Looking for Intelligent Padres Conversation

This past weekend I was able to come down to beautiful Oceanside for a breakfast at the Beach Break Cafe. I moved away from San Diego about a year ago but still feel like San Diego is my home, and was excited to meet up with some college friends and their wives and of course proudly sported my Padres hat.

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One couple was late for breakfast so when I told the host after our name had been called, he stated that it was no problem “anything for a fellow Padres fan”. I found the statement refreshing and certainly not treatment I was used to in Oregon. For anyone who has moved away, sometimes it can feel strange to come home after awhile and notice how things have changed and look for something familiar.

Breakfast was good as always, and I did smile looking around the restaurant and seeing some Padres memorabilia on the assorted groups in the restaurant, also happy not to see any Dodgers hats and strange to see not any see green University of Oregon paraphernalia.

The server as I mentioned had expressed his own Padres fandom was more than perhaps the casual fan, but as a superfan of baseball and the Padres myself I don’t always trust people’s fan level. At the very least, I have to test it. I remember a girl I was talking to one time mention she was a big fan of the closer of the Padres, Dan Hoffman. All credibility immediately lost of course.

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• Padres barely missed out on high-end veteran starting pitcher
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Casually as we got up from our seats I asked the server if he was excited for the upcoming season. He stopped and said that yes, he was, and was really excited for Andy Green as the manager. Just knowing that the Padres had a new manager was a big step in the right direction, and knowing his name was even better. Test passed! We then talked for a minute about the choice, how we were happy it wasn’t someone so old school like Dusty Baker that he couldn’t relate to the team, but also not someone not yet removed even like Mark Kotsay for example.

Intelligent baseball conversation about the Padres. Nothing says coming home for the holidays quite like it.