A's Days with Kanye

the fiscal year winds down, and the slumping economy sputters to a glide. work goes on, because i know the 2009 budgets and MLB payrolls take shape soon. baseball analysts will predict anything in december. perfect timing to launch an amateur blog :)

what's on my mind? my job. the A's. the economy. the new kanye west record. these topics don't exactly correlate, but do comprise my current mental climate. this is my first effort, so i will ramble rather than dissect. rocket surgery.

Billy Beane is making moves for Rafael Furcal. the 31 year old all star wants 4 years at around $40MM despite the 51 games he missed last season with a sore back. he, his wife and his agent Paul Kinzer toured the coliseum yesterday... and sniffed around the walnut creek real estate. Kinzer is unlikely to accept anything under 4 years... typically safe play for a shortstop with uncertain longevity... and i don't blame him. the fact is, he is the best shortstop free agent available... and he will bring media attention to Oakland.

the A's aren't typically in the market for an all star. we make them, we don't buy them. when your club boasts the 7th smallest payroll in the majors, you are forced to do things differently than the Boston red sox. so we moneyball our seasons and fight tooth and nail for news coverage. ESPN almost devoted an entire media cycle to the trade for Matt Holiday... and i'll be honest... it left a delicious, expensive taste in my mouth that i want more of. 4 years of furcal tastes like baseball legitimacy (for at least the preseason). it's enough to make randy johnson consider winning his 300th game in Oakland. it's enough to overshadow the giants signing edgar rentaria, and enough to energize and empower the athletics nation and restore us to AL West prominence.

Tampa Bay changed things with their 6 game upset of the evil red machine last October (GOD i hate redsox)... small market teams will NOT be overlooked this year. we won't be signing CC Sabathia, but we can make some waves of our own... on offense. the new stadium will be a factor, but that can't be our starting point. young pitching and a few select free agent pickups will be enough to create momentum in the preseason.

the A's haven't been so good to me lately, and the last 2 years have not followed our ALCS appearance with much substance. i still read the news though. that's what a fan does: make the most of small news and treat any development as reason to hope.

so i was thumbing through this morning's sporting green, rocking the new kanye album while on the way work. the theme seemed strangely appropriate to the bay area. 808s and heartbreak... sounds like a ballad for sports in oakland. the bash brothers 2k9 are as elusive as the digital neo-soul on these 11 tracks. even the deflated balloon on the cover summons the futility of bay area teams in the post-season. if the warriors 5-13 start doesn't bring tears to my eyes, maybe kanye on the vocodor can serenade my sorrow. and he aint no damn singer.

i highly doubt the inspiration for the album was actually a tough breakup. i kept asking myself what he has to be so melancholy about? call me cynical, but i think Mr. West manufactured that motif. must say: it's a good one. the album actually sticks to the theme pretty well, and there is a definite cohesive character to the tracks. he kept the drumlines simple in this one and it conjures images of a more muted, ethereal artist; lots of cool tones... he raps/sings/rap-sings somber refrains over minor key chords and melodies. repeat: he aint a damn singer.

the voicebox is able to both keep him on key while at the same time scrambling the pitch (sort of like A's bullpen following our iffy starting pitcher). it's hard to tell where he ends and the box begins... i honestly feel like he's trying to get all he can out of this voice-box pop rap fad... because i know people will start to find it gimmicky. probably soon. all said, the album reads like a chilly oakland sunset... colder than i expected, but warm enough to sit through; maybe even enjoy.

maybe i'm resistant because of the A's. maybe my hardened fanhood won't let me trust my team and keeps me from letting the kanye's bitch-musings touch my soul. times are tough. people are uncertain of the future. unemployment is on the rise nationwide... and we are even seeing it in the tech sector. adobe laid off 600 yesterday. my modest collection of yahoo shares are worth a third of their strike price (and falling). i had lunch the other day with a candidate out of AOL that i placed at at a small startup (at a 30K paycut) and he was just happy to have a job. maybe i'm in the wrong business as a contingency recruiter working at 100% commission. kanye, please cry with me.

2009 is probably not the year to put my heart behind a small market team. luckily for me, i have no choice who i follow. it's green and gold for life. 100% baseball. preseason to post season from an athletics perspective.

welcome to my blog. go A's.

-jose