Positive Press

We go to see the Oakland A’s play most every year. We drive to the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) train, and take it to the Coliseum. The ride is pretty nice, and it’s a lot cleaner than the New York subway, although I have good memories of riding the IRT to Manhattan in my twenties.

We had to take a bus partway, as they were repairing part of the track, and that was unusual. We rode in the accordion section, and the journey mimicked a mini roller-coaster, but was just fine.

Getting back on the train in Fremont, we inched along slowly to Oakland. Leaving in the morning, we usually got to see the pre-game festivities, but this time it was not meant to be.

At the ballpark, I picked out a new hat, as mine was on it’s last legs. I found a nice gray and green one that I liked; it was similar to two I’d had in the past.

My next mission was food. The game had just started, and I wanted to participate in watching it, but had to procure some lunch first. I’d scouted out a place called Nourish Bowls, before heading to the stadium. Locating the tiny booth after some searching, I got my tasty meal.

I like the occasional cheese steak as much as the next guy, but with my CKD, I need to watch what I eat, and I am kind of a vegetarian to begin with. I got to select each ingredients, and build the bowl to my specifications, choosing greens, tofu, chimichurri sauce (hopefully higher in peppers than salt…), beets, sunflower seeds and marinated artichoke hearts.

Here is a link to the Twitter/X post about Nourish at the Coliseum.

Which leads me to another point, “Why am I trying to be a vegetarian?”

Well, the reasons are threefold:

• I’m not crazy about the texture of meat, especially meats that are fleshy or undercooked.
• I see meat as being flesh, and it’s sometimes almost as though I’m eating human flesh, so that would be a time I wouldn’t eat animal meat at all.
• With CKD and excess weight, I’m only to have two ounces of animal protein at a time.

So do I think it’s wrong for other people to eat meat? By no means. The Bible says the Lion will one day lie down with the Lamb, so personally, I have trouble eating some meats (I still like pepperoni on pizza ;), but the Bible also says to not judge the person who feels free to eat meat.

The Bible also says that after the fall of man, God gave us everything to eat:

Genesis 9:3 Every living creature will be food for you; as I gave the green plants, I have given you everything.

But even the bible said that meat eaters should not judge vegetarians (Corinthians), and it says not to eat anything that would violate your conscience.

As to the game, we were fortunate to win, as the A’s are not known for many championship seasons; it’s not their fault; their owner trades away the players who develop into stars, to keep the dollars flowing in; at least that’s what people say.

We love our A’s, but they may move to Vegas. I hope Oakland does not melt into a sea of decay as its teams migrate away to greener pastures.

Thanks especially to Esteury Ruiz for the great, mid-game homer!