January 18, 2009 [LINK / comment]

Variations on Oakland Coliseum

My recent proposal to "rebuild Oakland Coliseum" (to make it a suitable permanent home for the NFL Raiders if and when the A's leave town) elicited some very thoughtful feedback. In particular, T.J. Zmina made a suggestion about Oakland Coliseum Oakland Coliseum which I think is clearly better than my suggestion. He agrees with my idea of building a "mirror image" of the new (1997) eastern grandstand on the west side (where the baseball diamond is), but he would leave in place the existing triple-decked curved grandstands on the north (left field) and south (right field) sides. That would certainly save a lot of construction cost, and it could alternatively serve as an intermediate stage, pending a complete rebuilding, along the lines that I suggested. So, I added a diagram based on his idea, and while I was at it, I added a few details to the rest of the diagram versions such as light towers. At the suggestion of Steven Poppe, finally, I also made a 1966-1982 football version diagram. (Note that the Raiders started playing in Oakland Coliseum two years before the A's arrived.) That makes a total of four (4) different football version diagrams for this one stadium!

Nats seek arbitration

Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman has filed for arbitration, as did three other Washington players. According to MLB.com, "the club was willing to give Zimmerman a contract that was similar to that of Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, who signed a six-year, $31 million deal in January 2008. Sources indicated then that Zimmerman wanted a larger contract." Zimmerman has struggled to live up to the high expectations of him, but the marked improvement he showed in the second half of the 2008 season qualifies him for a generous salary. I hope the team owners show him the respect he is due.