I hate when the baseball season is over. As a player it is bittersweet. The season ends, you say goodbye to friends, the town, playing every day and a routine that takes weeks to transition away from. As a fan, it is more one sided. You start thinking about the hot stove league, Spring Training and have an emptiness without games to watch, SportCenter highlights or boxscores to read. Even the MLB app is stuck on the last game of the World Series. It sucks. Sorry, football, hockey or basketball you just don't cut it.
For Giants fans, this year ended magically.
Like any sport, you either win the championship or you go home a loser. This year FINALLY it worked out for the San Francisco Giants. This year, the identity of the San Francisco baseball fan was changed forever thanks to a special 2010 team with one of the best pitching staff's in the history of the game.
The Giants have been my favorite team since they brought up #22 Will "The Thrill" Clark. I remember sitting through freezing night games or cutting high school to see day games. I have enjoyed introducing my wife and three girls to the fun of baseball. The girls love their rally rags, are learning about the baseball gods, and know not to jinx the game by talking about a no-hitter, what hasn't happened in a long time or how "quickly" the game is going.
My girls will scream "LET'S GO GIANTS" at the top of the lungs at any point practically anywhere during the season.
Lots of my friends, family and people around town have been Giants friends their entire life waiting for this World Series Championship. We are all still pinching ourselves, watching reruns of the game on MLB network and tickled orange. This season was remarkable. Fans got into it. They cared. People around town started wearing orange shirts every Friday, there was a buzz all around
the City. There were Panda hats, Fear the Beard t-shirts, viral videos created, Steve Perry sing alongs and seemingly everyone became fascinated with the Giants overnight. In San Francisco? Really? In St. Louis, Boston or NY, it is normal, but not here in San Francisco. When they beat out the Phillies to earn the right to play Texas, the Giant Dugout stores inventory was decimated. On the day of Game #3, I tried to take my daughter to get a bright orange T-shirt and there were 60 people standing outside waiting to get in. This town wearing Giants gear? Peninsula fans caring this much about sports? San Franciscans going to bars to watch the games? The people of the bay area always blamed the apathy on "too many things to do" or some other nonsensical reason for not caring about baseball. Afterall, were weren't in the midwest, Boston or NY. Something happened along that way that captured the heart of the thousands of people in the Bay Area that didn't really care about baseball. Humble well-spoken players, 100% effort, character, drama (or torture) and a late season miraculous comeback all helped make this team unique.
The big question will be whether or not San Francisco will continue to support their team as a baseball town. I hope so.
