What the hell happened to the Oakland A’s? Last month they were the darlings of baseball with the league’s best record and had made deals to try and cement a place in the World Series. Now they’re seven games back in the American League West looking up at the Angels. Yes,they’re in the top Wild Card spot,but that isn’t where they or their fans thought they would be.

Some fans are even blaming the Cespedes-Lester trade as the main reason the A’s are struggling. I don’t think that’s the reason why at all. Sometimes a team can only play so good for so long and the A’s have done just that. There is still time for them to turn things around and reclaim the division crown they’ve won two years straight, but making the playoffs is what is most important. You have a chance if you make the postseason. However, If they don’t make it to the World Series, this season is for sure a lost one and for Billy Beane,it makes him the ultimate goat.

Keeping with baseball, the Sacramento RiverCats have ended their season and did not reach the playoffs like they had hoped. Their affiliation with the Oakland A’s might be over as well and some think that owner Susan Savage may want to affiliate with the San Francisco Giants,and many A’s fans are not happy about it.

In a column written by Marcos Breton of the Sacramento Bee, he writes that many fans on social media are bitter about the potential affiliation change. Below is a quote from the column.

“Attended my last River Cats game (last) weekend,” wrote one person on Facebook recently. “My family will NOT be coming back …”

Really? Because they might not be affiliated with the A’s next yer is why you won’t go back? That’s a petty reason to decline your support for a minor league baseball team.

As a Giants fan,I also like the RiverCats as well because they’re located in my hometown. I have attended many games at Raley Field and will continue to. Quite frankly I don’t blame Savage if she chooses to affiliate her RiverCats with the Giants. The Giants are a success on the field and also when it comes to marketing and growing their fan base and are fourth in attendance this season in all of baseball. The A’s have not been very good at marketing or getting fans to come to the games despite the winning product that has been on the field since 2012 (24th in attendance this season).

Breton also points out that the RiverCats could get lost in the sports shuffle locally as the Kings are constructing a new arena and the Republic FC is growing ever popular and on the fast track to become an MLS franchise.

If fans are so bitter to withdraw support of a minor league team because of who the parent club is,they don’t need to come back. We don’t need such childish adults as fans.

The Giants have come back in a big way since August. Once thought to be out of the postseason race altogether, they have come within striking distance of the Dodgers for the NL West lead and are locked in to the first Wild Card spot. One of the big reasons why is Buster Posey.

Posey has been hitting the living piss out of the baseball, hitting .508 since Aug. 21 as of Sunday. He has even been considered a darkhorse MVP candidate as of late. Not to be outdone, Hunter Pence hit safely in 18 straight games heading into Sunday’s 6-1 loss to Detroit. Joe Panik and Andrew Susac have also come alive. 

I’m cautiously optimistic about their chances to win the NL West, but if history serves as a reminder of how much this team improves as the season goes on, I like their chances.

If people are wondering why I never pick my own New England Patriots to win the Super Bowl anymore,Sunday’s loss to Miami is why.

The Patriots held a 20-10 halftime lead and looked very good in the first half. The second half was when the team shit the bed, getting pounded on defense and coming up extremely short on offense and making no adjustments whatsoever to try and get back into the game. Miami won 33-20.

I know it’s only the first game and that there are 15 more of these to go,but you can’t lose to teams you should be beating. The Dolphins are not that good of a team and to lose a season opener like that to them that you should win is unacceptable. I’m hoping for a better result against Minnesota who beat a very depleted Rams team, but after the first week, I am a bit weary. Especially if they can’t stop the run, which against Miami they had a bad time with. Imagine them trying to stop a guy like Adrian Peterson.

Oh,one more thing, the next time you think about trading away your All-Pro offensive lineman,re-think that decision, you could have used him yesterday. Big time!

The NHL has announced that their Winter Classic will be held in Washington D.C. where the Capitals will play host to the Chicago Blackhawks. This will be the first time it’s being held in D.C. and the second time the Capitals have been in the Winter Classic. While I don’t have any complaints about them hosting the game, I do wonder why this game is only held in East Coast cities.

When are we going too seee this game take place in a city like Denver? Or Minneapolis? Or Columbus? I love the Winter Classic, but having it in the same northeastern cities is going to make the game stale. There are just as many fans in Minnesota who would want the game in their city as much as fans in Boston, New York,or Pittsburgh. I hope the NHL in the future considers cities that are west of I-95 for this game and not the auxillary Stadium Series games (a.k.a. NOT the Winter Classic).

The San Jose Sharks have made numerous changes this year, most notably the removal of Joe Thornton as captain,but as big of change as that is the decision to ditch the black alternate jersey come playoff time. The decision comes after the Sharks blew a 3-0 series lead to the eventual Stanley Cup champions, the Los Angeles Kings.

Perhaps the move was made to not remind fans of one of the biggest choke jobs in NHL history, but I think it’s a good move. Why? Because I didn’t like the black jerseys to begin with. The Sharks are known as Team Teal. You can’t hold that nickname if you’re wearing black jerseys during the playoffs. Now if the Sharks can bring back the black trim to their teal jerseys (and the teal to the whites), that would be great.

Staying with hockey uniforms, here’s a jersey idea I can definitely get behind. It was announced last week that the Bakersfield Condors will be wearing their Puffy Shirt jerseys on November 16 in honor of the 25th anniversary of Seinfeld.

Not only will Condors players be wearing the jerseys, but also the nameplates will be those of characters from the show such as J. Peterman, Kenny Bania,and Assman. The jerseys will also feature sponsors such as Kramerica and Vandelay Industries.

This is probably my favorite promotion of all time for any sports team because Seinfeld is my favorite television show of all time. It’s about time a sports team honored this great show and the Condors are doing it in a big way. This is probably the most exciting thing to happen to Bakersfield…ever!