How to Be An A’s Fan Living in a Giant World

The reality that many A’s fans feared the worst has come to pass.  The St. Louis Cardinals watched as their 3-1 lead in the NLCS over the San Francisco Giants evaporated into thin air and the Giants punched their ticket to the 2012 World Series to face the Detroit Tigers.  When things seem to be going the Giants’ way, it feels like nothing or no one in the world can stop them no matter from winning it all.

Where have I seen the wresling belt thing before??? Hmmmmm… (Kyle Terada-USA Today Sports)

It’s always been tough to be an A’s fan living in the Bay Area.  To someone outside the region, it seems almost impossible to imagine it being difficult for an A’s fan in their own territory, but the fact is that the Bay Area is dominated by the Giants.  It is absolutely not unusual to walk down the street and have a random Giants fan make some sort of anti-Athletics comment in my direction, in the grand scheme of things it’s meaningless but it’s still annoying.

Sadly it’s about to get exponentially worse.  As the Giants host Game 1 of the World Series on Wednesday, I for one will be proudly wearing my A’s cap as I normally do.  I’m sure to get comments from random people about how weird it is to see an A’s fan in a sea of orange and black.  But it’s really okay.  I know my loyalty to the Athletics runs deep, and I can and will defend my position if needed.

By now many of those who had jumped on the A’s bandwagon as they made their own miraculous comeback to win the AL West from the Texas Rangers have jumped ship across the bay and are proudly wearing their new Giants gear.  I won’t disparrage that fact because that sort of thing happens with any team that goes on a postseason run, it would’ve happened even more with the A’s if they had gone deeper into the playoffs, and if you’ve been to any games around the middle of the season you know that it would be a full bandwagon.

So while the worst case scenario for most A’s fans takes shape, and the team who eliminated the A’s takes on the rivals across the bay, A’s fans should make it a point to wear their gear proudly.  The fan base and the organization has been trashed quite a bit over recent years and this season really gave us all something to take pride in, so we should.  If someone asks why you aren’t wearing a Giants hat, tell them you’re a loyal A’s fan and are concentrating on celebrating the amazing season they had, and focusing on the bright future that lies ahead.  I truly believe the A’s can and will make even more noise next year than they did this year.  April 2013 will be here sooner than you think.