The Makings of a Giants Fan

Last winter an old friend approached me with an opportunity: Any interest in buying a share in a block of seat licenses at AT&T Park? Hmmm....that would make me a part owner of season tickets for the Giants. I grew up an A's fan, I had mixed emotions about this move. The Dad did not have any reservations. To him, this was the opportunity of a lifetime, why I was hesitating? So, off went our check and in came tickets to about 15 games for the 2010 Giants baseball season.

You need to know, these seats are terrific. Section 119, Row R, Seats 1-4. We're about 20 rows behind home plate and a bit down the third base line. Foul ball territory whenever a lefty is at the plate. Close enough to really see the game. We get shade about 3:30 at every afternoon game, and the seats are protected from the wind, so you never really freeze which can be an issue during the summer in San Francisco.

Whenever we had all 4 tickets we took the girls. They memorized the number of every player on the team, chanted "Let's Go Giant's" with great gusto and even made through extra innings once or twice. They picked out a favorite player, Bengie Molina, and were crushed when he was traded to Texas. Panda and Posey slowly earned the top spots in their hearts. They grew into huge Giants fans very quickly.

It was a slower process for me. I really liked watching Posey once he joined the team in May; Lincecum and Wilson always spiced up the pitching. My favorite part of every game was when they delivered margaritas to my seat. After a few games, I started pulling for the earnestness in people like Huff Daddy and Freddy Sanchez, and Juan Uribe was just amazing at short stop. I bought an orange sweatshirt to wear on Orange Fridays, and I bought a couple of hats. I bought a bunch more margaritas and I even knew the magic number most of the month of September. I just didn't advertise this fact.

Still, I wasn't a rabid fan. I was a luke warm fan. I was happy the Giants won the West, sad we passed on the post season tickets and I wanted the Giants to do well, but the term "torture" rang true to me: The Giants had a history of choking in the post season, so I tempered my enthusiasm with a heavy dose of reality. These were the Giants. They found ways to lose.

Then, I started listening the National Media dismiss the Giants. Oh, they would never get past the Braves, I heard some ESPN guy say. But wait, hadn't I seen the Giants beat the Braves? I knew I'd seen that happen. Then during the LCS I heard Ernie Johnson say, something like 'the Phillies just needed to wrap up things, so he could see a Lee-Halladay match up in the World Series.' At the time he made that statement, the Giants were up 3-2 in the series. Why would he dismiss the Giants and look to a Rangers-Phillies match up? I'd seen a game when the Giants beat Halladay. This wasn't a long shot, at all. The Giants had a good chance. Then, the final straw: Joe Buck before the opening of the world series said that the Braves and Phillies were slumping at the plate, and that's why the Giants made it into the series. WHAT? Did he watch the same games I did? I thought the Giants pitchers looked dominating. Timmy was on fire. Sanchez had an amazing outing. Cain looked good. Why was he dissing the Giants?

And that's when I suddenly realized, I was a Giants fan. These national announcers knew less than I did about the Giants and frankly, they were really ticking me off. Why didn't anyone take my team seriously? They were good and they had nice people to bring me drinks in the hot sun. I liked this team. Suddenly, I really wanted to see the Giants win the World Series. As things got rolling, I was appalled that Bochy let Pat Burrell stay in the line up when he was 0-7 at the plate. Give Panda a shot at the plate in Texas when they had a DH. Cody Ross was the real deal in my book, as was Renteria and Cain and Bumgarner. These guys were good and deserved to be in the world series, because they were a good TEAM. No star. Just a good TEAM.

That's what made last night so fun. We were rooting for a team, our team. There was not a single star among them, but a group of great athletes working together to win. And you know what, I jumped up and down when Wilson got that last out, right along with the Dad and the girls. And I'm really glad we decided to buy those tickets. I still like the A's. Will still always hope they do well and I'll really hope we see another Bay Bridge series next year.