FanPost

Today, I root for Los Angeles.

Look, no one here actually likes rooting for the Dodgers, but the attitude that we cannot wish the Dodgers to win in any circumstance, ever is a ridiculous stance to take.

1) We are Giants fans. And yes, a big part of being a Giants fan is that visceral reaction to all things Dodger Blue. We feel like the folksy, family-friendly "Dodgertown" campaign should carry a disclaimer. We can watch a old Italian man get hit with a baseball a million times in a row and laugh every time. We might not even know why it's so important that SIRM suck it, yet we instruct him to do so every chance we get. But far more important than Tommy Lasorda or Russell Martin is wishing the best for our team.

ii) We cannot win alone. There are 15 other teams in the Senior Circuit, and we need certain ones to lose. People say we need to handle our own business and not worry about the other teams. And that's good advice to those actually on the Giants roster. But from a fan's perspective (assuming that we can indeed affect the wills of the baseball gods from our mom's basements), it's not that simple. We need the Giants to win, but just as important as that, we need our competition to lose. And sometimes they'll need to lose to the Dodgers. The obvious theoretical is when there's three games left and the Dodgers are playing whoever we're trailing by two games- I'd assume we'd all begrudgingly hope SIRM blasts one out in the bottom of the ninth to knock the other team out of contention. But it's never too early to make those games up. If the Dodgers take care of the Padres and/or Phillies now, maybe we won't have to give a shit what either of them do in September. And sure, it may end up that the Dodgers will be the team to beat in September, but all we can do is act on what we know now- and what we know now is that the Padres, Phillies, and Cardinals need to lose.

three) It can actually be fun, in a perverse way. You know how 22gigantes views us? Screaming, violent, angry, schizophrenic people swearing at our TVs night in and night out? You actually get to do that. When you have to root for the Dodgers, you will come up with the most creative, vile "encouragement" that will ever cross your lips. Your significant other and/or dog will get scared. You'll put the dirtiest things Proops, Pryor, and Saget ever said to shame. It'll feel dirty, but a little bit right.

IV) We cannot be defined by another team. This is the bigger issue at stake. Look at how pathetic the Red Sox fans were. They allowed the Yankees to get so far under their skin that the Red Sox and their fans became to be defined by the Yankees. Even those of us who didn't give a shit about the AL East knew the rivalry was the New York Yankees vs the Boston Not-The-Yankees. I'm not saying that the Giants fans or the McCoven are in danger of making that same mistake any time soon, but the seeds of such a downfall remain. We are the San Francisco Giants. They are the Los Angeles Dodgers. We can and should unload every ounce of baseball hate upon them any time we can. But what it boils down to is that they are one of five teams in this division, and we need to be better than all of them, no matter the cesspool they emerge from.

Bobby Thomson, Joe Morgan, and Brian Johnson will live forever in Giants history. Joe Morgan because he beat the Dodgers, but Thomson and Johnson because they won, and that's what matters.

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