I most love checking out the fancy footwear of our diehards (and I’m not even one of those women with a shoe obsession!). You see, there’s only so much fashion liberty one can take with a team jersey, jacket or hat. But with shoes, there’s so much room for creativity!  My eyes light up at the sight of custom-designed gems or hand-crafted beauties. For example, those sparkly baby toddler shoes (below) are just about the cutest things ever. But it’s also pretty terrific when fans find happy accidents of the green and gold in one fortuitous pair. Hello, rockin’ cowboy boots!

Which pair do you covet from the selection below? Have any awesome green/gold A’s shoes you’d like me to include in the next round? If so, send me the photo in an email: kara@oaklandathletics.com

Happy trails, A’s fans. See you — and your kicks — in the stadium soon!

By now, most of you have probably heard a little something about “Bacon Tuesday” last week at the Oakland Coliseum. It was magical. And it represented one of the best parts of baseball: the chance for fun interactions between fans and players. In this case, the crew in the Right Field Bleachers were celebrating a player from *another* team: Jeff Francoeur from the Kansas City Royals. Click this link to check out my live, in-game interview with the organizers behind Bacon Tuesday.

Our dedicated A’s fans in the RF Bleachers even created t-shirts for the whole crew to wear (photo at left). Rumor has it, that Francoeur himself even donned a shirt after the game!  As a thank you to the fans for their enthusiasm on Tuesday night, Francoeur arranged for the delivery of twenty personal pizzas and a signed bat at the start of the game on Wednesday morning. While I haven’t had the chance to meet Francoeur in person, I admire his attitude and perspective on the game. Here’s a quote he gave to the Associated Press after last week’s festivities:

“Baseball is fun. We can take it too serious sometimes,” Francoeur said before the game. “This is something more than just baseball. That right-field section are here every game, they cheer for every (A’s player). They are diehards. I just enjoy them out there. It’s a lot of fun. You don’t get to build relationships like that every day.”

Later in the game, I met up again with the RF Bleacher crew for the 7th Inning Stretch. Here’s a link to my second chat with Omar about what’s in store for “Bacon Tuesday 2013.”  Notice how it’s gotten progressively wetter and those bacon strips, soggier and soggier. On a night like last Tuesday, the rain didn’t seem to matter. Honestly. We were all having too much fun!

The final component to the success of “Bacon Tuesday” was the mutual enthusiasm from the Diamond Vision crew (the team that’s responsible for the big screen, scoreboard and stadium entertainment in general). Hats off to Jeremy Wesler-Buck for creating such fun scoreboard messages so quickly! All of a sudden, cap caper was sponsored by Jeff Francoeur, and strips of bacon seemed to appear between every inning! I especially love this screen (photo below, courtesy of Jeremy) that hints to more fun times next year.

For me, the fun part is seeing the enthusiasm of our A’s fans and the love they pour into making their dogs’ costumes. From a cutie decked out in hula gear (complete with a coconut shell bra!) to Cooper, the Daschund named after Cooperstown, we’ve got some of the best dressed dogs in baseball.

Oh and did I mention, historically, the A’s record is 5-1 on Dog Day. Yet another reason to have a couple more of these a season!

Below is a slideshow of some of the photos I (and my mom!) collected through the evening. Click through — maybe you’ll see your pup! Can’t wait to see you next year for Dog Day with the A’s, 2012.

Also, check out this cuteness — and cleverness — from A’s fan, Cathy. I think Hideki “Shih Tzu-i” is my favorite. Hilarious. Thanks so much for sharing, Cathy!!

While the team has their own kinks to work out in the second half of the season (let’s try to find some hot bats and an error-less defense), one thing that has impressed me over the first half is how our fans have turned out and represented the green and gold. From the dedicated families showing up on school nights to the elderly couple sticking it out through the rain to our Left Field and Right Field (aka Matsuiland — see the photo to the left when the gang let me hold the letter “A”. I was so honored!) bleacher crews, we have some of the best fans in major league baseball. Fans, thanks for making the first half of the season so memorable. Even though I don’t want the season to end, I’m already looking forward to the second half and the next homestand.

And I think I found a solution: design my own. Check out these beauties! I created them on Converse’s “Design Your Own” website and had a super cool, green and yellow pair of kicks in less than 5 minutes. With two shades each of green and yellow, the color combinations are endless. I think I may go “Pine” green for my next pair… One of my favorite parts is the optional lettering on the side. Now, if only they had room for the “Let’s” as in, “Let’s Go Oakland!”

If you’re interested in designing your own pair of green and yellow A’s shoes, try Adidas, Nike and your other favorite shoe brands. It seems like most have customizable options these days. But really, sporty, spiffy, color-appropriate shoes that show your A’s love don’t need to be expensive or laborious to design; just keep your eyes out for a good investment when you see them. Below is a gallery of photos of A’s green and yellow shoes that I’ve collected over the last two seasons. I’m impressed with the variety and creativity out there, but then again, these do belong to A’s fans!

If you’ve got a pair that you’d me to include in Round 2 of the A’s shoe collection, please send me a photo: kara@oaklandathletics.com

One of the highlights of this young 2011 Oakland A’s baseball season was without a doubt, Sunday’s Japanese Heritage Day. I loved the pre-game festivities, the attendance from the Japanese community (both from the Bay Area and elsewhere), and the relevancy of the day in light of the recent disasters in Japan. Exciting action on the field and the team’s first win didn’t hurt either.

