Tag Archives: san Francisco

A Bittersweet Farewell to Candlestick: Faithful won’t Follow

24 Tuesday Dec 2013

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IMG_0198“We always said homefield advantage wasn’t about the field, we knew it was about the fans,” – Joe Montana

As of this writing we don’t know if there will ever be another game at “The Stick”.  An emotional victory last night let the emotions pour out.

I tried not to be bitter watch Jed York try to convince the fans that we were just “moving down the road to a castle” by symbolically lifting some turf that will be put in the new stadium or taking the last game ball and passing the torch.  You didn’t capture it on TV, but the chorus of boos from the fans was heard. #16 won’t be throwing TDs at Levi’s Stadium, the Beatles won’t be performing their last concert there, The “Say Hey” kid won’t be knocking em out of the park there, the greatest WR that ever played won’t be doing the cabbage patch there, and most importantly many of the longtime Faithful won’t be there.  Finally, my memories of my father won’t be there.

The 49er fans have always been called the Faithful.  Partly because it sat through decades without a championship and also because it dealt with a stadium was a bit of a Frankenstein (built in a windy part of town with an open end for baseball and then closed when the 49ers were brought to stadium).  The Stick never pretended to be more than she was and she gave us all that she had, even cracking but not breaking during the 1989 earthquake.

Alas, the people who love state of the art over nostalgia could not hold out and the 49ers will be moving south some 35 miles.  Contrary to what the team might have people believe, the passion that is football will not move with them.  Yes, some will follow, but true passion comes from many years.

I had a great night sitting next to Brent Jones, the famous TE from 4 Super Bowls as well as the generations of families.  These tickets have been in my family and those around us for almost 50 years.  This was my Sunday family.  When the 49ers were home I would spend my Sundays sitting here with my dad, hearing my first cuss words from the old military guy next to me, getting my first taste of bourbon from the old ladies behind me, and learning about the birds and the bees from the law enforcement people who sat on the other side of us.  These were family and memories created.  The 49ers asked us for $40K-$80K per seat to move south with them.  They even asked us for almost $1K to have the faded seat complete with gum and seagull poop.  The same seats that made me think of my dad; imagine having to pay $1K just to keep memories that belong to you.  Whenever I showed up on Sundays, I’d feel my dad’s presence next to me. Only one person in our section renewed.

So when the 49ers eventually go through consecutive bad seasons in the new stadium and fans don’t show up, remember the Faithful.  They showed up for 2-14 seasons.  They watched Jim Druckenmiller, they watched an old OJ, they watched Mike Singletary fall apart, they sat in darkness through blackouts and they still came out in those frigid temperatures which were much overblown.  For the most part, those fans at Levi’s will resemble more the disinterested emotionless wine-sippers opponents always complained about, but remember they aren’t the true Faithful.  Those people will be at home watching on TV.

IMG_0194That last victory was very sweet and it was a little bitter.

Candlestick was old, she was not that attractive, she was not user friendly, she was not tech savvy, but she was ours and that is all we wanted.

She gave us 5 Super Bowl Champions, she gave us the Bay Bridge World Series,  she gave us the Croix de Candlestick, and she enriched our lives.

Her detractors might slam her, but her fans really will miss her and the memories she created.  Thank you old girl, your magic was beautiful tonight.  In case you wonder if you were loved, you were truly respected.  Respect is more important than being loved.  Hopefully we will get one last chance to fill her aisles in the post-season.

Note: I’m a loyalist.  I always believe you dance with the girl that brought you to the dance.  I wrote this entry to justify my belief that the 49ers are making a mistake chasing corporate dollars at the expense of long-term community building. Did the 49ers need a new stadium? Yes.  but I think relocating so far away from their base shows a lack of knowledge and accurate forecasting. When the 49ers do suffer a downturn and I look back on this entry when the 49ers attendance dwindles, I will be watching closely.  Mostly I want to look the 25 year old 49er AE from Oklahoma who told me I was not a true 49er Faithful for not spending $160K to follow the team to the new stadium.

