A Moment of Euphoria

 

 

First off, let me say that I love this site.  I've been lurking since the middle of 2009, and I love everything about it.  Be it Grant's hilarious yet astonishingly true postings on the team, jctgamer's videos, hysterical photoshopped images, an unfortunate and sudden bout of dyslexia when reading comments from jponry, knowledgable baseball discussion, or the sarcastic attitude and personality, I simply love it all.  (End requisite first post brown-nosing)  I've been a die-hard fan since 1993 when I was 5 years old.  I don't think I've ever experienced as much joy over a Giants victory as I did after Game 6 against Philadelphia, and I feel compelled to share my story with people.

I graduated from college in the spring of 2009, and like many grads in my class, had a difficult time finding work.  It was extremely frustrating, and I got to the point where I was really willing to take anything.  I did.  At this time last year, I left home to teach English in South Korea on a one-year contract.  My thought process at the time was that this will be a fun and unique experience.  I love interacting with kids, and I'd never really traveled outside of the country.  It was also a better job from a purely financial standpoint than anything I could have landed back home because my rent was paid for.  To top it off, I had my beloved Giants pegged for approximately 85 wins and a likely 2nd place finish.  I expected another stellar year from the pitching staff, with the team floundering only because of an anemic offense (and what I expected to be a below-average defense).

I arrived in Korea and very quickly learned that this wasn't for me.  Whereas my past experiences working with kids were as a counselor leading games and as a baseball coach, facilitating fun, my current situation required me to force them to do something many of them had minimal interest in.  It led to my slogan for what goes through their minds.  Learning English: Torture.  But torture it was.  For them and me.  I was inexperienced, untrained, given no constructive criticism from the boss, and uninspired to teach strictly out of pre-determined textbooks only to be reprimanded if I attempted to teach in a different style.  In short, my job was very frustrating.

My social life was not much better.  I was told that there is a large contingency of westerners living in the area.  Lots of other people will speak English.  It's very easy to fit in and be welcomed.  I'm extremely picky about who my friends are and typically have a small but tight group of friends.  I've never liked large crowds, and I hate meeting strangers if there's no built in activity involved (typically sports).  I dislike people who come across as brash and arrogant on a first impression.  Most of the Westerners here I found to be almost polar opposites of my typical friends.  These people love going out to bars in huge groups, sitting around talking the whole night, getting incredibly drunk, and complaining about everything.  Nothing wrong with that, but it just isn't me.  I made the effort to befriend these people, but gave up after a few months as being with them led to my feeling more lonely than being by myself.

I didn't like the Westerners, so I tried befriending some Koreans.  This was difficult as well.  I live in an area where English is not spoken very well.  On the rare occasion where I ran into somebody who spoke English, they would invite me to do something like sit naked in a sauna with several of their friends.  After their initial shock that I was not intereseted in such a wonderful experience, I told them I did like playing sports, and they invited me to join them.  I would attend and awkwardly play and try to enjoy myself while everybody else spoke in Korean.  To make matters worse, every time I did anything even remotely useful, everybody would react like I was the greatest thing ever.  It sucked being a novelty.

So, in short, I had no friends and hated my job.  I wanted to leave, but was locked in to a one-year contract which I didn't want to break both out of personal integrity and financial responsibility.  In the past, when life got hard, I could always turn to sports.  A Giants game at the end of a long day would do wonders for me.  Here, however, things were obviously different.

The most obvious problem is the time zone difference.  A 7:00 game at AT&T would be 11:00 am the next day for me.  Just fine for Orange Friday, but a bit problematic mid-week, when I have to work.  Also, there's no television or radio coverage here, and MLB.TV has a blackout policy for all games in Korea.  When I learned that, I was stunned and dismayed, but luckily I was able to find many of the games available online anyway.

Now, I'm used to ending a day with Giants baseball.  Every game is available to me on TV.  If I need to, I can listen on the radio while in route to somewhere I need to be.  Sometimes, I'll have something else going on, but, if I want to follow the game, I can.  Here, I worked during most every game.  On weekends I could watch, but only if there was a stream that day.  Even then, it was often pixelated and had serious lag issues.  It was far from perfect, but it was definitely better than nothing.

I followed the team as best I could all season.  I read this blog every day.  I read Extra Baggs every day.  I watched highlights on mlb.com (highlights not blacked out) after every win.  I listened to the wrap on knbr.com.  I was resourceful in getting as much as I could out of my situation.  But it wasn't the same.  I didn't anticipate games the whole day because they happened so early.  I couldn't debate strategy or second guess moves with friends because nobody else cared.  I couldn't depend on the game being there live to entertain me .  I had to hope, and get frustrated when it wouldn't come through.

As the season progressed, this team began to feel more and more special.  After the Padres' 10 game losing streak, things really started looking good and getting exciting.  My Dad kept telling me about how Giants Fever has spread all over the Bay Area.  I missed it.  I wanted to be a part of it.  I could only touch it with the very tip of a very long pole.

The last series against San Diego, I woke up in the extreme early hours of the morning in hopes of catching a stream to see the clincher.  Finally, we got it in Game 3 (and I was so exhausted at work that my nose dripped the whole day), and I felt so incredibly overjoyed and happy.  As irritating and difficult as it was for me to be able to follow the games, it was still the best form of entertainment I had.  Having a full season validated, and then extended just made me feel truly terrific.

I did my best to watch as much of each post-season game as possible.  I used my class preparation time to watch games on the computer.  I taught a group of Kindergartners a Let's Go Giants chant.  I was unable to watch most of Lincecum's dominance in Game 1.  I saw the entirety of the meltdown in Game 2, and had one of the biggest emotional roller coaster rides of my life after watching Game 3.  Up-way down-way way way up.  It was a fantastic win, but I had nobody to share it with.

