Conflicted

All of the stories in the recent news about Lew Wolff and where his Oakland A's may or may not be going to play in a few years has resulted in me being conflicted. As a Q's supporter - I'm grateful to Mr Wolff for bringing the franchise back to the Bay Area. The Quakes belong in San Jose - their roots. All Q's supporters are looking forward to the proposed Quakes stadium that is being pursued. All of the botched attempts to move the A's, including the latest to Fremont has all but failed. What kind of message does this send, if at all, with respect to the future home of the Quakes? I beleive the basic message is, "Believe it when you see it."

My views:

(1) The A's BELONG in Oakland. Period. Do what has to be done to keep them there. The existing Oakland Coliseum site provides the most logical location for a new stadium. GET IT DONE.

(2) The Quakes can survive at Buck Shaw for awhile - there is still alot of room for growth in the fan base before a new stadium can be filled on a regular basis.

2009 Gold Cup, etc.

H texted me about this: A couple of first-round CONCACAF Gold Cup games will be played in Oakland this year on July 5th. Here is the schedule and US venues:

SCHEDULE

First Round

July 3 – The Home Depot Center (Los Angeles)

July 4 – Qwest Field (Seattle)

July 5 – Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum (San Francisco)

July 7 – Crew Stadium (Columbus, Ohio)

July 8 – Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium (Washington)

July 9 – Reliant Stadium (Houston)

July 10 – Florida International University Stadium (Miami)

July 11 – Gillette Stadium (Boston)

July 12 – University of Phoenix Stadium (Phoenix)

Quarterfinals

July 18 – Lincoln Financial Field (Philadelphia)

July 19 –Dallas Cowboys New Stadium (Dallas)

Semifinals
July 23 – Soldier Field (Chicago)

Final

July 26 – Giants Stadium (New York)

(*Gonna have to talk to Adam Z about tickets....)

QUAKES vs GALAXY April 18th in OAKLAND

I have a group attending this game - I've promoted the game with a flyer featuring Joe Cannon, Becks, and post-game fireworks. So know it sounds like Becks will still be in Milan for this game - so the fireworks show better be good. (Actually, I already have 44 out of the 50 tickets sold already so we should be in good shape).

QUAKES STADIUM

With the recent news that the A's are not going to move to Fremont and that San Jose is eyeing them, I can't help but wonder if this will affect the progress on the soccer-specific venue for the Q's. I hope that Lew doesn't start thinking about a multi-use park - for the A's and Quakes to share. I think I would prefer to stay at our current home - the South Bay San Siro (aka Buck Shaw) - than have Q's games played on a field with huge portions being infield dirt!

MoneyFutbol!

...the Quakes have now aquired Arturo Alvarez from FC Dallas! I think the relationship between the Oakland A's and the Quakes (same ownership) is showing now in FULL FORCE. I can't help thinking that Billy B. is either directly involved or is serving as an advisor in the most recent flurry of transactions that have been executed by the Quakes.

Read this exerpt from a NY Times article from last Aug. 2007:

Wolff said one of the key members of the team’s brain trust would probably be Billy Beane, the A’s general manager, who is a rabid, if closeted, soccer fan. Beane’s frugality and keen evaluation of baseball players for a small-market team was dissected in the book “Moneyball.”
“Billy and his staff will help a lot in identifying players,” Wolff said. “I took Billy and a bunch of A’s executives to the World Cup in Germany last summer. I was just in awe of their knowledge of soccer. They know about every baseball player who can stand upright and they also know soccer. What was funny was that, in the middle of the baseball season, Billy was away in Europe and the A’s won six games.”