Easter Is For Sports

An uncomfortable loss for the Giants saw them swept at home by Atlanta. Sigh. Fortunately, the only friend I know who lives in Georgia is not a baseball fan particularly, or maybe she doesn't feel the need to trash talk. Then again, I haven't talked to her in about a year or two, so she could very well be trash-talking in Georgia, drinking non-alcoholic mint julips and throwing cotillions, or whatever it is they do there. Anyway, that's my fear.

But oh well. Tuesday is another game, on the road versus Pittsburgh. In the meantime, here are some random sports thoughts, for the purpose of typing more on my new MacBook Air. I'm addicted to typing on this baby.

1) Why would anyone pitch to Albert Pujols? I mean, I'm glad they do, because it would be boring if they didn't, but still. So much for baseball being ruled by statistics and probabilities. Then again, even good hitters only succeed roughly 1/3rd of the time, and pitchers are competitive cranky people, or so I would imagine.

2) I hope Albert Pujols stays in St. Louis. The Giants can't afford him, so let him stay where he is an icon. If he goes to New York or Chicago, that would just seem wrong. The Cubs would be more acceptable than the Yankees, but still.

3) Oh, Arsenal. Once again, they play pretty football, but fall short, can't quite keep up with Manchester United and Chelsea. Not quite enough functioning firepower for Arsenal, ironically. But please, oh please, don't let Barcelona play the big bad wolf again this summer, huffing and puffing and trying to pry Cesc Fabregas away from London. It just looks tacky.

4) A draw with Manchester United and another draw with Blackpool seems to have put Newcastle in solid shape to stay up. They are seven points up on the third-from-bottom team, with four games--and a maximum of twelve points--still on the table. But the draws didn't do much for my fantasy team, with no goals or assists for Shola Ameobi.

5) The NFL Draft is coming up again on Thursday. Again, they are now showing it in "Prime Time", which means the first round opens at 5 p.m. on a Thursday evening on the Pacific Coast. This means that most of the really exciting stuff would be done before people out here could get home to see it. Lame east-coast pandering. I used to love watching day 1 of the draft on Saturday mornings, meeting Vaughn for coffee and/or breakfast beforehand. One more bit of nostalgia and enjoyment for the league now threatening a tacky lockout goes pfft.

When Californians Root For Earthquakes

The crowd began stamping and shouting, "Earthquakes."

"Where?" I might have asked, turning my head quickly in alarm. You never know with California.

But in this case, they were not announcing seismic activity; they were urging the local Major League Soccer team on to greater action. San Jose stuck by the motif that you should name your sports team after something fearsome, possibly what you fear most: hence "Earthquakes." By this same logic, the Seattle baseball team fears invasion by sailors--Mariners--and the Chicago American football team fears being devoured by bears.

Some of you might argue with this premise, but I would point out that I have a blog, and as far as I know, you do not, so I win.

The point is, on Saturday I went to see a live professional soccer game for the first timein my life, a fact which appalled Marina, considering I spent a semester in Wales. She had seen DC United in action out in Washington, D.C., and took in el classico while studying in Spain--Barcelona versus Real Madrid.

San Jose plays on the campus of Santa Clara University at Buck Shaw Stadium. Wembley Stadium, it is not, but I'll take it:





The atmosphere differed from a baseball game in that it was much more low-key, and yet the crowd was happy and enthusiastic, draped in Earthquakes gear. It had something of a grass-roots festival feel, with little mini-activities for kids before the game, as well as good beer, food carts, and the usual concession suspects: hot dogs, garlic fries, candy, hot chocolate, beer, etc. Marina had a close encounter with the mascot, as well.




At 7:30, the game commenced. San Jose was hosting Toronto FC, who recently traded their star Dwayne De Rosario--a former Earthquake--to New York. It was fascinating compared to watching it on TV. It was at once faster and more compact than I realized from seeing games on the screen.

It was a hard-fought game, with a lot of possession exchanged in the midfield, a lot of fouls, a lot of tempers flaring. Three players stood out for me for San Jose: Bobby Convey, Simon Dawkins, and Ryan Johnson.

Bobby Convey I've watched since he was a teenager playing for D.C. United and the national team. He went to England for a while, and then returned to MLS. He made several deft runs and quick cuts, looing dangerous down the right flank.

Simon Dawkins is a young Tottenham Hotspur player on loan with the Earthquakes, and he looked skilled and strong in the center of play, holding possession and fighting off challenges, distributing the ball well, and driving past two defenders to score San Jose's only goal of the game. I liked the idea that he could well play in the Premier League in a few years, and I would be able to say I saw him play.

