View from the Couch

BY SCREAMIN BILL LEEMAN

What a weekend in Giantsville!    First, the home opener; the first time our boys have played in front of the hometown crowd since game two of the World Series, and amazingly, the fans were still just as excited as they were then!  What a sight to see!  Fifty thousand rabid fans in and around the ball park to welcome their heroes home.  Brian Wilson himself raising the World Series Championship Flag.   

Then, after that wonderful Flag raising ceremony, they staged a marathon twelve-inning game reminiscent of the torture that nearly killed us all last year.  

Sheesh.   Is this the way it's going to be?  Another year of torture?


Then, the next day, in front of another forty-something-thousand maniacal Giant lovers, they put on a Ring Ceremony the likes of which was the envy of every sport.   


What is a Ring Ceremony, you might ask?   Good question.   Since most of us have never seen one, please allow me to explain:  That's when the players, coaches, and personnel of the World Series winners are awarded their Championship Rings.   This is the final reward, the highest achievement, the pinnacle, the top of their chosen profession.   This is what all baseball players strive for, and which few attain.  The
Ring.  

This was the first one ever in San Francisco.

Now, a lot of teams who win the World Series give the rings to the players in private, don't make a celebration of it.   But here in San Francisco, and in a testament to what a Class organization the Giants
are, they did us all up proud!  They put on a spectacular show, where  each and every player got his moment in the spotlight as he was awarded his ring.  And they were like little kids!   Beaming, joyous, smiling, and hugging as they received their individual rings.  In a sense, they ARE little kids; I mean most of these guys are under 25, and won't even realize the import of what they've done for another twenty years or so.

It's funny, really, when you think of it like that.   They have NO concept of what us folks have been through for the last 52 years!   But more power to 'em!  That's the way it's supposed to be; that's the way life goes.

And to further the Class act that is the Giants' ownership, they awarded rings not only to broadcasters Kruk and Kuip, Jon Miller, and David B. Fleming, but also to Lon Simmons.  


Of course, there was a game to be played as well, and the fact that we won it on a two-run double with two out in the bottom of the ninth, after a nine pitch at-bat by Miguel Tejada (who I will never bad mouth again...) means that the torture may still be with us.   Heaven forbid.


On Sunday we had the last and final ceremony, honoring Buster Posey as Rookie of the Year, and it got me to thinking:  What an embarrassment of riches we have!   In the Saturday's game, when we were down by a run, late, and we had a man on and the next three batters were Burrell, Posey, and Rowand, and I couldn't make up my mind who I wanted to see up there the most!   I had to say to myself, "Bill!  What a strange and wonderful feeling this is!"   Knowing that we've got a chance, and a good chance, with any bat in the line-up!   Wow, what a luxury.  I could get used to this.  And the fact Matt Cain is the old man on the pitching staff, at 26, boggles the mind!

Of course, it isn't perfect.  There is the Zito factor.   This is the guy who is a class act all the way.  A humble man, generous in spirit to everyone, and a man who has lost his ability to be a winning pitcher.  Oh, he'll come out and pitch a few great innings.  Occasionally even shutting down twelve or thirteen batters in a row.

Of course that will be either before or after he has given up three, four, or five runs.   My question is this:  How long are we going to be teased and tantalized?   How long will the Giants keep trying to justify paying 18 million smackeroos a year to a guy who is so obviously washed up?    When are they going to bite the bullet and realize the experiment failed?

Now that all the pomp and circumstance is over, it's time to play ball.

Time to focus, time get down to business.  Will we repeat?   Could happen.   It won't be easy, by any stretch of the imagination.  We need to drop the "Fear the Beard" campaign, and all the rest of that.   That is SO last year.  You can't carry these things over from one season to the next.   Brian Wilson needs to shave his beard and send it to Cooperstown, and think of something new.

In the meantime, let's play some ball!  

I can't wait to see how it all unfolds...