Sharks season even worse than the A’s
The San Jose Sharks, a hockey team, reportedly, are doing what seemed impossible — having a worse season than the Oakland Athletics, a baseball team, reportedly.
Different sports, but similar ineptitude. Must be something in the Bay Area water. Or considering the number of vineyards, the wine.
The A’s had the worst record in the game in 2023. The Sharks very well may end up with the worst record in NHL history. There still is a question because the hockey season still has weeks and weeks to go.
Unfortunately, perhaps.
As of November 7, Tuesday, the Sharks had played 11 games and haven only won a single one. They also have a tie. As if that matters.
The only thing that does matter is getting more goals (or runs) than the opponent. So far that’s been a hopeless task for the Sharks, as most of the spring and summer it was for the A’s
Twice the Sharks have given up 10 goals in a game. Yikes.
The two franchises ended up in similarly dire straits for the most obvious of reasons, a notable lack of playing talent, their rosters depleted and their fans deprived
The Sharks found it necessary to rebuild, trading among others Eri Karlsson (Norris Trophy winner as the league’s best defenseman) for younger players.
The A’s trick was to go after cheaper players, telling us they couldn’t compete financially—and then (snigger, snigger) announcing they were going to shift the team to Las Vegas.
The Sharks aren’t going anywhere, literally as well as figuratively. They’ll be a San Jose for a long while, whether their once-loyal fans will be is the issue.
In the last few years, attendance at SAP Center has declined.
The Sharks were wildly popular, as San Jose’s own, they were the local product of a city seeking its own sporting identity. However, they were often put in the shade by the burg up the coast at 49ers games in neighboring Santa Clara TV shows and views of the Golden Gate Bridge, in San Francisco.
San Jose is hockey territory and yet at the same time, it isn’t hockey territory like Toronto or Boston. Does a revised roster fill up the seats again?
The A’s actually had a winning record one day into the season, but from 1-0, reality took over. A ball club peopled with prospects and suspects is doomed to tumble.
Maybe the best part of the A’s season was the reverse boycotts staged by fans trying to persuade owner John Fisher to sell the team. Stubbornly he wouldn’t, and so he’s prepared to move.
For the Sharks and the A’s, it’s been the worst of times.