"This Team Has a Sign Above Them"

When I was 6, my dad took my friends and I to a baseball game at Candlestick park for my birthday. I can't say I remember the specific game, but the feeling of vastness, intensity and community you experience at a baseball game stuck with me, and I became a Giants fan. Every weekend, as my dad worked around the house and yard, he would have several radios tuned to the game (one in the house, garage, yard, etc). I was never the kid who could rattle off stats, but the Giants were the background noise of my youth.



In high school and college, baseball gave me a forum to exercise my favorite pastime, arguing. Topics such as the Hall of fame, Giants/Dodgers rivalry, Bonds or Griffey, were all the source of great debates. Admittedly, I would have fought anyone over just about anything in those days. There's a part of me that enjoys dissent, and continuing to be a vocal Giants fan took creativity.


When I moved to San Francisco after college, the great Mayor Willie Brown teamed up with Larry Baer to keep the Giants in San Francisco and get a downtown stadium built. That was the only time I can remember that being a Giants fan actually paid off. What a time to be a San Franciscan. Opening Day at Pac Bell was amazing. They built the best new stadium in the majors and it was walking distance from my office. I went to more games from 2000 - 2008, then I had the entire 20 years prior.



We all know it should have happened in 2002, but that gut wrenching loss made this victory sweeter. In hindsight it makes the 2010 Giants one of the best WS champions ever.

The ultimate underdog team wipes away a 56 year long wait for a world class city with the best baseball fans on the west coast. What a story.

My buddy Steve called it the day before the series started. This Giants team had a sign above them. It's a biblical reference. When an entity has a sign above them, they cannot be stopped. Like the patron saint of travelers, St. Christopher - there was nothing that could end this team's mission.

Nobody picked this team, not even me. They were the opposite of the teams they beat. No pedigree, not anointed by the experts, cast-off by the scouts, several of them on the verge of retirement. Now they're described as street fighters.

Even the starting pitching was billed as secondary to the "unbeatable" match ups with Haladay, Lee, Oswalt and veterans like Lowe and Hudson. But this team only lost THREE GAMES in the playoffs! How the f--- is that possible?

Was there something divine about this team? I think so.

In the end, the faithful were rewarded with an unexpected gift and the end of a tortuous wait. I'm glad it's finally over.