While We’re All Watching Super Bowl XLVII…
By Sean Davis
Baseball season is upon us people. The Oakland Athletics are about to begin the process of defending their 2012 AL West Championship. In just over a week’s time the Athletics pitchers and catchers will be reporting to Spring Training in Phoenix. The final hurdle between us and baseball season takes place tomorrow as Super Bowl XLVII will be contested in New Orleans.
Feb 2, 2012; New Orleans, LA, USA; General view of Super Bowl XLVII roman numerals on a barge on the Mississippi River with the Crescent City Connection bridge (Greater New Orleans bridge) at Woldenberg Park in advance of Super Bowl XLVII between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
The Super Bowl is a pretty big deal in any given season, but this year it is especially big here in the Bay Area. Many Athletics fans though are also die hard Raider fans, so the fact that the San Francisco 49ers are playing in the Super Bowl tomorrow is a sickening one to pretty much all of them. Trust me, that’s a totally understandable feeling. But there are a select few Athletics fans who also root for the 49ers.
How is that possible? The city of Oakland and the teams that play there embody a blue collar (or green) spirit that is a polar opposite to the generally elitist mentality that emanates from AT&T Park and those who occupy it. The 49ers may not have their new stadium just yet, and they play in the delapidated Candlestick Park that makes the Oakland Coliseum look like a billion dollar palace, but the history of success the team has gives them an aura that more than compensates for that. Simply put, for many fans, yours truly included, the Raiders were gone in Los Angeles while we were growing up and the 49ers were the toast of the NFL with Joe Montana and Jerry Rice et al.
For young fans, that success that was witnessed takes hold and can’t be broken. I’ll admit that it does make me cringe just a bit that I share a team with a fan base consisting of mostly San Francisco Giants fans, but I can’t deny it. So as the 49ers try to complete their “Quest For Six” tomorrow afternoon, those of you who can’t stand them should take comfort in knowing that our daily baseball fix is not far away at all. That will be something we all can agree is a wonderful thing.