More on the World Series Champion San Francisco Giants

It still sounds weird. I've had a week to digest all the glory that comes with your team bringing home a title. Still, the words that come to mind the most are "I can't believe it". The Giants won the World Series? That kind of thing just does not happen. But it did. I'm just not used to it.

Now that the season is over, I have my life back. Trust me, though. I'd be happy to make that sacrifice every October. I'm still reading most every word of coverage of the Giants, but there isn't as much anymore. Moreover, I no longer have to revolve my schedule around baseball games. Anyway, here are a few more of my thoughts on the team/season.

Admittedly, I doubted this team the whole season. Like many Giants fans, I was worried that with the wretched offense, another historic pitching staff (which has been championship-caliber for 2 years now) would be wasted. Even when the offense proved to be surprisingly average, I wasn't convinced. It seemed like whenever the offense picked up, the pitching would falter, and vis-versa. Around the end of June I was saying "Yes, this is a good team, but this is not a team that can rip off a 10-game winning streak, or win 20 of 30. This is a team whose offense is carried by Aubrey Huff and Juan Uribe" (no disrespect meant to those guys. They were just being miscast). Then in July they went like 20-8 or something. So I had some hope. Then August came around, and it was the pitching that looked surprisingly average. How Giants-y of them to get my hopes up and then rip the rug out. But then the Padres lost 10 in a row, Aubrey Huff put on his Rally Thong, and the rest is history. Beautiful, wonderful history.

[Side note: Looking back, my answer for "turning point of the season" was when Buster Posey moved to catcher. Not when he was first called up, but when Bengie was dealt to make room behind the plate. That's when the team assumed its new identity.]

For the past couple years, most of what has been written about the Giants has revolved in some way around "if they can just get to the playoffs, they could be dangerous because of their pitching". I can't believe how true it was, on the first try, no less. The fact is, the Giants dominated. Yes, they did catch a few breaks as is always necessary for a title run. But no team would have beaten them in the World Series. Not a sliver of doubt in my mind. To be fair, this is hindsight, but that doesn't change the facts. Lincecum outpitched Cliff Lee. Twice. (By the way, how much money do you think free agent Cliff Lee cost himself this World Series? $40 million?). And he wasn't the only supposed immortal they handed a loss to in the post-season. Halladay, Hammels, Oswalt, Lowe, Hudson. It's all in the books. Beautiful, wonderful history.

And so, while I will continue to bask in the glory of a perpetual good mood, there is one question. And that question is, what now? I feel a bit like Inigo Montoya at the end of "The Princess Bride". After heroically avenging his father's murder, he explains, "it's very strange. I have been in the revenge business so long, now that it's over, I don't know what to do with the rest of my life." If witnessing the Giants win a World Series is my equivalent of his revenge, that puts us in the same boat. Anyone that knows me knows that the Giants are a big part of who I am. Baseball is my religion, AT$T Park is my church, and Barry Bonds (the best Giant of all time) is my savior. Right in the description of this very blog it says it would be impossible for someone to want the Giants to win a World Series more than I do. But now that they've won, does it change anything? This is actually something I've thought of before, even when the Giants were not good. If/When the Giants do win a World Series, will I become less of a fan, because my thirst has been quenched? I don't really see that happening, but I do think there will be less urgency. The key is to remain focused on the new goal: become the team everyone hates. Win a string of titles so that everyone outside of San Francisco rants about us "hippy faggots" out of jealousy. That would be sweet. Until then, I'll be satisfied with the one. That beautiful, wonderful history made last Monday night.

Remember remember the 1st of November

I've paid my dues, time after time...

There was an interesting moment on Sunday night at my friend Sam's place. With the Giants a couple outs away from taking a commanding 3-1 lead in the World Series, there were a few of us that couldn't help looking at each other like "holy shit, this actually looks like it's gonna happen." The next night, with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th, the same group of 10 or so people stood on the couches and locked arms. This was it. Brian Wilson threw, Nelson Cruz swung and missed, and our dreams had come true. November 1, 2010, will always be one of the best nights of my life. I'm so glad I got to spend it with all of my best Giant fan friends (except for a couple, who for some horrific reason, live in LA). There were so many favorite moments from last night. Here they are, in chronological order:

- Renteria's home run. I could not get back from work to Sam's house until about 7:00 pm. With the two pitchers throwing gems, the game was moving right along. By the time I joined my friends, the 7th inning was well under way. I like to think I was partially responsible for what happened next. Not more than a couple minutes after I arrived, Edgar Renteria blasted a 3-run home run and earned every penny of his $18.5 million contract. In this staring contest of a pitcher's duel, you had the feeling that whoever blinked first would lose the game. And Cliff Lee blinked first. Euphoria erupted in the room as it did throughout the city. Screaming at the top of my lungs, I couldn't jump up and down as fast as I wanted to and found myself sort of running in place instead.

