My Giant (s) Life So Far

I'm dedicating this blog post to my wife, who I love more than anything except God.  She has loved me more than any other person and has supported me and continued to be married to me despite my horrible sports affliction.  I originally was embarrassed after writing all of this, but my wife encouraged me to post it, so here you go..........

My love of baseball started as a small boy living in rural Northern California.  I remember my dad taking our family to Candlestick Park in San Francisco in the mid to late 80's.  I can't recall exactly the first game I went to, but I remember walking through that tunnel and seeing the green grass of what seemed like the most beautiful baseball diamond in the world.  Seeing the bright white home jerseys, the orange seats, smelling the hot dogs and hearing the crack of the bat from the players taking batting practice started a love affair with the game.  If you know anything about Candlestick Park, it was one of the ugliest, coldest, lousiest ballparks in all of baseball.  To me it was my Wrigley Field, Fenway Park, or Dodger Stadium.  To me is was glorious.  I used to beg my parents to take me to games, and fortunately I was able to go many.  Most of the one's I didn't go to I listened to on the radio.  I always had the radio tuned to KNBR 680, the flagship radio station of the Giants.  I would listen to the entire game in the back yard while mimicking each play described on the radio. I still remember pretending to be Will Clark, Chili Davis, Robbie Thompson, and Matt Williams.  I would throw pop-ups to myself and pretend to rob home runs from going over the fence, which led to many scraped up wrists from our wooden fence.  As much joy as I received from attending games and listening to them on the radio, the Giants always found a way to break my heart.  The first heartache I can remember was when they made the playoffs in 1987 and lost to the Cardinals in the NLCS.  They followed that up by making it to the World Series in 1989 only to get swept by their crosstown rival Oakland A's.  I still remember laying on the floor in our family room preparing to watch game 3 when the ground started to shake.  I  had never experienced an earthquake before, and at age 9 it freaked me out!!!  One moment the announcers were talking and the next--the live feed goes black and the ground is shaking like crazy!!  In 1993 the Giants won 103 games in one of the greatest seasons I can ever remember.  It was Barry Bonds' first year as a Giant (pre-steriods) and he didn't disappoint.  He won the MVP that year.  The Giants had two 20 game winners in Bill Swift and John Burkett, but they still managed to miss the playoffs by one lousy game!!!  The Braves made a trade for Fred McGriff at the trade deadline and squeaked past the Giants to take the division.  Oh yeah....and the lousy, no good, rotten, Dodgers beat the Giants on the last game of the season to knock them out.  This only furthered my profound dislike for the Dodgers and everything blue, which hasn't really changed to this day.  It would be 4 years until the Giants would make the playoffs again.  In 1997 the were surprising division winners, only to lose to the Wild Card Florida Marlins in the first round.  In 1998 they lost on the final game of the season to the Colorado Rockies on a Neifi Perez home run.  This forced a one game playoff with the Cubs, which, of course, they lost at Wrigley field.  In 2000, they moved out of their dump of a ballpark and into the finest in all of the major leagues, Pacific Bell Park.  They made the playoffs and faced off against the New York Mets.........and lost again!!!!!  In 2002 they finally made it back to the World Series.  They faced off against the Angels.  They looked poised to win their first Championship since moving to San Francisco--only 5 outs away in game six-- when the roof caved in and they choked it away, losing game 6 and 7.  Fortunately for me, I was in the middle of my senior year at college, working full-time and going to school full-time and was unable to get fully engrossed into the games.  While I still followed the action closely, I tried to deny that it ever happened, and that they ever lost.  I ignored all internet reports, newspaper articles, and sports TV and radio for months afterwards.  That tended to be how I dealt with the heartache as an adult.  However, I freely admit as a child I cried many a tear over my beloved Giants and their misfortunes.  My mom would say, "It's only a game, don't get so emotionally involved"  As much as I tried, I just couldn't though.  The Giants and the game of baseball had stirred up something inside of me that I could never quite explain, and still can't. These are a few quotes that I think explain it best. In the movie Field of Dreams, James Earl Jones' character Terence Mann, describes baseball this way........ 

"The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and that could be again."  -James Earl Jones, Field of Dreams-

"Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday's success or put its failures behind and start over again. That's the way life is, with a new game every day, and that's the way baseball is." -Bob Feller, Indians Hall of Fame Pitcher-

  
WARNING BARRY BONDS DIATRIBE COMING........

