Every year since 2004, I have had the A’s wall calendar to hang on my wall either at work or in my home office. The first one came as a Christmas present. I haven’t gotten it as a Christmas present again since, but have always bought it for myself from Calendars.com after Christmas.

I’m one of those people that is really anal about displaying only current A’s. The Big Three bobbleheads? Stowed away in a box. The only non-current A I have on display is a Catfish Hunter figurine, and he is only OK because his number is retired by the A’s.

So this is bad news for the 2008 calendar. I’m always cutting pages that display non-current A’s out of the calendar so that a current A is shown. Usually what I can do is, when I turn to a month with a non-A, I cut that page off and use the A from the previous month for a second month. For example, in last year’s calendar, Frank Thomas was Mr. April. So I cut his page out and used Dan Johnson, who was Mr. March, for another month. (Of course, Barry Zito was Mr. May, so I had to cut his page out. But I didn’t want Dan Johnson for three months, so I cut him out too and used Rich Harden, who was Mr. February.)

But this year, I had to get even more creative. Dan Haren is Mr. January in the 2008 calendar. If I cut his page out, there’d be no one to display. So I had to go back to the 2007 calendar, and cut a page out. I chose Mark Kotsay, because he is a) still on the team, and b) not featured at all in the 2008 calendar.

The calendar will be quite the cut-and-paste project, as Mark Kotsay will probably be used through February as well, as Jason Kendall is Mr. February. Here’s how the rest of the calendar shakes out, with the pages I will need to cut in italics:

Mr. March: Mark Ellis
Mr. April: Rich Harden
Mr. May: Marco Scutaro
Mr. June: Bobby Crosby
Mr. July: Eric Chavez
Mr. August: Travis Buck
Mr. September: Huston Street
Mr. October: Joe Blanton
Mr. November: Shannon Stewart
Mr. December: Nick Swisher

As you can see, the summer months look pretty solid, but I get nervous after August. I will already be cutting November and December out, but I have no confidence in September or October. Could I be using Travis Buck for the final five months of the year? Could Billy just wipe out my whole calendar by the time 2008 is done? Will I even care by the time 2008 is done?

I better keep my scissors and tape handy.

This is the fourth in a 20-part series chronicling my 20 years as an A’s fan, year by year. Missed my previous entries? Read about 1988, 1989, and 1990.

The 1991 season began like my previous A’s seasons - wake me up when we get to the World Series! It’s going to be another cakewalk through the American League, as we’ve still got the Bash Brothers, Rickey, Stew, Hendu, and Eck. It is so good to be an A’s fan, as the team has the highest payroll in Major League Baseball. The Oakland A’s are certainly the team most dedicated to winning.

(Wow, I threw up in my mouth a little bit while typing that. I sure sounded like I was talking about some other team on the east coast.)

But in 1991, it just wasn’t happening. Carney Lansford and Walt Weiss were hurt most of the year. Mark McGwire hit .201. Dave Stewart had an ERA over 5 and Bob Welch was not much better. The three outfielders and DH Harold Baines had decent years, but it wasn’t enough to make up for the lack of pitching and the downgrades around the lineup.

We did have one big highlight though - this was the year Rickey broke Lou Brock’s career stolen bases record. It’s amazing to realize he achieved this at age 32. He’d finish with 58 stolen bases that year - piddly compared to his triple digits in the early ’80s, but still good enough to lead the league.

This was the year the Twins won the AL West, and I remembered there being some sort of rivalry between the A’s and the Twins over the last couple seasons. Since my first A’s fan year was 1988, however, I had only seen the A’s come out on top. But this time, it was the Twins powering their way through the league, and baseball was over for the A’s before October.

Thanks to TBS, 1991 was the first year I remember defecting from the A’s a bit to watch the younger, more exciting Atlanta Braves. It was a nice summer diversion from the disappointing A’s, and would continue to be such for the next few seasons. Little did I know that, in 10 years, the A’s would become very much like that Atlanta team I enjoyed watching.

Still, even though 1991 ended in disappointment, I had plenty of reason to believe we’d get back on top in 1992 - all the same guys would be back, and Lansford and Weiss would be healthy. Certainly Stew and Big Mac would get back on track. So what if they’ll be another year older? These guys will play forever, right?

Coming next Friday, November 18: 1992 - Big Mac grows a mullet and the A’s are back in the playoffs!

This is the third in a 20-part series chronicling my 20 years as an A’s fan, year by year. Read previous entries 1988 and 1989.

I could get used to this! My team in the World Series every year? It’s good to be king.

The A’s were the juggernaut team of the American League again in 1990, and I was in my third season as an A’s fan. I was still getting everything I signed up for in becoming a fan of this wonderful game and the green and gold.

