Oakland A's slogan "Rooted in Oakland" doesn't translate well to Australian slang

[bcla]

The Oakland A's have Australian (from Perth) player Liam Hendriks who is doing quite well and the A's wanted to encourage Aussie fans to watch him in the MLB All-Star Game. They took out a full page ad in The Australian which noted his current stats and at the bottom included the A's current slogan "Rooted in Oakland". That's really more of a take on the state of sports teams in Oakland, where the Raiders are leaving for Las Vegas and the Warriors are moving to San Francisco. The Oakland A's say they want to stay and are trying to build a new stadium in Oakland. It's also supposed to remind people of the official logo of the City of Oakland, which is of an oak tree with its roots.

Apparently the term "rooted" is slang in Australia for something I'm probably better off not repeating here. Anyone interested is welcome to look it up or any of the stories about this ad. Hendriks has said things about the slogan before, so I'm not quite sure why the A's didn't leave that out in an ad meant for distribution in Australia.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

If your nickname is "Fanny," don't use it in Australia.

 

[RedAngie]

Well, I'm quite sure that a more appropriate term in the ad wouldn't get the attention in Australia that this one did. So the ad more or less served its purpose.

Maybe the A's did it intentionally even after the player informed them of its meaning Down Under.

 

[bcla]

Well, I'm quite sure that a more appropriate term in the ad wouldn't get the attention in Australia that this one did. So the ad more or less served its purpose.

Maybe the A's did it intentionally even after the player informed them of its meaning Down Under.

I've heard suggestions that the player might have known about it and wanted to see what the reaction would be. I'm kind of surprise that the newspaper would have no problem printing it since this is apparently a common slang term.

It's pretty innocent though. Nobody in the US would see it as anything other than an expression about stability. And around here we understand that the City of Oakland's logo shows roots that are as deep as the tree is tall.

 

[tvguy]

Pretty funny. We're an A's household, and we have been very disappointed in the ownership's efforts to "up root" the team from the Coliseum to Howard Terminal. We went to a fan fest at Jack London Square. That whole Howard Terminal-Jack London Square are is just plain terrifying. We haven't been to a fan fest since because they keep having it at Jack London Square. And one of the fun parts of Fan Fest is getting to tour the club house, dug out and behind the scenes areas of the Coliseum.

 

[bcla]

Pretty funny. We're an A's household, and we have been very disappointed in the ownership's efforts to "up root" the team from the Coliseum to Howard Terminal. We went to a fan fest at Jack London Square. That whole Howard Terminal-Jack London Square are is just plain terrifying. We haven't been to a fan fest since because they keep having it at Jack London Square. And one of the fun parts of Fan Fest is getting to tour the club house, dug out and behind the scenes areas of the Coliseum.

It’s been a while since I’ve been to Fan Fest, but I remember when they moved it to Oracle Arena. I think they were still doing tours of the Coliseum, but were limiting access to just the tour areas.

However, unless they move to a new stadium, they’re going to be criticized for what they’ve got. I love the place, but most people think it’s an aging dump.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

I think they should tear down that aging dump and build a nice new stadium on the same spot and this time, they don't have Al Davis around to ruin the view of the hills. They can play in San Francisco while it's done. And they'd be finished a lot faster that way.

 

[tvguy]

I think they should tear down that aging dump and build a nice new stadium on the same spot and this time, they don't have Al Davis around to ruin the view of the hills. They can play in San Francisco while it's done. And they'd be finished a lot faster that way.

I could deal with that. Just seems stupid to move from a location on BART, on AMTRAK, on the Freeway to a place with none of that.

 

[lanejudy]

Eh, I didn’t know the history of Oakland and it’s logo, so I guess that helps to explain the slogan. But DH grew up watching the Philadelphia Athletics, and I know they spent several years in KC before landing out west, so the “roots” of the team aren’t truly in Oakland though they have stayed put there for a few decades now.

But interesting how even In the same language words have different meaning in different countries.

 

[RedAngie]

Eh, I didn’t know the history of Oakland and it’s logo, so I guess that helps to explain the slogan. But DH grew up watching the Philadelphia Athletics, and I know they spent several years in KC before landing out west, so the “roots” of the team aren’t truly in Oakland though they have stayed put there for a few decades now.

But interesting how even In the same language words have different meaning in different countries.

I was thinking the same about the A's previous moves from Philly to KC to Oakland. If they don't get a new stadium within five years I'm sure the team would have no problem moving to a city that will pay for a sparkling new shiny playpen.

As for word meanings, what term does an Australian use when talking about the parts of a plant that are underground?

And is the love of money the root of all evil there?

Do high school kids giggle when the math teacher discusses square roots?

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

I could deal with that. Just seems stupid to move from a location on BART, on AMTRAK, on the Freeway to a place with none of that.

Same. The location they have is fine. It's just that that monstrosity in center blocks the view. Thanks Al Davis. Build a new stadium with seats closer to the field in the same spot. But then again that would require actual thinking and ingenuity and reusing things and not giving all our money away to get the site. What's the fun in that? Instead, let's tear up some other area of town less suitable for a ball park and cram it in there. And bonus. In addition to poor access to public transportation and freeways, we can provide inadequate parking!!!! YAYYYYYYYYYYYYY.

