Across the Bay Series: Heartbreak to Healing at the Oakland Coliseum

The Oakland Roots have kept sports afloat following Oakland’s era of abandonment by the Raiders, Warriors, and A’s through years of political, financial, and emotional struggle. Sadly, the Roots have made the decision to leave the Oakland Coliseum Complex, another seemingly devastating loss for the community. Being from Oakland, I can attest to how painful the situation is; however, I’ve discovered a silver lining to this sad but familiar affair.

In many ways, I write this as a love letter to Oakland. It's the city that has always kept open arms for me, even in my worst moments. Despite this, part of being from Oakland is experiencing institutional heartbreak; maybe it's the In-N-Out off Hegenbergur closing, BART and bus prices rising, the increase in crime, or our beloved sports teams leaving. Being a citizen of Oakland means the inevitable acceptance that the people around you are more important than anything, as everything else seems to be fleeting and fickle. We all know that everything is temporary, and although nobody wants to admit it, over and over again this has been proven to be true for the Oakland Coliseum.

This was the second season the Oakland Roots had spent at the Coliseum and, having worked nearly every home game, I can vouch for the many struggles faced throughout the season. With iconic Bay Area special guests and performers like Marshawn Lynch, Barbara Lee, Turf Inc., Goapele, E-40, and G-Eazy, the Roots never stopped showing up and showing out. They constantly worked to raise the bar, and they did in many aspects for a club in the second division of Major League Soccer. Regardless of how big everyone dreamed, the Coliseum was not the right fit for the Roots. 

Attendance was low, even though consistent and dedicated sports fans would go to games. After speaking with Oakland residents, it was made clear that the Coliseum couldn’t ever be for anything else other than Athletics’ baseball. The countless murals of A’s legends, Rollie Fingers, Ricky Henderson, Catfish Hunter, and Dennis Eckersley, glared with memories never to be experienced again. The architecture was made for the baseball diamond, so much so that even the painted outlines of the soccer pitch couldn’t secure the possibility for a future of Oakland soccer at the Coliseum. The green stadium seats, yellow section signs, cracked concrete walls and flooring, “Lets Go Oakland” chants, and the echoes of trumpets and drums were impossible to let go of. As an Oakland resident, I’ll admit I was incapable of overlooking the glimmering and painful history of the Athletics in contrast to all the newness the Roots brought. As desperately as I wanted my A’s wound to be remedied by a new Oakland team at the Coliseum, the bandaid was too small. 

After working the last home game of the season, and probably the last ever Oakland sports home stand at the Coliseum, I was sad. Not necessarily about the Roots leaving the venue, but because it felt like Oakland was leaving it. It was my childhood, the location of my first dream job, and the essence of my city. In middle school, I would fantasize about going on dates on a characteristically cold and windy night, taking my future kids to games, and getting to spend my adult money on hot dogs.

Contrary to many, I think the Roots leaving the Coliseum was the best choice for the broken hearts of Oakland. It’s painful to say goodbye, but the Roots deserve a space designed for them. Many people felt that way about the Raiders, who unfortunately went to Las Vegas alongside the A’s, and now it's the Roots' turn for a proper home. However this time, they’re staying in Oakland, and it's safe to say this was the most crucial step in the Oakland sports equation. 

Although it was a necessary decision financially, the Roots are prioritizing their long-term success in leaving the Coliseum. In the bigger picture, they are creating a new opportunity for Oakland residents to regain loyalty to a sports team. But, we’re talking about a team that also isn’t one of the big three sports: football, basketball, and baseball. In other words, the Oakland Roots are testing us. 

Some might argue because of these previous exits and being left with a team remaining in a sport relatively foreign to us, that Oakland culture is changing. However, I would argue its culture is really turning into a manifestation of the people who’ve always been there. Yes, we miss baseball and football, but John Fischer and the larger calls from the universe took those teams away from us. We are a city of people who hustle. We are The Town, and right now, our town business and responsibility is to come alive again and prove everyone wrong who thought we would have no sports culture. After all of the trials we have been put through by our city, will this be the time we let it break us? Will this be the moment everyone else was right about us in Oakland?

The Oakland Roots are giving us the chance to exhibit our unconventionality. They have gifted us with a platform uniquely for us; from halftime shows filled with the hyphy movement’s Turfing and Schmeezing, to bringing P-lo and having him perform “Put Me on Somethin’.”

