Idiots Write About Sports

For a nice, little four-year stretch — from 2000 to 2003 — the wife and I used to celebrate the Fourth of July by taking in a baseball game live and in person. For three of those four years, our chosen venue was the Oakland Coliseum. The move to Southern California put an end to that streak last year… but I still had the opportunity to watch the Athletics on television while prepping my world-famous barbecue beef sandwiches for public consumption.
This year… nothing. The A’s are idle today, flying off to Ontario to face the Toronto Blue Jays, who also have the day off.
This chaps my hide. I can understand how teams are inclined to not play matinees on Memorial or Labor days — folks usually have something other than attending ballgames on that day, whether it’s a cook-out or a trip down to the shore or a token appearance at the AFL-CIO picnic. But the Fourth of July — that’s one of those holidays that’s inextricably linked with baseball, much in the same way that few people can imagine Thanksgiving without a football game (or whatever it is the Detroit Lions are marketing what they do these days). It should be mandatory to have a game scheduled on the Fourth, even if it is played in Toronto in front of dozens of indifferent Canadians.
Get on the stick, Major League Baseball schedule-makers. I do not plan to celebrate an A’s-free Fourth this time next year.