- The final out. Every year I watch on TV as Joe Buck calls the final out of the World Series. During the final at bat I commented on how crazy it was that it was the Giants who he was about to call it for. It happened, and pretty much immediately the tears came as I just tried to grab and hug whoever I could. We had waited our whole lives for that moment. It was beautifully overwhelming.

- Celebrating on the roof. After about 5 minutes of uncontrolled euphoria, we went up to Sam's roof for some champagne and a whole lot of yelling. It still hasn't fully hit me, but it was up there where it began to sink in, and the happiness snowballed. None of us could help but jump around. We talked about how much we, as Giants, had been through. We talked about how awesome this team was. One friend directed my attention to the stellar view of the Golden Gate bridge. And also how, on November 1st, we didn't even need a coat outside. And also how, of course, The Giants were the World Series Champions. San Francisco is the best city in the world, and it's not even that close.

- Walking down Polk St. on our way to the Civic Center. Running, jumping, skipping. "Floating" is probably the right word. This was exactly what you might imagine. Horns honking. Strangers high fiving. The party was starting.

- Getting down to the Civic Center, meeting up with my brother, and giving him a huge hug that lasted about a full minute.

- Getting doused in champagne within the gigantic crowd. My brother told me people were spraying champagne before I got there. When they started again, I said "I'm going in." It was the right call.

- The first round. This one might be actual favorite part of the night: At the first bar we went to, as the first round of shots was getting handed out, "We Are the Champions" by Queen came on. The timing was impeccable. As the entire crowd belted the chorus, I once again lost it emotionally. More hugs. More "We did it"s. More "I love you"s.

- And right after that, "California Love" (2pac and Dr. Dre) came on. Can't ask for more than that.

- The impromptu parade. Out of nowhere, hundreds of people came walking up the street, led by a small band with some horns and percussion. As the parade reached city hall, people, including myself, stormed the steps and just started dancing.

- 3rd and King. We made our way to the ballpark to get a glimpse of the craziness. The entire intersection was full of people dancing on cars, throwing toilet paper, and a few mini bon fires. It was just an unbelievable scene (as was the Civic Center). Everyone you passed gave a high five. There was every reason to be in the best mood of your life.

- Driving home. Since I had to work the next day, my night ended sober and earlier than most other people's. But I got to do my own share of horn honking. And listening to KNBR, host Marty Lurie said something about how baseball is a good friend that's always there for you, and I nearly broke down for a third time. Well said, sir.

Giants fans have been through a lot the past couple decades. The Earthquake in '89. Winning 103 games but missing the playoffs in '93. The magic of '97 getting swept away. Failing again in '00. 8 outs away from the title in '02 (the lowest of all lows). Jose Cruz Jr. dropping the fly ball in '03 (hence this blog's title). Now that we've reached the highest of all highs, I can talk about these things without wanting to stab myself.

I woke up this morning a more complete person. I haven't accomplished everything I want out of life, but this was a major, MAJOR check in the box. While driving to work, KNBR replayed the bottom of the ninth inning again. Listening to Duane Kuiper call the final out, and suggest that the Giants were celebrating for the fans back home, I got teary-eyed once more. I can't help it.

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS.

Here are some pictures taken with my phone from the night. In reverse chronological order:

On the Finite Nature of Life

I imagine it used to be a lot simpler. Life, that is. You were born, you grow up, you work, you raise a family of your own. The world was small. Entertainment was defined by the recreational and creative outlets that you, your friends, and your community could come up with. Most people stayed in the same town they were born in their whole lives. In short, there were fewer choices.

Now? Not so much. We are constantly bombarded with all kinds of media, and at the same time the world has become much more accessible. I’m not quite sure how to deal with it, and I don’t think I’m alone. Raise your hand if you’ve ever said or thought, “there are just not enough hours in the day”. There’s too much to absorb. Too much to see. Too much to do. Too much to experience. There seems to be no way to do it all, and that sucks.

We want to consume. The amount of information and entertainment available to the average person has completely exploded in the last 25 years. Even more in the last 10. Twenty-five years ago, there were what, 3 or 4 TV channels? Now there are dozens of shows worth watching, and don’t forget the ones you missed that you can catch up on via DVDs or other services. Hollywood keeps pumping out must-see movies, and it’s not as if books and magazines have stopped being written. I’ve got lists of all the books, movies, TV shows, and music that I want to but have not yet consumed. And despite my best efforts to check items off, the lists continue to grow. And then there’s the internet. Sure, 99.9% of it is trash. But there’s still a lot of quality content out there. Funny and/or informative blogs, hilarious viral videos, and of course keeping up with the news are just a few things that keep us busy. It’s not hard for me to kill and hour or two on TED.com*. And now with social networking, we all want to come up with a status update that people will comment on, and that takes up time. Thank god I’m not into video games.

Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad if we had all day catch up on our TV shows, magazine articles, and the like. Unfortunately, money makes the world go ‘round. We’re all supposed to have a profession that takes up 1/3 or the day. Well, it’s not just that we have to have a job. We want one. We want to create. Whether it’s a jet engine, a new economic model, a grant for new research, a piece of clothing, a gift for the less fortunate, a legal argument, or a medical service. We all want a sense of accomplishment. Beyond our professional creations, there’s personal hobbies (collecting, building, volunteering, producing art, exercising, etc.). And good for us. It’s our creations that drive our economy and create diversity. But every minute we spend doing one thing is a minute we won’t spend doing something else. It just doesn’t seem fair.

Furthermore, we want to experience. All sorts of things. Take travel. Who doesn’t want to see the world? But I just spent a month in Southeast Asia, and you could fill a library with what I missed out on. And that’s just one small region of the world. There’s so much I want to see, but realistically, I’ll be lucky if I get to half of it. The timeless dilemma for all 20-somethings infected with the travel bug is the fact that when you’ve got the money, you don’t have the time, and when you’ve got the time, you don’t have the money. It’s an awful thing to think about, but it’s completely accurate for almost everyone. Travel is just one example of an experience people want. Others might be social, recreational, athletic, romantic, sexual, who knows. I want to see the Giants win a World Series. I want to go to parties. I want to play softball with my friends. I want to get married and have kids. Genuinely I do. But holy cow. Kids? That’s at least 18 years in which your priorities are turned fully upside down.

And that’s what this is all about, right? Priorities. If you work an extra hour, that’s one episode of Mad Men you won’t see, unless you want to sacrifice an hour of sleep. If you choose to paint a picture or write a song, that’s a social gathering you might miss out on. Sure, we can shuffle things around, but whatever we do, we’ll be missing out on something else. I’m not saying this is bad. In fact, it’s a good “problem” to have, and it’s only because I’m overwhelmingly fortunate (compared to the rest of the world) that I even have this “problem”. We have the opportunity to absorb, create, and experience so much more than we used to. And that’s fantastic. But the amount of time we have to do it in has remained roughly the same (to be fair, life expectancy has increased). So the fraction of what we do experience compared to what we can experience has gone way down.

People like to say that technology and globalization and all that has made the world smaller. On the contrary, these things have made the world much larger. Not that long ago you could only see a show if it travelled to your town. Now you have a near infinite choice of what to be entertained by. Not that long ago, you could only read about the far reaches of the world. Now you can go there. Everyone’s “observable universe” (that which is able to be experienced, created or consumed) has gotten larger. Consequently, we are aware of how much we are missing out on**. This, psychologically, it’s a bit overwhelming. How do we as individuals and as a society deal with it? I have no idea. This is just the problem statement. Someone smarter than me is going to have to come up with the solution***.


* If you haven’t been there, go now. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, and there’s a yearly conference of brilliant people presenting fascinating content that they are passionate about, and all the talks are available to watch. Topics range from how to save Africa to demonstrating the latest technologies

** I imagine this “problem” is worse for the non-religious, due to the lack of heaven to live forever in. So prioritizing becomes even more critical. And piggy-backing on that—how depressing is it that we’ll never know what the future is going to be like? I want to know what the world will be like 100, 200, 500, 1000 years from now, but I’ll never know. And there’s literally nothing I can do about it.

*** If you can point me towards something to read, or have any advice, I’m all ears.

Southeast Asia Trip - Introduction

By now, most of the world is probably thinking to themselves, "Didn't Mike recently go on a trip somewhere? I thought he went somewhere, but I know nothing about it". Well, world, you are in luck. I've finally gotten around to posting about my trip through Southeast Asia.

I left on July 21st, and came back on August 26th. In between I went to Australia-->Vietnam-->Laos-->Cambodia-->Thailand-->Malaysia-->Australia. How did you hit so many countries in just 5 weeks, you ask? Well, other than Thailand, I was in each country only for a few days. I certainly didn't get to see/do everything, but I like to think I saw/did all the best things. What follows below is what I did in all those countries. I wrote down what I did each day on loose leaf paper, and have since scanned those pages into my computer. Here are those journal entries, along with some accompanying pictures. More pictures to be posted on Facebook. Also I highly recommend the "Epilogue" section, as I wrote that portion after I got home. It basically has all the stuff I should have wrote, but didn't, along with some arbitrary "awards".

Scrolling down from here should give you the chronological order of the trip, which went roughly like this:


Enjoy.

This is what I did in Australia (on the way to Asia)

(There was also a Tim Burton Exhibit at Federation Square).

This is what I did in Vietnam

This is what I did in Laos