Our friends and family tried to tell us, but we had to find out for ourselves anyway: July in an ivy-covered Northeastern college town is no place for a California boy. We mention this because that's where we were four summers ago, huddling by the air conditioner in a townie bar to escape the heat that had been trying to braise us, watching the A's play Cleveland on ESPN, when we discovered the best. Promotion. Ever: Mug Root Beer Float Day at the Oakland Coliseum. Mulder was pitching, but ESPN had video of Hudson and Zito scooping vanilla ice cream into Mug root beer.

Once again this Wednesday, before the A's play Cleveland (it's a coincidence), current and former A's and "local media celebrities" (Dennis Richmond, Athletics Nation turns its lonely eyes to you) will be serving $2 root beer floats in the West Side Club. Proceeds from Root Beer Float Day benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and there's a tasteless joke (actually, a sugary joke) in there somewhere. The event runs from 11 until 2; the game starts at 12:35; if you have 15 bucks and three hours to kill in Oakland, you can buy a $2 game ticket, 6 root beer floats, and a $1 hot dog. Any reader who does so, and offers proof, wins a prize.