Where are the afternoon games?

I am a huge Sharks fan. Since the lockout, I've listened to at least 40 games per season on the radio. I watch as many Sharks games on Versus and online as I can. If I missed the game the night before the first thing I'll do is check the score the next morning. I love the Sharks.

But I've only been to two games.

Price isn't a huge factor, even at $30 a pop, I could afford to go to five games or so a season, including $15 or $20 for food and drinks.

The problems are that I live in Oakland, I don't drive, and there is a huge lack of afternoon or evening games in the schedule. And that taking public transportation from Oakland to San Jose is ridiculous. Here's my journey to the game:

• AC Transit to BART: 20 minutes
• BART to Millbrae: 50 minutes
• Caltrain to San Jose: 60 minutes

2 hours isn't too bad, especially if I have somethng to entertain me along the way, but that's only transit time. With waiting factored in, that could easily be 3 hours, which is still doable. I can also take the Capitol Corridor from the Coliseum to SJ, cutting out much of the BART trip, and adding only a few dollars and a few minutes to the second train ride. Only one train runs at an appropriate time, but that option is there. Getting to the game is a hassle, but it's not the dealbreaker. Getting back home is. Here's the trip:

• Caltrain to Millbrae: 60 minutes
• BART to Oakland: 50 minutes
• Walk from the BART station to my house: 60 minutes

After a night game, I'd get home at 1:30 am. The Capitol Corridor doesn't run late enough for me to take it, and my bus stops running at 10:30, forcing me to walk home from BART. If the game goes into overtime, and I will miss the last BART train, I'd have to walk from the 4th & King Caltrain station to the Transbay terminal, wait until 1 am, take the late-night transbay bus, then walk from about 20 blocks farther away to get home. I'd arive at about 3 am, more than four hours after the game ended.

Afternoon and evening games would make this much more manageable. I wouldn't have to worry about missing the last BART train and I wouldn't have to worry about not getting enough sleep for work or school the next day. I might even be able to take Amtrak instead of Caltrain, cutting a big chunk out of the BART trip. But how many afternoon games are there? 3. There are two games at 1 pm (Feb. 21 and March 21) and one game at 5 pm (March 22). Why so few? And why are two of them against teams from the Central time zone (Dallas and Colorado)? Wouldn't it make more sense to schedule them against opponents from the east coast, so their fans can watch the whole game on TV?

I'm really confused about the whole thing. Many baseball games are played in the afternoon, and most football games are played in the afternoon. Why doesn't hockey feel that they need to schedule so many night games? With only three day games on the schedule, I may not be able to make it to any of them, especially since two of them are back-to-back. The lack of day games just alienates fans from slightly father away that are willing to spend more money on the team. I want to go to more games, but I can't.

It's a good thing I like Dan and Jamie so much (when I can get reception, but that's another story).