Easter Vindication

First off, I hope that everyone enjoyed their Easter Sunday.  I was able to spend brunch with my family today at grandma's house and that was good times.

By this time tomorrow, the Oakland Athletics will have taken the field to defend their 2012 AL West Title.  This got me thinking, what do people do the night before their teams open at home?

This may have been from Game 3 of the 2012 ALDS,
but Opening Day always has a Playoff like atmosphere.

I was browsing twitter tonight during the first ball game of the 2013 season and realized that people do pretty much everything.  Some fans set their clothes out on what they are going to wear tomorrow as if in anticipation of going on a hot date or to a prom.  Other fans can't sleep, like the night before Christmas before all the presents are unwrapped.  The gates at the Coliseum open at 2pm, so I also know some are doing the last minute preparations for their tailgate party.  The grill, chicken, burgers, hot dogs, chips, salsa, adult beverages and sodas are all ready in the ice chest and all that's left is the stuff needs to be put in the car.

For me, the night before Opening Day has been just a reflection of the past season.  To me this is like New Years as there is the ability to set things right from the past; a new hope perhaps.  The predictions from the "experts" have been made and the fans even from the teams that aren't predicted to do so well have a glimmer of hope.  This is how I felt last season before Opening Night.  I felt the A's could do something special in 2012 and it happened.  They "Shocked the World" as fellow Section 149 Omar G. would say.  Well, it looks like they will have to do it again this season as many experts believe that the Angels lineup is just too good adding Josh Hamilton.  The Rangers are just too good.  Some experts believe the A's are going to finish 3rd and believe last season was just an aberration.  I guess the doubters will have to be proven wrong.

Since December, I have believed that the 2013 season for the A's would be a season of "Vindication."  Why do I use this term?  I use this term because I believe in what I saw from the A's last year was no fluke.  The pitching staff was excellent and the bullpen was marvelous.  You have most of the same guys coming back this year wanting more.  The A's offense has improved.  The A's have a lineup that could possibly have every single guy in it hit at least 10 home runs a piece.  Yoenis Cespedes head is now clear now that his family was able to surpass the legal issues.  He is only going to get better...

Keep the Faith Athletics fans...

Other Sniff Thoughts...

I have also decided to keep non baseball related items here and since I can't think of a great title for it, please let me know if you know of one.  I am not to creative at times and any help would be greatly appreciated.

On Saturday night after playing golf with my cousin my sister requested that I get her eggs and bacon bits from the store so she could make some deviled eggs for Easter.  Usually she cuts the egg in half and sprinkles some curry powder on it, but this time she decided to go all out.  She took each egg and made little chicks out of each one using a slice of cheddar cheese as the nose and capers as the eyes.  Here is how they turned out...

WELCOME

I find it fitting that for my first post here, I have to use the title of "WELCOME."  For those that have been to the Oakland Coliseum (pre Mount Davis), there was a sign just left of center field that said "WELCOME" and below listed all of the A's World Series Championships and AL Championships.  Quite intimidating right?  I am not sure what this blog will consist of, but I do know that there will be plenty of sports related things here including my beloved Oakland Athletics.  I may rant or just talk about life in general from a positive perspective.  I am really not sure, but I welcome you all along for the ride.

Oct. 3, 2012 - A's Celebrate 2012 AL West Crown
Photo taken from RF Bleachers Section 149

So you are probably wondering why Sniff Optimism?  Well for years now I have always believed in the power of being optimistic in any situation, whether it be in life or while rooting on your favorite team or player.  I am pretty sure that you have heard of people talking about "Overcoming Adversity" in their lives and that is what Sniff Optimism is.  Sniff Optimism is the ability to overcome adversity even in a situation where a miracle is needed or all hope is lost; a long shot bet it could be so-called.  When you believe in something that no one else believes in; that is Sniff Optimism and it lives greatly, hence the motto "Sniff-Optimism Lives"

So who am I?  Well I am glad you asked!  I am an Asian American male born and raised in the San Francisco East Bay Area.  I went to school at the University of California, Riverside majoring in English and minoring in Economics.  I am a brother of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity.  I am a die hard Oakland Athletics baseball fan and my dad has taken me to games as long as I could remember.  He was a season ticket holder in the late 80's/early 90's and I have been a season ticket holder since the 2011 season.  It took me a while to become a season ticket holder, because I thought I had to buy the entire season, but I finally figured out I didn't need to.  In the Coliseum, I tend to sit all over the place, but most games you will find me in either Section 216/217 or the Right Field Bleachers.  I tend to take a ton of photos as I am also the league photographer for an Oakland Kickball League.  The photos that I will be posting here on the blog are all mostly mine.  I am also known as Sniff009 on twitter and I was the one who took the photo of the "One Man Dog Pile" and sent it over to Brandon McCarthy, which ended up going viral on the internet.  I am also a die hard fan of the Golden State Warriors, San Francisco 49ers and San Jose Sharks.

This blog is also not my first blog ever.  I had a blog on Xanga under the same Sniff009 name and I think it may still be around.  I also used MyDearDiary, and before you laugh at me and take my man card, I was able to meet an awesome online friend I hope to meet one day.  She helped me through a whole bunch of relationship advice and other life related things when none of my friends were up at 2am.  I also helped her as well, so thank you even though we are half a world away.  While I am on thank you's, I want to thank my friends for convincing me again to blog and you know who you are.  Getting me to blog again took a ton of prodding, but I am finally here!

I hope you enjoy this blog and WELCOME!