Maybe we hang up the A’s jersey (because I know I'm not moving to Vegas) and keep it as a token of the good times we had together with Stephen Vogt, Sean Manaea, Coco Krisp, Kris Davis, and Bob Melvin. It's powerful to say we lived in a time where we had something that gave us a period of bliss despite the pain brought to us by years of losing streaks and heartbreaking player trades. We aren’t forgetting the right-field bleachers, the iconic pizza guy, the “We Love You Oakland” chant, the Bernie Lean, or “Call Me Maybe," but remembering it as a golden era in Oakland’s history. 

The Coliseum was made for the A’s, and the closing of its relationship with the Roots solidifies its identity for Oakland baseball. It's time we give ourselves the opportunity to feel something new. Stomper may have travelled to Las Vegas, but we know he’s always Oakland’s own. Let's be real, once you’ve seen him Bernie Lean with Coco Krisp, there’s no looking back. Plus, the Roots need a mascot… any ideas?

This is part of the pain that comes with being from Oakland, and the worst part is that we know it, we just won’t accept it. So while the old teams failed to represent us, let's continue thriving, knowing we have each other and now the Roots. The Roots make it known they are here to stay and look out for us with open arms, let’s do the same. Because if we don’t, what kind of “Oakland” are we? That’s not who we are.

The identity of the club is still being discovered as it finds its home and we have a responsibility to help build it. Thanks to the various efforts from the Roots and Soul Foundation, we have professional athletes visiting schools, public school kids with free tickets to Roots games, community effort for positive and equitable coaching, and so much more for Oakland youth. When I first started coaching soccer, Oakland Roots invited the non-profit I worked for, Street Soccer USA, to participate in a coaching program. It was my first time getting to step into a training ground for a professional soccer team. Before that work event, I was never allowed to step on the pristinely cut grass at any other venue I had been to. As a soccer player, it meant a lot to be able to walk on it. 

It wasn’t the grass I was used to. It was totally flat, there were no dirt patches, it was freshly watered and cut, and all the equipment was new. Everywhere I looked, I saw Oakland Roots branding and murals. To be honest, I had never felt anything like that before. Soccer had always been my sport and growing up I idolized Abby Wambach, her number 20 was engrained in my mind, and her 2012 shirt was the first jersey I ever owned. Growing up in a baseball and football family, I had never felt represented in my love for soccer. That visit to the Roots’ facility healed a part of my younger self. 

Before I ever worked for the Roots or was really a fan of them, I was welcomed to their facility. Not only could I go inside the training grounds, but I could actually walk on and touch the grass. All I was was an Oakland resident, who loved and cared about where I came from. They saw who I was as an individual and that's how I knew Oakland Roots and Soul was different from Oakland’s previous sports teams. They have worked in forming a positive identity alongside and in service of the people they represent.

Now is the time for an Oakland sports team to be one of us, but institutionally. The Roots are made by us, shaped by The Town, for The Town, giving us the opportunity to see each other in a larger entity and welcome us into its grounds. It's time we can feel proud of something other than ourselves and the grind we put in everyday at work and school, and the sacrifices we make for our family, friends, and those around us. The Oakland Roots are extending the oak branch in the true nature and roots of Oakland’s people, to trust sports again just like we trust ourselves. This time instead of leaving, our team will consider us, and welcome us to break the cycle of Oakland sports heartbreak. 

It may be a farewell to Oakland’s beloved Coliseum, but an opportunity nonetheless to embrace who we are. I hate to say it, but as much as we got annoyed at those Hello Kitty bobbleheads, maybe we’ll see them again, just with a little mosaic this time... 

It's bittersweet to say goodbye to working game days at the Coliseum, and I’m sad to see the old essences of Oakland age away, but I am proud to say I've been a part of Oakland history. Plus, how cool is it to say you got to show your 6-year-old brother the stadium you’ve been going to since you were his age, now as someone who worked there? 

As the Oakland Roots find a new stadium and solidify an identity for themselves, in time, we’ll bring our beloved culture from the Raiders and A’s with us. In every way, they are demonstrating to us they embody who we are, so let’s not allow ourselves to pass up this opportunity. From Downtown, to Seminary and Holly, all the way to 106th, we choose the city we live in, not the other way around. This period is finite, so it’s time to take advantage of one of our last chances of having a professional sports team. Because at the end of the day, we know that despite all the loss we have endured, we overcome, we defy the odds, and we stay Oakland.

Little Shea dreaming big

Shea today, coming full circle