September 26, 2011
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The Daily News
1 A happy Monday to ye.
2 Hope you enjoyed the weekend.
3 The older I get, the faster the weekends.
4 It's all relative.
5 At least I used to think that when Einstein was still considered relevant.
6 Evidently a piece of mass went faster than the speed of light and remained intact.
7 Something like that. I remember that item hurtling itself through my zinging molecules at some point last week.
8 I wonder if the throwing of pies in faces is in any way affected by this new news?
9 I wonder. If you throw a pie at the speed of light times the speed of light, will it fluff a little, but remain a pie?
10 Moving on, Part One: Bay Area sports' fans enjoyed a treat yesterday when the Raiders took on the Jets. I haven't enjoyed a local sporting event that much since the Giants won the Series last year.
11 I was raised Giants/Niners, and worked for both organizations. I will be a diehard fan for both 'til my toe gets tagged. But a few years ago I started getting sentimental about the Raiders. I felt sorry for their fans, because the organization was SO horribly bad. Then the Niners got in lockstep. I don't want even to go there. So let's look at the brighter things.
12 Since that time I've had the pleasure of watching the Sharks take over a large part of my life, and somehow not quite get there. I keep looking; they keep looking good, every year. Great organization, fun to enjoy. Hope springs eternal here in good ol' Sannozay.
13 I stumbled and tumbled into the World Series last year with the Miracle Misfits, but watched them fade with old, dusty bats and young, believing arms this year. And a pitching staff that is the best in the game.
14 I keep watching the Niners put faith in Alex Smith and realizing he has utterly no concept of footwork, nor reflexes, nor anything outside of being a nice guy. Even when he hits a guy squarely in the letters, it has to be a guy who decides each year to cut out on training camp. Still, he was 20 for 30, and should have been 22 for 30, and was able to find Vernon Davis. That's a step forward. On the other hand, his O-line needs to leave town. Those guys need a huge public pie, especially for falling down on our deliberate safety. What was THAT?
15 It was nice to have them win, but yeesh.
16 I had almost given up on Bay Area sports this weekend when a miracle occurred at the Coliseum. Yes, you heard it. The Coliseum.
17 I saw the Raiders play an entire sixty minutes, hitting hard, smacking people upside the head, and clearly focusing on winning. I don't know that they'll be able to produce like that every week, but it certainly lit up the entire afternoon. They simply were not going to lose that game.
18 It made me remember past championships with all of our teams. At one time or another, we Bay Area sports fans have had the pleasure of witnessing some of the most awesome moments in the history of sports.
19 And yes, I knew last year when the Giants were on their roll that they had that spirit of not being denied. You just felt it. I never sensed a choke towards the end last year. They were slap-happy and on a roll. That World Series rocked. Perfect torture.
20 Losing Buster and Freddy early in the season doomed them this year. They became a young team with a bunch of crabby old guys swinging like rusty gates. They gave up over a month ago, and I didn't enjoy that. You stick by your team, yes, but what happens when half your team has given up, and has allowed the other half to carry everyone?
21 Well, in terms of the Giants, we'll have to give the perennial Bay Area sports anthem another toot: wait'll next year. But ask Albert: it isn't rocket science. If you swing at an approaching object and you don't hit it, it will continue into the catcher's glove. You will continue to Ikea to buy a cheap couch so you can enjoy the playoffs. Pass the beer, pass the sandwiches, and may I have a jar of malaise while you're at it? Let's move on to yesterday.
22 Moving on, Part the Second: Right in the middle of all that malaise, a Raider team came out of nowhere and played the game the way it's supposed to be played. They made a few blunders here and there, but there was no mistaking the spirit and belief that a new coach has clearly brought to the entire Raider Nation.
23 It was grand to see.
24 In my early football days, I loved watching Raider games. I went through a phase where I didn't like them because I loved my Niners so much more, but I'm now a supporter of all Bay Area sports. My two main teams will always be the Giants and the Niners, but it's fun to root for all of our teams.
25 I didn't have an opportunity to watch any Sharks' games this weekend, but for some reason, I'm pretty sparked about their season as well.
26 But the Giants went down sadly, and pretty much as I expected. Right when they would get close to making a move, their bats would fall flat. All year. I actually googled "San Francisco Giants taking a dive" but even that came up pretty empty. I always wonder about sports and gambling, and if guys are getting paid to lay low.
27 You never want to think that your own boys would take a dive, but we also never thought our boys would do steroids. There is an underbelly to sports that nobody ever wants to examine.
28 But I had to suspect a team that needed the bats of old veterans who have been bounced from team to team. Batting averages don't go that into-the-tank across the board, normally. I sensed something amiss, but then I always look for things that the mainstream news keeps buried. Always have.
29 To Giants' fans, I'm happy to report that there is nothing to report, no hidden conspiracies, no payola, nothing. They just stunk at the plate.
30 On the other hand, baseball is pretty good about keeping this pristine look, like it is free of gambling, steroids, booted grounders, bad calls, and all the rest.
31 We like to believe that. And believe me, I looked for any article anywhere that might suggest this. A few years ago I looked into the steroid story and called Bonds out on his using. I believed in him, figuring he had Mays and McCovey and everyone else backing him.
32 I remember everyone else defending him. I was pretty naive at the time, but now I see a lot of that stuff everywhere; it clearly wasn't just Bonds. It was the New Era.
33 Anyway, that's past, or at least we should be able to push that all behind, and for one day enjoy a Raiders' team that looked downright legit yesterday. I saw sports as pure and eternal as ever. After having watched the suffering Raiders' fans had to go through the past few years, it was clearly a new dawn, with an awesome new coach.
34 Yesterday's game was every reason we sports' fans watch sports.
35 So I'm still wearing my Giants' stuff. I'm still proud to represent my Niners. And I'm not suddenly going to don a Raiders' hat just because they won a game. But I am going to enjoy watching them, and I'm going to root for them, and for their fans.
36 Now if the Niners and the Raiders both start heading for the Super Bowl, I might have to take out my red-and-gold pearls and paint my face.
37 I wonder what the odds are on that happening...
38 Welp, these are the rantings and ravings of a frustrated Giants/Niners fan on a Monday morning. Mondays are for grousing. Nothing ever happens on Sundays anyway. I'll go out and get my Merc News in the morning and the paper will have three pages and sports. Light load, every Monday.
39 And so it's Monday. Not much earthshaking news. Just go out and enjoy it. We still have lots of hopes and dreams. Mondays are good days to re-charge.
40 So go out and enjoy the day.
41 And as always on a Monday, fly low.
42 Peace.
~H~
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