THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: When our favorite teams get taken away from us

What’s wrong with Oakland?

The other sports fan in the household — aside from the dog and the cat, of course — wondered this the other day, reacting to the news that the Oakland A’s are all but headed to Las Vegas.

This, after the Oakland Raiders — the Rrrrrrrrraaaaaaaiderrrrrrrrs! — left Oakland not once, but twice, first for Los Angeles from 1982-94, then for Las Vegas (of course!) in 2020.

This, after the Golden State Warriors played in Oakland for 37 seasons before moving into a shiny new building in San Francisco in 2019.

The A’s have played in Oakland since 1968, after moving from Kansas City. But the stadium the A’s play in is more known these days from sewage leaking into the clubhouses, and a possum living in the press box walls, than anything that is done on the field.

The current cheapskate owner in Oakland, apparently unable to extract a shiny new stadium (sans sewage and rodents) from the city, and unwilling to keep his good players under contract, is looking for the city of Lost Wages to provide a shiny new home in which to escape.

The Warriors, of course, played in San Francisco (in a building called the Cow Palace) for nine seasons after moving out West from Philadelphia in 1962. So moving 17 miles across the bay, but remaining in the region, is tolerable.

But man, what did the good fans of Oakland do to deserve this kick in the you-know-what?

WHO KNOWS how we pick our favorite teams, when we don’t have a team in our own backyard?

The Portland Trail Blazers were an easy one, for someone born in Oregon — even though they made their NBA debut the year we left Salem and moved to Salt Lake City. During Portland’s run to the NBA title seven years later, we screamed so loud in the living room during some playoff games we worried we might disturb the neighbors — though apparently those screams weren’t enough to wake our grampa, who was napping in a nearby chair.

So then it became the Utah Stars of the ABA, featuring Zelmo Beaty (“Beaty shoots … Beaty scorrrrrrrrres!” as radio guy Bill Howard liked to tell us) … Willie Wise … “Red” Robbins (Howard called him “the walking 1-iron”) … the red, white and blue basketball … $5 to sit in the front row, on the baseline during the regular season (they jacked the expensive tickets up to $6 for the playoffs) …

The 49ers?

Maybe it was because there were only two NFL teams on the West Coast at the time — the other being the Los Angeles Rams.

Maybe I liked the color red at the time (apparently I still do).

Maybe it was John Brodie playing quarterback.

WHY WOULD someone who grew up an hour from the Pacific Ocean root for the Mets?

Maybe it was because they started out as loveable losers, and seven years later, won the World Series as the “Amazin’ Mets.”

Maybe it was Tom Seaver, the power pitcher many of us wanted to be growing up (In fact, I read in a book back then that he had two dogs, one named Casey. So when our cousins gifted us a dog around that time — a wiener dog, naturally — she, too, was named Casey).

Since I’m a 49ers fan, I must be a Giants fan too?

Nope. A little farther south.

I remember watching the Salem Dodgers of the Northwest League play baseball at Waters Field (I don’t remember much, because I would have been around 6).

As for the Oakland A’s? Who knows.

MAYBE IT was because they wore green and gold.

Maybe it was because Curt Gowdy, the old-time sportscasting legend, made them sound exciting.

Maybe it was because many of the players grew mustaches to bleed an extra few hundred bucks out of their cheapskate owner.

Reggie Jackson … Sal Bando … Joe Rudi … Rollie Fingers … Bert Campaneris flinging his bat at a Tigers relief pitcher after an inside pitch, back when it was (sort of) OK to do that … Vida Blue … “Catfish” Hunter … Herb Washington …

Beating the Big Red Machine in the 1972 World Series (certainly you remember Gene Tenace hitting two home runs in Game 1?) … beating the Mets in the World Series the next year (when you have TWO favorite teams playing each other, you have to prioritize) … beating the Dodgers in the World Series the next year (ditto).

And even in recent decades, several playoff-caliber teams despite their crummy ballpark and their cheapskate owner — which has to gall fans of the Seattle Mariners, who play in a (still) shiny new ballpark, but went 21 years between playoff appearances.

And the Mariners apparently have money, and are willing to spend it!

Winning seasons this century — A’s 14, Mariners 11.

Playoff appearances this century — A’s 11, Mariners 3.

(Using the green-and-gold logic, maybe that’s why I was a fan of the Edmonton Eskimos growing up, too. Maybe it was because cable TV was new and exciting back in the late 1970s, and by extension, the Canadian Football League was new and exciting. That, and the fact an Edmonton linebacker named Dan Kepley seemingly made every tackle).

YOU MIGHT wonder how someone could be a 49ers fan AND a Raiders fan.

True, they were competing for the affections of the Bay Area sports fan. But they were in different leagues then, and in different conferences now. They never met in the playoffs, and only a few times in the regular season.

Besides …

Darryl “The Mad Bomber” Lamonica … Fred Biletnikoff and his “stickum” hands… Cliff Branch … Kenny “The Snake” Stabler … Jack Tatum … Ben Davidson … all those great playoff matchups with the Steelers … the “Sea of Hands” game against the Dolphins … Al Davis vs. the NFL …

NOW THAT the Raiders are in Vegas, I don’t find myself rooting for them as much. I still pulled for them when they played in L.A., because at least they were still in the same state (though some consider Southern California and Northern California different states, of sorts). And, maybe, there was the slight hope that they would someday return to the Bay.

I’m sure some Oakland fans make the trek to Vegas to watch the Raiders, but they look like a team playing in the wrong city, and the wrong state. Their home games look more like neutral-site games, with so many of the visiting team’s fans also flocking to Vegas to watch.

I imagine that will happen to the A’s, too, when they eventually break our hearts and move. They’ll play “neutral-site” home games in a shiny new ballpark, filled partially with fans from the visiting team — or just fans visiting, taking a break from shoving their money into a slot machine to shoving their money toward some helmet nachos and a few home runs.

Maybe the change of scenery will keep the club more competitive — even when they were good, the A’s chose to unload all their good players because they wouldn’t pay to keep them. Or maybe the cheapskate owner will continue to disappoint the fans, albeit in a new city and state.

Either way, it will be time to find another “favorite” team.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @CdAPressSports.