“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.”
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.
“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.
It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. ~A. Bartlett Giamatti, “The Green Fields of the Mind,” Yale Alumni Magazine, November 1977
For 53 years and 53 teams, baseball broke the hearts of San Franciscans, but tonight an improbable team ended years of frustration and enhanced the love of a sport and 25 guys who worked as one. As their management and the team tried to convey, the victory was for a city, for fans, for past players and for past generations. The atmosphere has been electric for the last month. You could feel how badly people wanted this one and perhaps needed it.
Torture was the word of the year to describe this team, but it really wasn’t one year. It was 53 years. A team of underdogs, a team of misfits, a team that nobody ever believed had a chance, was the team that everyone fell in love with. The team with a rich history of Hall of Famers had its most successful season with a bunch of no-names. In the future, many will not remember some of the names that helped to bring San Francisco it’s first baseball championship. As I mentioned previously, the City of San Francisco loves its champions, but more they love their champions who do it the right way. The 2010 San Francisco Giants did it the right way. There will be many who say they knew this team had it from day 1, but if they tell you that, they are liars. A team of misfits, discards from other teams, showed the world what teamwork is all about. They have said repeatedly this post-season that the most talented team doesn’t always win. It’s the team that plays the best that wins. As late as the beginning of August this team was in 4th place and 7 or 8 games out of 1st place, but the team showed how baseball is a parallel to life. You work hard, you keep grinding, and you never stop believing.
Nick and I Fear the Beard!
As a San Francisco native I am overwhelmed. There are hundreds of thousands and perhaps millions of natives who grew up in the same generation as me, who had moms or dads that introduced them to baseball at Candlestick Park or Seals Stadium and had to wait their whole lives. Everyone has their own unique story. There are many people like me who wish the dad that introduced them to the sport were here to enjoy and celebrate with them. Yes baseball is just a game, but it is America’s past time. It is like life itself. Unlike those in New York who have 27 Championships, this is San Francisco’s first. For those who have waited their whole lives for this day, it is a day to be savored. Hopefully it won’t be 53 years until another championship is won. Those who had seen things go wrong in the past know the heartache and how sweet this victory is. This will not be taken for granted. It will be cherished. It will be savored. The team itself reminded everyone of the history of the organization. It reminded those not old enough about the heartaches of the 3 previous attempts at the World Championship. It reminded me of the great history of San Francisco, and it reminded me of all the great things the City has to offer. The team helped me to teach my son about all the great history and people that built this City. My son saw Joe Montana, Bob Weir, Steve Perry, Danny Glover, and a slew of other celebrities from the area cheering for the team just like him. Somewhere around the 7th inning of Game 2 he started to grasp the gravity of the situation and understood the passion around the desire to win the whole thing. A World Series victory would be the beginning of a big healing process.
There is an old adage in baseball that as Spring Training begins, hope always springs eternal. No matter what I am always optimistic about the Giant’s chances. This year I wasn’t. I really felt this team didn’t have what it would take. It shows how life is so unpredictable, how what is perceived could also be deceiving. Baseball and life are unpredictable and just when you least expect it, it will serve you up a surprise.
Growing up watching Mays, Marichal, Perry, Cepeda, McCovey, Clark, Mitchell, Speier, Fuentes and all it is amazing this team has accomplished something that those other teams couldn’t. No heroes, just a bunch of blue collar ballplayers. Fortunately for me I was able to share a little bit with my own son and helped him to understand how unique an experience this is and how unique this team is. Attending the last game played at home and also participating in the Opening Ceremonies of Game 2 of the World Series was not only a unique experience, but it was the creation of a memory that he will keep forever. Having my son tell me, “I will never ever forget this day” was a highlight for me. I remember when my dad took me to see Ed Halicki’s no-hitter back in the late-70s as if it were yesterday. I know my son will be thinking the same even 30 years from now.
Carrying the US Flag
It is only fitting that Edgar Renteria, a player that is at the end of his career and contemplating retirement was the MVP of the series. He spent many months on the bench, has a torn muscle in his arm, yet was one of the many heroes in the end. Hard work, determination and a never say die attitude, were Edgar’s message to all. It’s one we should all learn to employ in life.
I am speechless to say the least. I am more choked up than anything else. The memory of all those who never got to see this day, but taught us to love this team, this City, and the game of baseball would be proud of the 2010 World Champion San Francisco Giants. They were not only a team of destiny, but true deserving champions in every sense of the word. A team of misfits who fit perfectly together.
As I write this, there is honking and hollering in the streets. The younger generations are celebrating in the bars and dancing in the streets, but I know there are many like me also sitting at home with not so dry eyes thinking of those who never got to see this but helped us to appreciate this moment. They taught us how to “love the laundry” (as Seinfeld calls it). Such a bittersweet time in San Francisco.
The much maligned announcer, Joe Buck, said it best….”America’s Most Beautiful City now owns Baseball’s Sweetest Accomplishment”.