A Team For Everyone – San Francisco Giants World Champions 2012

29 Monday Oct 2012

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2012 World Champions

“get in here, everyone get in here..look into each other eyes..now! look into each others eyes, I want one more day with you, it’s the most fun, the best team I have ever been on …. and no matter what happens we must not give in, we owe it to each other, play for each other, I need one more day with you guys, I need to see what Theriot (Ryan) will wear tomorrow, I want to play defense behind Vogelsong because he’s never been to the playoffs..play for each other not yourself, win each moment, win each inning, it’s all we have left” – Hunter Pence

Those who follow the San Francisco Giants know the speech given by Hunter Pence, the fiery left fielder  who delivered a sermon when the eventual World Champions were down 2 games to none in a best of 5 playoff series to the Cincinnati Reds.   Emotional leadership, teamwork, sacrifice, karma, and heart are the words people are using to describe this year’s world champions of baseball.The team is another improbable bunch of players that nobody gave a chance!  Nobody gave them a chance when the best hitter in the National League was suspended.  Nobody gave them a chance when their bitter rivals made a blockbuster trade to try and beat them.  Nobody gave them a chance when then were down 2 games to the Reds.  Nobody gave them a chance when they were down 2 games to the Cardinals.  Nobody gave them a chance when they were pitted against the Yankee slayers, the fearsome Detroit Tigers with the best pitcher and hitter in baseball.  Even the baseball pundits said they had no chanceNobody but the 25 guys in that clubhouse and their 42,000+ fans who packed their stadium every night.  Why?  Why didn’t anyone believe?  Didn’t this team just win the championship just two years before? Well gone was the World Series MVP and the NLCS MVP (Renteria and Ross).  Also gone was their starting 2nd baseman and their spiritual leader to season ending injuries (Sanchez and Wilson).  The first baseman was barely serviceable (Huff) , their 3rd baseman ran off to the rival Dodgers and their young catcher was coming off a serious injury (Posey).  Their young catcher was the only everyday player on both teams.

So why?  How?  Many around San Francisco call this the ultimate team.  It was unselfish teamwork.  They played for each other.  And those who believe in the spiritual call it “The Particles”.  Like “The Force” in Star Wars, the particles are the energy that surrounds this team.  Some people swear they can feel them.  Some say they can even taste them and that they are really sweet.  This was a team of destiny.  Facing 6 potential games of elimination, they hit their stride and fought back with fierce determination with a made for movie script.  They say that baseball is a metaphor for life.  Well the lesson that this season’s World Champions taught was to never give up.

Before Game 2 with my son

As I wrote back in 2010, that team was a “team of Misfits”.  It was a team that represented the frustration of generations of Giants fans who suffered 52 years without a Championship.  It was a cleansing.  This team represented everyone else.  It was so easy to relate to this team.  The slogan of 2010 was “There’s Magic Inside”. In 2012 the slogan was “Together We’re Giant” .  Everyone felt that they could relate to this team and the Giants made sure to include all of their fans.

I for one was able to share in the flag carrying ceremony before one of the NLCS games with my son.  It was a memory for a lifetime.  It didn’t hurt that the Giants were on their way to winning 7 straight games and a second World Series Championship.  In that way, I was able to appreciate this for me, and not for my father who suffered through all those years of disappointment.

Yes, this was also a team of misfits. But let let me give a few points as to why people can relate to this team.  Why this team represents the dreams and desires of the common fan  and gives everyone a lesson in redemption.  The team was led by two men who were suffering in 2010 that they were basically given bench roles (Zito and Sandoval).  They were led by a dimunitive mariachi-inspiring, photo-bombing closer (Romo) at 150 lbs who was the protege of the fire breathing bearded closer in 2010 (Brian Wilson).  The were led by a journeyman castoff pitcher who was cut by a couple minor league teams and had gone to Japan to find himself.  And they added to their merry band, two hard-working and inspiring veterans (Pence and Scutaro) who reminded them what it means to play for one another and to believe in their ability as a team. Who in their right mind could not relate to that story.  This was a blue collar team that nobody gave a chance.  This was a team that would never give up.  They were the Rocky of baseball.  They ran up those proverbial stairs and behind them was a huge wave of Orange fans screaming and shouting!

