When Random Jibberish is riding in a time machine way far into the future...

Yeah the game was shown on tape delay on Sunday, Septemeber 27th, 1981. It was sad seeing the league decline after that point.

 

insightful article suggests Fisher should sell A's too (fans deserve better) despite being MLB's best story of the season.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/mauryb...chance-for-a-new-ballpark-looms/#77a71db94c46

 

Like with the Quakes, though, you have to find someone to buy the team, and in the current MLB landscape, I'm not sure that's very easy to do. 1 billion dollars is a lot of money to buy a team, and if a stadium can't be built in Oakland, then what options are there but relocation?

Obviously buying pro sports teams has always been expensive, but the sale of the Dodgers at over a billion in the not too distant past I think genuinely changed the landscape.

Couple that with a league that can't figure out how to market itself, has incredible players stuck in the doldrums on crap teams (it's such a shape Trout has to languish in Anaheim), and has generally declining attendance, I'm not sure getting into MLB is as enticing as it was before.

I'm sure new owners could eventually be found, but I get irritated by people who suggest "just sell the team", without really saying anything more than that. Frankly, this article doesn't amount to much more.

 

I was standing pretty close behind home plate when this happened...



...cemented my status as a lifetime A's fan but tbh I don't watch much baseball.

what stood out with this article was the similarities with Fisher-owned teams; among the lowest player-payroll in the league ("$66,039,675, over 19% lower than what player payroll was in 2017, ranking them behind only the Phillies for the league’s lowest"), among leagues lowest attendance ("the A’s will rank 27th overall in attendance when the regular season ends"), moneyball philosophy, etc., the similarities are remarkable. trouble is, we don't have the equivalent a Beane or a Forst or a Melvin to compensate for small team budget we're saddled with.

 

Yeah you can get in at Del Mar HS. They have turnstiles for people who need to get their books on Del Mar Ave. I think you still can get in from the fields as well.

 

It's more than that even. Obviously you need smart people running your team, but baseball also has numerous mechanisms designed to keep low payroll teams competitive (and make the rich richer, as it were).

The way service time is accrued with regard to team control, how affiliated ball exploits minor league players, and how some teams get subsidized by the other owners all makes a team like the Oakland A's possible.

This can be done in MLS but it's more difficult for two reasons. First, the gap in talent is far wider than on the majors. The difference between a good hitter and a bad hitter is like a hit a week. The difference between a good goal scorer and a bad one in MLS, well, there are tons of listed forwards who don't even get a single goal all season.

Second, the payroll is already so dismally small, moneyball doesn't even really exist, there's hardly any room for it. Teams like Dallas and NYRB have found a great balance of experienced guys and home grown talent, but it's not like they are spending way less than any other team on average. The DP outliers rarely make that big a difference in terms of overall team performance.

This Is a topic I find endlessly interesting, honestly.

 

this is where I'd disagree, teams that have been smart in their signing of DP's have had the most success, I don't think there can be any doubt about that.

 

When I say outliers, I'm referring more to the guys making far and away above everyone else. The Tim Howards of the league. There are some who have been excellent, certainly, but most have still had relatively modest contracts, well within what San Jose or any MLS owner could afford.

 

It took them 50 Years?

 

They're just as tired of his ass as we are.

 

I think they were waiting for him to retire but he never did.

 

Buffalo real estate update:



https://www.realtor.com/realestatea...on-Park_Buffalo_NY_14201_M41296-11339?view=qv

I've actually been in this home a couple times about 30 years ago, once for a dinner party inside and another time for a backyard barbecue. I dubbed it the Munster House. Interior seems consistent with my memory, although the couple who owned it had a pet mongoose with a run of the place back in the day. No sign of him in the photos.

 

at least we've got the A's going up against the Yankees tonight at 5pm in the MLB wild card round and Sharks with their first game of the season tonight, 7:30 in Anaheim.

 

If the A's win the World Series, Dave Kaval will be (even more) insufferable.

 

Met Deanna (spelling?), the cousin of @falvo, tonight at Tony & Alba's.

 

He's sui generis.