Take Me Out to the Ball Game

As I finished the article and was about to discard this section, I caught this article by Roger Rosenblatt.  Opening Day is just 4 days away and the S.F. Giants are en route from AZ to S.F.  The months of waiting are finally over and I am super excited about the 2011 season.  This article describes the pure love of the game that is impossible to deny and the emotions that every fan shares.  There's only 4 more days until the first pitch!

I took advantage of today being the last day of Spring Break and indulged in reading the S.F. Chronicle's Sunday edition, in its entirety, including sections I do not normally read such as the Parade Magazine.  I was drawn to the Parade insert because it featured a story on Phil Mickelson.  Phil played golf for ASU and to the dismal of my two UofA alumni brothers, I am a Lefty fan!  

Take Me Out to the Ball Game, Roger Rosenblatt

Bill Simmons - Giants - Dodgers Rivalry!

Here's what Bill Simmons said today on Sport Nation about the best under the radar rivalry:

"The best under-the-radar rivalry is Dodgers-Giants. I had no idea how deep that one was until I moved to California... that one goes waaaaaaaaay back and both sides absolutely detest each other. Fights in the stands, fights in the parking lot, the whole thing. It's every bit as bitter as Yankees-Red Sox without nearly the same hype." (Bill Simmons)


It's about time this crazy rivalry gets some attention! Too many Giants have gone to the Dodgers (including Juan Uribe this season after winning a ring with the Giants) with little national attention about the significance. Roger Clemens and Johnny Damon made national headlines moving from Boston to NY. We may have been happy to see some go (there was some mistrust with Jeff Kent after he lied about an injury, claiming he fell off his truck while washing it, but he's since regained favor in S.F.) but I think it's safe to say we're still bitter when players choose L.A. over any other team in the league - including players like Schmidt and Uribe. Schmidt never came back to hurt us and I hope Uribe doesn't this season. The chant we use to yell when he came to the plate, the chant that people always thought sounds like a boo ("UUUU-RIBE"), will most definitely resemble more of a boo this season.

I just can't believe Simmons recognized our rivalry! The first Giants - Dodgers rivalry game I can remember attending was at Candlestick park with my older brother and his friend. We were sitting next to a group of Dodger fans, 4 guys, quite a few years older than us (I think I was a freshman in high school - it's hard to believe that was the first rivalry game I can remember). We were yelled at the entire game! The fighting and yelling began when we sat down and didn't end until we were in our car after the game. I think I paid more attention to the action in the stands than I did on the field.

The only game I remember going to in L.A. at Dodger Stadium was a few years later while I was a freshman in college. My Dad came down to UCSB to visit my sister and I for the weekend. On Sunday, my sister's boyfriend, my sister, my Dad and I all went to a Dodgers v. Pittsburg game since I hadn't been to Dodger Stadium since I was a tiny tot. My Dad, a short, scrawny guy with coke bottle lens glasses and a life long Giants fan wore his Giants hat to the game. We had awful seats up in the second deck and didn't experience too much heckling during the game. It was after the game while we were walking to our car in the parking lot that some random Dodger fan came up to my Dad, yelled in his face and shoved him. It completely took my Dad by surprise and scared the daylights out of me because my Dad did not stand a chance against this guy. Being the geeky stat guy he was, my Dad listed off some stats about how much better the Giants were than the Dodgers. This guy yelled obscenities at my Dad as we walked away to our car. It was the scariest baseball experience of my life!

Bill Simmons is right - we detest each other! BEAT LA!

Cheers to Lincecum & the SF Giants!

I love love love the cover of the latest Sports Illustrated!

SF Giants - Victory Parade

Yesterday was the S.F. Giants' victory parade. It was absolutely amazing and completely insane! There were hundreds of thousands of people lining the streets, cheering on the team. It was an incredibly unifying event that ran smoothly, considering the huge crowds and absolute rowdiness! It was so super exciting to have a victory parade in S.F. after watching all of these other teams take home the trophy.

Over the last couple of days, there have been a number of stories about people who have been following the Giants since they came to S.F. and even from way back in their NY days. I've heard a lot of stories about adults who grew up in households where there fathers were loyal, die-hard Giants fans and they only wished those people could be here to see the team bring home the Championship. It's definitely bittersweet and makes me think of my own Dad who introduced me to baseball and without which I probably wouldn't have this passion for baseball. If not for my Dad I wouldn't be in love with going to baseball games or enjoy sitting in stands watching a game. He would have loved to be a part of this win and probably would have predicted the victory the way he was always able to calculate players stats and extrapolate the unique stats he kept. It's amazing that I was able to experience this win and will be able to tell people that I was part of the 2010 World Series Champs S.F. Giants, even if I was just a fan whose participation was limited to watching from the stands, on TV or listening on the radio to Kruk & Kuip and Jon Miller & Dave Flemming. I can't wait to get back to AT&T Park in 2011!