This team never gave up and never quit.  They showed the heart that sometimes overcomes the obstacles put before us.  In a physical game, this team lacked the 100 mile an hour fastball and the 250 lb monster power hitter, but the team showed us why David beat Goliath and why we love the underdog.  Because we all believe the underdog is us (unless you are in Detroit), whether you are a Giants fan or not, you can’t help but appreciate what the San Francisco Giants accomplished.

Thank you Giants for showing us that teamwork does work and that sometimes the underdog does get the meaty bone.  Giants fans will savor this one.  I know I will savor this one.  It isn’t better than the first time.  It isn’t sweeter than the first time.  We saw in 2011 that it isn’t easy to do it again, and that is why we appreciate an effort that is one for the record books.

What Did Your Kid Do This Summer?

11 Saturday Aug 2012

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Every once in a while your kids surprises you.  I am currently two weeks away from becoming the parent of a teenager.  Like every other parent we spend a lot of time trying to prevent our kids from sleeping in and watching television all summer long. At the same time, camps and other activities are costly.  My kids?  They set up achievement goals with major objectives and a plan for achievement.  They were a mixture of academics and athletics.

Unbeknownst to us, my son had a golf improvement goal that also required him to write a 500 word essay to renew his Northern California Junior Golf Membership card (You have to love a sport that requires your kids to work on his writing skills).  The essay asked him to write about his experience with golf, why he enjoyed the sport, and how life skills from the sport and the NCGA translate into other parts of his life.  He chose to write about perseverance and sportsmanship.  Needless to say, when he gave it to me and my wife to proof, we were moved.

Sometimes teenage boys don’t tell you everything, but it was good to hear what is going on in the back of his mind and that the game of golf has helped him to put life in perspective.  Below is his essay (nope, I didn’t get his approval to publish!).

Sportsmanship & Perseverance  – My name is Nicholas and I am a 12 year old entering seventh grade this Fall.  Golf is one of my favorite sports (I also play basketball and baseball).  During the summer, my dad and I go out to the golf course almost every weekend to play Golden Gate Park or Jack Fleming in San Francisco. We have been doing this since I entered Kindergarten and it will be one of the things I remember most about my childhood and father when I grow up.  I think golf is special because it is different than all the other sports as it is the only sport I know of where you can go out by yourself and just play a game. With other sports you have to gather a team, and that can be hard.  I live just down the hill from The Presidio Golf Course and this summer I have been able to go three or four times a week to the driving range and putting greens.  This has been really fun for me because it teaches me that hard work and diligence can make oneself better, even if you have to work through bad weather or blisters.  Golf is also a very social game as I can go out with friends to a course and just have a good time and encourage and complement each other; this has been fun because in the classroom all we see is everybody studying and working, but out there, it is different, in a good way.

One thing that I have learned playing golf is perseverance. Perseverance has helped me on and off the golf course.  In baseball for instance, I wanted to hit a home run, which I had never done before, and after a lot of practice, it paid off and I hit one towards the end of the year.  In basketball, we had a great team, and after close victories, and bad calls, we won the championship.  Another thing that I have learned is sportsmanship.  In golf we don’t say ‘Don’t make it’, or ‘That was a bad shot.’ We say ‘Good shot’, or ‘Nice putt.’  In baseball, I have seen some bad sportsmanship, kids yelling at each other about who made the team lose, or saying when someone strikes out, ‘That will be the first of many.’  It doesn’t help to be a bad sport; it takes all the fun out of playing.  So if you are friendly and supporting to others then you will enjoy yourself better and friendships will grow both on and off the course.

Recently we had a school tournament out at Fleming to qualify for an inter-school event to be held at Harding.  I shot a 44, which was a personal best for me, but I didn’t make the team of four.  This got me motivated.  This summer I set a goal to lower my score so that I can make a score that will qualify. I recently reached my goal shooting a 39 and beating my score by five strokes.  It took a while to complete it but through patience, perseverance, and constant visits to the driving range up at the Presidio, I succeeded.  Now I will keep trying to improve that because I know that other kids have gotten better too.

