Catherine reflects on cheering on the Giants from San Francisco
PHOTO: Ramses Bulatao.
The last time I was home for the World Series, I was in high school. I remember visiting California Adventure that October and seeing a Giants sign hung proudly across the faux Golden Gate Bridge (to be fair… and especially since we were in Angels country, there was a halo around the A in the life-sized California letters). In 2010, I watched the Series with my cousin in our Los Angeles apartment. In 2012, I watched the Series with a couple hundred Bay Area fans in Manhattan’s infamous Finnerty’s. That was the closest I came to experiencing a Giants World Series celebration with alcohol.
This year I moved home, and I was thrilled to be working walking distance to AT&T Park—home of the Giants. My first fall home, my first World Series of-age. What have I learned? The Giants aren’t just from San Francisco. They are San Francisco. And San Francisco is them. Here are 7 truths I’ve experienced over this Orange October.
- Not a lot of people care about Baseball, but in San Francisco everyone cares about the Giants.
- You can’t beat the Crazy Crab’z and Gordon Biersch garlic fries combo… and the Ghirardelli hot chocolate fresh from the man carrying the keg on his back up and down the stands. All San Francisco Bay Area treats!
- No one to watch the game with? No problem. Go to a bar with a TV, and you’ve just made 5 new friends with every base hit.
- San Franciscans can be quite friendly. I saw someone wearing a KC hat at a bar a few blocks away from the park after Game 5, and no one said a word.
- The World Series trumps professional responsibilities. Schools close on parade day. You go to work the day after the World Series only to see the parade coming down Market outside your window.
- 95% of residents are in front of a screen watching the game. Everyone else might be walking down the street, but you better believe they know the score (or will ask you for the latest).
- A Giants fan is a fan win or lose.
The Bay Area is a tight-knit community made up of Bay Area sports fans. Most people who live here cheer on (notice I didn’t necessarily say “follow”) not just our Giants but our 49ers, who are in the middle of their season, and our Warriors, who start the new season this week. And the players themselves are known to support the other teams as well. Bay Area teams are known to cause their fans anxiety until the bitter end, but no matter the outcome, we stick by. Just look around when the game is over.
As we move to Game 7 this evening, people sneak away from work early, yogis cancel their class reservations, bars are crowding, and San Francisco will hold our breath until we can welcome home our champions.
Catherine Abalos is founder and editor of The Single Diaries.
