Wolff and soccer and not baseball

In a powwow sponsored by the San Jose/Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce, Oakland A’s kingpin Lew Wolff addressed several folks this week. Wolff took questions about San Jose’s redevelopment strategies and failures, as well as his team’s purchase of an option to bring a Major League Soccer franchise back to San Jose. Of course, people wanted to know about the prospects for moving the A’s to San Jose as well. It didn’t take that much reading between the lines to catch Wolff’s drift. In other words, he basically said that the Giants’ territorial rights will not be broken and that the A’s will not move to San Jose. It’s dead in the water. He also emphasized that he’s absolutely serious about bringing the Earthquakes back and that he’s hitting soccer at precisely the right time. Wolff fielded several questions from Chamber headmistress Pat Dando and a key thread throughout the conversation was San Jose’s penchant for diddle-daddling, that is, its lack of decision-making, especially in regards to redevelopment. He voiced his frustration at the constant need for studies and consultations and other bureaucratic quagmires. He expressed the need to just get things done, rather than mess around. Let’s hope the city and county understand what he’s saying here. Since the county voted to scrap the concert hall at the fairgrounds, now is the precise time to find a use for the land. The A’s have stated that they want youth soccer and training fields as part of their vision to bring Major League Soccer back, which is the model the rest of the league is promoting. If there’s anything that can bring the city and county back together again after all these idiotic lawsuits, it’s the world’s biggest sport. The county fair is only three days long now anyway, so calling the land “the fairgrounds” is ridiculous. Let’s put the land to some good use.