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The above headline will catch you by surprise, but the wind is blowing in that way.  The point is that several people behind the scenes, in touch with the ownership group, and around the Bay Area are talking about how Oakland Athletics Managing Partner Lew Wolff has, as one person put it "blown $20 million" on the effort to find a new home for the Oakland Athletics. Another contact told me one would be "fired" if they lost even $8 million on such a development project so early into the process.  But the concensus for now is to let Wolff continue to do his work, but he's on a short leach.  The main problem is Wolff fell in love with the "baseball village" concept, where the ownership has to buy a lot of land not just for a baseball stadium but for residential development in the hope that the improved land sells for more than the group bought it for.  That works in a credit-health, prosperous economy, but in today's recessionary and deflationary wo

OK, since the latest baseball drama involves my favorite player, the talented-yet-oh-so-egotistical Frank Thomas, I feel obliged to write a plea to the Oakland A's in his defense. That was a good year in 2006, Oakland. Remember it? Remember going to the playoffs, the bobbleheads, and roaring, packed stadium? The Oakland A's were serious contenders, and part of that had to do with the seasoned leadership of Frank Thomas. I know, much has been made of his diva antics this past weekend, but he was genial in Oakland, and his experience helped make that team what it was: playoff-worthy contenders. The A's should make the best of an unforeseen series of fortuitous coincidences. The Mariners and Angels are not as dominant as people expected them to be, yet the A's have far surpassed anyone's expectations; and now Thomas is available, and without denting Oakland's wallet, would probably play anywhere so that he has a chance to rectify his career. Take advantage o

This article below is from KNTV San Francisco -- somehow the Oakland Tribune missed this. But at any rate, I wonder if the residents would feel that way if they had to pay for it? I think the survey may have been rigged to get a positive outcome. 64% Back A's Fremont Ballpark Proposal Researchers: Fremont 'Strongly Supports' A's Ballpark Village POSTED: 2:12 pm PST November 14, 2007 UPDATED: 3:53 pm PST November 14, 2007 FREMONT, Calif. -- Residents of Fremont strongly back a proposal for a new Oakland A's "ballpark village" project, according to results released by a research firm hired by the team. A's organization officials said they hired EMC Research to determine the public's reaction to the plan, released the results Wednesday. According to the telephone survey of Fremont residents, a strong majority supports a new ballbark village complex in the city. Sixty-two percent said they supported the project. Thirty-two percent said they were opp

Oakland A's owner Lew Wolff continues to chase a pipe-dream of a project to build a ball park in Fremont using a financing plan that I've told Don Fisher of the Gap is not workable. It's funny what ego can do, but even a large ego can go only so far. It's a waste of time what the A's are doing. What's even sillier is saying they're not going to stay in Oakland. Where the hell are they going, and with who's money? Baseball, both in TV ratings and franchise value, isn't the investment it used to be for an organization in a market this size. There's an answer, but I'm not going to give all of....Well, ok. Part of the answer is that Lew needs to learn local politics. Right now, he's really screwing up. He would get a losing score playing my Oakland Baseball Simworld. A's owner says there's no chance team will stay in Oakland Carolyn Jones, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer Monday, October 22, 2007 (10-22) 22:13 PDT Sa

It doesn’t matter if it’s a retail business or the Oakland A’s, all good economic development efforts start with one thing: action. Well, two things – action and aggression. Over the past six years, the City of Oakland – and I mean everyone, not just the government, has shown little of either. By contrast, Fremont, led by Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty, and Fremont’s Mayor Bob Wasserman have been both active and aggressive in attempting to yank the A’s from Oakland. What can Oakland do? Simple. Fight. Take action and aggressively work to retain the A’s. Oakland should use Jacksonville, Florida as an example. Jacksonville had no business thinking it could host a Super Bowl game, but their shortcomings didn’t stop them from trying. They were rejected by the NFL, but kept coming back until finally in 2000, they landed the right to host the 2005 Super Bowl – the one the Oakland-Alameda County Sports Commission and I worked to bring to Oakland. We had a better plan, and