One of my favorite players growing up was Barry Bonds.  When the Giants first signed him I was 13 years old, and Barry still had a normal sized head and body for that matter.  In 1993 he won the MVP with the Giants.  In 1996 he became the second player to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in one season.  In 1998 he watched a juiced Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa capture the hearts of America in a home run derby that lasted all season.  Bonds broke the single season home run record and nobody cared.  He broke the all time home run record and nobody cared.  He couldn't find a team to play for, and nobody cared.  I admit, I loved Barry Bonds the player.  I never admired Bonds the person, but I did marvel at what he could do on the field.  Practically every time he swung the bat, the ball was hit like a laser beam somewhere.  While it came to light he used steroids, it also came to light that many of the pitchers he faced used as well.  Players from all teams were exposed as to having used steroids.  I understand because of Barry's rude behavior towards teammates and reporters, and his eventual breaking of one of sports most hallowed records made him out to be one of the most despised figures in sports history.  But I think it is important to point out that he was one of hundreds of players who used performance enhancing drugs during the late 1990's and 2000's.  Sure he hit home runs while on the juice, but how many pitchers were on the juice who pitched to him?  Two for sure were Eric Gagne of the Dodgers and Roger Clemens of the Yankees/Astros.  But how many others who weren't caught do we not know about?  I think a lot of people tend to forget this.....
My expectations for the Giants 2010 season came like most every other season.  Hopefully we can finish above the Dodgers and maybe just maybe we can squeak into the playoffs.  I knew we had great pitching, but our hitting was one of the worst in baseball.  We had a two time Cy-Young champ in Lincecum, but the rest of the team was adequate, at best.  The season pretty much went to form until a young 23 year old lad named Buster was brought up to the team.  From that point forward, I think all Giants fans got a boost.  Young Buster Posey legitimized the Giants offense and they quickly threatened to take the division lead.  It looked like they would before the last day of the season, but this team wasn't tagged with the catch phrase "Giants baseball, Torture!" for nothing.  They made me agonizingly wait until the last day to clinch the division.  I honestly was so thrilled that they won the division, I didn't care less what they did in the playoffs.  I thought they had a shot to beat the Braves, but would get stomped by the powerful Phillies in the NLCS if they made it that far.  My wife and I were lucky enough to go to game one of the playoffs in San Francisco against Atlanta and see one, if not the best, amazing baseball game I've ever seen in person.  Tim Lincecum pitched a 14 strikeout shutout and At&T Park was rocking.  Still, although I was happy, I felt the World Series was a pipe dream.  They went on to play the Phillies and to my shock they beat Roy Halladay in game one of the NLCS.  The same Roy Halladay who threw a no hitter in his first start in the playoffs.  And Cody Ross hit two home runs!  A player they picked up on a waiver claim in September!  I tried not to let my mind wander to thoughts of, "Could this be the year, is this actually happening?"  One crazy thing happened after another and before you knew it they had knocked off arguably the best team in all of baseball and made it to the World Series!!!  I couldn't believe it then and still can't believe it now.  I couldn't believe it so much that I was too nervous to watch the games and recorded them all to watch them later so I would know the outcome.  Go ahead call me a wimp, but this poor guy's heart couldn't take it.  To me is was torture!  I don't think it was until they beat Cliff Lee in game one of the World Series when I finally let myself believe that it was going to happen.  The Giants were a juggernaut that just couldn't be stopped.  They didn't have the high priced players and never were the favorite against any team they played in the playoffs, but they had heart and were a true team.  When Nelson Cruz swung through the final pitch from Brian Wilson, I fell to my knees and wept like a little boy.  No joke, and no I'm not ashamed.  Something that I wanted so bad and that felt so far from reach had finally happened.  It will be season I will never forget, and one that I will cherish the rest of my life.  One of my first calls after the Giants won was to my dad.  With tears still in my eyes, I said, "Dad, they did it, I can't believe it, but they did it!"  I think both my dad and I were both transported back 25 or so years ago to when he brought me to my first game.  A moment shared by a father and son that will never be forgotten.  A few days later my wife and I traveled up to San Francisco for the parade.  Close to a million people partying in the streets of San Francisco.  What a year, and one that can never be topped.  I know that next year will be a tough one, because there really is no where to go but down, but the view from the top looks good right now, and I will enjoy it while it lasts!!!