Ryan Johnson is a tall and fast forward. He brought the ball under control and burst past the Toronto defense down the left flank on several occasions.

Toronto had several good players as well, including a Swiss midfielder named Alen Stevanovic, who had good speed and good moves, but earned the ire of the home crowd for going down and writhing in pain and then returning quickly to the field, and Alan Gordon, a striker who capitalized on a defensive blunder to give Toronto an early lead.

Some fan behind us must have not been able to say a word this morning, because he was yelling in rage for most of the game. Two highlights, which I couldn't quite interpret:

(to Stevanovic when the Toronto player was on the ground): "This ain't La Liga!"

(to both teams when the Earthquakes were passing the ball around among their back line: "You aren't Fulham and Arsenal!"

I can assume that in the first example, he was implying that players in Spain tend to simulate injury, and that he shouldn't do that here, because the MLS is better than that. As for the second quote, I'm baffled.

In the end, it was a 1-1 draw, which was fair. San Jose looked far more tired than Toronto in the second half, their defense looked fragile at times, and Chris Wondolowski and Khari Stephenson wasted two clear chances to score. It was a disappointing result but an exciting match for my first live MLS game. Plus, we had hot chocolate.

Perspective On Trial: Chronicles of A Recovering Bad Loser

So, the universe tested my resolve fairly quickly. No sooner did I sit down with a cookie than I saw Buster Posey take a called strike three on a full count, while the Giants trailed the Padres 3-1, a deficit they would not close. The pitch looked, shall we say, just a bit wide, in the same sense that the Pacific Ocean is just a bit damp.

Keep in mind that I was alone in the house. So, I'm pleased with myself that all I said was: "Huh. Interesting." The Giants' play-by-play announcers, who are totally more objective than most other announcers I've seen, were dubious that it crossed the plate, but said it was probably too close to take, so we'll leave it at that.

Oh, well. We'll get the Padres tomorrow, or not.

I've decided, also, that the key to keeping cool is to not read Internet chat rooms. There are plenty of insightful, articulate comments, but there are a lot of people who use the anonymity of the Internet to let fly with vitriol, abuse, smack talk, horrific grammar, and all-around misery. And those are some of the so-called Giants fans. I'm not even talking about the people who spend a lot of time commenting on soccer articles with remarks about how boring and what a waste of time they find soccer.

Tim Lincecum forbid that I act in real life like the trolls do online.

I should watch the Ken Burns documentary again, or re-read Summer Of '49. That's the way to swaddle myself in historical context and the greater poetry of the game, and think about last fall, and dream about tomorrow.

Bread And Circuses

Enough with the doom and gloom over perspective on sports. Back to the fun, with random sports thoughts and observations while watching the Giants-Dodgers on Sunday night:

1) We're finally going to a Major League Soccer game. Marina kept asking me why we haven't gone to an Earthquakes game, and I realized that I don't have a good answer. I love professional soccer. The Earthquakes are a professional soccer team. Logic dictates that I would love to see them play live. One could say that logic has no place in the emotion-driven world of sports fanaticism, but that wouldn't make sense. And so we bought tickets for next Saturday's match against Toronto FC.

2) I love Pat Burrell and Aubrey Huff. I love the fact that they are both back on the team and in the lineup, and I love the fact that Brandon Belt is here and has already hit his first home run--and stole a base, too. I do not love the fact that our corner outfielders are Pat Burrell and Aubrey Huff. That scares me from a defensive standpoint. The range will be limited. I'm looking forward for Cody Ross' return, although that could create a logjam of bats. Where do you put everybody to keep them in the lineup? This is why the designated hitter is such a luxury for the American League.

3) Barry Zito gave up three runs in the first inning, after recovering from an auto accident--a taxi ran a red light and crashed into him, fortunately leaving him apparently unscathed. After that first inning, the Sunday Night Baseball crew went on and on how he does not have good stuff anymore and how he will just have to try to keep the Giants as close as possible for as long as possible. The announcers have not mentioned that he is pitching much better after three innings. It's like the world has Zitophobia.

4) I'm excited that the Giants extended the contract of Freddy Sanchez through 2012. He was injured for the beginning of last year, but ever since, his defensive prowess has been a joy to watch, and he has been hitting. He knocked in three runs, including a home run, in yesterday's win, by way of giving instant reward for the Giants' investment.

5) Pablo Sandoval could be back to his 2009 form. He lost forty pounds over the summer, looks good, and smoked a home run in his first at-bat tonight.

