Posts Tagged ‘Colorado Rockies’

An Old Newbie Opines

Since I was a small kid, I’ve been fairly indifferent about baseball. Sure, I played Little League and actually had some success as a 10 year old pitcher, blue bell bottom cords and all. But then I turned 11 and then 12: the kids got bigger, I remained thinner than a #2 Dixon Ticonderoga pencil, and before long I was that kid in the outfield, throwing my glove up in the air, bored out of my skull. As a teenager, I got interested in a bunch of other things and to me, organized sports were no longer cool.

Fast forward to college and somehow I re-locate my competitive spirit and find myself watching, dare say, following organized sports – first my beloved Utah Runnin’ Utes men’s basketball team and later expanding my interest into local teams depending on where I was living at the time. And, this included baseball. I’m ashamed to admit that I hopped the Yankees bandwagon while living in Brooklyn and even made the 7 train slog to Yankee and Shea Stadiums. But this was a fading interest: the snow had melted and I had nothing better to do so I did what everyone who doesn’t know any better does: I followed the Yankees.

In 2005, I moved to San Francisco and got a job as an ad sales rep for a large media company who supplied me with a virtually unlimited expense account, which I used liberally. Many of my clients wanted to go watch Barry chase the HR record so off to AT&T Park we went, I, with varying levels of interest. It wasn’t until last year that someone who knows far more about this sport than I, sat me down to show me the ropes. For instance:

- the importance of pitch counts
- why popping open the opposing team’s bullpen, early in a series, was a good thing
- that a good AB need not result in a hit

A whole world opened up for me. Finally I was able to watch baseball on TV or go to a game and get hyped on a 1-0 final score. I started paying attention to the game within the game and, gainfully unemployed, made 34 visits to AT&T park in what I like to call my baseball re-birth.

Why am rambling on and on about how I got to become a fan and begin to learn the subtleties of the game? Do I think you care? Probably not. I say this to caveat everything I will post on this blog this year: I will get a lot of things wrong; I won’t have ‘good knowledge’ and I might have to have the relevance of many a stat explained to me. But, I’ve got the bug. To wit: the attached photo – an ESPN Sportscenter higlight – of me getting insane last year when Barry Zito struck out Todd Helton (goatee) for the third time in a game against the Colorado Rockies, which at the time, had a bit of significance in the Wild Card race of 2009.

So far, I like what I see this year. I said all summer that if the Giants could do better in 2010 than not be DEAD LAST in all offensive categories, that we’d have a good year and could win the division. Sure, we played the ‘Stros and it’s the first series of the year but dammit, we’re number 1 in total bases and top third of the pack in walk! WALKS!

So, as a guy who’s been around baseball forever but never really ‘got it’, I’m looking forward to a fun season – my 2nd full season in a life of 38 years.

"Sit Down!"