My Ode To The San Francisco Giants: Because It's So Much More Than Baseball

Dear 2012 National League (Soon-To-Be-World) Champion San Francisco Giants:
These are very exciting times to be a San Francisco Giants Fan.  As of this minute, we lead the Detroit Tigers 3-0 in the 2012 World Series and we are showing no signs of slowing down our winningness anytime soon.  It is hard for anyone in the Bay not to get caught up in "Giants-Fever", and for a family like ours who are consumed with all things Giants even when they are losing regular season games, this kind of performance from our boys basically makes the world stop turning.  It has been a long season. All members of my family were present to witness the very first pitch of  your very first 2012 Spring Training Game in Scottsdale, the memory of which seems so far removed from where you are today that it is hard to believe it happened in this same season.  We have celebrated with you during all the good times:  being responsible for the NL win of the All Star game, winning our division, knocking the Dodgers out of the running for the wild card, Cain's perfect game, the Grand Slams and most recently becoming the National League Champs (again!).  We have stuck by you and commiserated during the yucky times: B-Weezy's season ending injury, Melky's steroid scandal, getting swept by the Dodgers, and Lincecum's fall from grace.  We have loved it all, the good and the bad, the wins and the losses and through it all you have made sure to keep it fun and joyous for us.

A good friend of ours recently questioned the amount of time, money and heart we put into the SF Giants and asked what is it exactly that the SF Giants do in return for us.  His "what-have-they-done-for-you-lately" approach got my wheels turning and upon realizing just what it really is the SF Giants have done for my family during the 2012 season, I wanted to make sure that I got a chance to express our gratitude before you go out there tonight and win (or possibly don't win) that last game, because you know what?  It doesn't even matter!  Of course I would love and cherish another World Series trophy finding a home in San Francisco and I have the utmost confidence and belief in your ability to become Champs again but the realizations I have come to about what exactly you have done for us this season have absolutely no dependence on whether or not you win this.

It has never really been about the game of baseball for me.  It is true that I live in house with a husband and 3 daughters who are ball players and I have learned to know and appreciate the game, but my love for the Giants doesn't come from that.  For me it is about the initials embroidered on their hats and the words sewn across their chests.  The SF, the San Francisco; my city.  Whether we like it or not, these guys go out there and represent our city every time they take the field.  Even though the vast majority of them are not Bay Area natives and despite the fact that they have allegiances to other cities, countries or even teams, when they put on that hat and that jersey they are playing for San Francisco.  And that's where my love of this 2012 team comes from, because this team has played the shit out of this season and they have done it all for San Francisco.  Besides the fact that Major League Baseball still operates in the dark ages when it comes to women and gender equality (just had to make sure I put that out there!), I couldn't ask for a better group of players to rep my city. Every time Zito strikes out a heavy hitter or Panda smashes a home run off an all-star pitcher, or they show a close up of B-Weezy's nail polish, stereotypes are defied.  They have broken all the rules about the size, age, appearance, background or record that a ball player has to have to be a World Champion.  And isn't that why we all love SF so much?  Because we break rules all the rules?  There is a undeniable swag that we have in The Bay and this team has embraced it, perfected it and then put it on a national screen for the whole world to see and appreciate.  Although having my city finally being recognized as the best of something is definitely has its perks, that is an external situation, and doesn't provide an answer to my friend's original question of what the SF Giants have ever done for me personally.
The short of it is that the SF Giant's 2012 season has allowed me to defy my own stereotypes and break my own rules.  In recent years, with all of the gentrification, hipsterization and loss of diversity in my city, it has become harder to maintain my normal levels of pride for my hometown.  While I will still rep my city until my last breath, I am not blind to the not-so-nice changes that have plagued my city in the last decade.  I have lost huge parts of my community due to ridiculously increasing cost of living and have had a hard time watching new people come in and commodify experiences, traditions and identities.  It has been a struggle for me to feel connected to and not suspicious of my fellow San Francisco residents.  This week though, has been filled with random high fives, fist pumps and smiles from strangers on the street.  I have felt a shared purpose and joy with everyone wearing their orange and black. It hasn't even mattered to me if they ride a fixie, just moved here, live in the Marina, evicted someone out of the over-priced house they just bought or even (gasp!) just became a Giants fan in 2010!  Right now all that matters is showing our love for those initials on that hat, those words on that jersey and that city we all call home.
So you see Giants, it doesn't matter if you win tonight because this season you have already given us all the memories and experiences we will need to carry on the tradition of repping our city and showing love for everything and everyone in it.  My kids will live their entire lives knowing that they are a part of something bigger than themselves and that all they have to do is throw on their orange and black hat and they will be shown love by other Giants fans anywhere they are in this world.

Gracias Gigantes, now go out there tonight and do this thing for our city!

From Vegas To The Velveteen Rabbit

The hubby and I took the plunge and made our first trip to Las Vegas last week.  It was 3 nights and 4 days full of alcohol, gambling, money-spending, late nights, sleeping in and most importantly: NO KIDS! This marked the first time the hubby and I have left the 3 girls and had a vacation of our own. Work and school has been, at best, ridiculous and we have all been running on fumes trying to keep our lives together, so needless today this getaway was just what the doctor ordered.  Highlights of our Viva Las Vegas experience included: our first crack at gambling and getting the chance to put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is and bet on our SF Giants who won us $86 by beating the Reds (the random amount of $ is due to my very superstitious Hubby who bet $22 in honor of his childhood favorite Will "The Thrill" Clark), staying out at the club until 4am and not caring since we could sleep until noon the next day, filling our bodies with all sorts of toxins and not having to apologize, excuse or defend any of it, and finally having the chance to wear all of the non-kid friendly, hoochie clothes that have been just sitting in my closet after late night, impulse online shopping sprees (including my Alice & Olivia navy blue-glitter jumpsuit, woot-woot!)

