This March 28th (Opening Day 2024), I made my first visit to Oakland Coliseum, the soon-to-be-former home now of two of my childhood teams. I say soon-to-be-former, because at the end of this baseball season, the Oakland Athletics– like my beloved Oakland Raiders before them– will cease to be anything but a memory.

When Al Davis moved the Oakland Raiders to Los Angeles in 1982, they ceased to be my NFL team. They were simply a new team with some of the same players and the same uniforms. But they were NOT the Oakland Raiders.

When the capricious Davis then moved the Raiders back to Oakland in 1995 (only to move them to Las Vegas 15 years later), I like many refused to bite. Beginning in 1982, the Oakland Raiders were just a fond memory..

My local team, the Minnesota Twins, were created in 1961, when then owner Calvin Griffith chose to close-up shop in Washington, D.C. and moved his “franchise” to Bloomington, Minnesota. If you google “most wins by a Minnesota Twins pitcher” you get this answer: Walter Johnson.

For all we know, the “Big Train” who pitched for the Washington Senators from 1907-1927 may never even have stepped foot in the State of Minnesota. But officially he is the pitching leader for a team that never even existed in his lifetime. This is because the Washington Senators and the Minnesota Twins are considered the same “franchise.”

This “franchise” distinction fools no one. It did not fool the fans of the Brooklyn Dodgers, or the New York Giants, or the Philadelphia Athletics, or the Kansas City Athletics.

At the end of this season, the asshole who owns the Oakland Athletics franchise (please note: I refuse to even acknowledge the ass-clown’s name) will take his franchise with him and leave town . The Oakland Athletics will then (like the Oakland Raiders before them) be only a memory. A wonderful memory. Rooted always in Oakland, and the hearts of Oakland A’s fans.

In the end, an “owner” may own a franchise, but he doesn’t own a player, a team, or the fans of that team. Especially in an age where the ballparks and stadiums are financed and built with tax dollars.

To the Asshat who currently owns the Athletics franchise, and to owners of all professional sports franchises (with the exception of the Green Bay Packers, which are owned by the community), let me say this: Watch out! Karma is a bitch.