“But bringing people together is what music has always done best.” -Rob Sheffield, Talking to Girls about Duran Duran: One Young Man's Quest for True Love and a Cooler Haircut
“Baseball is a game, yes. It is also a business. But what it most truly is is disguised combat. For all its gentility, its almost leisurely pace, baseball is violence under wraps.” -Willie Mays
Every spring, the cold drifts, and the adrenaline accelerates. The automatic renewal of my MLB.com memberships makes it offical; it’s baseball season. Hello, churros and Giants dogs. Hello, Buster. Hello, Orange Fridays. Hello, L.A.; it’s too bad that we have to beat you. Hello, Kruk and Kuip. Hello, the coldest nights at AT&T that never seem that cold when we win with a walk-off home run. Hello, boys. See you in October.
“I didn’t think like that, about best seasons. What if you thought ’97 was your best year — what would you do now? I never looked back. I couldn’t dwell on last year’s season. I always looked forward. I never worried about what other people were doing — except the guy I was playing against.” -Willie Mays
November 1, 2010 was ripe with anticipation and hope. Black and orange was raging through my blood, and Renteria’s three run homer erupting through the radio rendered a tremendous scream from me. On a night where we were so close, I faintly remembered in 2002 when we were so far away. I cried long and hard over our lose to the Angels, and I swore that I could not do the same with the Rangers. I did not want to leave my car to go to my meeting, but some how managed to. My mind was so incredibly far away, and I just kept thinking, ‘This is it. It is our day.” My heart was pounding so loudly that I almost didn’t hear the non-stop buzzing of my phone, and I just knew. My friend, Jamie, caught my eye and mouthed to me the two most beautiful words ever, “They won.” My heart was beating faster than it ever had before and when we finally took a break, tears were crushing down my face as I called my papa, “Papa! We won! We won! WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!!” I could hardly hear him over my own screaming. We did it. We won the World Series. That night will be something that I carry with me forever and ever.
It’s remarkable that people become one when invested in something bigger than themselves. It wasn’t just the boys on the field that won that World Series; we all won that World Series together. Every fan, manager, and player that has ever been touched by the Giants had a pivotal role in that victory. We struggled together, fought together and won together. When I meet a fellow Giants fan, the energy is concentrated. I can feel the fire in their hearts for our boys. It is an understanding of loving our team from the Sco even through the torture, and something that we know all too well is torture. So, while no one can ever take away being the 2010 World Series Champions, we can only look forward. 2011 tested us in a way that would make most teams crumble completely, but we are still standing. So, don’t get too comfortable, we’ll be back next year. San Francisco is where legends are made, and we are just getting started.