I have come to realize that you can think of a golf course as similar to the path of life.  We go shot-by-shot, stroke-by-stroke, and patiently through life’s thick roughs and deep bunkers, through life’s open fairways and tap-in putts.  Only I can change my path, and only I can take my path.  Only I can say how much honesty and truth is put into my life and my game. Only I know if I have done the best that I can do.  It is the true test of one’s integrity.  Life and golf both have something alike, it’s important that you have fun, but you also must be serious about some things and respect that.  Overall, I have really enjoyed golf and I will continue to enjoy it for a long time.

Golf has been a part of my life ever since I started playing courses at age 5.  Being a member of the NCGA Youth On Course Foundation has allowed me to play more often with my dad and with friends. Just like playing catch with my dad, playing golf with my dad is always something we get to do together and I enjoy the quality time together.  For the past 7 years we even play as a team in the Northern California Family Golf Tournament held at Golden Gate Park.  It is the same tournament that my dad played in with his father when he was my age.  I am proud to carry on the tradition.

I started the First Tee at about age 8 at Harding Park; at first it was a little tough because all I wanted to do was hit balls, but I eventually learned that it was more than just a game.    I want to keep playing golf, because I feel that it is a game I can play as I get older.  I feel that through the NCGA, Youth on Course and the First Tee organizations I have learned to appreciate the game of golf and the life skills that it offers.

25 Year Anniversary – Father’s Day

17 Sunday Jun 2012

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Fathers Day Memory

25 Father’s Days ago, my father shook me out of bed and asked me to go play golf at Harding Park which is located just across the street from the Olympic Club which back in 1987 was hosting the US Open.  25 years later I will be thinking of my dad and that awesome morning as the US Open is played again at the Olympic Club.  You see, on that Father’s Day 25 years ago, my dad hit a hole-in-one on the 11th hole at Harding Park. The smile and embarrassed laugh my dad gave will never be forgotten.

 

All I could say was “Happy Father’s Day”.  His comment, ” Thanks, for the great day”.  I like to think it wasn’t about the hole in one , but sharing it with friends and family.  Golf will always be a Father’s Day sport as long as the US Open takes place over Father’s Day weekend.  The US Open, golf, and that day 25 years ago will always make it more than a Hallmark Holiday in my book.

 

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there.

My Love Affair

27 Sunday May 2012

Posted by in San Francisco - Leaving your heart, Travels: The Route 53

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So my wife wonders where I wandered off to last night.  I told her I was having an affair.  She didn’t fall for it.  Well it was semi-true.  For 40+ years I’ve been in love with the city I was fortunate to be born and raised in. Tonight, one of her best assets celebrates her 75th birthday.  So before the crowds arrived, I thought I’d wish her a Happy Birthday alone with her.

It was a beautifully clear evening and she never looked better.

San Francisco is so gorgeous I can never stop taking photos even though I’ve photographed her hudreds of times.  The hilarious story is that in taking the photos, there were severeal journalists who got trapped along with me as they closed the park early to prepare for tonight’s festivities.

Eventually we got out and some of the photographers and I went out and took a few more photos.  I couldn’t miss the chance to learn from some of the best photojournalists around.

Coit Tower bathed in Giants Orange

The San Francisco Skyline

So yes, I’ve been having an affair.  And yes she is beautiful.  I’m sorry.  I just can’t stop loving her.  Everyday she makes me smile.  Thanks San Francisco.

Not just sad but upset – When bureaucrats don’t react.

15 Tuesday May 2012

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I really hate it when you see something coming and you try to be a good citizen and make people aware of a problem, but they don’t listen.

You’ll see in the 3rd paragraph where they say that one of the dangerous intersections I was warning them about was not a big problem and that rigorous traffic enforcement was necessary.    Yes, they pushed the blame.  Well I hope they do something soon, because their lack of responsibility cost someone their life.

