Over the last six months, I've e-mailed back and forth with the marketing coordinator for the A's, working out all the details of the night. We chose to attend last Thursday's game between the A's and Mariners (The Lime loves them because one of their colors is aquamarine) and could hardly wait for the time to come.
The second we walked into the coliseum, the smell hit me and I realized it had been too long since we attended a game. LaVor and I used to go all the time and have so many happy memories at that place, we agreed we need to start going to more.
We got to our seats and LaVor and The Lime got some food while Doodlebug and I watched everyone warm up.
In the middle of the second inning, we made our way up to the Executive Offices to be escorted to the radio booth. But first, I had to stop and chat with an Oakland police officer working the game who attended the same singles ward as me. I honestly don't think he remembered me but tried his best to play it off like he did.
When we got to the booth we first met Ken Korach. Extremely sweet and gracious. Unfortunately, this is the only picture we took of him, and it wasn't even of him! Totally kicking myself over that.
Then we asked to have our photo taken with the field in the background. Vince Cotroneo thought it'd be funny to photobomb us (and he was right...we all got a kick out of it).
Next door, in the television booth, were Glen Kuiper and Eric Chavez.
Normally, Glen Kuiper is working with Ray Fosse but the stars aligned and Ray Fosse was broadcasting on the radio with Vince that night.
It couldn't have been more perfect. Ray Fosse is a favorite in our home, and not just because he looks exactly like my dad! Seriously, every night when we watch the games, The Lime will say, "There's GrandPop!" So when we realized we were going to be able to meet him and shake his hand, we were all so excited. (LaVor said he's never shaken such a big and extremely strong hand before.)
The inning was over before we knew it and it was time to head back to our seats. Everyone was so kind and gracious and made the experience amazing.
On the way back to our seats, another employee noticed Doodlebug walking and asked if it was his first game. We told him it was and he asked us to meet him at a booth at the bottom of the ramp. When we got there, he had a photo of the coliseum that he wrote Doodlebug's name on, the date, and who the A's were playing and gave us a button that said "My First A's Game". We wish we had known about these cool things five years ago when we took The Lime to his first game!
We spent the rest of the night screaming, clapping, singing, and enjoying the win over the Mariners. We can't wait until the boys are a little bit older (and can sit for longer periods of time) so we can return to the coliseum often.
This was definitely a night that we will remember for a long time.
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