While Modesto resident William Velazquez was putting on his baseball cap embellished with San Francisco Giants logos Saturday, his girlfriend Sarah Flores was in the next room looking through a wardrobe filled with the vibrant green and gold colors of the Oakland A's.
Soon the two were sitting quietly, side by side, on a BART train headed for Network Associates Coliseum in Oakland, where they took sides against each other as the Bay Area's two baseball teams battled it out.
Velazquez and Flores have been able to coexist despite being huge supporters of different baseball teams. But the Oakland A's organization recently has attempted to create a bigger rift between fans of the two teams.
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| A's and Giants fans can co-exist peacefully...sometimes. |
The strategy this seems to be more of a marketing battle than a representation of public opinion, as many fans don't seem to mind the bridge straddlers.
Peter Maguire, a 41-year-old Gilroy resident, has been a die-hard Oakland A's fan for more than 34 years, but he does not mind fans who support both teams.
"If the Giants got to the World Series, I'd probably root for them just because I'm a Bay Area sports fan," said Maguire. "But hey, if the A's are still in, then I'd be rooting for them 100 percent."
There are some fans who believe that rooting for both teams is unacceptable, including Rob Chang, 19, a University of California-Berkeley sophomore. "I don't believe anyone who is a true A's fan or a true Giants fan can possibly be a fan of both," said Chang. "Because they've had a cross-town rivalry for years, and whenever two teams have a rivalry, you can't genuinely go for both teams."
Regardless of how the fans behave, the games between the teams are always special. The Giants lead the series record 20-19, and both sides bring plenty of fans across the Bay Bridge whenever they play each other. Saturday's game set the league high for this season with 55,989 fans in attendance.