For all my years as being a sports fan, the Giants winning the 2010 World Series is the penultimate moment. I don’t think there will be another sporting event in my life that will ever bring me as much joy and happiness as this Giants championship. I don’t think there will be another event that I will be this emotionally invested in as this years World Series. I can’t see it happening. One day, hopefully the Sharks will win the Stanley Cup, and I will be happy for that, but not as happy as I was when Brian Wilson struck Nelson Cruz to end Game 5.
To really put things in perspective, as a man, i don’t believe in the art of crying or tears for that matter. But during game 5, when Edgar Renteria hit that three run homer, the moment was so overwhelming that I had tears in my eyes. Then each out after that as the moment got closer and closer, each out I had tears in my eyes. And then just at random intervals after that during the postgame celebration and interviews. Even today, as I was driving through Fremont, I saw a a banner at a high school that said “Go Giants!” and that brought tears to my eyes.
The bandwagon fans will never understand what this title means to the people who have been rooting for the Giants all our lives. They will never understand the years of suffering, the years of coming up short, the heartbreak, the pain, the torture that was endured.
I became a Giants fan in 1993. That was the year after they almost moved to Florida but then Peter McGowan came and saved the team. I became a fan because for Christmas, I had received a small transistor radio, and from that, I discovered the joy of listening to baseball on the radio (KNBR 680, The Sports Leader) and became a Giants fan. That year, 1993, was Barry Bonds first year with the Giants... and they won an incredible 102 games, yet missed the playoffs by one game. As a kid, I thought there would by many more years of winning seasons... Except , there wasn’t. That was kind of the beginning of torture. From there, we endured the baseball strike, playoff flameouts, the steroids scandal, crappy teams , and more crappy teams. Then 2002 happened. 2002 was like a huge kick in the groin, followed by a punch in the head, followed by another kick in the groin. It was painful. 2010 redeemed all that and made the past history.
Being a Giants fan means always seeing the cup half empty and cracked. You expect bad things to happen, for me, it took for the final out to happen to actually believe we had won the World Series. Up until the last out, I thought the Giants would figure out a way to lose it. But they didn’t.
It was really amazing to see how the entire Bay Area community gravitated towards this team. Something like this really transcends sports. It was bigger than that. I think due to social media, Giants fever spread fast, it seemed like everyone the Bay Area was a Giants fan. Even A’s fans shed there loyalty and became Giant fans. People of all creed, gender, economic background, they all cheered for the Giants. It was the strangest most awesome thing I’ve ever seen. They had 1 MILLION people in San Francisco for the parade today, that is amazing. The day after the World Series, I wanted to get a newspaper and they were sold out almost everywhere. I tried to goto Sports Authority to get a cap, and they were sold out everywhere. It was crazy.
Not having to work the last couple of weeks, I’ve had the liberty to watch most of the games and there have been just so many incredible moments. Timmy’s 14 Ks. Bumgarner’s World Series game four. Cody Ross two homers against Roy Halladay. Matt Cain’s 20+ scoreless innings. Freddy Sanchez defense. Javy Lopez against lefties. But my favorite has to be the final out, when Brian Wilson struck out Nelson Cruz. I love the radio call of the play. “Swing and a miss. And that’s it!” done so elegantly by Duane Kuiper.
I will end this blog with this youtube clip. I took Amy on a date during the clinching game 6 of the NLCS (Philadelphia series). When i made a reservation to this place in San Mateo, i did not realize that the restaurant also had a bar section with TVs in it. (The cynical amongst you guys will say I planned it so that the restaurant did have TVs, but i swear that is not the case). As we were eating, we were watching the game at the same time. The place erupted when Uribe’s HR gave the Giants the lead and then after each out. Here is the restaurant reaction after Wilson got the final out.
And that’s it! The Giants are world champions!
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that was an awesome date. =D
ReplyDeleteSteve, you know I love you, but as a die hard A's fan, it was gut-wrenching to see the Giants win the championship. It was the only thing the A's can say they have over the Giants. Giants get all the media coverage, they get the ballpark, now, they finally got their first championship. Anyone who is a die hard A's fan would know not to shed their loyalty else they aren't real A's fans. Rooting for two teams is like having 2 wives. With all that said, Congrats to the Giants. Job well done.
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