Joining the team at just the right time

I think we all know what the world really needs right now don’t we? That’s right: Another sports blogger.

OK, maybe the world doesn’t really need another avid sports fan feeding more news and opinions into the blogosphere, but it certainly couldn’t hurt which is why I thought I’d take a moment to introduce myself in my first post to this site. I’m Jason Leary and I’m the newest staff writer here at Swingin’ A’s.

A little bit about me: I covered sports while majoring in journalism at San Francisco State University and I spent more than a decade working as a copy editor and page designer at newspapers in Northern California including a fun, entertaining run on the sports desk at The Press Democrat in Santa Rosa back when the Big Three were working their magic in Oakland. For the past several years I’ve been blogging independently about the A’s and now I’m here at Swingin’ A’s.

Oh yeah, I did I mention that I’m also a lifelong, die-hard A’s fan? Before my son was born I made countless attempts to get my wife to buy into naming our little man after a past or present A’s player … including Miguel Tejada. For some strange reason she didn’t embrace “Miguel Tejada Leary” as an ideal baby name. Go figure. I consider it a major victory that I managed to squeeze in Hudson as a middle name as a tip of the cap to the dearly departed Tim Hudson.

I hope to contribute to Swingin’ A’s as regularly as my two kids will allow but with an energetic 2-year-old son and a 6-month old daughter that’ll probably prove to be a daunting task at times but it can’t be much harder than the A’s trying to win in spite of former manager Bob Geren.

To say the least, I couldn’t be more excited to jump into this community of A’s fans. If there’s one thing I’ve consistently found in a lifetime of living in the Bay Area and cheering for the A’s it’s that almost every fan I’ve ever run into is a passionate, smart, die-hard supporter of the team.

Sometimes we agree, sometimes we disagree but there’s never a lack of passion even if there often seems to be a lack of numbers in TV ratings or attendance at the ballpark.

I sincerely believe that I’m coming on board here at Swingin’ A’s at a really great time to talk about the A’s. I’m not saying that it’s always great watching the A’s (yes, I’m talking about the Bob Geren Era) but it’s definitely a lively point in the franchise’s history to discuss baseball. The won-loss record at any given moment, ownership, the ballpark situation, on-field and off-field management — there’s never a dull moment if you truly bleed green and gold.

There may be a lot of frustrating moments but it’s never dull.

If I had told you on June 10 when the A’s were on the verge of losing their 11th game in a row in Bob Melvin’s managerial debut that they’d be on a 5 game win streak today and just 5.5 games out of first place you probably would have thought I was crazy. But that’s exactly where we are.

Right now Melvin can do no wrong, Jemile Weeks is daily dose of youthful excitement and gold jerseys are the hottest thing since sunburn.

Call me corny, call me crazy but I believe that every A’s season offers a chance, no matter how long the odds, of greatness.

Every season is a roller coaster ride and I hope we can have fun discussing the A’s here while we cringe and hang on for dear life through the low points and joyously throw our hands up in the air while enjoying the high points. Hopefully when this year’s ride comes to a stop it’ll be late October, champagne will be flowing in the clubhouse and “Celebration” will be blasting in the Oakland Coliseum.