Recently a woman crossed the street illegally near my house at a dangerous intersection and lost her life. All I asked was that barriers and warning be put up so that pedestrians understood better the dangers.  Just tonight I was going by the same street and there were people ready to play “Frogger” with their lives despite the Memorial of flowers just 15 yards away.

Inspire to be Inspired – Breast Cancer stories

26 Monday Sep 2011

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This morning my family participated in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure for breast cancer.  I have to admit that having dedicated my runs to breast cancer research over the last 3 years, I wasn’t necessarily excited about running with my family as part of the team put together by the schoolthat our kids attend.  I like running alone with my thoughts, but this run is for a good cause and breast cancer runs are an event that I encourage everyone to experience.

Each year I forget what a scene it is.  Survivors of breast cancer are given special shirts that help them stand out.    As my kids and I picked up our regular shirts we saw my wife go to the “Survivors” tent to pick up her shirt.  The hug she was given by the volunteer and the clapping that people gave her hit me.  It reminded me how serious this all is and how lucky we are.  Everywhere, teams lined up for their group photo.  That is where you saw the numbers.  We counted 5 in the Bank of America group, 6 in the Oracle group, 3 in our school’s group.  Another 4 in the Pottery Barn group.  The numbers were there.  1 in 8 people there had survived cancer.

My son and I ran the 5K race leaving my wife and another mom survivor after she told us to run ahead.  As we ran past a survivor or one passed us the cheering got loud.  We completed the race and waited at the finish line for my wife.  It is such a rare race.  People wait by the finish line more than any other race and cheer each other on.  Most runners leave, but no at this race.  As you see that special pink shirt that says “Survivor”, you see their fist pump, the tears and the smiles on their face and you cheer and clap until your hands hurt.  And then for me I see my wife running across the line holding my daughters ahdna and her friend’s hand up high and smiling.  My son put his arm around my waist.  We let everyone else cheer.  It made me proud and inspired as a participant. Sounds weird, but that’s how I felt.  In a way, I felt bad that I had almost not wanted to participate for my own selfish reasons.

Pink Balloon arch by the Ferry building start line

Yes I was inspired by my wife as well as the hundreds of other survivors who crossed the finish line today.  But more importantly I was inspired by the outpouring of community that I saw as people encouraged complete strangers and urged them on.  One lady said , “This race is nothing.  I kicked cancer’s butt” as  local reporter approached her as she crossed the finish line.  The power of encouragement drove them.  My wife said the outpouring of encouragement every step of the way wouldn’t let her stop.

Probably the best part of the Komen Race For the Cure is the celebration at the end where survivors walk one by one through arches of pink flowers  and are serenaded with a round of applause from all participants.   As each individual survivor emerges, the roar is amazing and you can almost see their stories.  There were women in their 80s.  There was a young teenage girl.  There were women of all ethnicities.  As woman after woman emerges, there is the build up of emotion and you wonder if it will ever end.
Then everyone breaks out and sings “I will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor (?).  To me the song is wrong.  I think they should be playing Eye of the Tiger BY Survivor.  These women are not survivors.  They are tough fighters.  Just like Rocky.  They inspire us to run and never ever give up because we know where we came from.

Thanksgiving – Remembering to be Thankful

26 Friday Nov 2010

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“When you’re down on your luck, you gotta do it,” –
Andrew W.K.’s feel-good song Got to Do It
 
After my wife found she had cancer a couple years ago, Thanksgiving took a different meaning for me.  I felt guilty that it took her illness for me to appreciate the holiday for what it is, but I do now take the time to remind myself and my kids about how thankful we should be at this time of year for what we have rather than next month when people start wishing for what they don’t have.  Tonight I sat on my brother’s couch after dinner, half napping as the tryptophan kicked in.  Fighting the lure of a nap, I picked up the recent Sports Illustrated and started to read an article about Jill Costello, a local girl from San Francisco with a big heart who graduated from the University of California at Berkeley this past Spring and as the coxswain for the women’s rowing team, led them to second place in the National Championships.