The A’s had been planning on a Japanese heritage day ever since they acquired Hideki Matsui in November 2010. While they hosted a similar event last season, now that Matsui was on the team, they’d really have important reasons to encourage a bridge between the two cultures.  As the planning kicked into high gear, I was asked to emcee the pre-game reception for the team’s Japanese sponsors and Matsui’s family. I readily agreed, even though I call myself the worst half-Japanese girl since I don’t even speak a word of the language!

Here are some photos from the reception in the Coliseum’s East Side Club:

Consul General Hiroshi Inomata holding Matsui’s foul ball that he coincidentally caught on Friday’s Opening Night

The lovely Cherry Blossom Queen, Arisa Hiroi and me

Masao Matsui addressing the crowd. Also representing Hideki’s family were his wife, mother and brother. Lovely family!

The Emeryville Taiko drummers performing a couple of their songs.

Before and after pictures of a cask of sake from Berkeley’s Takara distillery. True to Shinto tradition, Matsui San, Inomata San and A’s owner Lew Wolff cracked open the barrel for good luck.

Fundraising for Japan’s disaster relief fund was one of the main focuses of Sunday’s game, and I’m proud to say that A’s fans collected more than 65-thousand dollars. What wonderful generosity. Just as touching were all the displays of love and hope from people in the stands.

Also, I knew that the Japanese people loved their baseball heroes, but I didn’t realize to what extent. The Kagawa family (photo below) flew in from Hong Kong, where they currently live, to catch the A’s/Mariners series. Now that is dedication!

On top of all the festivities indirectly in his honor, Matsui didn’t disappoint and had a truly special game. Not only did he break his season’s short hitting slump, but a shot down the left field line in the bottom of the second inning was his career hit number 2500. It was a beautiful site and the crowd respectfully and eagerly gave him a standing ovation.

Who knows how long Matsui will be sporting the green and gold (hopefully for the rest of his American career!), but I hope the A’s continue to honor our friendship with Japanese fans. In this case, baseball is one of the best cross-cultural bridges I can thing of.

But back to Spring Training. I started this blog one year ago during my very first Cactus League experience. I loved interviewing the players and learning the ins and outs of Phoenix and Scottsdale. This year was no different, but yet better… There was an unmistakable buzz in the air, a feeling of hope and confidence. After talking to the players and hearing their excitement, I fully believe that 2011 is the year for the green and gold.

Here’s my collection of player photographs taken last week (February 21 – 25, 2011) while I and the rest of the Diamond Vision crew interviewed them at Spring Training. Enjoy!

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One of the
highlights of the last homestand was a special visit from Vern Law, a pitcher
for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1950-1967. Law lives in Utah but was in the Bay
Area for special church events and outings, including the ballgame on Thursday
night. During the third inning, I had the lucky opportunity to chat with him,
his son Vance, also a Major League ballplayer who played for the A’s for a
season, and his grandson, Andrew.

During Law’s
career, he was twice named to All-Star teams, a Cy Young Award winner and a
1960 World Series champion. Any baseball historian will tell you that the 1960
series between the Pirates and the Yankees is one of the most famous in the
sport’s history. It’s the only time a World Series has been won on a walk-off
home run in the bottom of the 9^th inning in game seven. Imagine the
drama, the thrill!

As a
starting pitcher, Law pitched in games one, four and seven of the series. When
I chatted with him on Diamond Vision, he told me that he liked to rib the
series’ hero, Bill Mazeroski, the walk-off run hitter, that if he hadn’t been
pulled as the pitcher earlier in the game, there would have been no need for
his heroics. Of course, he’s only kidding. In my brief interaction with him,
Law came across as kind, humble and a true gentleman. Someone who represents the game with dignity.

My story
could end there. After all, it’s not every day that the Coliseum hosts one of
baseball’s greats. However, what made that Thursday night truly memorable in my
mind was connecting a lifelong admirer of Vern Law’s and the man himself. After
I finished my interview with him, Richard, a longtime season ticket holder and
serious baseball historian, stopped me and asked if he was dreaming. Was that really THE Vern Law sitting in the Oakland Coliseum?!?

You see,
Richard grew up in Pittsburgh, rooting for the Pirates. Vern Law was one of his
favorite players, and he was lucky enough to watch him throw in game seven of
that 1960 World Series. In fact, on Richard’s drive to the Oakland Coliseum
last Thursday, he was listening to the old play-by-play radio recording of that
famous game. It was such an eerie coincidence that Law happened to be sharing
air space in the stadium that very same night. When I interviewed Richard on
Diamond Vision in the eighth inning, he was still trembling from meeting one of
his childhood heroes and marveling at his good fortune to connect with a
baseball legend. In Richard’s words, “magic really does happen here in Oakland.”

So here are the facts, fans: starting today, Monday, August 16, there are only three more homestands and twenty-three more home games left in the 2010 campaign. We’ve only got about a quarter of the season to go, and you know it’s going to go by in a green and gold blur!

Because of this sad news, I urge you and your friends and family to make these next few homestands count! I know summertime is busy with vacations, camp,
parties and the like, but procrastinators, it’s time to start making
A’s baseball a priority. Click here to visit the A’s website so you can pick up your tickets today!

In my opinion, there are a lot of factors that have made this season zip by (at least in comparison to last year). For starters, the team has been playing well and we all know it’s a lot more fun to watch a winning team. Instead of dreading upcoming series, we’ve been looking forward to them, thus the schedule appears to fly by.

Also, it doesn’t take a meteorologist to tell you that this summer has been positively Arctic. Where are those bright, sunny days and warm evenings? It’s been feeling a lot more like earlier May than mid-August. Yet another reason why it’s hard to believe the season is coming to a close.

So fans, get out your green and gold, make those homemade signs and come on out to the Coliseum for the remaining days of A’s baseball in 2010. I can’t wait to see you there!