World Series a victory for many fans through the Bay Area
Most of us are a product of our environment, for better or
worse. Our morals, values, goals are often based on our upbringing
and many of us develop rooting interests based on which teams our
dad watched on TV when we were growing up.
So the San Francisco Giants’ World Series victory this week
struck an emotional chord for many locals who realized the joy that
a simple sporting event can bring to a family.
World Series a victory for many fans through the Bay Area
Most of us are a product of our environment, for better or worse. Our morals, values, goals are often based on our upbringing and many of us develop rooting interests based on which teams our dad watched on TV when we were growing up.
So the San Francisco Giants’ World Series victory this week struck an emotional chord for many locals who realized the joy that a simple sporting event can bring to a family.
It is a bit embarrassing to admit, but my wife and I found ourselves getting a little choked up after the Giants finished off the Texas Rangers on Monday. We had sat through the gut-wrenching series loss to the Angels in 2002 and had experienced the post-Barry Bonds era doldrums. To finally win, with such an improbable collection of misfits and castoffs, was special.
We would have liked to share the win with our sons, as we had the other games on the Giants’ march to the title, but the boys had high school basketball tryouts, so they had to settle for an update from their coach and a view of the ninth inning on TiVo when they got home.
For uber-fans, like Bill’s Bullpen owner Bill Mifsud Jr., the Giants victory was part redemption, part relief and all about family.
Bill, whose family lived in San Francisco until he was 8, is never at a loss for words, but he had difficulty explaining the emotions that the Giants’ win conjured.
“It was like a calming feeling, yet it was emotional,” he said during a phone interview while watching the team’s victory parade on television Wednesday morning. “To win it is the pinnacle, for sure, but I didn’t get that high-fiving, fist-pumping feeling. It transcends that. It’s more than just a game.”
The victory was cause for reflection for Bill, who was happy for the added business the team’s victory brought to his Fourth Street store, though happier that his team – his family’s team – finally got to savor the ultimate victory.
He frequently gets calls at the store from his dad and his brother and his uncles during the season. After the clinching series game, he even got some of his Los Angeles Dodger-loving fans to call and congratulate him.
“That was nice,” Bill said. “It was more personal than I thought.”
His sister, Christina, posted congratulations on Facebook and contacted the family by Skype from her home in Italy after the win. To share the victory, the joy, with his dad a few months after Bill Sr. had a hospital stay and just weeks after his uncle passed away added to the emotion.
“When we went to games my dad always said ‘we’re never leaving early,'” Bill recalled. “All those games when they lost, when they won, then they finally win it all. It’s that emotional feeling when it’s beyond the game. You realize how many family functions you’ve been at with the game on in the background.”
Bill said he would have settled for another Giants National League championship in his lifetime, so for the team to go beyond that was special.
Now, “the air smells cleaner; it’s a natural high. It’s not to the point where I’m strutting down the street yelling ‘Ya Giants!’ It’s more personal than that.”
Bill wasn’t able to drive up to The City for the victory parade, but he had it on his in-store television and he was recording it at home. Besides, Wednesday is new comics day at Bill’s Bullpen, so he has to take care of his clientele that wouldn’t know a sacrifice bunt from a suicide squeeze. Plus, his uncles are at the parade, so the Mifsuds are represented.
“That’s what it’s all about,” he said.
Adam Breen writes a blog at http://thebreenblog.blogspot.com and teaches newspaper and yearbook classes at San Benito High School. He is a reporter for The Pinnacle and former editor of the Free Lance.
