AndyA
4-23-18 - Giants
Giants and gulls share AT&T Park

Andy Dolich -- 2015
Andy Dolich
 
Winging it

By Andy Dolich

You may remember my grandfather, Jonathan Livingston Seagull. He was a worldwide literary phenomena in the early '70s. He and my grandmother settled down in Berkeley to join the Free Fly Movement which was all the rage in the skies above the Cal campus. My dad hatched in a nest built in the metal girders at Memorial Stadium. His name, Stephen Seagull.

When my egg cracked my dad taught me to fly by following the BART tracks over to the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum, before it was Network Associated, McAfeed, Overstocked, or O.Coed. My dad became a fanatical A's fan during the World Series championship runs of '72, '73, and '74. He named me for his favorite player. I'm Diego Sequigull.

We would fly over to the Coliseum around the seventh inning for the Early Bird specials, with my feathered friends from all over the East Bay. We had great perches to see quality baseball and peck leftovers from the fans that bailed early. When the Raiders kicked off we would paint our beaks, feathers and faces to look like vampire bats and drop guano bombs on fans from opposing teams.

I flew over my first Grateful Dead stadium show in 1988. I thought the fog was rolling in from the Bay until I lost my balance and nearly crashed into the scoreboard. It took me awhile to understand that it was a very special mist generated by 50,000 Deadheads.

When we got our wings we were free to visit stadiums all over the Bay Area to sample what was happening, both on the field and at the concession stands. The local sports media made a big deal about how we would magically show up at the end of games. Did they think we were birdbrains? We aren't that gullible. Why pay full price for tickets when we could fill our beaks with brats, burgers, and garlic fries for free. Drop twelve bucks for a draft beer, please!

My editors have been bird-dogging me for an updated sky high view of the San Francisco Bay Area sports scene. During the 70's, 80's and early 90's my dad's feathered friends and I were lucky enough to see great teams who won 13 world championships, led by some of the most spectacular athletes in Bay Area sports history. It seemed to take forever for the winning to continue until the Orange and Black wonders took the World Series and the entire area by storm in 2010.

My wings have seen better days so I asked my son, Gil Gull, to gather his flight crew and take to the air to freshen up the view on venues, old and new.

4-23-18 - Oakland Coliseum
Oakland Alameda County Coliseum
4-23-18 - Candlestick Park
Candlestick Park

Oakland Alameda County Coliseum
My wingmen just call it the Coliseum. I have a special place in my heart because this is where my grandfather and dad taught me all about being a Sportsgull. The glory days have faded and now we have to deal with vast expanses of emptiness where once there were fans and a mountain of suites and seats in center field, presently named after a football team owner. The A's kept talking about flying the coop and building a nest in San Jose. That idea never took wing.

There used to be a ton of leftover food when the A's were regularly drawing over 2 million a year but alas, the fans and the free food are getting harder to come by. The A's have spent the past few months adding all types of attractions to the Coliseum. They have a Treehouse. That's a positive as affordable new nests throughout the Bay Area are harder to find. They have a garden and vegan gulls are giving that one Two Beaks Up. Farm-to-feathered-friends is environmentally sound. The A's are celebrating 50 years of A's baseball this season. We can't believe that not a single sportsgull has made the list of top 50 performers. That is a boo bird.

The A's and the Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf have agreed to look at Howard Terminal and the Coliseum as potential new ballpark sites. The Gull Coalition decided 12 years ago that the Coliseum was the place to be. Howard Terminal is noisey, full of toxics, 18-wheelers zipping by 24/7, cargo containers, rail lines and cranes the size of cranes. It would be easier to build hummingbird nests out of bricks than a new A's ballpark at Howard Terminal. (I guess we could hitch a ride to the new park on the proposed aerial Gondola system.)

When John Fisher fills in all the GAPS of what he has planned for a new ballpark, then we will flap our wings and squawk in support. Until that happens, it's all a bunch of birdseed to us.

Candlestick Park
For many years this Mistake by the Bay was our favorite as the wind made it our own amusement park. The gusts were fun to ride and the cold always forced fans to leave early, without birdie bags, which left more food for us. It's gone now, as are the Giants, 49ers and Beatles memories. There is a plaque somewhere to mark the spot of so many great memories but we can't seem to find it.

4-23-18 - Giants
AT&T Park
4-23-18 - 49ers
Levi's Stadium

AT&T Park
Man, I love San Francisco cuisine. The problem is that people don't leave early. It's torture to show up and have to wait through a beak-biting one-run game that isn't going to be decided until the bottom of the ninth or later. It's even galling to a gull. A few years ago I was listening to the game on my IPeck and heard Jon Miller and Dave Flemming talking about us arriving early. They were debating what the proper name for gulls as a group is. John asked Dave, "Are they a flock, gaggle, gang, bunch or herd?" Dave was stumped. Gentlemen, we are officially a colony!
Levi's Stadium
It was tough to figure out a new flight corridor from Candlestick Park to Santa Clara. Lucky we have GPS (Gull Positioning Systems) built in. There is a plethora of palate prizes at the Pant's Palace. We stay away from some of the games based on the flight paths going into and out of San Jose airport. We bring extra gulltan lotion when we know the sun seats are going to give up extra grub. We won't have to worry about that on November 1 at 5:20 p.m. when the Silver and Black gullsters will head down from Oaktown and try a frightening flyby. Good luck with the traffic and noxious emissions from the bumper-to-bumper traffic trying to get into this Battle of the Beaks. The upcoming season is going to be special, especially as Jimmy 'G for Gull' will be running the team.

4-23-18 - Warriors
Chase Center
4-23-18 - Cal
Cal Memorial Stadium
4-23-18 - Stanford
Stanford Stadium

Chase Center
We have been able to get a sneak beak into the new home of the Warriors, Chase Center. Wow! This place is going to be the goose that lays a Golden State of Eggs for years to come. The flight from Berkeley to China Basin won't be too difficult, especially as we don't have to take the bridge or BART.

Cal Memorial Stadium
This is my home field, my birthplace. Who knew the cost to retrofit the stadium would throw the entire University into a financial tailspin. I love all Golden Bear sports, especially the Rugby team which over the decades has been the best in the country. The techtonic plates that run under Memorial Stadium are still there but all the work that has been done makes me feel that the nest we built near section AA is safe. We know the Big One is coming and the Stadium may be one of the safest places in the Bay Area.

Stanford Stadium
Did you ever notice you don't see us at football games down on The Farm? Seems like we don't fit in. There are a bunch of well-taloned hawks, raptors, cardinals and drones that have taken up the air space above Palo Alto. I'm not pushing my Luck with those guys. I guess there's no room for us bird brains on the Peninsula.

Note To Fans
Next time you see me at a game, wave hello but don't look straight up unless you have a wide brimmed hat and aviator shades.

4-23-18 - Giants
Dinner time at AT&T Park

Andy Dolich, President, Dolich Consulting -- Dolich has held executive positions in the NFL (San Francisco 49ers), NBA (Memphis Grizzlies, Golden State Warriors, Philadelphia 76ers), MLB (Oakland A's), NHL (Washington Capitals) Pro Soccer and Lacrosse. Dolich is the Entrepreneur in Residence at Menlo College and co-author of

Pops
3-6-17 - Pops

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