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Well, as I eluded to recently and in a post ages ago, my baseball fandom has always felt mildly complicated. I'm typically reluctant to have a second team but sometimes life just happens. Baseball seems to be the only exception for me. For football it's just Titans, basketball it's Sixers. But baseball I've always been Phillies... and A's.

The A's were my first little league team. That's how my A's fandom was born. I was a big Miguel Tejada, Eric Chavez, Barry Zito, Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, Bobby Crosby, Dan Haren, Rich Harden, Mark Kotsay, Mark Ellis, Nick Swisher, Erubiel Durazo guy... the list really goes on.

I even saw the A's play the Yankees back in the day. June 30th, 2007. The A's were victorious and pretty dominant! The A's tossed a one-hitter thanks to Chad Gaudin and Rich Harden! The day is even noted on Chad Gaudin's Wikipedia page. That link should take you directly to the section I'm talking about. I was so excited! The A's won 7-0 and I saw three A's homers by Dan Johnson, Shannon Stewart, and Jason Kendall who barely ever hit homers! In Kendall's 2,085 games played, he hit 75 homers! The odds I saw one by him is nuts!

A one-hitter and a Kendall homer! Crazy! It's cool to say I was in the original Yankee Stadium too.

Yeah, 2007 was just an incredible year for me. I also visited Alaska, played in Cooperstown Dreams Park, plus a lot of other fun moments. Sheesh, the last Harry Potter book came out that summer too! Good times.

Anyway, the Phillies were always a big part of my life too. Pat Burrell, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Carlos Ruiz, Brad Lidge, Cole Hamels, Roy Halladay etc. They were my local team and I saw their minor league games a lot growing up. I've also seen multiple Phillies games of course, they were my first pro game I saw in 2003. I later was a 'Phillie' in little league too. When they won that awesome 2008 World Series, I became even more conflicted. I have proper connections to both franchises ya know?

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But frankly, it's just whatever. For a number of unfortunate reasons, I fell out of love with baseball for a short time but I knew I'd always come back. Phillies are my first team and the A's are right there as a very strong second.

I guess I'm just going to break the rules and enjoy following them both, the best I can. Life's too short to worry about these imaginary rules. Following both teams could be extremely fun! Lucky for me the Phillies are in the National League and the A's are in the American League. It's pretty convenient in that regard!

Tonight I'm just feeling bold, and feel like writing about the A's. I don't know how consistent or inconsistent I'll be but I think it has great potential to be fun. Just going with the flow, living. I have to re-learn the roster once again, I'm slowly doing so and do know a handful of the players because I loosely watch them and am a sports nerd. I'm aware of Brent Rooker, Nick Kurtz, Max Muncy, Tyler Soderstorm, Lawrence Butler, and Luis Severino.

I figure I can just learn on the go and be honest with my re-discovery of the team as I blog. It will also give me a much better understanding of the MLB as a whole.

The A's started the season a bit rough but have since gotten red hot! They went into New York and just took over. They took two of three from the Yankees and then straight up swept the Mets. That sweep helped the Phillies too LOL!

It will be a bit awkward as I begin covering the A's but HA, that's life when you delve into something new. Maybe my blog can be a fun way to know 2/30th of the MLB. One day at a time.

The A's look to stay hot as they prepare for an AL West battle vs the Texas Rangers. Man this brings back memories.

The A's and Phillies are also on opposite coasts, so often times they start at different times.

All in all I think it's possible to cover both teams, and more baseball for me!

#GOATHLETICS!!!