior regardingseating.
In 2005 they didn't allow fans in to watch the A's batting practice. In 2004 they ended in-out privileges, and raised the prices of everything by a lot. They rarely have a live performance for the national anthen, and they demoted the mascot, Stomper who used to really boogie but now he just waddles. I could go on about the degradation. That said, the A's are a great team. Come see the home of money ball and have a fun time. If you sit in the left-field bleachers, you can bring drums, or just watch the drummers. Outfield Plaza seats are not worth your while, and you might as well sit in bleachers where you can catch a homerun ball (if you don't mind drums) Better to get Field Level and Field Level outfield. Plaza level infield seats are padded and it makes a difference! Or just buy the cheapest seats possible and move in (but not where ushers patrol). For the second deck, you want to have seats that are in row 6 to 12 in order to avoid having foot traffic and the railing block your view. Both right and left fields, in rows 10+ (2nd deck), will usually be in the shade in sunny days.