Marshawn Lynch’s off-field escapades have been well-documented on this website.
We’ve watched Marshawn traverse the wilderness with Bear Grylls. We’ve seen him gleefully blow stuff up using science and Go-Kart with his friends. We laughed as he put regular people through one of his trademark beach workouts and fed lines to a sandwich shop employee to mess with unsuspecting customers. Hell, we even watched Marshawn watch and react to viral videos.
And yet, no matter where Beast Mode pops up or what he ends up doing there, he always finds a way to surprise us, and his latest off-the-field-Marshawn-moment is no different.
As you may or may not know, the sports franchises in Oakland, California are currently under siege. The Raiders are moving to Las Vegas in 2020 and the Warriors will be moving to the Chase Center in San Fransisco sooner rather than later. And unfortunately, it appears the A’s may be next.
Well, not if Marshawn can do anything about it, that is. Lynch, who is famously from Oakland, appeared at a recent city council meeting to try and advocate for the A’s staying where they belong, delivering MOVING, albeit brief, speech:
Oakland’s own @MoneyLynch spoke in front of the city council tonight on behalf of the A’s ballpark project. “We’re losing the Warriors. We’re losing the Raiders. Best not lose the A’s. (I) appreciate it.” #RootedInOakland pic.twitter.com/Nq85EBqM3g
— Oakland Athletics
(@Athletics) December 20, 2018
(@Athletics) Here is the heart-string-tugging speech, transcribed in full:
“We’re losing the Warriors. We’re losing the Raiders. Best not lose the A’s. (I) appreciate it.”
According to Yahoo Sports, while the A’s don’t currently have plans to leave Oakland, they do have plans to build a new stadium, which always can introduce potential tensions between a team and a city. While the A’s reportedly plan to finance the stadium privately, several obstacles remain, such as community development and transportation planning.