Jill Costello - former Cal rowing star

I had read briefly about Jill back in May in the local newspaper after I heard about her through the UCSF Medical Cancer newsletter that my wife gets. Jill had been diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer although she did not smoke.

Although I hadn’t kept up with her story, as I read through the article I felt myself tearing up.  I knew what was coming.  I looked over at my wife smiling and laughing with my family and felt truly blessed.

Thanksgiving is truly THE family holiday of the year.  It isn’t long enough for most people to travel far  away.  It isn’t about presents or religion.  It is about celebrating your place and those around you and being thankful  for what you have.  Sometimes hearing stories about the loss of others who really are special people reminds me of this.

I want to give a special thanks to my friend Donald Wilhelm who we lost this year.  A good guy who inspired many and left us too soon.  In the article in Sports Illustrated: The Courage of Jill Costello, we read a great story about another inspiring person who can teach us to appreciate what we have today.  Although the article did not mention it, Jill lost her battle after graduation, but her strength inspired many to give more than you receive.

As her coach so succinctly put it at Jill’s funeral, “There are givers and there are takers, and you want to be more giver than taker. She never complained. She gave far more than she ever took. She was an inspiration to all of us. I hope when we face something as daunting as this, we can show some of the courage that she showed.”

It’s November, 70s and Sunny!

15 Monday Nov 2010

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The trouble with baseball is that it is not played the year round. –  Gaylord Perry, ex-Giants pitcher and Hall of Famer 

Me and Hall of Famer, Gaylord Perry

What a beautiful weekend it was in San Francisco.  A great weekend to get out to play and watch sports.  Many Sports weekends of my youth were spent with my dad at sporting events.

If you grew up in my generation in San Francisco and played sports or followed sports, there were three main sports you followed: football, basketball and baseball.  We had a hockey team (the San Francisco Seals) but they weren’t followed by many.  For me though, my dad took me to see the main sports.  My fondest memories of my dad were days like this weekend.  I remember my first baseball game and meeting the pitcher Gaylord Perry and my dad talking about his spitter.  I also remember that the pitcher did not appreciate the connotation that he was noted as a cheater.  We stayed after Warriors basketball games too so I could get Rick Barry’s autograph.  We hung out after 49er games so I could get Steve Spurrier’s autograph.  

A beautiful day this weekend, my son and I got out to see the 49ers with a nice victory over the Rams 23-20.  The same seats I sat in many times with my dad.  The same seats we high fived in and shared many Sundays.  It was just too warm! This was summer baseball weather! Candlestick Park in November is supposed to be cold and extremely windy.  Instead we sat there in short sleeved shirts looking to keep hydrated.

It was a great game and win, but I took note of how quiet it was.  In the 70s, the Warriors brought a basketball championship to the Bay Area. In the 80s and 90s, the 49ers turned San Francisco into a football town, but now the Giants own this town and I noted to my seatmate (a baseball executive) that we are definitely a baseball town now.

It has been two weeks since the World Series ended, but the buzz is still there.  At the 49ers game, many people were dressed in Giants Orange and Black, including me.  A couple weeks back before World Series Game 2, I ran into Gaylord Perry outside of AT&T Park.  I introduced him to my son  I didn’t mention anything about his spitter.   I just told my son he was the starting pitcher at the very first game I ever saw.  I could see the relief on his face that I didn’t mention the thing he was most noted for, and he graciously signed my son’s autograph book. 

Yep….only 90+ days left til Spring Training.  I can’t wait..especially if we continue to have baseball weather and  not football weather.

True Fan or Bandwagoner? In San Francisco it doesn’t matter.

11 Thursday Nov 2010

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“The triumph of this team allows us to flash back and connect to our past, to experience the beauty of our memories and shared experiences with unbridled joy. This day is a blessed reminder of a dream fulfilled for all of us” – Larry Baer, Giants President speaking at the San Francisco City celebration of the Giants championship

Orange October

It has been over a week now since the Giants took the baseball world by surprise.  In fact, for many die hard fans who have rooted for the team for at least more than a decade, it took them by surprise too.  The shock is just wearing off.
 