 

Okay, so while this story of a Mama & Papa letting loose in Vegas is far from original, the events that occurred within an hour of our return to SF are utterly unique to our crazy life. The week before our Vegas trip, Chuli auditioned to be a part of the children's chorus for ODC/Dance's Velveteen Rabbit show. Each year ODC/Dance presents this holiday dance production starting the amazingly talented ODC dance company who are accompanied by twenty adorable 6-12 year old budding performers and students of the ODC School. Big sister Justice had the opportunity to be part of the show for 3 years and Chuli is taking up the tradition for the first time this year. The first rehearsal of the children's chorus was Saturday at 3:30pm and our flight back from Vegas landed at 3:00pm. Grandma was all set to take Chuli to rehearsal and attend the parent orientation meeting to gather all the important details but we pulled up to the house just as they were leaving so I made the decision to take Chuli over to rehearsal myself. I hadn't had to be a Mama for 3 days and figured it made more sense for me to be there personally to collect the important info. This last minute decision landed me in the middle of a room full of stage parents being bombarded with questions after I was nominated to be the "lead parent" for Chuli's cast a mere 30 minutes after touching down in SF. Lucky for me, it was a sunny day and a bright room so I could keep my Ray-bans on without looking suspicious. Little did they know that underneath my aviators was a pair of bloodshot, sleepy eyes, connected to a very cloudy brain. I wonder if they all would have been so quick to seek out my wisdom and insights had they known that just a few hours prior I was dancing the night away with a drink in hand in my high heels and skin-tight dress?

Such is the contradiction of being a young Mama trying to maintain some remnants of a life and identity not connected to my kids. At the end of the day the girls are safe and sound, Mama & Papa had a blast and get to return to all our responsibilities decompressed and rejuvenated, and Chuli will blow us away as she struts her stuff on stage.
It looks like as long as I have generous Grandmas, adventurous friends, my Ray-bans and a little bit of Advil on hand; I might really be able to have it all

Play Ball Like A Girl

My girls play Baseball.  Not Softball.  Hardball-smallball-underhand pitching-baseball.  They didn't much have a choice about it since they were born to a Papa who is a player, coach and super-fan of the game.  The first articles of clothing they all had placed on their bodies were emblazoned with the SF Giants logos and they all spent their first years falling asleep to the tune of "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" coming from their Giant's baby-mobile.  There were always baseballs of all different sizes and materials in our house for them to throw and what kid doesn't love whacking things with a bat?  So yes, maybe they weren't given much of choice about what sport they would play, but they definitely haven't gone into it kicking and screaming.

The immense amount of games the girls have been dragged to or forced to watch (which all have  included in-depth running commentary from their Papa about what the players were doing right or wrong) along with Papa's willingness to drop anything and everything to play ball with his girls, have left them with some pretty impressive baseball skills.  Chuli's got a throw that will leave your hand stinging and is not afraid to get as down and dirty as her fav player Buster Posey, and Justice can field like a champ and make some serious contact with the ball.
As they have gotten older and have been able to take their game outside our backyard and beyond their Papa's lessons, we have asked ourselves more than a few times if they should switch over to play softball. **Let me stop here to make something clear: in no way do I feel like softball is any less of a sport than baseball.  Softball players are dope, amazing and just as athletic, if not more, as any baseball player** We are aware that for a girl, the opportunities to play baseball on a pro, college or even a high school level are minimal at best and that if our girls do indeed have some talent with the bat and ball then putting it to use on a softball field would present an easier and more abundant road for them.
As softball players they would have access to more teams, possible scholarships and even a potential career.  Women's Softball is a Olympic sport while Women's Pro-Baseball is limited to a few years of playing in skirts and one famous Hollywood movie that taught us all that "there's no crying in baseball!"  As female baseball players their paths would be filled with dead ends, closed doors and a whole lot of ignorance.  At only 10 years old Justice came face-to-face with the misogyny of the sports world when she was introduced to the middle school baseball coach of her future school who when told that she was a ball player offered her the position of "scorekeeper" on his team.  If this type of narrow-mindedness exists in elementary aged sports when there is little-to-no physical differences between the boys & girls, I shudder to think about what type of discrimination my girls would face if they got into to playing more serious ball.

I can get myself worked up into a nice sized furry when I reflect on the fact that as parents of girls we have to spend so much time considering re-directing our daughters away from something that brings them so much joy because of our desire to keep our babies protected from hardships and hurt that may lie ahead of them. It is utterly ridiculous to think that anyone would place restrictions or limitations on the potential of my 6 year old child based solely on her lack of a Y chromosome.  Although it comes from a place of wanting to protect my girls from discrimination, ignorance and negativity, each time I consider making the switch over to softball simply because somehow society decided that girls can't play professional baseball, I feel horrible.  I want to instill the belief in my girls that they can do or be anything they can possibly imagine.
It was not so long ago that the thought that a girl could grow up to go to college, have a job, or even vote was considered crazy.  There were families and communities of some little girls in that time that told them yes when everyone else around them was saying no and helped clear the way for all future generations of little girls.  Someone always has to be the first.
After all, if we all pull our little girls out of baseball, how can we ever expect them to grow up with the skills to strike out all these boys and knock their balls out of the park?