Frontpage Features

BY RICK TITTLE

What a lovely picture.  Is it from somewhere in Holland?  Perhaps the gardens of Versailles?  Maybe they’re flowers from Hawaii?  Well, if you think any of those thoughts, you’d be wrong, wrong, and wrong.  It is the Oakland Coliseum – fer realz, OMG.  It’s a picture I took with my cell phone before an A’s game earlier this season.  I challenge you to show me another MLB or NFL stadium that has anything like this.  Yet this is only one small part of the aesthetic and intangible beauty of this remarkable venue.

I’m so tired of hearing about how much the Coliseum stinks.  I’m fed up with lame out-of-towners who buy a team and then tarp off the third deck.  I’ve no use for people who call it the “mausoleum”.  And I especially hold a tremendous amount of disdain for those who think that success cannot be had at the Coliseum.  Do they think we’re stupid?  Did the A’s win four World Series titles playing their home games at other stadia?  Was the ‘72 championship won while they were playing at Bishop O’Dowd?  Did the Swingin’ A’s of ’73 host visiting teams at Laney College?  Did Rollie Fingers field that last comebacker from Von Joshua over at Oakland Tech in ‘74?  And did the Bash Brothers of ’89 slam their way to glory inside the confines of Bushrod Park? Umm…let me think…ah, no.

What other local stadium can boast it’s own stop on a major public subway line?  Candlestick is a nine-hour MUNI ride through the mud, all leading to a massive refrigerator.  AT&T Park has ancient trams which extend to Fisherman’s Wharf – wow, how convenient.  Memorial Stadium is an all-day trail of tears walk from Shattuck, with splintering benches waiting for you.  And my car is still parked somewhere down on the Farm from the ’94 World Cup.

People complain that there aren’t restaurants adjacent to the Coliseum.  Well, sorry about that.  There also aren’t places to park your sedan chair while you beat your servants.  But if a dog and a $4.99 brew doesn’t do it for you, then go up to the Westside Club for a “proper” meal, princess.

So the next time you’d like to see a baseball or football game, and you’d like a place that’s warm, comfortable and with easy access, I can only think of one place: the place with the beautiful flowers. 

Rick Tittle can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it