OAKLAND –

It was hard to look around the sunny Oakland Coliseum Monday and not think that fans there had the right idea.

It was near ideal conditions for a ball game as the Oakland A’s faced the Seattle Mariners in the season opener, and you had to admire the people who were clever enough to arrange their schedules to watch.

Who knows… maybe there’s a relationship between baseball and brains?

“I’m missing my first day of Graduate School Spring semester for this!” said Michelle Hall of Davis, who had traded in her chalk and grade book for an A’s superfan outfit, complete with cape and utility belt.

She does have classes to teach tomorrow, but she’s already got her lesson plan.

“The first question I ask them is if they are a Yankees fan. If they are, they fail,” Hall laughed.

And as for the A’s fans, they didn’t see a winning effort on the first day of the 2013 season. They did see some new stadium bling: a new banner commemorating the A’s AL-West Division Championship in 2012.

And as for those fans, what was it the poet said? Hope springs eternal in the human heart.

So here’s to the sun, and the season, and starting things off with a capital A.