The Roots Debacle is Evidence of Real Potential

Last night, I was so excited to be at the Oakland Roots USL home debut versus the Sacramento Republic. My wife, daughter and I had plans to meetup with my brother and his family and my sister and her family. It was the first time we had seen my sister, her husband and their son in almost two years.

It all went south pretty quickly as we walked up to the gate at Laney College stadium. People were coming out of the way in and confusion abounded. Eventually, a man from the Roots came around and announced that the Sacramento team refused to play on the field and the game had been cancelled. This turned out to be untrue by the team’s own statement, so that was real bad form… blaming your opponent for cancelling a game that was cancelled because the field had dead sod and was an injury risk.

But the real event happened when my brother texted us from the parking lot and said “Meet us at Plank…”

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A Howard Terminal Skeptic Warms to the Idea

Anyone who knows me knows that I bleed Oakland Athletics green and gold. I used to be a front page writer for Athletics Nation, Editor at Large for Newballpark and have season ticket holder pins, bobbleheads, jerseys, hats… nesting dolls. You name it, I got it in Oakland Athletics stylings.

And further, I started researching ballpark developments in 2000. This after the City of Oakland made an objectively TERRIBLE deal to bring the Raiders back to Oakland in 1996 and followed it up by refurbishing the Oakland Arena for the Warriors. Both of those deals, 25 years later, have real ramifications for the City of Oakland as they approach a potential new deal with the A’s. This despite, and probably a little bit because of, both of those teams plying their respective trades in different cities.

One of the very first “sites” I ever tried to understand was Jack London Square on Oakland’s waterfront and this was because at the time… The Giants had just completed their park right on the water and it was gorgeous. I quickly realized that “Jack London Square” really meant Howard Terminal based on the HOK Oakland Ballpark Study that was released not long after I started trying to figure this out on my own, and there were copious reasons that this site seemed like a fantasy back then, and I wrote about it. More than once.

I am here today to tell you that I am 100% in favor of a ballpark at Howard Terminal now, and it isn’t because of Sophomoric threats of relocation. It is about Oakland.

A Letter to my Daughter, the College Graduate

I wrote a letter on behalf of my wife and I to my eldest daughter, Alibi, for her sorority’s Senior Night (KAO, yo!). I feel compelled to share. Peace be with you!

Finding Focus, Once Again.

Warning: HELLA SPOILERS about Zack Snyder’s Justice League if you ain’t seen it and don’t want to know…

“Dad! I think he just ran fast enough to go back in time! That cube came back out of the water…”

“That may come in handy.”

A conversation between my 13 year old daughter, Georgie, and myself while watching ZSJL

The Legend of Freddy the Fish

Freddy the Fish, property of the Dublin Fishery came home for a sleep over in 1999 with (l to r) Uncle Larry, me and lifelong friend James Kirk

It is as time tested and true as anything. If you get a group of August people together, some kind of well intentioned, but ultimately wrong, something is going to happen.

I don’t know what to call this…

He thought of me as a son.

A drawing of my Stepdad, Terry Parsons at my sister Tamara’s wedding. Quintessential Terry, I can hear his laugh just looking at this. He probably just made a terrible pun based dad joke right before this picture was taken.

What the World Needs Now… Batman, but a Different Batman.

I like to write about spiritual topics on Saturdays. Therefore, sticking with this theme… I am today writing about one of my spiritual heroes: Batman.

(l to r) Red Riding Hood, Batman and Robin

With Halloween just around the corner, there is no shortage of costumes languishing on shelves. I walk through the costume section of Target any time we go there, masked and sanitized. I think back to the Halloween when my brother and I were Batman and Robin and I prefer the home made costumes our mother made. Not because the muscles were ripplier, or that they were tremendously accurate. But, because of the Batman and Robin that we wanted to be.

Adventures in #Dadhood: The Uncle Chronicles

“I also need to have a mullet.”

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My niece and nephew watched me today while their parents had some errands to run. Our activity? Making them into superheroes! #livefromthestudy #unclehood #hedemandedamullet

A post shared by Jeffrey August (@jeffreyaugust) on Sep 26, 2020 at 3:55pm PDT

Things we Should Keep When This is Over: MLB Playoff Mania?!?! (Plus Expansion)

Man what a dang week of playoff baseball this was. My love of baseball is almost part of my DNA. I was born into a crazy sports loving family. Mainly because my father was the oldest of seven boys (which is why I call my Grammie St. Evelyn, seven boys ?!?!?!?!). So they all grew up playing every sort of game imaginable and passed that down to all of us in the next generation. The backyard at my grandparents house was always best when it was being used as a wiffleball stadium.

2 Cat Park, San Lorenzo CA. Wiffleball Palace.

I spent so many happy hours playing wiffleball in my grandparents backyard, in my Uncle John and Aunt Carol’s backyard (UJ is the funniest guy I know, he named his backyard Jooky Stadium based on a hilarious Sprite commercial) and over at my man Lester Partridge’s house, 2 Cat Field. I mean the point is, today the spiritual topic we are diving into is the great game that is responsible for wiffleball. We are talking baseball.

Adventures in #Dadhood: Dang it, a Circle is a Shape!

I have struggled with getting into shape for pretty much my whole adult life. For a while I got into running, at other times I tried lifting weights and I have done the miracle diets. All of these things worked, until they didn’t.

My dungeon, built for Squats, Presses, Rows and Deadlifts!

At this point I have settled in on some general concepts and a plan that has been developed by a childhood friend who runs a gym in my hometown, Ryan. I am finding that the key is… to find something that I can do consistently, duh.