Growing up I was lucky because my parents lived a short 10 minute drive from the Oakland Athletics Coliseum.  We could decide half an hour before a game to go and would always be able to get tickets.  The Tickets in the third deck were cheap, beers were cheap, and Lego Land was a great place to play with my friends. It was an idyllic set up for any A’s fan. 

I will never forget Saturdays spent in the back yard with my father mowing the grass, Bill King on in the background.  The sound of Bill King calling the game with his infamous “HOLY TOLEDO!”, always brings me back to childhood.  The A’s were always on the radio then, even during spring training.  My father and I would crowd around the radio on warm spring afternoons listening to Fosse and King call it from the Cactus League. When our family would stay at a friends cabin in the mountains my father and I would get out the tin foil and wrap it around the radio’s antenna, adjusting until we could get even the weakest signal of the A’s game.  We were always able to get something through the airwaves. 

Now as a young woman living near Sacramento it is incredibly hard to get A’s games. So much has been happening in the Bay Area over the past few years and I really think it started with the opening of AT&T Park. The entire Bay Area shifted with a major bias towards the Giants which I would not mind if equal fanfare were given to the A’s in the local media.  But it wasn’t equal and hasn’t been for quite some time.  The Giants have KNBR 680 (AM) a station I can get out here in the Sacramento area and the A’s are now on 95.7 The Wolf (FM) A station that cuts out once I hit Yolo County.  Apparently the station is going to an all Sports format and will cover the Sharks and the A’s  which is fantastic because KNBR would probably rather cover fishing than ever talk about the A’s. That is unless they are playing the Giants.

So my only option is to catch A’s games on T.V which is easier said than done.  I purchased cable for the sole purpose of watching A’s games and the MLB Network.  But living in such a sports rich market with 2 NBA teams, 2  NFL teams, 2 MLB teams, 1 NHL team, and 1 MLS team makes seeing the one team I want hard.  Locally we have Comcast Sports Net California and Comcast Sports Net Bay Area.

 I have all but given up on CSN Bay Area because the are just like KNBR: all Giants all the time.  There is an overage channel CSN + which is somewhere in the high numbers on my T.V.  that usually carries the A’s and seems to hock Jewelery like QVC when there is no game. CSN California says they cover all 144 A’s games this season but when I went to watch a game the other day all that was on was Arena Football. Seriously?!? Arena Football over the A’s? If it was a pro sport such as the NFL I might understand, but not this.  My friend tried to calm me  and said “Well at least the Giants game is on. Watch that” To which I replied “That is not the A’s game!” So I caved and purchased the MLB Gameday audio so I could at least listen to the A’s game because there is no radio station  where I live.   And I am an hour and a half from the A’s right near their Triple-A team.  You would think the A’s would want to reach their Triple-A fans.

This season the A’s have added Matsui to their roster and with him comes all of the Japanese media coverage and fanfare.  I have a feeling they are receiving better Athletics coverage than I am. A’s sport writer Susan Slusser has written a lot about this issue on The Drumbeat .   A few days ago she wrote about the switch to an all Sports Radio format at 95.7 and I highly suggest going over there and reading the pages of comments fans have posted.  They are pretty upset with the lack of coverage the A’s have been receiving.