If you're on this site, you most likely follow the Giants very closely. I'm going to step out on a limb and guess the guy who called Tom Tolbert yesterday, asking if we could trade "Brad Hennessey and our first-round pick next year" for Mark Texiera, isn't a registered member of McCovey Chronicles. That isn't to suggest that we're better than the casual Giants fan; just that we're better and more interesting.
So it's at this point that I raise a practical question1: When is it acceptable to leave a blowout game? I'm as die-hard of a Giants fan as anyone. I devote about 30 hours every week to following the Giants, which is a little sickening to read now that I've typed it out. My god, my life...slipping through my fingers....
Anyhow, even though I'll bust out the fan yardstick against anyone, I was incapable of staying to the end of last night's game. When Mike Rivera hit the homerun to make it 10-1, it was bittersweet. On one hand, it was the perfect way for Rivera to start the conversation that lets his mother know he's playing organized baseball for a living. That's just touching. On the other hand, I was through with baseball for the night. I didn't need to see who the Giants brought in for the ninth inning, and I didn't need to stay to see if the Giants could score 10 runs in the last two innings. I left.
Then the pangs of guilt started. If they came back - if that .00001% chance were realized - I would never forgive myself. Baseball is the one major sport that isn't limited by time, and that's one of the most beautiful things about it. Walking out when the Giants could still technically win...it still kills me. I felt the same in 1996, for example, when the Giants featured a truly bad team. That chance of the Giants participating in one of the greatest comebacks in regular season history...my goodness, the energy among the folks who stayed would be close to a World Series game.
That's why we need a Council of the Elders-type resolution on this. Two innings left, ten runs down? Three innings left, seven runs down? Is there a formula that one you mathies could come up with? As in, if x = the number of innings, and y = the number of runs behind, then (x - y) is the magic number that allows us to leave in good conscience. Obviously, when children are part of the equation this whole post is irrelevant, but I wanted the opinion of the McCognoscenti on this oh-so-important matter.
While I didn't pay for the tickets, and while I also found street parking close to the park, I still want a refund for last night's game.
1If you thought about Stonehenge after this half of the sentence, you might be a nerd. I hope Jeff Foxworthy has a lazy legal team, because I think I could make a career out of those jokes....