Welcome to “Adios, Pelota”
As someone who lives in Kansas City, Missouri, officially Royals territory, being a San Francisco Giants fan is tough.
2014 is burned in the psyche of Kansas City Royals fans, and not in a positive fashion. Whenever I wear a Giants shirt or my San Francisco Giants hat, “F you” is the first reaction of many Kansas Citians who bleed blue and white. I can understand the reaction in some ways: the 2014 loss was heartbreaking, and Royals will forever be asking themselves whether or not Alex Gordon should’ve been sent home to tie the game. At the same time, the Royals won a World Series the next year. It’s not like the Giants prevented their one and only shot of winning a World Series title (and really…20 years is nothing…remember, the Giants hadn’t won since 1954 until they won in 2010, which started their streak of 3 titles in less than 5 years).
Despite this conflict of interest whenever I want to support the Giants, I do have a soft spot for the Kansas City Royals. I grew up liking them as a kid, and even owned a hat and played with them frequently in Season Mode on MLB ’99 on the PS1, as well as High Heat Baseball and MVP Baseball on the PlayStation 2. I have even tried to create blogs dedicated to Kansas City Royals fandom. However, at the end of the day, the Giants are my team. They were who I grew up with, and though I have been settled in Kansas City for over a half-decade now, Northern California sports teams are my roots as a sports fan, with the Giants holding the crown as my favorite team of my favorite sport.
This isn’t the first blog I have created dedicated to the Giants. As you can see on the sidebar, “Remember ‘51” and “Optioned to Fresno” were other previous projects I created years ago, when I had more time and energy as a writer. I was tempted to re-start those projects, but as I looked through those old posts, I realized that was a different me, a different writer, a different Giants fan. I don’t have the same perspective on the Giants that I did from 2009–2013 (when my posts ended). And the Giants team and blogosphere are dramatically different as well. Grant Brisbee no longer runs McCovey Chronicles, and the Giants are a team in “rebuilding mode” no longer contenders in the NL West like they were during my previous writing period. And I am now 32, not in my 20’s, a lot wiser as both a person and as a Giants fan. The Giants don’t run my existence in the spring, summer, and fall like in my younger days, but rather they are more of a hobby, a distraction for me when the normal stress of life and career as an educator needs a break.
And it’s different too following them from two time-zones away, when the NL West is pretty much an afterthought with the average Midwest baseball fan (around here its the Royals or the Cardinals for St. Louis transplants or Cubs for Chicago transplants or people who come from Iowa; I have yet to meet any REAL White Sox fans, unfortunately). NL West baseball is on too late and is too far removed from most baseball fans in the Kansas City area. And I get it. Why watch the Giants-Padres throw first pitch at 9 p.m. here in the Central Time Zone? Especially when baseball isn’t appointment TV like the NBA or NFL? Other than the hated Dodgers, the NL West is a slugfest of mediocrity, with the Giants, unfortunately as of this moment, the most quintessential case of the bunch.
But, in rebuilding or transition years, it’s usually the best time to get back into being a fan of a team if you have had a long lay off. The bandwagoners are gone, and hope springs eternal for those who remain behind. Will the Giants get a good trade package for Madison Bumgarner? Will Joey Bart be Buster Posey 2.0? Will Ray Black ever be the closer we thought he would be five years ago? Where the hell is Kyle Crick now? All these questions spring into the psyche of only the most passionate Giants fans, where winning is merely a benefit, not a requirement, to being a fan of the Black and Orange.
So here I go, running “Adios, Pelota!” an ode to the famous Jon Miller catchphrase he gives after critical and massive home runs. Here I am…a Giants fan in America’s heartland, land of corn, early marriage (and divorce), Trump signs, MAGA hats, BBQ, awesome holiday side dishes, as well as Royals and Cardinals fans.
Being in the midwest is an adjustment as a lifelong Californian and West Coaster. It’s an adjustment as a Giants fan. Hopefully, you’ll hear a little bit more about it here on “Adios, Pelota!”
