Suppose you’re an indigenous reindeer herder on the frozen tundras of Kamchatka. You live in yurtas, like this one:

Every few days, as the reindeer graze the land barren, you pack up your home and move to another place, and rebuild your camp. You’re never settled, always changing. This has been your life for as long as you can remember.

Now suppose that suddenly, someone swooped you up and flew you off to a luxurious mansion on a warm tropical island, and said OK, now you live here, and you’ll never have to move again.

What would you do? Perhaps you’d be happy about the easier lifestyle. More likely, though, you’d be in total shock.

Well, as an A’s fan, that’s pretty much how I feel today after the A’s signed Eric Chavez.

A’s fans are nomadic. We settle down for a while with some players, let them graze awhile, and then move on to something else. Reggie, Catfish, Rickey, Canseco, McGwire, Giambi, Tejada…our players always leave. The team itself has moved twice, and is always threatening to move again. We’re used to it. We know we’re just a whistle stop on a journey to some other place, and everyone else is just passing through.

So now I’m sitting here, trying to think about Eric Chavez sticking around for six or seven more years, and well, I can’t do it. It’s beyond my ken, completely incomprehensible. But give me some time. I think that maybe, eventually, I could get used to this.