Honestly, I don’t really mind the boos. I don’t mind people giving me a hard time wearing a Yankee jersey around the Bay. You know why? Because it means they’re still relevant. If I were to wear a Royals jersey, a Rays jersey or even a Mariner’s jersey, nobody would care. But the Yankees…that gets people going. Usually people will start to talk and when we talk baseball, people are usually pretty cool and knowledgeable. Everyone cares about their team and roots for their team, that’s what makes sports great.

As for the A’s feelings towards the Yankees specifically, it’s understandable. But as I say to my A’s fan friends all the time, take it up with your owner/management. If the A’s took care of keeping their players, it wouldn’t matter what the Yankees offer. Nothing is stopping the A’s from increasing their payroll other than their own financial situation…which has nothing to do with the Yankees or any other team.

I give A’s fans a lot of credit: it’s been a while since they’ve had any real sustained success and it shows a lot to stay a fan during the ups and downs. I’ve seen all the newfound Giants fans throughout the Bay in the past two years and like most A’s fans, it makes me laugh and shake my head too.

True, I was born and raised in the Bay but I’ve been a Yankees fan my whole life. I’ve gone to NY once a year for the past decade or so and went to the opening of New Yankee Stadium as well as the last game at the “old” Yankee Stadium. If anyone called me a bandwagon fan, I’d call them out on it.

But yes, I was at last night’s game and the crowd was surprisingly pro-A’s. Most A’s fans are pretty cool but after the end of the game, some (not all) fans were acting like they had just won the WS. It was amusing.

I persoanlly didnt boo Swish, but in my opinion, the boos weren’t so much aimed at him as much as they are to drown out the cheering of the California Yankee fans.

Now specifically A’s fans, at least the ones who know A’s history, which Yankee fans may find is a surprisingly large number, are sick of the fact that their young talent ends up playing in New York. Whether or not it is the player’s fault, or economics, or management, it still rankles. It has been happening since the A’s were in Philadelphia, accelerates when they were in KC, and continued in Oakland. However, from about the time of Giambi to the present, it just seems like there have been a spate of recent A’s favorites who ended up Yankees for more money than we could afford to pay them. And we don’t like it very much. But not because we think the Yankees are “the best.”