{"id":1283,"date":"2014-10-31T09:14:10","date_gmt":"2014-10-31T16:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/slowsuburbandeath.com\/?p=1283"},"modified":"2014-10-31T09:14:10","modified_gmt":"2014-10-31T16:14:10","slug":"three-out-of-five-aint-bad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/annapirhana.com\/?p=1283","title":{"rendered":"Three out of five ain’t bad!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"madbumposey\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The team of my youth, the San Francisco Giants, has just won its third World Series in five years.\u00a0 It is an amazing accomplishment, though it is still difficult for me to fully comprehend.<\/p>\n

I do not belong to the modern generation of San Francisco Giants fan who, having lived through the franchise\u2019s successful run beginning some time in the 90s, fully expect the team to make a grand show of it every year.\u00a0 The youthful expectation is full of so much optimism, even if it might be accompanied by a torrent of curse words and Twitter condemnations throughout the duration of a season. Sometimes, they unforgiveably throw in the towel.\u00a0 For them, this magnificent generation of the San Francisco Giants has been the premiere baseball franchise, and one that has provided parades, goofy commercials and a lineup filled with eccentric, loveable characters with personalities so thankfully far and away from the self-importance of the Richard Shermans and LeBron James of our sports universe.<\/p>\n

My generation of San Francisco Giants fan has lived through another era.\u00a0 This one is a bit more cynical, rolled in memories of 12-game losing streaks, hotdog wrapper tornadoes and the annual September rant explosion by Jim Barr.\u00a0 Our managers had not one iota of the brilliance that seems to surround Bruce Bochy.\u00a0 We lived through the sad sack faces of the Wes Westrums and\u00a0 Jimmy Davenports who seemed to forever walk in loops towards the pitching mound to pull the John D\u2019Acquistos who, having walked home two runs after loading the bases on walks, mercifully gets removed from a game.<\/p>\n

Our summers were filled with E6s once Chris Speier had gone from our midst, and we were overjoyed by simple things:\u00a0 Willie Montanez would hotdog around and snap the ball at first base.\u00a0 Big Dave Kingman would sometimes platoon at third, where his throws to first would end up in the stands \u2013 quite the feat when you consider the amount of distance separating first base from the front row seats at Candlestick Park.<\/p>\n

We loved them all, these San Francisco Giants.\u00a0 Even in the midst of season to season disaster, we loved our Jim Barrs, Ed Halickis, John Montefuscos, Dave Radars, Chris Arnolds, Frank Duffys, Darrell Evans, Roger Metzgers and Ken Hendersons.\u00a0 We loved anyone who played for the San Francisco Giants, except for the ones who insulted the team once they left for greener grass.\u00a0 This was our team, for better or worse, and it was usually mediocre to blopper hell horrible.<\/p>\n

For us, we would love this team through anything.\u00a0 If the San Francisco Giants never won a World Series in our lifetime, we would still talk about our great history because we have treasured memories of what I still consider America\u2019s greatest sport.<\/p>\n

Our San Francisco Giants, however, have just accomplished a rare sports feat that has humbled me.\u00a0 Every frozen night spent in the Candlestick bleachers during a twilight doubleheader, that Jerry Reuss no-hitter I sat through in shock and despair, those cold and inelegant little prison food hamburgers and frozen malteds I ate, and those miles of walking it took to reach the only women\u2019s stall in the bleacher section for a chance to sit on a frozen toilet seat seems so worthwhile, now that I have seen this team come full circle.\u00a0 They went from perennial third and fourth place finishes to the top of the baseball world.<\/p>\n

These San Francisco Giants really had me from the moment I watched my first baseball game.\u00a0 They enveloped me from the moment I saw Willie McCovey and continued to have my unending loyalty.\u00a0 These things are natural and typical to any baseball fan.<\/p>\n

It was that moment when Tim Lincecum\u2019s name entered my universe that things seemed to change everything.\u00a0 Not long after, I bought a Panda hat.\u00a0 It was cool to find out that Matt Cain\u2019s birthday was a day before my own.\u00a0 We memorized Scott Cousin\u2019s name for Buster Posey\u2019s sake.\u00a0 I would salute my husband when Angel Pagan saluted the team while standing on second base. Best of all, there have been a million and a half reasons to adore Hunter Pence.<\/p>\n

This ride has been unbelievable.<\/p>\n

These San Francisco Giants have redefined baseball for me.\u00a0 This is Jim Barr\u2019s dream team, where the concept of a team playing cohesive, unselfish and fundamental small ball as synchronized swimmers manages to trump all.<\/p>\n

However, I do not expect the team to do this every year.\u00a0 Or every other year.\u00a0 Or every even year.\u00a0 I was so happy with the first World Series ring that I, like all my friends who have been a long suffering San Francisco Giants fan, simply broke down and cried.\u00a0 I was at Pete\u2019s Tavern across the street from AT&T Park when the team won their second World Series title, jumping up and down and mashing hugs with strangers.\u00a0 Two days ago, I cried once again.<\/p>\n

It has always been the San Francisco Giants that have made me miss my hometown the most.\u00a0 It is through them that I have such civic pride, even though I am now a resident in slow suburban death down here in Southern California.\u00a0 This is Dodger territory, where the San Francisco Giants trophy tour is banned.\u00a0\u00a0 There is something sweet about celebrating my team\u2019s win and wearing my devotion as I pass by someone in a Dodger hat.<\/p>\n

To be honest, though, the Dodger fans here are very kind.\u00a0 People in Los Angeles are pretty kind, once they are away from their cars and are not actively trying to prevent you from merging into their lane.\u00a0 They shapeshift into in-yo-face rivalry fueled angry Dodger fan for a few seconds, and then revert back to normal humans.\u00a0\u00a0 One devoted Dodger fan co-worker even apologized to me for her Dodger lunch pail.<\/p>\n

There was that one Dodger fan that decided to scream into my ear every five seconds during a Marlins\/Dodger game at Chavez Ravine after finding out that I was a Giants fan.\u00a0 For her, these three championships by the rival Giants must feel horrible.\u00a0 No amount of causing my ears to ring is going to erase that sort of feeling, especially when it rolls around every other year.\u00a0\u00a0 It is like losing the class presidency over and over to the prettier, popular girl who you imagine has the biggest zit in the world hiding beneath her shirt.<\/p>\n

I know that sinking feeling.\u00a0 I lived through the Dodgers own run of success.\u00a0 It has been magnified and glorified through the many generations of television sets of my lifetime.\u00a0 So many, many other San Francisco Giants fans know the feeling.<\/p>\n

It is not worthwhile for me to rub salt on their wounds.\u00a0 We all love baseball. Instead, let us have our chance beneath the basking sun, where can have our cake and parade!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The team of my youth, the San Francisco Giants, has just won its third World Series in five years.\u00a0 It is an amazing accomplishment, though<\/p>\n

Continue readingThree out of five ain’t bad!<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,5,8,30,39,41,43],"tags":[271],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/annapirhana.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1283"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/annapirhana.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/annapirhana.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/annapirhana.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/annapirhana.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/annapirhana.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1283\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/annapirhana.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/annapirhana.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/annapirhana.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}