But one thing I started to notice in the 1990 season was that the A’s didn’t get much love from my peers. The Giants? Sure. There were plenty of Giants hats and jackets around school. But for some reason, the A’s were lame. “But they win!” I protested. Still, they were considered lame. Little did I know, this was a trend that would continue throughout my life as an A’s fan.

Then it got weirder when the World Series rolled around. The A’s bulldozed their way through the ALCS again, sweeping the Red Sox in four games by a combined score of 20-4. They were set to meet up with the Cincinnati Reds for the World Series, and Reds fans started coming out of the woodwork. This was northern California, people! I remember one kid having a picture of Chris Sabo on the front of his binder. Was this some kind of anti-A’s sentiment being displayed? Were the A’s hated for winning, much like the Red Sox are today?

But I was confident that my team would show them. The A’s were the favorites in the World Series yet again, and those Reds were surely no match for Dave Stewart and Bob Welch (27 wins!). Surely I’d be the one laughing at school after the repeat championship and that kid would have to hide his Chris Sabo binder in shame.

Unfortunately, our boys didn’t show up. Jose Rijo pwn3d them for two wins and the Nasty Boys kept any A’s comebacks from materializing. Much like the Dodgers series win of two years earlier, the underdog vanquished the favorite in convincing fashion. Three World Series in a row and only one ring to show for it.

“Popped up into short right in foul ground, Benzinger wants it…Cincinnati! The champions of baseball…for 1990!!! With an improbable sweep over Oakland!”

The fair-weather Reds fans spent the few days after the World Series laughing at me, the seemingly only A’s fan in school. And it was all downhill from there.

Coming next Friday, November 9: 1991 - my first taste of mediocrity.

I’m afraid (ha!) I don’t have any scary stories for you today. But here are just a couple things I thought I’d post about as I sit here and start eating tonight’s candy stash.

1. Curt Schilling has apparently released a list of a baker’s dozen (Red Sox + 12) of teams he’d be willing to play for in 2008, and the A’s aren’t one of them. I feel kind of offended. What do you have against the A’s? Are the A’s just not cool enough for you? You listed all the playoff teams except New York and Colorado. What’s wrong with the Rockies? They just won the NL pennant, for goodness sake. Do the Red Sox automatically hate the Rockies now because they bulldozed over them in the World Series? Whatever, dude. Eff you, man.

2.  This topic was up for discussion this morning on one of the message boards I frequent: why you do and why you don’t want A-Rod on your team. This was my answer for our Oakland Athletics:

Yes: It seems the A’s big need every year has always been the need for a right-handed power bat, and this year is no exception. There’s really no better right-handed power bat than A-Rod, so he’d fit nicely into the lineup between Nick Swisher and Jack Cust. A-Rod could be inserted at shortstop to replace the big disappointment that is Bobby Crosby, or play third if Eric Chavez is traded (which may be needed to relieve some payroll room for A-Rod’s big, $30M per year contract). Also, in a few years, it’d be great to have the home run chase on the green and gold side of the bay.

No: Money, money, and did I mention money? The A’s biggest contract ever is Eric Chavez’s current $66M/6 year contract. A-Rod’s would be almost triple that, and would also probably have to be more than that in years. And also the A’s haven’t been a team in recent years to have one guy command all the attention. It’s not a me-first clubhouse.

Overall? No thanks!

3. On this date 19 years ago, I dressed up as Walt Weiss for Halloween. My grandma made the jersey top, complete with the name “WEISS” and number 7 on the back. I wore jeans and an A’s hat. I’d post the picture, but I don’t know where it is. Maybe I’ll find it in time for the 20-year anniversary.

This is the second in a 20-part series chronicling my 20 years as an A’s fan, year by year. You can read about 1988 here.

“The A’s are trying to sweep, but the Giants haven’t made life easy for them tonight. To the right side, that’s steered by Phillips… flips to Eckersley… yes!! He’s there in time and the A’s are the World Champions!”

If I had known that 1989 would’ve been the only A’s championship I would experience in at least the next 19 years, I might have paid attention to it a little more. Of course, being older than 11 might have helped too, because my priorities were a lot different then.

However, I do remember paying attention close enough to remember the big mid-season deal that summer that brought Rickey Henderson back home to Oakland. Luis Polonia (whose name I had scrawled in my baseball glove as a tribute to his spectacular left field catches), Greg Cadaret, and Eric Plunk went to the Yankees in exchange for the greatest leadoff hitter of all time. The A’s were going for the jugular after losing in disappointing fashion the year before, and they rode Rickey and company to an MLB-leading 99-63 record.

After ripping through the Blue Jays in a series of which I have no recollection, it was time for the World Series. I remember watching the final game of the NLCS and rooting for the Giants (one of the few times in history I’ve been known to do that) because a possible Bay Bridge World Series would be cool. And sure enough, that’s what we got.

The series started with Dave Stewart and Mike Moore leading the A’s to a 2-0 lead going into San Francisco. And then we all know what happened before the start of Game 3.

