The Oakland Athletics report to camp today for a season of rebuilding, but the trials of the 2008 baseball squad are nothing compared to the other A’s-owned sports franchise. Tonight, the MLS expansion San Jose Earthquakes come back to life and play their first exhibition game since the old Earthquakes moved to Houston a couple years ago. Which A’s franchise will rebuild faster? Well, it’s still a plausible, if unlikely, scenario, that the A’s could win this year. Meanwhile, the Quakes’ roster for tonight’s game only lists twelve players. The lone substitute is a backup goalie.
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This blog entry is pretty thin, too. Let me add this piece of frivolity to fatten things up:
Buffalo Kemp Buffalo Kemp bison bison Buffalo Kemp.
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I’m too lazy to do the math, but I think the Quakes’ roster is older, on average, than the A’s roster.
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And while we’re on the topic of expansion franchises that replaced one that moved away, BP’s Rany Jazayerli has started a new Royals blog.
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The new Quakes will play mostly in Santa Clara, but they will play their first regular season home game in the Oakland Coliseum on April 12. Later in the season, there will be two other games in Oakland, both against David Beckham and the LA Galaxy. I certainly hope the field doesn’t get chewed up like it does after Raider games. Will they put the football seats in? There’s no chart on the Quakes web site yet. I remember going to an Oakland Stompers game at the Coliseum once, but I can’t remember which direction the field went. Wow, that was 30 years ago. Man, I’m getting old.
1. That's likely what Jack Kemp said to Jim Kelly after Super Bowl XXVII. I've heard that kind of thing also happens when you get too close to Bob Dole...
http://tinyurl.com/2vxeok
2. Final score tonight: Houston Dynamo 1, San Jose Earthquakes 0.
3. Anyone going to the Quakes' other match vs the Dynamo this weekend at Kezar? I think I'm going.
Should at least beat the California Victory (USL) game I saw there last year vs the Rochester Rhinos.
Was your second section above there just to attract passing Dodger fans who may be in the neighborhood?
4. Soccer would be far more interesting if they played on pogo sticks.
5. 3 Not going to Kezar. Thinking about going to one of the Coliseum games, though. Depends on the price. The international friendlies they've had there have been way too expensive for my tastes.
The second paragraph: I had that link sitting in an unpublished blog entry for months; never had a chance to use it, so I just decided to spend it now.
4 A lot of things are more interesting when played on pogo sticks. I'd like to see a Presidential debate done on pogo sticks.