The champs are here!

I love baseball. My love of sports is the only thing about me that is distinctly not nerdy, and baseball in particular is my favorite sport. Being from San Francisco, I naturally root for the Giants. 

Well … the Giants won the World Series this weekend!

Much like the team that won it all in 2010, this year’s Giants were a scrappy bunch of misfits who lacked the number of flashy names as those on teams in New York, St. Louis, Texas, Los Angeles, or even Detroit. But champions aren’t about big name stars, champions are born out of teamwork and tenacity – two things the 2012 Giants had plenty of.

Fitting for a team whose marketing strategy all year focused around the word “together.” “Let’s get back together.” “Together we’re Giant.” Stuff like that.

I spoke of tenacity, of overcoming the odds. Look at the cards this team was dealt during the season.

All-Star closer Brian Wilson misses virtually the entire season due to surgery. 

Last year’s best hitter on the team lands on the DL twice; suffers a large decline in his power as a result. 

Melky Cabrera captures All-Star Game honors en route to capturing the hearts of an entire city. Then he proceeds to trample said hearts following a suspension for using performance enhancing drugs (he didn’t even say goodbye to his teammates, just slipped off into the night).

Melky Cabrera inspires a new breed of fan - temporarily. I may or may not have wanted an outfit like this (courtesy of http://sfgiantsphotos.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/060812-mm0125.jpg)

Tim Lincecum became mortal. Worse than that, he became arguably the worst pitcher in baseball!

The Reds had a 2-0 advantage in the NLDS with the next three games in Cincinnati. Won all three. The Cardinals had a 3-1 advantage in the NLCS with one more to play at home and Barry Zito of all people starting for the Giants. Won those next three, too.

And there was so much more! The Giants forgot how to score at home. Aubrey Huff forgot how to play baseball. Santiago Casilla forgot how to pitch for two months. Nate Schierholtz forgot he’s a truly mediocre player and suffered delusions of grandeur. Brandon Belt endured a 0-for-100 stretch at one point. And did you see the number of All-Stars our rivals, the Dodgers, added this year? 

Pretty good team you bought yourself there, LA. There’s just one thing you forgot to buy: the heart and soul of a winning team!

Yet this team persevered, adding a couple of key ingredients along the way. Not enough can be said about Marco Scutaro and Hunter Pence’s contributions to this team. Scutaro became the new Melky and Pence became the team’s spiritual guide following the dark days of the first two NLDS games. There’s no way we get here without them.

The same goes for so many others on this team.

Buster Posey showed a full recovery from last year’s horrific injury and is still racking up awards as we speak. There, just as I was writing that sentence he won another award. And now another. 

Posey for President (courtesy of http://aeryssports.com/third-street-kings/files/2012/07/tumblr_m6n2r4D9HE1qecapjo1_500.jpeg)

Matt Cain tossed just the 23^rd perfect game in baseball history (admittedly, it was against the Astros, whom I’m pretty sure I could throw a shutout against).

Ryan Vogelsong was a Cy Young contender for the first half of the season.

(courtesy of http://sd.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/i/keep-calm-and-vogel-strong-5.png)

Blanco and Crawford were miniature black holes on defense, swallowing up every baseball hit their way.

Pablo Sandoval made World Series history, becoming just the fourth player to hit three home runs in a single World Series game. He also became just the second person to ever hit three home runs in a single game at AT&T Park – a ballpark that sparks recurring nightmares to all hitters who enter (except for a guy named Bonds, and he even never hit three home runs in one game here). Baseball owners are currently hiring scientists to find a way to isolate the Sandoval gene and replicate it so they may have a secret weapon to use against Justin “I Didn’t Even Know We Had a Pitching Coach” Verlander.

Sergio “El Mechon” Romo locked down opponents all year and transitioned smoothly into the closer role by the end of the season.

I’m not sure there are any Hall of Famers on this roster. Except for Posey, there are no award winners for this season. There are no A-Rods, A-Gonz, Pujols, Jeters, Kershaws, Verlanders, Princes, Brauns, Sabathias, Vottos, or Hamiltons. 

Just a bunch of guys who kept things loose and fun through everything – from day one of spring training through Game 4 of the World Series. I’d like to remember those guys’ names just one more time (or at least the names I know them by).

Kung Fu Panda, Baby Giraffe, Great White Shark, and Panda Jr.

Huff Daddy, Big Daddy Cain, and Craw-daddy.

The Riot, The Freak, The Skipper (& Gilligan), The Reverend, and The Melk Man (RIP).

Big Z, X-Man, Mad Bum, Scootch, Stamos, Sergeant Pagan (Sarge for short), and Marty Feldman. 

