thoughts of rooting for the home team

shared by VJ Rabuy, her sister

Back during the 2002 baseball season, my sister Cyn got two tickets for a San Francisco Giants game from our priest friend Fr. Ramon. Regretfully, he was unable to take Cyn to the game himself because of a prior engagement he had for the same evening, so he gave her the tickets and told her to have an awesome time.

Luckily for Cyn, she had commitments to be in the bay area the weekend of the game, so that Friday night would be ideal for an action packed baseball evening. She called me a few weeks before the game day and asked if I would go with her. My first response was no - being a die hard A's fan, I had no interest in watching the Giants play, let alone trekking all the way out to China Basin for a cold September night. After a bit of convincing, she somehow got me to agree to accompany her to that Giants game.

We got ready for the cold by bringing two blankets each, and decked ourselves out in Giants gear that I got from my then-boyfriend. Cyn even painted a basball on my face and we headed for Bart and the Muni, to be there in time for the first pitch.

We had a great time! We got a scorecard and took turns scoring the game - me the visitor's ups and Cyn the home team's. We shared a clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl. We shouted, "Go Giants!" We sang, "Root, root, root for the Giants!" and we pretended for one evening to be Giants fans.

The game ended in the most unclimactic way possible. In a scoreless time in the bottom of the ninth, with one out and the bases loaded, the pitcher either walked in the run or hit the batter. I can't entirely remember. I think it must have been a ball four, because a hit batter in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded would have been slightly exciting. Once the run came across the plate, we went into a fit of hysterics with the other real Giants fans. It was late season play, and that was the year the Giants went to the World Series. We even got our picture taken with an authentic fan to commemerate the occasion.

So even though it was cold...even though we weren't watching the A's...even though it was a scoreless until the bottom of the 9th game...I had a great time with my sister Cyn.