Yet another reason to love the Oakland A's

I always confuse Philadelphians when they ask me what my local sports teams are, because I'm from the East Bay. The Raiders aren't my team, even though they're closer -- the 49ers are further away, but when I was a kid they played smart, little-guy no-huddle football and were polite and had nice fans, so. And the A's are closer, but that's not why they're my team -- the Giants are big-money (and still lose), but the A's are locally-focused and community-minded. When I was younger, I'd do reading programs at all the local libraries, and get two A's tickets (bleachers, daytime games) for reading six books. And I got A's tickets for being on the honor roll. And they donated money to my school to prevent the libraries and athletic programs from closing post-school district bankruptcy. So they're obviously my team -- they're not just nearby, they're local. (A sentence that is reminding me of Cordelia's statement in the Buffy pilot that "when I go shopping, I have to have the most expensive thing. Not because it's expensive, but because it costs more." But I really am drawing a distinction.)

Anyway, they have recently done something that I think is really, really cool.

Environmentally conscious Oakland A's fans needn't feel guilty about tossing their plastic cups into trash cans at the McAfee Coliseum. They're being composted along with half-eaten hot dogs, cardboard food trays and used napkins. ...

The recyclable plastic cup program that started last month at Oakland A's games will be expanded to include all plastic utensils, plates and food containers not just for baseball games but for all events at the McAfee Coliseum and the neighboring arena.

"It's the right thing to do,'' said George Valerga of SMG Management Company, the facility manager for the Coliseum and arena.

The A's were happy to be the first in the country to launch the recycling expansion, said David Rinetti, vice president of stadium operations.

"We've always tried to be on the cutting edge of recycling out here,'' Rinetti said. "It helps us. It helps the environment.''

Awwwww! My local sports team may not be able to whup your local sports team, but they're way, way greener (and I'm not just talking about the jackets). *hugs local sports team*

BEA part twenty trillion

I know you're all sick to death of this, but this is where I offer you free stuff, so I think you can probably stomach it once more.

If you go to the BEA author autographing pages, you can scroll through a list of the people autographing. If you see anything you particularly want, comment or email. I make no promises (for example, getting an extra signed copy of ANYTHING from GNeil's publishers at these events is like wrestling a rabid badger -- they just don't have the time), but if you let me know you're interested, I can at least try.