Brandon remembers a pretty crappy stadium

(Flashback to 2005 in the bay area, people are carrying around 4 GB iPods, Detroit is riding high after a Pistons NBA Championship and American Idol is that new show that's moping up in the ratings)

So while attending a journalism convention in San Francisco, my coworkers and I had to fly into Oakland and ride public transportation to our hotel in San Fran. One of those stops was next to the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum - a.k.a. where the Raiders and Athletics play.

After getting off the train at a transfer spot I looked outside to see the mammoth pile of cement, cyclone fencing and razor wire.

"Is that a prison?"

"No, that's the Coliseum"

... you know, some people rag on these retro-ballparks and how much they're like shopping malls around baseball diamonds. However, does any of these reluctant sports fans remember how crappy the multi-purpose stadiums were? For example:

1. In St. Louis, temperatures would reach 130 degrees on the AstroTurf in the old Busch Stadium.

2. The Kingdome was the darkest most depressing thing in Seattle since rain.

3. Two words... sliding pits.

4. Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, County Stadium in Atlanta, Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati and JFK Stadium in Washington D.C. were essentially the same stadiums. Break out the Cookie Cutters!

The Oakland Athletics, Florida Marlins, Toronto Blue Jays and Minnesota Twins are the last teams to be playing in multi-purpose stadiums. And you know what? Nobody goes to Athletics and Marlins games. The Blue Jays are in Canada so I really can't comment on that because they just do things differently up there and the Twins were one of the teams that were supposed to be abolished a few years ago when Bud Selig wanted to make MLB smaller.

And out of all of these teams, Oakland by far has the worst stadium of them all.

At least the Raider fans seem to stay away unless there's a human sacrifice taking place in the outfield.

Hey kids! Become Oakland Athletic fans

Think Seattle sports fans are troubled? Try being an Oakland Athletics fan. They have their own issues. The Oakland Athletics have been pretty successful in wins and loses out on the field thanks to the excellent general management of Billy Beane, but everything else concerning the franchise has been a mitigated disaster.

Hey kids! Time to become Athletics fans...

You get to watch games at the Oakland Coliseum - Which is not only the worst baseball stadium in the major leagues, but you'll also get mugged outside the stadium by Oakland Raiders fans. They need the money to keep their franchise going.

You get to see the best baseball players play at the Coliseum - For the other team, after the A's refused to pay their star players any money and the Yankees or any other big-market team snatched them up.

There's plenty of seats - In fact, you and your family might be the only ones watching.

You can jump ship and nobody will notice - Really, at this point, people expect A's fans to completely give up on their team.

Enjoy reading about the A's in the newspaper - Because they don't get their games on television, or radio. In the bay area.

Have Giants envy - Trust me. I know a Giants fan. That's not something to envy.

Plan on moving to Fremont in a little bit - Ah the fine baseball town of Fremont... they have such history there.

My friend Dylan Kitzan just had a pretty rough night

So JustSON contributor and Unforgivable blogger Dylan Kitzan just had a pretty rough night. He watched his team, the Spokane Chiefs - a team he has season tickets to - get eliminated in the second round of the playoffs after losing game 7, 1-0.

In overtime.

Then there's the Boston Red Sox, a team that Kitzan religiously follows , who lost 6-5 in the 12th inning tonight to the Oakland A's. This drops them to 2-6 on the season and keeps them in dead last of the AL East.

Meanwhile, the Yankees won tonight 7-3.

Again, it's early in the season. But damn. This has not been a good night for the man.

You can help Kitzan recover from what I can only compare this to is breaking up with your girlfriend of five years after she cheated on you with Jason Giambi.

So please. Send beer. Women. A DVD copy of Rocky 4. Some cigars. A small stash of slightly illegal drugs. More beer (Kokanee). And a shot of the strongest liquor you have to Mr. Kitzan's house.

Godspeed.