Advice: Taking a trip to Oakland to watch the Halos

[halonatic13]

Heading to Oakland for opening weekend game on Friday/Saturday.  Any advice?  Best seats for games?  Should I buy cheap seats then move down?  Places to eat, stay, etc.

Cheers!

[Chuck]

I've only been once when the bash bros. were on the same team. Never saw a ball get outta the ballpark faster than a Mark McGwire line drive HR.

[IEAngelsfan]

[ukyah]

you want advice for a trip to oakland? get your affairs in order.

 

[Blarg]

1 hour ago, halonatic13 said:

Heading to Oakland for opening weekend game on Friday/Saturday.  Any advice?  Best seats for games?  Should I buy cheap seats then move down?  Places to eat, stay, etc.

Cheers!

There are no places to eat around the stadium, the stadium is located in a shipping yard surrounded by a ghetto. Stay someplace far away.

Take the BART in and out and avoid anything to do with the surrounding area.

Seats will be cheap regardless, nobody attends A's games but they do check tickets for the better seats. 

[ukyah]

5 minutes ago, calscuf said:

C'mon, he could be a gang member and then he'd have nothing to worry about.  You don't know.

yeah, gang members have nothing to worry about. that's why they're always hanging out at the soda shop. lol

[Jeff Fletcher]

Downtown Oakland is actually not nearly as bad as many people think. I stay there all the time and take BART to the park. You can also stay in San Francisco and take BART. 

There is nothing near the park. 

Tickets are pretty easy. I think the middle deck gives you the best view.

The best food in the park is at the food trucks right outside (but “inside” the paid area). It’s a plaza between the Coliseum and the Oracle Arena. 

It will be cold if you go to the night game. 

[Tank]

dress appropriately

[Blarg]

2 hours ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

Downtown Oakland is actually not nearly as bad as many people think. I stay there all the time and take BART to the park. You can also stay in San Francisco and take BART. 

There is nothing near the park. 

Tickets are pretty easy. I think the middle deck gives you the best view.

The best food in the park is at the food trucks right outside (but “inside” the paid area). It’s a plaza between the Coliseum and the Oracle Arena. 

It will be cold if you go to the night game. 

Even in the summer the evening can be perfectly warm in the mid seventies and then about the 6th inning the fog can roll in and you are freezing your ass off in your shorts and tshirt that made sense just five minutes previous. 

[Tank]

i think it was mark twain who once said "the coldest winter of my life was the summer i spent in san fransisco", or something like that. oakland is the same.

[Lou]

Oakland's stadium is a campfire compared to the cold that was Candlestick Park

[halonatic13]

Wow!  So what I'm taking from this is that I'll have the time of my life.  Thanks guys!  Thanks!  Ha!  Trust me, I'd rather do SF but the Halos aren't playing there.  I'm driving from Sac.

[Stradling]

11 hours ago, ukyah said:

you want advice for a trip to oakland? get your affairs in order.

 

I didn’t think “liking” this post gave it enough credit.  Great great post.  

[T.G.]

Bring your own toilet paper

[Adam]

Find some guys from Truckee. Eat their food. Drink their booze. Don't touch the women. 

[Sully151]

Don't wear red or visibly root for the Angels.

Downtown Oakland is getting better/hipper depending on the block you are on

I might park at a BART station in like San Leandro or somewhere and take BART into the stadium.

[Blarg]

Stadium parking costs more than the BART.

[Tank]

10 hours ago, Lou said:

Oakland's stadium is a campfire compared to the cold that was Candlestick Park

yeah, you're right about that. candle-stink was about the worse place any human could go.

but oakland is still a toilet all on its' own merits.

[AngelsFanSince86]

35 minutes ago, Sully151 said:

Don't wear red or visibly root for the Angels.

Downtown Oakland is getting better/hipper depending on the block you are on

I might park at a BART station in like San Leandro or somewhere and take BART into the stadium.

 

Don't let anyone scare you off from supporting your team.  I lived in SF for 8 years.  One of my best friends is from the bay area, grew up an A's fan and had season tickets.  I went every season to Angels/A's games and I noticed a trend.  When the A's were good you had to deal with tons of trash talk (and not the friendly banter kind).  However, when they are not doing well the fans are much less hateful.  You will still get trash talk and most of it will be friendly.  Either way, just don't be dumb enough to get offended and keep your mouth shut if someone is taking it overboard with the trash talk because they are likely trashed and will start a fight if you say anything.  One thing that doesn't change is that a good chunk of the fans will be belligerent, but most of those fans stay at the bars inside the stadium for most of the game. Better the seats you have the better the crowd around you.  

For food, there is a stand they set up inside the nicer bar they have on the first level that sells different foods on different days but it is always really good.  I forget the name of the bar area, but it is a really large room that has a bar in the center.  They set up a stand off to the side in that room.  Although its been a few years since I have been to a game so that may have changed.

[Angel Oracle]

I went for the first MLB traditional DH in years in July 2011.   Stayed at a hotel in S.F. a block from Tommy's Joint, and BARTed it to the stadium.   Pretty cool to take the BART under the bay

[well_red]

fuck that piece of shit stadium.  they couldn't pay me to go back there, it actually made me sad.  

[eaterfan]

My college roommates were all A's fans. We'd go up to watch games sometimes. I've probably been to the Coliseum a dozen times. The stadium is the worst I've ever been to. It's concrete, it's smelly, there are puddles even though it hasn't rained for a month. The food options aren't great. The bathrooms are gross. The surrounding neighborhoods are terrible and there's nothing to do there.

That being said, there's no reason to fear going there. Downtown Oakland is pretty nice. Just take BART from there to the stadium. I wore my Angels gear there with no problems at all. It's a very different crowd then for the Raiders games. It's a crowd of about 15k suburbanites from Walnut Creek.

[T.G.]

Ever seen the Kurt Russell movie "Escape from New York?"  It's worse than that.

[disarcina]

agree with guy who said take BART in and out.

opening night could be a tough ticket but the next night should be able to get real good seats -- even walk ups.

other than opening day/ night -- you should be able to get real good seats at the Coliseum -- a lot better than you can get at the Big A and for a lot less.

not a great ball park -- Davis Mountain took away the great view of the Oakland Hills out beyond CF years ago -- but once you're settled in,  not a bad place to watch a ballgame --

some devout A's fans are very knowledgeable, faithful and very few in number.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

On 1/8/2018 at 7:26 PM, Chuckster70 said:

I've only been once when the bash bros. were on the same team. Never saw a ball get outta the ballpark faster than a Mark McGwire line drive HR.

Saw him hit a home run at Texas that probably hasn't landed yet.