Comic actor Marty Feldman, or Giants outfielder Hunter Pence? You be the judge. (courtesy of http://www.unsungfilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/feldman01.jpg)

Everyday Kontos, Night Train, Vogeltron, Babe Arias, Romo 3:16, and last but not least – just plain Buster.

Congratulations to the San Francisco Giants for winning the World Series twice in three years, and for making a die-hard baseball fan feel like a little kid again (except even happier than that, since we never won a World Series when I was a kid).

Oh, and one last thing:

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! WE WON THE WORLD SERIES!!!!!!!! OH MY GOD!!!!!! THE CITY’S GOING NUTS!!!!!! WAAAAHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

(courtesy of http://i.minus.com/iSsiqxr8VkZVS.gif)

Adjustments to life after college

• Sleeping in a storage room.
• Everything I own is covered in cat hair, dog hair, and/or goat hair.
• Having a car again, but my car being a ghetto 17-year-old van.
• People addressing me by my actual name, not by any nicknames.
• My popularity declining in Australia.
• No longer having to worry about my daily schedule.
• Worrying about my lack of a schedule.
• Homework is replaced by yard work.
• Having to take care of a pair of goats. When did my home become a farm?
• The relative quiet of my once crime infested neighborhood compared to party infested Pullman.
• Living with the fear of sending the wrong personalized cover letter/resume to the wrong potential employer.
• My weekly heart attack induced by San Francisco's weekly test of its air raid siren/emergency warning system.
• Fewer people speaking in fake British accents.
• Resisting the urge to abuse the handicap parking permit in my van.
• Stanley the dog.
• Cars with large pink mustaches on them (it's a San Francisco thing).
• Spring feeling like fall, summer feeling like winter, and fall feeling like summer.
• The mind-numbing boredom of unemployment (among all the other problems it causes).
• My mom's constant nagging to go to grad school.
• Not having to wake up by 6:30 am, but still doing so anyway. Earlier sometimes.
• Have I mentioned the goats yet? Seriously, fuck those goats!
• Watching and rooting for local sports teams that actually know how to win.
• Accepting the fact that if I pass through the Castro for any reason, I will undoubtedly be confronted by a naked man's crotch. Maybe even several.

This one's for my homies

I’ve already addressed my lack of respect for blogging in the past, but that doesn’t mean I’ve never read a blog before starting my own. I personally know people who maintain damn fine blogs. I’d like to take this time to shout-out to them and give credit where credit is due.

Brilliant Title

If there is a blog that can be credited as the source of inspiration for my own, this is it. Jillian is a true storyteller. She takes the little things in life, the everyday occurrences, and turns them into fun, thoughtful, hilarious blog posts. Bad dating stories. Awkward encounters with customers. PG-13 rated cookies. Her stories, much like her blog name, are simply brilliant.

China Basin Baseball

I wish my blog was as funny as this. Greg has the perfect kind of off-the-wall, out-of-nowhere, absurd style of humor I love. The fact that he uses this gift in a sports blog only makes it better. And he’s got guest writers. Multiple guest writers! He has everything, while I have nothing! Greg’s the next blogging mogul (is there such a thing as blogging moguls?)

His blog is tailored to covering baseball – specifically SF Giants baseball. I’ll understand if that causes you to shy away, but trust me, his stuff is good (except for his atrocious grammar and his opinions on Hector Sanchez, but he’s my friend so I forgive him).

A Few French Fries Short of a Happy Meal

Where do I start with this one? This blog is…interesting. Yeah, that’s a good word for it. Interesting.

In all seriousness, and with all due respect to the others, this is the finest blog I’ve read. That might not be saying much given how few blogs I read, but it’s the highest praise I can offer here.

Sometimes very serious, but usually laugh-out-loud funny, Stephanie gives an inside look at how to get through life with sanity still firmly intact. Made all the more difficult when you’re an up-and-coming crime reporter.

Vlogbrothers

Remember how I said I don’t follow any famous bloggers? If you do, that means you’ve been reading since my first post, and for that I thank you. All five of you. I realized later that these guys are the exception to the rule. 

Video bloggers Hank and John Green are the brothers behind the very successful Brotherhood 2.0 and Vlogbrother videos on YouTube. They have the distinction of being the only bloggers I pay attention to who A.) use videos, not text, and B.) I don’t personally know.

Their videos have inspired a truly unique online community, which has managed to accomplish some really neat things outside the World Wide Web, too. Charitable organizations, conferences for professional YouTubers and just proving in general that nerds can be cool. Sort of.

Just Joan 

I’ve previously joked that I haven’t read my mother’s blog since 2010. Except I wasn’t joking. To be fair, she is my mother. I’m kind of already in the loop about what goes on in her life. But if you want to know a little bit about what it’s like to be a mom battling through Stage 4 breast cancer, and is brave enough to share her story too, check out her blog.