- In a morning briefing at work, they are talking about the Giants World Series victory and someone speaks up and wants to acknowledge the Dodger fans in the room that helped make it happen.
- A “friend” on Facebook broadcasts on his page the Plaschke article that opines that the Giants have passed the Dodgers as the better performing franchise and it gets over a dozen “likes” and several Dodger bashing comments.
- The notes left on my desk and the emails and texts from Giant fans following their playoff and World Series wins are about a dozen.
- Chants of “Dodger suck” erupt as the Giants complete their game seven victory over the Cardinals at the local Chilli's Restaurant in San Bruno, CA.
All this leads me to reach a conclusion. Even at the peak of their success, Giant fans still think of the Dodgers. It’s really quite extraordinary. They are on the verge of becoming the team that is the only dynasty in the new century, and they are still thinking of us. It really is quite flattering actually. It leads me to one conclusion though: their fans don’t know how to behave when they win.
It is reported in some circles that Vince Lombardi said: “When you get in the end zone, act like you’ve been there before.” In other words, being successful brings with it a certain responsibility that requires “class” and “dignity.” Talking about your greatest rival in the finest moments of your franchises history doesn’t do anything but show what a jerk you really are. Even thought the Giants were there in 2010, it looks like many of their fans remain the same as ever.
When Kirk Gibson blasted that homer off of Eckersley in Game one, how many of us thought, “Take that Giants fans?” When that final out landed in Kenny Landreaux’s glove in Yankee Stadium, were we chanting, “Giants Suck!” at the top of our lungs? I despise the Giants and their fans with the best of them, but I can tell you that at those greatest Dodger moments, the San Francisco Giants were the furthest thing from my mind.
So I have come to this conclusion. All those years of Dodger dominance on the west coast (roughly from 1958 through 1996, with a Giant success thrown in there now and then), has created such a swell of animosity and angst against our team, that it is engrained in Giants fans to hate us more than they love their own team. Am I off base here?
Interesting point Evan. I can recall in 1955, 1963, 1981 thinking, take that Yankees. However, no other team ever crossed my mind. Maybe the Giant fans feel they have been freed from Dodger bondage, or maybe they are just Giant fans. We shouldn't expect too much
ReplyDeleteI love that Vince Lombardi quote. I wish that today when teams win, or players do something unusual, they would just do as Vince suggests, act like they make a habit of doing those things. The football celebrations after a TD are really dumb, as are hockey celebrations. Even in baseball, I hate those walk off win dances.
Harold, with regard to Giant fans, it is an engrained inferiority complex that they should not feel anymore. The Giants being inferior sin't even close to being the truth. But in Northern California, they seem to hate all things L.A. Criticism of the riots, traffic, air pollution, heck I've even heard them bash Disneyland.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the walk off celebrations. They have gone way too far with those. I don't think they'll go away though...too much a part of the game. Rather silly to see a win in a game that represents 1/162th of the season often resulting in celebrations that are more exuberant than those of World Series winners 40 years ago. Look at replays of the Dodgers 1965 World Series Celebration in Minnesota, they shook hands and walked off the field to celebrate in the clubhouse.
Giant fans need not feel inferior. They win two WS in three years. We get Jason Schmidt, Juan Uribe, Ned Coletti. I shouldn't put Ned in the same boat as the other two, but his game plan, even with $100M budget, has been somewhat flawed with old guys and expensive contracts for three years.
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