It
is a tough time for fans of Oakland's teams
Daniel
Frias
As
the seasons go by it gets tougher and tougher
to be a devoted Oakland sports fan. Sunday
the Raiders lost their third game of the
season to the Chicago Bears no less blowing
an 18-3 halftime lead.
As
if that wasn't bad enough the Oakland Athletics
lost to the Boston Red Sox Monday 4-3 putting
them out of the American League Championship
Series for the fourth straight year.
The
A's were up two games to none in the series
only to lose three straight. Manny Ramirez
hit a three- run homer in the bottom of
the sixth inning off 2002 AL Cy Young pitcher
Barry Zito. The A's rallied and had the
bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth
when relief pitcher Derek Lowe threw a fast
ball right down the middle to strike out
Terrance Long looking and dash the A's hope
of advancing to the next round.
What
curse of the great Bambino? There must be
a curse of Giambi. He was safe at home plate
two years ago in that playoff game when
the As' played the Yankees. The A's have
now lost nine straight games, in which they
could have advanced in the postseason, setting
a major league record.
To
make matters worse I am now in fourth place
in my fantasy football league after being
in first just two weeks ago.
The
Raiders loss I can deal with. They're an
aging team that doesn't have much left.
Gannon is done. Tim Brown is too. Jerry
Rice can still play and so can Charlie Garner,
but they're defense is suspect.
But
my beloved Oakland A's --they're too good
a team, which leads me to question whether
a coach makes a difference in a team winning
or not.
In
Dallas Bill Parcells, former New York Giants,
Jets and New England Patriots head coach,
has the Cowboys, America's team, on top
the NFC east with a 3-1 record.
Former
San Francisco Giants head coach, Dusty Baker,
has the Chicago Cubs past the first round
of the playoffs after beating the Atlanta
Braves in five games for their first postseason
series win since 1908 when the team won
the World Series against the Detroit Tigers.
Kerry
Woods was quoted as saying "We stayed
positive, and having Dusty in that [manager's]
seat helps"
Well
it didn't help the Giants last year and
neither did having manager Felipe Alou help
the Giants team this year. The Giants lost
to the Florida Marlins 3-1 in the first
round of the playoffs.
Do
I even need to mention what John Gruden
did for the Tampa Bay Bucs last season?
Good. I hate having to relive bad memories.
Now
let's move over to the hardwood floor where
the toughest thing to be in Oakland is not
a Raiders' or a 49ers' fan, but a
Golden State Warriors fan. Yes the Warriors.
The Warriors were off to a good start last
season improving the teams winning percentage
under then first year head coach Eric Musselman
by 18 games from the previous season. But
some genius managed to enrage almost every
die-hard Warrior fan in the state when he
decided to trade some of the Warrior's best
players in exchange for Avery Johnson and
Nick Van Exel.
The
Warriors play their second preseason game
tonight against the Lakers. Looks like I'm
in for more disappointment.
Daniel
Frias is a journalism major at Cal State
Long Beach.
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