Last night we went to the A’s – Tigers game in Oakland, and the A’s managed a 5-3 win. Hooray!

The game was sold out, probably because of the holiday and the fireworks afterward. Before the national anthem, there was a video on the big screen of this Army soldier whose truck had recently hit a mine in Iraq. He was just home from the war, and threw out the first pitch while on crutches.

It turned out he was sitting practically right next to me; my seat was on the aisle and he was directly across in the next section, his right leg in a huge full cast. What I noticed the most about him was how gaunt he looked. His hands were incredibly bony, and seemed to shake. He ate a huge hot dog with everything on it.

He and his colleagues were all dressed in green fatigues and black berets, and they saluted during the national anthem. People who walked by stopped to shake his hand. I am opposed to the war, I think it is a horrific shame for our country, and I am opposed to the president and think he should be imprisoned for war crimes. But I have nothing personal against these guys, though I knew nothing about what they’ve done, or what they have gone through in the name of cheap oil and christianity. Ooops, sorry, “freedom.”

ANYHOO. It was a fun game. Afterward, they opened up the outfield to the fans to go down and lay out blankets to watch the fireworks show. We stayed in our seats. We know how much it sucks getting out of the stadium and to BART after a sellout game. We watched about 5 minutes of fireworks and then beat it to the shuttles that would take us to the station.

The “shuttles” were actually retired yellow school buses. It was a short ride across the train tracks and a tiny stream through an industrial area. From the windows we could still see the fireworks perfectly. Our bus was full of drunk screaming girls with fake tits. Okay, only two or three of them, but they were screaming so loud it was tough to hear anyone else. I don’t know why, but I always see so many skanks at A’s games. It was like 50 degrees with swirling wind and yet I still saw countless women wearing tube tops and dark lip liner and stilettos.

We beat the crowds and got on a train into the City. These two guys next to us were visiting from Detroit, apparently had come all the way out just for this game. After chatting with them for awhile, it came out that one of them was from the same little town in Michigan as Brian. It was really weird. Small world.

I love the A’s, but I think that will be my last game in the East Bay this season. It’s such a huge hassle compared to going to Giants games. Maybe that’s why A’s attendance is typically so low.

No plans today except world cup (on right now), Giants game on later, and working on my book, which I haven’t done in a couple weeks now.