'Tis the season...the offseason, that is.

A time when we all pine for longer days, pacing in front of broken televisions while screaming at the radio and bloodyhellwhywon'ttheinternetupdatethisdamngamefaster, relishing every bittersweet moment as Your San Francisco Giants do their best to overcome every obstacle the front office can inflict upon them the other teams can bring to the field.

Perhaps, like me, you want spring to be here so badly that you start to see baseball where it isn't. Or at least, isn't usually. Lemme 'splain after the jump:

#1 While driving in silence through Livermore to visit family over Thanksgiving, my extremely pregnant wife blurted out, "When it's time for a change..." At first I thought this might be some of that weird hormonal stuff everyone was trying to warn me about, but then she pointed at the SpeeDee Oil Change as we drove by it. We laughed at our consumer-automatron selves all the way home. Even so, it was nice to hear Duane Kuiper's voice in my head....

#2 As mentioned in the Xmas letter post, my son was born this past Thursday, and I've been getting us through some of the late night/early morning hours by watching the 2010 World Series. Little breadfan7 threw his arms ecstatically into the air when Buster Posey hit an RBI double. Coincidence? I think not. I'm not thrilled with our offseason (in)activity this year, either, but I DO look forward to seeing many more games with Buster in them this time around. It will be nice to see how his first full season plays out, uninterrupted by Bengie, Bochy, or fractured limbs.

And finally, #3: like many of you, when baseball is over, I attempt to console myself by following the Niners (a slightly more pleasurable task this year!) My inlaws, who are all die-hard San Dieagans, graciously obliged us by taking us out for our first post-birth adventure to watch MNF. (They love their Padres, and though 2010 sure stings for them, we're on pretty good terms if we're not beating the crap out of each other. Football, however, is a bit easier since our teams are in completely different leagues, giving us considerable more room to root for each other's team, and the only time they met in the 1995 Super Bowl...well, 1995 WAS a good year, wasn't it?) Tonight, after Ben Roethlisberger was sacked a third time, my father-in-law jubilantly shouted out, "Grab some pine, meat!" He then turned to me and, seeing my expression, said, "What? Isn't that what you guys all say up there?" I didn't know whether to hug him or facepalm.

How about the rest of y'all: Any baseball-ish deja vu moments yet? Or better yet, what do you miss the most that you reasonably expect to see next summer?