My visit to O.co Coliseum

I arrived at O.co Coliseum in Oakland on Friday night. It was, “Swinging A's Blanket Giveaway Day,” so there was already a line of athletic fans. I received a warm welcome(sarcasm) by the crowd wearing my road Detroit Magglio Ordóñez jersey (Ordóñez hit a 3 run homer in the ALCS in 2006 to sweep the A's and go to the world series) I was booed and one guy told me I was a long way from 8 mile, I had no idea(sarcasm). Although I got booed I did receive one, “Oo ee oo ee oo Magglio" cheer. Around 5:30 we enter the stadium where the Tigers were hitting BP. The big boys: Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder and Delmon Young were in the cage at the moment. After watching the boys go deep and the starting pitchers shag fly balls, it was time for the team to head back to the clubhouse and dress for the game.

In most ballparks players enter the clubhouse through a tunnel in the dugout, but since the field doubles as a football stadium they walked around and down a tunnel like most basketball arenas. We were 6 rows back from the dugout and I saw my opportunity to maybe get a high five from some players. When I got down there, I saw Justin Verlander and couldn't resist asking the reigning AL MVP and Cy Young winner for a high five and he delivered! I know I'm supposed to be media and not be excited by this, but as one Tiger fan said to me as we waited in line for the game,

"You walk into a baseball stadium and you're 8 years old again." That high five gave me a smile for a good twenty minutes. I really was like a kid again at a baseball game. 

I was very impressed with the size of the crowd, although it was a Friday night and there was a giveaway. One unique feature about O.co Coliseum is that the men's bathrooms have troths instead of urinals. If you were to talk to most sports fans in Detroit they're not big on troths (Joe Louis arena has troths). Like I said before the stadium also hosts football so it's a unique place to watch a game.

At 7:05 the first pitch was thrown. The Tigers took an early lead, in the first inning Miguel Cabrera grounded into a double play that scored Austin Jackson. Sadly, that would be the only time the Tigers had the lead in the game. The A's scored 2 in the bottom first. The Tigers would tie the game in the 3rd, but Oakland scored 2 more in the bottom of the inning and would never look back. Home Runs from Josh Reddick and Former Tiger Brandon Inge put the game out of reach. When Inge came to the plate I would have thought Babe Ruth was stepping in the box. The crowd in Oakland loves him. A teenager even got on the jumbotron and said, "Brandon Inge, is a beast!" So I shouted “No one ever said that in Detroit.” The Tigers lost the game 11-4, but it was still fun to explore another stadium.