The Giants

I love sports, it's been a passion of mine since I was a boy.  I don't know why I love it so much, maybe it's just because it's what my friends and I did when were growing up.  We didn't have fancy stuff, computers, video games, etc.  So, life was very simple ... we played outside, played seasonal sports, and played all the time.  Eventually it grew into organized competition, and then a fervor for the professional and college teams that would play the very same sports.  For my childhood friends and I, Football, Basketball, and Baseball were our year-round entertainment, passion, and hobby all at once.

So, when the SF Giants won the World Series this year, it brought me back to when I was a kid.  When I used to play baseball in the street with a tennis ball and the manhole cover as home plate, when we swapped baseball gloves when switching sides, and when we jumped fences to retrieve our tennis balls after a long home run.  The Giants are a lovable bunch, not just because of the current team, but because of the players and teams past, because of the memories of childhood and neighborhood play, and because they've never won the World Series before (in SF) until this year.

I have to admit, when Brian Wilson struck out Nelson Cruz with that last pitch, I was probably as happy as I've been in a long while, and I cried many a tear because of it.  It's like a prayer being answered, like a goal coming to fruition after a long and daunting journey.  I don't know, it was emotional.  Maybe it's because of 2002, when they came so close.  Maybe it's because of 1989, when the Quake and A's did them in so easily.  Maybe it's because nobody thought the Giants were any good for such a long time.  Maybe it's because a little kid running around the streets said hello, for just a moment, to a young man getting older.

Whatever the case, it was beautiful.  The season was amazing.  Torture, as Giants fans, call it.  Waiting until the very last game of the season to clinch the West, beating the Braves with a lot of lady luck, and then blowing through the heavily favored Phillies with pitching power and timely hitting, and then smacking the Rangers with pitching, defense, and clutching home runs.  Then, the Parade, where what seemed like a million Giants fans could finally celebrate and worry no more.  For so many of us, we say that this one moment, makes up for everything, and we don't need another one.  I'm inclined to agree.  I'm so thankful the Giants won the World Series, finally.  For the City of San Francisco, it's people with all of their love and diversity, for the long time Giants Fans, who have endured many a cold night at Seals Stadium, Candlestick Park, PacBell and what is now AT&T Park, and finally for all of the Giants past and present, this is for everyone, this one moment of happiness and joy.  It's something I will never forget.