I was where I always was before the start of a televised A’s game - sitting on the edge of my bed getting ready to watch the game on the little black-and-white TV in my bedroom at our home in Castro Valley. It was roughly 5:00, and I was looking forward to getting an inning or two in before having to go eat dinner. I remember the TV flickering, the shaking, and standing in the doorway. I remember thinking it was cool, but then not-so-cool once we turned on the radio and started hearing about the devestation around the Bay Area.

As for the A’s in the World Series, it was a 10-day layoff. They got to throw Stewart and Moore again for Games 3 and 4 to finish off the Giants in dominating fashion. I remember jumping up and down with my brother in celebration, but the lasting memories just aren’t there for this series that was overshadowed by bigger events.

18 seasons and waiting…

Coming next Friday, November 2 - 1990: the last time I saw the A’s in the Fall Classic.

So I was just scouring Amazon.com after adding these Home Run Derby DVDs to my wish list, and I ran across something that I wasn’t expecting when I entered the search term “Oakland Athletics”:

I guess good ol’ SuSlu has been keeping busy. Here’s the book description:

Susan Slusser, who has covered the Oakland As for the past 12 years for the San Francisco Chronicle, looks at one of the most fascinating franchises in baseball history. She chronicles the successes of Hall of Famers such as Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter, and Dennis Eckersley, as well as some of the teams forgotten but no less fascinating stars, including folk hero Rube Waddell, the great players of the 1920s, like Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Cochrane, and Lefty Grove; and controversial superstar Jose Canseco. The franchises many championship seasons are also explored, especially the wild teams of the 1970s, as are three of the teams most important and influential figures Hall of Fame manager Connie Mack, who is credited with making baseball an acceptable professional sport; former owner Charlie Finley, who was crazy, colorful, and way ahead of his time; and current general manager Billy Beane, whose Moneyball approach has allowed a low-budget team to achieve tremendous results.

Wow - that sounds like a lot to cover in just 192 pages. Still, I’m looking forward to this read, though I kind of wish it’d come out sooner to help with the winter A’s withdrawal. I guess I could always read Moneyball again…

(I actually do read non-A’s and non-baseball books - gasp! I’m currently reading this.)

Note: This is the first in a 20-part series chronicling my 20 years as an A’s fan, year by year.

I don’t have one defining moment of seeing a big, shining green and gold ray of light. I can’t tell you where I was, what I was doing, and what day it was that I became and A’s fan. All I know is that it happened gradually, and it happened early in the 1988 season.

1988 was an easy year to hop on the bandwagon. The A’s were winning, and they were winning big. Jose Canseco, long before Juiced, was a young, hot, power-hitting stud. Mark McGwire was his Bash Brother. Our catcher, Terry Steinbach, was the All Star game MVP. Walt Weiss was the acrobatic shortstop and Rookie of the Year. Dave Stewart was a 21-game winner, and Dave Henderson was the big free-agent pickup. And then there was Dennis Eckersley - absolutely unbeatable.

As for me - what was it? Well, it was Jose Canseco. I had a friend named Jenny and when I went to her house one day, she had a Jose Canseco poster on her wall. We giggled at his cuteness, and that was it. I started watching games to ogle at the cute right fielder, and somewhere in the girlishness of this whole practice, I became a fan of the actual team and the game of baseball.

That summer of 1988, my dad took my brother and me to a few games, and I remember being at this game in which Mark McGwire charged the mound after being hit in the helmet with a pitch by the Yankees’ Neil Allen. The A’s cruised to a 104-58 record to take the AL West handily. The second place Twins, at 91-71, finished 13 games back.

The A’s were clearly the dominant team in the American League, if not all of baseball, in 1988. And as a 10-year-old kid, this was exactly what I signed up for. What kid doesn’t love winning? Looking back on it, I can see how I may have been born a Yankees fan in an A’s fan’s body. Luckily, I’ve gotten over that as I’ve gotten older.

I even made a scrapbook of the 1988 A’s, and I still have it… somewhere. I cut out pictures from the newspaper. Who cares about the articles? Look how hot Jose is!! Look at the A’s jumping all over each other after winning the AL West and then the ALCS!! I’ve got plenty of pages left in this thing for all the victorious World Series pictures!!

So I was confident going into the 1988 playoffs. The Red Sox? Puh-leaze. That was no contest, as the A’s swept them en route to the World Series. Then we were going to be facing the Dodgers. Orel Hershiser? Gimpy Kirk Gibson? Who are these bozos? What-evah!

Of course, I learned, long before a guy named Michael Lewis wrote a book about a guy who, in 1988, was about to sign a minor-league contract with the A’s - the playoffs? Well, they’re a crapshoot.