The Giants won the series against ATL and went on to face Philadelphia.  At the same time, I was finalizing my exit details.  I was to leave the country on October 28th and return the morning of the same day (time zones), which would be the 2nd day of the World Series.  Now, if the Giants could advance to the World Series, I would be able to come home and revel in all the awesomeness and glory of this season with other people who care just as much as I do.  I would have strategy talks, HD television, large gatherings of friends, and a palplable atmosphere everywhere I would go.  This would matter, and not just to me.  But standing in the way were the mighty Phillies.

I know baseball can be extremely unpredictable in a short series, and that pitching plays a monumental role, and that the Giants have one of the best pitching staffs I can ever remember top to bottom.  Knowing all this, were I forced to bet my life savings on this series, I would have taken Philadelphia.  While I thought the Phillies and Giants had fairly even pitching staffs, I also thought that the difference in batting was so large that it would easily swing the series their way.

The teams split in Philadelphia, silencing some of the talking heads despite my being unable to watch most of the games.  Then Cain dominated Game 3, which I watched in its entirety.  That led up to the pivotal Game 4, one that I thought the Giants had the advantage in SP.  This turned out to probably be the best game of the series.  I missed most of the first 4 innings due to teaching a class.  I watched immediately after, tuning in just in time to see Huff drive in Torres to bring it within one.  I roared in fury after Sandoval's ball was called foul, cried in delight after he doubled, then cursed in agony after he grounded into a double play.

There was a staff meeting at 12:30 that day, which wouldn't interfere with the game as long as the Giants managed to hold the lead.  Of course, they didn't.  And of course, the meeting began just as the bottom of the 9th began.  So, instead of eating ten entire fingernails during the Posey and Uribe at-bats before running around the room like a headless chicken after the sac-fly, I was spending my time listening to the results of standardized tests that our students had taken.  I immediately checked in after the meeting.  I was ecstatic about the outcome, but felt robbed of a defining moment in history as a Giants fan.

Game 5 I couldn't watch at all.  The Giants lost, sending the series back to Philadelphia.  This is the one I wanted.  It was on a Sunday morning for me.  No interruptions.  All I needed was for the stream to work, and it had been incredibly reliable throughout the whole playoffs.  A win, and my dream of returning home to see them in the World Series would come true.  A loss, and I'd be a nervous wreck, unable to watch all of the next game while attempting to do my job.

I woke up, and the stream was set.  It was as smooth as I can remember it.  Unfortunately, Sanchez didn't have it.  I thought it would be a long game after the first inning, but miraculously the Giants tied it, then tiptoed out of trouble.  Affeldt was a magician, and Bumgarner nearly gave me a dozen heart attacks, but he was able to get the comebacker in the 5th.  That's when my stream was shut down.

Somebody had finally found this stream, mid-way through the game, and after a full season, shut it down due to copyright infringement.  I had been expecting this for a long time, but why now?  I scrambled like a crazed lunatic to find another stream.  The only one I could get was a Spanish broadcast, with such terrible lag time that it only made me angry.  I suffered through this for two innings, at this point ready to accept anything, video or audio only.  I started looking for radio streams, and when I couldn't find anything had a stroke of genius.

I went on skype, and contacted my sister who is in college.  I asked her to turn on a radio, and place it next to the microphone so that I could listen.  She couldn't find a radio.  She did however, have a friend (ironically a Phillies fan), who had mlb radio.  She opened this account, turned it on, and we had a "skype conversation" which consisted entirely of me hearing the voices of Jon Miller, Mike Krukow, Duane Kuiper, and the nervous fidgeting and grunts of my younger sister.

This was infinitely better than the Spanish broadcast, but I was still a nervous wreck.  In the top of the 8th, things weren't looking good.  Even during Uribe's HR, Miller didn't seem to think he got it.  Listening to it, my thought process went from 1.  Darn, fly out.  Okay, pitching, shut them down.  2.  Maybe a double.  Come on Renteria.  Big hit.  3.  YES YES YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

After the side was retired, Lincecum made his entrance, much to the disbelief of my sister.  Wilson relieved him and escaped the jam and I took a huge sigh of relief.  Then came the bottom of the 9th.  The Giants nearly turned a double play, but as it was had two outs.  All it would take was one more pitch.  One more pitch and I would be able to come home and watch Giants baseball.

Of course Wilson made it interesting.  Of course he walked the tying run into scoring position and the winning run onto first.  Of course he went 3-2 so that the runners could get a head start.  Of course he was facing Ryan Howard, one of the few Phillies hitters who lived up to the hype this series.  But when he threw strike 3, I experienced a moment of such extreme happiness and joy that I can't even describe it in words.  The crowning moment of my sports fandom to this point was Lofton driving in Bell in 2002, but this was at a whole different level.  2002 I was simply jumping for joy.  This moment caused me to shake and quaver.  I couldn't type.  I couldn't breathe.  I plugged in my headset to talk to my sister.  I don't think I said anything more than "I can't tell you how happy I am right now." about 15 times.  She asked me if I was crying.  I wasn't, but it was sure close.

To me, this was a moment of sports joy that extended beyond just sports and into the world of life itself.  I've been so lonely for so long and to have the Giants advance, against all odds, so that I can in fact be a part of one of the most enjoyable, memorable, and successful teams in the history of San Francisco, and experience it in person with other people who care, just made me feel in a way that I have never felt before.

I know this is long, but thank you for reading.  It really means a lot to me to be able to be a part of this and to share it with people.  Go Giants.  I'm so happy to be coming back.