The Oakland Athletics deserved better

It is not a joyful one, though there was plenty of joy at the Oakland Athletics' last game at the Coliseum, fueled by a raucous pregame tailgate party that started not long after dawn. With a mix of anger, longing and resignation I walked across the catwalk from the BART train station, over the industrial yards and the trash-strewn stream, through the vendors hawking final game memorabilia, hot dogs, beer, marijuana and, yep that guy was selling hallucinogenic mushroom chocolate treats. Past the lengthy game-day ticket lines I walked toward the entrance at the Dennis Eckersley gate, popping into the tailgating crowd for a few minutes to listen to a band play joyous music, the singer belting out lyrics in Spanish.