A reunion spoiled
OAKLAND, June 24, 2009
What a sad state of affairs brought about by last night's reunion of the 1989 A's.
It should have been a night of joy, a fond look back at one of the most dynamic, entertaining and scary-good teams in not just Bay Area history, but in the history of the game. And for some people it was, including the 12 former members of that team who showed up.
Unfortunately, for others -- the press -- it was an opportunity to take pot shots at the organization.
I'm not saying the pot-shotters were wrong. Most of them made some extremely valid points. But all of the negative coverage of the night just seemed a little too gleefully spiteful for my tastes, and borderline disrespectful to the men here to be feted.
Did we really need a bunch of stories about Jose Canseco? Let it die, already. The man's a boob, and I really wish Dave Stewart and Carney Landford would have simply bitten their tongues on the topic.
Rickey Henderson did. Hendu did, too. Everyone should have.
That fire needs to be doused, not fueled. But with a few incendiary comments, the A's big night got burned. What a shame.
And now, a few quick wind sprints around The Coli ...
... Speaking of Rickey -- wow, did he look good. Sounded great, too. Not quite sure I buy his idea about building a new stadum in the Coli parking lot; it's not as easy as he made it sound, mainly because it would make parking itself here hellacious. But I loved the passion for his hometown, and I'm now convinced that he could still hit .230 if someone would sign him.
... There are so many 2009 A's punch lines I could have followed the previous line with, my head nearly exploded.
... Now seems like a good time to introduce you to my associate reporter -- that's what we call interns at MLB.com -- for the next 10 weeks. Bright young man by the name of Adam Loberstein, who comes to us from UC-Davis, where he's the top dog at the school paper. I've only known him for three days, but I can already tell he'll do fine. He's covered the River Cats for the Sac Bee, so that'll certainly help. You'll be seeing his name quite a bit, so feel free to let me know how you think he's doing.
... Yeah, yeah, yeah. Reporters aren't supposed to pull for guys they cover. Gio Gonzalez makes that nearly impossible. Just a nice kid in every way. But he was only average again tonight, no two ways about it. Maybe he'll feel a little more comfortable Tuesday; Geren says he'll get another start.
... If you woke up Nomar Garciaparra at 3 a.m., took him out to the backyard and had someone fire a 95-mph heater at him, he'd belt it into the Johnson's pool down the block.
That's all for now, gang. Peace, a steaming bowl of al dente broccoli and "Slam" by Onyx to all ...
--Mychael Urban
I was at the game it was great seeing Hendu, Henderson, Stewart etc ... I didn't hear about all the other drama. It's funny though because people focus on the A's when they talk about roids, but I think evidence shows they weren't the only ones. It's just an A that called people out. In the end I don't know if that was the worst thing that could have happened. The game is now cleaner and rules are set in place. I think it is very classless, however for the media to keep bringing it up. Selena Roberts is the worst of all. I really think the steroid issue is a non issue for all of those that did it before baseball had the balls to do anything about it. In my opinion its not the players who screwed us over it was baseball. It would be nice to get a commissioner that people respected. I don't know how the media feels but as a fun Bud Selig should go!!!!
GO A'S!!!!!! The season is still relatively early right????? How about a 20 game win streak???!?!??!?!?! :) ok i know that's asking a little much but hey the A's are just the team to do it.
I enjoy your articles, good luck to your intern even though he's from UCD. GO HORNETS!!!!!
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