A’s clap back at Jon Gruden’s question of what Oakland will have when Raiders leave

Today Raiders head coach Jon Gruden was featured in a Sports Illustrated piece that followed him from his office at team headquarters and through Oakland to the iconic Ricky’s Sports Bar in San Leandro.

The city of Oakland means a great deal to Gruden as does the Raiders organization. Whenever he has talked about returning to the Raiders, he always mentions how much he adores the Raiders fans in the Black Hole and otherwise.

His love for the fans in Oakland is genuine. And they love him right back. Ricky’s has a parking spot reserved for him and everything.

So, after having a burger and a beer at Ricky’s and speaking with a few fans, he and the SI reporter headed back to team headquarters, and one of his final thoughts was a somber one.

“It’s kind of sad, man,” Gruden said. “What will they have once we go?”

I took that as meaning the Raiders fans in Oakland. But the A’s took it a bit differently it would seem, responding with “Oakland will have the Athletics, the club with the third most championships in Major League Baseball. #RootedInOakland”

Or maybe they just took the opportunity to remind everyone they’re the one Oakland professional sports team that isn’t on their way out. The Warriors have a new arena being built in San Francisco and of course the Raiders’ new digs are being prepared in Las Vegas.

Never mind that the A’s were trying desperately for years to move to San Jose and had to be blocked by Major League Baseball to keep that from happening. Regardless, the way it all shook out, in a couple years it will be the A’s that will be the last team standing in Oakland, so I suppose they earned the right to talk.

Also see: Gruden feeling like ‘Back the Future’ in Oakland