The bad part about the Giants winning in 5 games is that baseball is now officially over until Spring. I'm completely lost in the off-season without the baseball and the Giants. Here's hoping winter sails by. The countdown for pitchers & catchers reporting starts now!

WORLD SERIES CHAMPS!

The S.F. Giants, aka The Freaks, have won the World Series and will be bringing the trophy back to S.F. for the first time! The Giants have not won the World Series since 1954, before they moved West.

The entire series was exciting and while I would have loved for it to return to S.F., I'm super excited Timmy shut them down for the win last night.

The road to the world series was, as "Kuip" appropriately title the team, torturous. I had all but given up at the end of August but they fought back hard and won the must-win games when it counted. It was definitely the pitching that came through at the end which is exactly what was predicted before the season started. The Giants' rotation reminded me of the A's back when they had the triple threat of Zito, Mulder & Hudson. I've been a Zito fan since his days is Oakland and I did miss him throughout the playoffs. It was a pitcher's duel this World Series with aces Lincecum and Cliff Lee. The Giants' bats remained quiet in the post-season, except Cody Ross. The Giants were not a power hitting team this season anyway and I'd rather see everyone coming through than rely on one big power hitter.

This post-season has been super fun to watch, I can't wait for next season! No one could have predicted this finish for the team of outcasts and misfits. Where will we stand in the predictions for 2011? Now is not the time to focus on next year, the S.F. Giants have finally won the World Series, we'll be celebrating until April!

GO GIANTS!!!

Aubrey Huff

San Francisco Giants utility player, Aubrey Huff, continues to amaze me with his running ability. The Giants acquired him at a bargain price and I don't think anyone expected him to perform as well as he has been this season. The Giants' stadium is not a hitters park.


Aubry Huff is 33 years old, 6'4" and 230 lb. The replay of his in the park home run from the beginning of the season is still funny to watch because he is an awkward runner and it must have taken him an entire inning just to catch his breath! Tonight he had another great game and a solid hit out to triple's alley. Huff turned on the jets as he rounded first and safely beat the throw to third. Huff's been one of my favorite players this season. Part of it is because his speed constantly surprises me and it's so fun to watch him run the bases!

Baseball players could use a running coach.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-UHt_4Uvjc

Race Report - AT&T Giant Race

This was, without a doubt, the absolute WORSE race I have ever ran. Everything went wrong! Up until this race I had never had a race where something went totally, completely wrong, so the positive I will take out of this race is that I need to prepare and I need to get serious.

Unfortunately, EVERYTHING went completely wrong for me in this race! I often hear of stories where someone's experienced some great devastation that completely ruins their race strategy and/or end result. Usually only one thing goes wrong. Up until the AT&T Giant race, I don't think I had ever experienced that. I know I have low expectations and since I don't follow a "training plan" there isn't too much I can complain about - any poor performance is a direct result of my own failure to prepare properly (something I'm working on). Literally everything went wrong! I ran to the start line and got there much earlier than I usually get to the start line and for some reason I decided that I didn't need my water bottle so I showed up at the start line with nothing but myself! (Failure #1: dehydration). It was unusually warm and I hadn't properly hydrated the day before the race (late night at the ballgame enjoying beers and salty ball park food). By mile 1 I felt totally dehydrated and knew I was in trouble. Along miles 5-7 I experienced the worst stomach aches that continued until they forced me to drop to a run/walk around miles 10-12 due to the horrible side stitches. (Failure #2: poor nutrition). Usually I love love love hills on a course because I love doing hill repeats so I usually crush everyone as I tear up the hills. When we came to the second major hill on the course my toes started to go numb in my left foot. This sensation became progressively worse as the race went on and didn't let up until the next day. (Failure #3: wrong shoe choice). I registered for the race months in advance and was super excited about the race. The race was on the weekend following finals and when I registered I though it'd be the perfect way to celebrate the end of finals and the end of the quarter. I didn't think about how the two weeks up to the race are my crunch time and that I would be spending all my time studying, limiting my running time. I ended up ditching out on the last long run before the race and cutting my previous long run short because I simply didn't have time. Also, I was only able to get 6 runs in during the entire two weeks immediately preceding the race. Not only was I physically unprepared, mentally I hadn't done enough long runs and I wanted to die on the course, I had no confidence, doubted myself and questioned why I was even running when I knew I wasn't ready. (Failure #4 & 5: mentally & physically unprepared).

This race was a total bummer! I am so disappointed that I couldn't get it together or decide that maybe it wasn't the right time to run. The worse part about the race was definitely my left foot. I'm hoping I just chose shoes that weren't supportive enough for a half marathon (considering how unprepared I was) and that something isn't seriously wrong with my foot.

The race itself was amazing and I can't wait to go back next year for some payback! This was the inaugural half marathon and the organization and course route were great! I loved running into the park along the center and left field warning track, it was awesome! Next year I will be better prepared. Until then, I'd like to completely forget all about this awful race!