We Believe?

The threat is constant in Oakland. So much so that petitions have been signed, activist groups formed, and mayoral speeches given. “If we don’t do something,” says Chris Dobbins, a 41-year-old season-ticket holder for the A’s, Raiders, and Warriors, “if we don’t get the political will to really fight for this, then all of this will be over. It’ll be gone.”

He says this while sitting at a bar that overlooks the field at O.co Coliseum, where the first-place A’s are playing the third-place Angels in front of a crowd fit for a last-place team. By this he means the A’s, along with their cotenants the Raiders, as well as the next-door neighbor Warriors. He means that this crowd, paltry as it may be, will no longer come together. Some will drive to see the San Jose A’s in their new park; others will just stay home. He means that this piece of land, long a gathering point for loyal masochists in green-and-gold or silver-and-black or shirts that say We Believe, will be no more than a parking lot. He means that this city, San Francisco’s long-tougher and now-hipper little sister, will cease to be a big-league town.

The threat is simple. Today, Oakland has three teams. Within five years, it could have none.

It’s nice to think that all of that matters.

It’s nice to think that sports are important, that we’re rooting for more than a jersey. “The teams are a fabric of the community,” says Dobbins, and when he says it he’s speaking for millions, not just those around Oakland, but anyone whose allegiance is based on geography. It’s nice to think that sports contribute to civic life. They bring people together. It’s nice to say that, regardless of race or class, we all throw our hands skyward and scream the same way. “It gives a sense that you’re a part of this world,” says Dobbins. “These teams, especially ones that have Oakland across the jersey — they say that this city matters.”

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