I didn’t grow up a baseball fan. First it was basketball, then football, and I really just stuck with the two. For most of my life, I had my fill of sports watching the Kobe and Shaq era in L.A., and then the waning days of the Greatest Show on Turf in St. Louis.
My first memory of baseball was going to a 2006 Giants game against the A’s with some family members. We went through the ticket lottery and ended up sitting at about the right field arcade. They were cheap seats, but I was in perfect position to watch the ball sail through the air as Ray Durham hit a walk-off homer for the victory. I was 13 years old then and didn’t know a thing about baseball, but AT&T seemed like the coolest place ever, with a huge glove and Coke bottle just off in the distance. After that game, I wanted to come back for all the other games.
I started following the team’s exploits, first with online stat places like CBS GameTracker because my family didn’t have the cable necessary to watch games, and then I discovered KNBR 680, THE Sports Leader. Jon Miller has been lauded and honored for his broadcasting work, and deservedly so, but sometimes I think Giants fans don’t get how truly great Miller and Flemming are. I don’t get to watch as many games as I would like to, so I end up listening to most of them on the radio.
It’s a secondhand experience, but Jon and Dave make me feel like I’m on the third base line and right in the action. With the exception of Vin Scully, and a few other notables, relatively few teams have broadcasters who are such an integral part of the major league experience there. Jon and Dave really enrich game day for Giants fans, and without them, I probably wouldn’t be half the fan I am today.
I’ve always been a football fan, first and foremost. But as I really started to get into baseball and the Giants, I found myself starting keep track of time according to baseball season. From spring training, to the playoff races in August and September, to the Fall Classic in October and Hot Stove season, and then all over again.
Among other things, you could call it an obsession. But that is what sports and being a fan are all about. People live vicariously through/with their teams. Sports are so much more than just games that people play with each other; just look at what the Saints did for New Orleans in winning the Super Bowl. It brought the city back to life after Hurricane Katrina. That being said, sports should never be ranked above the lives involved and affected by it (the Vancouver riots).
As the year comes to an end, I’m thankful for the Giants and the roller-coaster ride of a season that they gave us fans. I am lucky enough to be able to write about one of my favorite teams and live a dream, but Opening Day still can’t come soon enough. A very happy new year to all of you in the B/R community. Go Giants!
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