 

[bcla]

I think they should tear down that aging dump and build a nice new stadium on the same spot and this time, they don't have Al Davis around to ruin the view of the hills. They can play in San Francisco while it's done. And they'd be finished a lot faster that way.

There's been talk over the years about various places to build a new stadium. One was to build a new one at the site of the old Coliseum Drive-In movie theater, which currently hosts a flea market. I remember talk about Fremont, although that site wasn't close to public transportation.

The Giants won't let the A's play home games at their own stadium. They just won't. They won't relinquish territorial rights to Santa Clara County either, which is why the A's moving to San Jose is a nonstarter. The rights used to be shared until the Haas Family relinquished them when there was a move to build a Giants stadium in San Jose.

Over the years there had been talk about building new stadiums on the site, but some were for football. The idea was to build off to the side where the current stadium could be used, and possibly demolished later. That's pretty common - where a new stadium goes up near the old one - like the Yankees, Braves, Mets, Rangers, etc.

 

[RedAngie]

Is the Oracle Arena going to remain standing? If not, the A's can stay put while a new stadium is constructed next door. Parking might be a hassle for a year or two.

 

[tvguy]

Is the Oracle Arena going to remain standing? If not, the A's can stay put while a new stadium is constructed next door. Parking might be a hassle for a year or two.

That would be my preference. But a baseball stadium is far too big to fit in the space where Oracle is (take a look at Google maps). They could tear down Oracle and make that parking, but the only space a baseball stadium could be squeezed in is the North-Western corner of the parking lot.

 

[tvguy]

Same. The location they have is fine. It's just that that monstrosity in center blocks the view. Thanks Al Davis. Build a new stadium with seats closer to the field in the same spot. But then again that would require actual thinking and ingenuity and reusing things and not giving all our money away to get the site. What's the fun in that? Instead, let's tear up some other area of town less suitable for a ball park and cram it in there. And bonus. In addition to poor access to public transportation and freeways, we can provide inadequate parking!!!! YAYYYYYYYYYYYYY.

I agree about Mount Davis, but all the foul territory is what gives the Oakland Coliseum character. And that layout has great historic value. It was laid out by Oakland A's Executive Vice President Joe DiMaggio. I think that foul territory is what allowed people like Sal Bando, Carney Lansford, Eric Chavez, Jason Giambi , Mark McGwire , Josh Donaldson (Josh versus the tarp amazing catch) Matt Chapman, and Matt Olson to become so well know around baseball.

 

[bcla]

Is the Oracle Arena going to remain standing? If not, the A's can stay put while a new stadium is constructed next door. Parking might be a hassle for a year or two.

One proposal was for a "Coliseum City" where there would be separate baseball/football stadiums where the parking currently is, and to keep Oracle Arena. However, with the Warriors moving, Oracle has the right to back out of their naming agreement. And the A's have proposed with a Howard Terminal site to rebuild a community ballpark at the current site with various office buildings. I think the transfer of the land to the A's was supposed to be a way for them to finance the new stadium with revenue from office development.

As far as I know there's no plans to tear down Oracle Arena, although I'm not sure there's going to be a named sponsor without a professional team in the building. The building still hosts big name concerts (Shawn Mendes is playing tonight) and other events like Disney on Ice. It's still a decent venue. I remember that the Cow Palace has managed to stay around for years even though it's clearly a dump.

The City of Oakland and Alameda County are still on the hook for debt on the 1998 arena renovation. There were some legal issues with whether or not the Warriors could back out of their debt obligations, but that was supposedly resolved through arbitration where they would need to pay $40 million. The team has appealed the ruling.

https://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakl...long-legal-losing-streak/Content?oid=26672141

 

[bcla]

That would be my preference. But a baseball stadium is far too big to fit in the space where Oracle is (take a look at Google maps). They could tear down Oracle and make that parking, but the only space a baseball stadium could be squeezed in is the North-Western corner of the parking lot.

They could get creative with the layout, but I don't think it would be worth removing the arena. However, the A's have been talking about building a 35,000 seat stadium. The new trend towards baseball stadiums is to make them smaller. The land could actually accommodate 4 modern baseball stadiums in the current parking areas.

I do remember when Raiders President Amy Trask was adamant that the Coliseum was the best site for a stadium in the Bay Area because of transportation concerns. It's within walking distance of the Coliseum BART station and is right next to a major freeway. There's also access to the Amtrak station although its not that practical for night games because of the Capitol Corridor schedule.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Is the Oracle Arena going to remain standing? If not, the A's can stay put while a new stadium is constructed next door. Parking might be a hassle for a year or two.

There is room for a new stadium right next to the one they have now. But there would be little extra buffer for the construction. But there is not enough room where Oracle sits.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Eh, I didn’t know the history of Oakland and it’s logo, so I guess that helps to explain the slogan. But DH grew up watching the Philadelphia Athletics, and I know they spent several years in KC before landing out west, so the “roots” of the team aren’t truly in Oakland though they have stayed put there for a few decades now.

But interesting how even In the same language words have different meaning in different countries.

My take on their usage of rooted is that they just mean they want to stay put as opposed to leaving not that their origins are in Oakland (and I could be wrong on my take). They've been in Oakland since 1968 which these days I must admit is quite a long time for a major professional franchise (even if it has switched slightly in names).

 

[mummabear]

Do high school kids giggle when the math teacher discusses square roots?

Absolutely.