6) Kuroda is looking good on the mound for the Dodgers. He hit Torres leading off, but Torres was stranded at second--a well-executed sacrifice by Sanchez was wasted when Huff and Posey did not come through. Other than that, Sandoval's home run has been our only hit through four innings. We need to make him work and get more hits.

7) Matt Kemp hit a home run in the first inning. Zito just made him look bad on a swing in the bottom of the fourth, and eventually got him to weakly fly out to center. Just goes to show how every at-bat and every game is different.

8) I think it's awesome that there is so much coverage for the West Coast to start the season. Normally, through the first four games, ESPN and Fox would have shown the Red Sox-Yankees play six times.

9) I used to like the Seattle Sounders in the MLS until I saw their two central defenders tag-team Chris Wondolowski in the box last night, denying him a chance to get to a cross. The referee really should have been in a spot to see it, but he seemed to have a difficult time of it last night. The game got ugly, and a rivalry was born. The West Coast of MLS could become interesting.

Also, Seattle-based Starbucks wants to buy Berkeley-based Peet's. That would be annoying.

10) There is a leisurely pace to baseball games. Not as leisurely as cricket, mind you--few things this side of snails are as leisurely as cricket--but still, if you can get past the need to live or die with every pitch of every single game, watching baseball can be quite relaxing. That's my goal for this year.

11) A friend of mine just got engaged to a sports fan from Ireland. By way of congratulating them, I will once more mention that Thierry Henry should be ashamed of himself, and the French collapse in the World Cup was an argument in favor of the existence of karma.

A Matter Of Perspective

Two Dodgers fans beat up a Giants fan and put him in a coma.

There is so much wrong with that, I don't know where to start. For the sake of this essay, though, let's start with the fact that that I felt the need to point out that the assailants were Dodgers fans, and the victim a Giants fan. That shouldn't matter; it should be an irrelevant detail in the story of vicious and imperfect humanity. Except that it appears that the victim's allegiance to a baseball team was the motivation for the attack.

It's just a game. It's easy to forget sometimes, but it is just a game.

I'm guilty of, well, being petulant and whiny when the Giants aren't doing well. I shut off the game on Friday night after the seventh inning, when Buster Posey struck out with the bases loaded. I shut it off rather emphatically.

"Don't be a baby!" Marina teased.

"I'm NOT being a baby," I insisted. "Now let's watch Toy Story 3."

Other than that bit of comedy at the end, this followed the formula of previous overreactions whenever things haven't go entirely the Giants' way. Now that they have won the World Series, I can see even more clearly how ungracious this is.

It isn't that this is how I inherently relate to sports. For instance, with Newcastle United's 4-1 win today over Wolves, taking another step towards ensuring safety and a comfortable mid-table finish in the Premier League, I felt a cozy sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. They aren't going to qualify for the Champions League or the Europa League. Nevertheless, I felt good about today's step towards a finish in the middle of the standings, whereas on Thursday, after the Giants lost the season opener to the Dodgers, I was depressed, as if 1/162 of the season would be indicative of expected results for the entire season.

Sports are weird that way. There are pros and cons to the way sports divides us into groups.

Pro: Sports are a sublimation of our instincts for war.

1) Our instincts for dominance can be channeled into games, entertainment, arbitrary challenges for testing our individual skills against those of another without actually trying to kill or be killed.

Con: Sports are a sublimation of our instincts for war.

2) That channeling doesn't always work.


Sports should be first and foremost entertainment, a game. While it's okay to be disappointed with a disappointing result, there are limits to how much it actually means. The Giants' win-loss record doesn't indicate anything about my worth, nor does their status as my favorite team indicate anything other than my great good taste.

It is, of course, easier to be philosophical about this AFTER the Giants beat the Dodgers yesterday 10-0. Which makes it all the more important to keep a sense of perspective about it.

I am able to get such satisfaction from Newcastle's battle for survival because I am less attached to them by geographical roots. I can view it as a story, because the reason why I chose to follow them in the first place was because of the story of Alan Shearer, the first player I enjoyed watching on TV, who went home to Newcastle, carrying goals. With the Giants, I always felt a deeper investment, because I grew up in Santa Rosa until I was nine.

It's all about finding a balance, especially since I have nothing personally at stake, not until I learn to throw a baseball at 100 mph or blossom into an athletic phenomenon at 31. It could totally happen. What? It could! But until then, I will be embarrassed to be invested in sports rivalries to even a fraction of the degree reached by the two men who beat up the fan of a rival team.