We Believe?

But what happens when you take that away? What happens when you take a city — one more famous for its violence than for anything else — and you eliminate those pieces of laundry that announce its existence to the world? What happens when economics and politics and demographics all conspire, moving franchises to cities deemed more important, to fans deemed more fit to support a team? If you do that to a city — if you strip it not just of one team but of every team — then what do you have left? In Oakland, we might soon find out.

Jean Quan thinks this is important. She’s Oakland’s mayor, the first woman and the first Asian American to hold that office, and she’s walking into the back room of a sports bar on this Wednesday night to update constituents on their teams.

The room is awash in green-and-gold and silver-and-black. Scattered throughout are splashes of Warriors blue. It’s the monthly meeting of Save Oakland Sports, a group started by Dobbins and now in the process of applying for nonprofit status. There are more than 40 people in attendance — a cross section of race and class, about 90 percent male. Dobbins stands up front, addressing the fans in a blue shirt and tie, and as he watches Quan walk in, the sound of his voice is swallowed by cheers.

Quan is 63 years old, too radical for most cities but in Oakland not quite radical enough. She is shaped like a thumbtack and has the voice of an alto racetrack announcer. She is followed into the room by her husband, Floyd Huen, who wears an A’s cap and jacket. They’ve come to update the group on each team’s status in Oakland, to explain how and why, they believe, all three will remain in town. When she reaches the podium, Quan grabs the hat off the top of Huen’s head. “I’m waving this in San Francisco’s face!” she yells, because in Oakland, Giants fans’ suffering is nearly as important as A’s fans’ joy. “This is our year, not theirs!”

For now, that’s true. But if the A’s keep winning, future years could belong to San Jose. That’s where owner Lew Wolff wants to move the team. San Jose is an hour south of Oakland and the capital of Silicon Valley, a fast-growing sprawl of new transplants and newer money. Wolff wants those transplants to fill his seats and their dollars to go toward his luxury boxes, and he wants all of this to happen in a pristine downtown ballpark, one that would render the Coliseum obsolete.

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