2004-12-17 9:44 a.m.
Nothing Is Sacred
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Sometimes it really sucks to be an A's fan.
Tim Hudson was the player who got me seriously hooked on baseball. He was partly responsible for my defection from Giants casual fandom to A's rabid fandom (although the Giants are my backup team and I will forever and always hate the Dodgers.) He was the most reliable of the Big Three, even though his record last year doesn't really reflect it. And he seems like a stand-up guy who's really disappointed to go -- unlike Jason Giambi, who slammed the A's fans on his way out the door, or Zito, who's probably gunning for Yankeedom with all those Letterman appearances (and a guest spot on JAG? Come on.)
And I lay the blame for this squarely on the shoulders of the cheap-ass owners, Steve Schott and Ken Hoffmann, who "can't afford" to keep players like Hudson and will continue to let star players go until the city caves and buys them a new stadium. Billy Beane has worked miracles, but because of the ownership, there isn't a single player on the team who can't be bought for the right price, and that's a very disheartening realization for a fan.
At times like these, I turn to the Athletics Nation and its manifesto:
Amen, Brother Blez. Amen.