Having had the chance to bask in the orange glow of San Francisco’s first World Series Championship, everyone who has closely followed the Giants is now realizing the true impact of the accomplishment is bigger than a stadium filled with 35 thousand fans during the dog days of summer.
 
The Giants parade was littered with converts (bandwagoners to those who sport Croix de Candlestick pins from the days of watching baseball in the ice cold winds of Candlestick Park.  If you don’t know what a Croix is, good look it up).  Converts who couldn’t name the whole starting lineup for the Giants.  Converts who couldn’t tell you who are the 4 Giants greats with statues erected outside of AT&T Park. Converts who now own well over $100 worth of brand new Giants merchandise.  Converts who know who Mark Zuckerberg is but not Bill Neukom,  but that is okay.   By the way, my 8 year old daughter can tell you all about the statues.
 
A parade of champions is not the same as a Christmas Day parade or a New Year’s Day parade.  Most parades are for people on the side to watch the spectacle of the parade.  A parade of Champions is different.  It is for, in this case, the Giants, to see how wide an effect they had on people.  For them to see beyond the walls of the stadium.  For them to see how crazy they made people.  A chance for them to see all the crazy people they converted into fans.  Their biggest public audience…..over 1.5 million people (estimated) lined the mile and a half route, the same route taken by Willie Mays and the Giants when they first arrived from New York.  This was not a parade for one team.  This was a parade for 53 teams and 53 years of long-suffering.  One can only imagine what will happen when Chicago and Cleveland win their next World Series.
 
During the stretch drive of the regular baseball season, my family and I sat in front of some elderly men and screaming high school girls.  All the girls could talk about who was cuter, Buster Posey or Barry Zito.  The men were questioning about having a rookie catcher  was a mistake.  My 8 year old daughter looked at me, ready to say something and I had to tell her that it was okay. “But they’re not REAL fans, Dad,” she said.  I was proud of my daughter for her aptitude, but I was also glad to see more people enjoying the Giants. true, it was hard to listen to for a diehard fan during a pennant drive, but baseball can not live on die hard fans alone.  If that were the case, AT&T Park would be empty.
 
San Francisco is a melting pot.  Being a San Francisco “native” is such a novelty.  Only 37% of the residents are even born in California and 35.5% aren’t even born in the US.  What shocked me even more is that in my son’s class recently 19 boys signed up for lacrosse while only 11 signed up for baseball which indicates where “America’s past time” sits with the families living in San Francisco.  There are few legacy Giants fans in San Francisco. These 2010 Giants had to earn new fans and recruit them  through more than a history lesson.   They needed to tell their own story.  And they did it the San Francisco way.  In many ways they represented the city and its crazy mix of citizens.   If you didn’t like the story of the hero old guy, the star young pitcher, or the wacky reliever, there was a human interest story somewhere on the roster that you could relate to.
 
What was more important and maybe something we all could take a lesson or two from is that this was the right team to represent San Francisco and bring it it’s first World Series Championship.  Like the 1981 49ers and the 1975 Warriors, each team that brought San Francisco its first championship in their respective sport was made up of underdogs.  Each team did it as a team, with unsung heroes and a style that made them distinctive.  The ’75 Warriors some consider to be the least talented team to win the NBA title, but they played like a team.  The ’81 49ers showed the NFL that the “West Coast Offense” would bring a whole new schema to the game of football.
 
Winning builds community and that is what all these teams did.  The Giants have written the latest chapter and the city still is awash in orange a week later.  People feel guilty still talking baseball when football and basketball are being played.  It’s okay.  At least we’re talking.  Some satirists joked that the Giants parade was much bigger than the Gay Pride parades in San Francisco.  I think it just proved that San Francisco is a real baseball town. It proved that San Francisco has a way about doing things with style.  Finally, it proved that teamwork breeds a great community atmosphere.  Long time fans and bandwagoners partied equally hard, and partied together.  In San Francisco we are known to be accepting of all types of people (except Dodger fans)..so welcome aboard the bandwagon.