First, that gimpy Kirk Gibson beat our unbeatable closer in one of the most famous World Series moments of all time. Then, Orel Hershiser opened a can of whoop-ass in Game 2. Mark McGwire saved the A’s in Game 3 with a walkoff home run, but the A’s couldn’t put any more wins together and were out in five.

I remember crying after they lost the World Series, a lesson learned and an emotional investment realized that would have me looking forward to next year and continue coming back for more year after year.

Coming next Friday, Oct. 26 - 1989: the only championship in my 20 years as an A’s fan!

In case you haven’t noticed (and judging by the attendance, you haven’t </Harry Doyle>), we’ve got a new name. Athletics Supporter is no more - welcome to Athletics for Life.

Why the change, you ask? Well, it just defines my A’s fanship more accurately. Yes, I support the Athletics, but it’s more than that.

2007 was my twentieth season as an A’s fan - that is 2/3 of my life. That’s longer than I’ve known my husband, longer than I’ve lived, worked, or gone to school anywhere. Heck - it’s even longer than I went to kindergarten through 12th grade and all of college combined!

So that revelation this season just really confirmed it for me: I’m more than just a supporter of the A’s - I’m in it for life. Not that I didn’t feel that way in year 19, or 12, or even 5, but 20 - well, it just feels much more significant to me now.

So there you have it - I’m an A’s lifer, and that’s why this is now Athletics for Life.

(That and, well… I didn’t want anyone thinking this was a jock strap blog.)

Today is my birthday. Being a baseball fan and having an October birthday can be quite the curse - especially the way the A’s have treated me on my special day over the years.

Since I became an A’s fan in 1988, the A’s have played seven postseason games on my birthday. I really don’t remember the games that were played on October 6 of 1988, 1989, and 1990. Being a kid at that time, well - I cared more about cake and presents than than the A’s. The green and gold were 2-1 on those October 6ths, and won the ALCS all three years. So I didn’t have much to worry about anyway.

In 1992 and 2001, my birthday came and went before the A’s began their postseason runs. They lost both of those series - 2001 being the second of that awful four-year stretch of Game 5 losses (the worst of the four, as I noted yesterday).

And I honestly don’t remember my birthday game specifically in 2000 either. The A’s lost that game, won convincingly the next day to force Game 5, Terrence Long lost a ball in the sun, and the rest is history. I do remember having a birthday dinner out at the Macaroni Grill on the day of that Game 5, and making my way to the bar every few minutes to check the score.

But this isn’t a post about I don’t remembers. There are three birthday games that will forever stick in my mind. Decades can pass, and I will still be able to feel my heart thumping and stomach twisting into knots the way it was those October 6ths - 2002, 2003, and 2006.

In 2002, I went to my one and only Major League Baseball playoff game. It was also my last year as a resident A’s fan, as I was planning to move to Colorado after Christmas. When playoff tickets went on sale, I bought one ticket to Game 5, knowing it would be on my birthday and hoping I wouldn’t need the ticket. But alas, Game 5 happened, so I made my way to Oakland that fateful Sunday morning.

I remember Jermaine Dye nailing Christian Guzman trying to stretch a double into a triple in the first inning. I remember the yellow Thunderstix. I remember Billy Koch trying to keep it a one-run defecit in the ninth and A.J. Pierzynski and then David Ortiz crushing those dreams. I remember Mark Ellis hitting a three-run homer to bring the A’s within one, and the OMG look I gave another A’s fan in my section. And I remember Ray Durham’s popout, the Twins mobbing each other, and this moment I shared with an A’s fan after the game.

Game 5 of 2003 was on a Monday. I spent the day at work building up nervous energy for it. I made the mistake of agreeing to a little birthday party get-together at my brother’s house with him, his wife, and my boyfriend (my now husband). I remember Manny Ramirez hitting a home run and pointing into the Red Sox dugout. I remember screaming, “It’s my freakin’ birthday!” and burying my face into the couch. I remember the green and gold birthday cake that Leslie made. I remember Adam Melhuse pinch hitting for Jermaine Dye and Terrence Long taking strike three with the bases loaded to end it.

But for the first time in recent birthdays, the A’s finally gave me a reason to celebrate last year on October 6^th. My boss let me take a half day so I could go home and watch the game. I remember putting the Indigo Girls Despite Our Differences in my CD player when I stared my drive home, and telling myself that if I got home before the CD played in its entirety, the A’s would win. I remember screaming “Wooo!” as I pulled into the garage while the last song was playing. I remember Brad Radke pitching with him arm secured by duct tape. And most of all, I remember this – the single greatest moment in my life as an A’s fan.

I remember Justin Moreneau rolling his eyes as he rounded first base on a meaningless home run trot. I remember Huston Street and Jason Kendall hugging after the final out. And, for years to come, I will always remember birthday #29 and that present that came packaged in green and gold.

Here’s to many more – good or bad – birthdays with the A’s!