#FillTheColiseum

"Sell-out the Coliseum when it's not Opening Night, a game against the Yankees, Giants, Red Sox or a playoff game? Good joke."

If that's not what most people are saying, that's what most are thinking. But imagine with me for a moment the same fans that came together to defend our Coliseum against the ignorant statements of Jon Heyman (what a shame #shame), the same fans that have come together to start a voting campaign to get our arguably most deserving All-Star candidate, Josh Donaldson to the 2013 All-Star Game through #BringTheRainToTheCiti and the same fans that have come together to keep the A's in Oakland coming together once again to hush the haters, shut-up the skeptics by selling-out the Coliseum on June 28th against the St. Louis Cardinals!

No one expected all of us to come together as a fan-base and a city to defend the place we call home, the Coliseum, no one expected us to win the division last year, no one expected us to be known as the "toughest [stadium] I've ever played in..." according to Justin Verlander, but WE DID! In saying that, I don't see why we couldn't do the unexpected again and #FillTheColiseum. It's not a premium game, a fireworks game, a promotional giveaway game, or a rivalry game. It's a Friday night game against an inter-league opponent we only have a 9-game history with (Oakland is 2-7 vs St. Louis all-time).

The #FillTheColiseum campaign was first started by one of our very own, Steve Zink. A die-hard A's fan living in the Bay Area. He started a campaign that I was first introduced when I saw him promote his Instagram page (@Project_Sellout_) on a picture posted by the official Major League Baseball Instagram (@MLB) commenting on the picture to inform the fans of his intention to #FillTheColiseum. I jumped on this right away. The idea of doing something the Coliseum hasn't seen in years motivated me so I let Steve know he had my full support and partnership. We gave it a trial run and created a buzz but realized there was so much we should have or could have done to spread the word better and make it possible. This is where you come in:

Why do this?
For one, our players deserve a sellout crowd in June not only October. While we have been about quality and not quantity over the years at the Coliseum, it's time we come together as fans, to give the players an atmosphere that they haven't seen at a June game at the Coliseum in decades. Another reason is, showing the whole country and Major League Baseball that we don't need slides, large field-side bars, waterfalls to attract us to go to a game. All we need is our Oakland Athletics.

How are we going to do this?
It's gonna take a little more than a few retweets or flyers. It's going to have to be a extraordinary effort by you as a fan and supporter of the Oakland Athletics. Tell your friends, call your doctor to set up your next appointment at the ballpark, tweet to 95.7 The Game (@957TheGame), @Athletics, Comcast SportsNet (@CSNAthletics & @CSNAuthentic) using #FillTheColiseum persuading them to spread the word and give this some media attention, call-in to 95.7 The Game and most importantly BUY TICKETS!

Remember when we all thought someone would never hit a home run into the "O" of the Overstock.com sign in left field? I believe the same applies to #FillTheColiseum. Let's do the impossible! Let's #FillTheColiseum!

This is Where I Walk-Off,

Pie Guy