From The 'Stick to The Cove: Finding Comfort in Baseball

This post is almost entirely a product of me not being able to sleep. My poor dog has some "hotspots" and has to wear a cone so they can heal. Sean let him outside at about 1am and he managed to pull his cone off forcing Sean to hold him from trying to lick his wounds while I searched for the cone in the dark for a solid 5 minutes. I feel bad for him, look at the poor guy! He's miserable.

I can't say I haven't laughed at him a lot though since putting the cone on but this is definitely not fun for anyone.

OK back to baseball. I have been thinking a lot about how much of a commitment being a baseball fan can be. It's 162 game season that starts in the Spring and takes you all the way to the Fall 6 months later. Anyone who's not a big baseball fan will tell you this is too long, anyone who is a big baseball fan will tell you it's not long enough.

As many Giants fans will tell you as of late, you can go through some rough times during the course of 162 games. Your team loses 5 of 7 games in a week with bad pitching, sub par defense and a lack of hitting and things start getting into major stress mode. I cannot relate to being an Astros or Marlins fan right now, losing that many games in 2 months is not something I can comprehend these days. Your team will undoubtedly cause you frustration and distress many times throughout the season but also bring you so much excitement and joy. It's the highs that get you through the lows because the highs are so much fun!

Regardless of the emotional roller coaster being a baseball fan puts you through for 6 solid months, it's always there for you. It remains constant when so many other things in life seem to be wavering and changing. You know you are probably going to get at least 6 games a week (with the exception of weird weeks like this with 2 lame off days) and you know that your team is going to get on the field every day and give it all they've got to get a win.

The investment is worth it when you always have baseball to fall back on when everything else seems to be going a little crazy in your life. The connections baseball gives, the relationships it builds, the memories it creates, all 100% worth the 6 month, 162 game ride.

I will cap this post off with one of the best quotes from Kruk at the 2010 World Series Parade:

"And everybody here today, you are standing here and you are not standing alone. You are standing with the person who taught you the great story of the San Francisco Giants. Whether it be your dad, or your mom, or a friend, or your sister, or your grandpa. They taught you right. They taught you you had to be loyal, you had to love your team. And to a man on this team, this 2010 team, to a man back in August, they plugged into you and you fueled and energized this group all the way through the crazy month of September, and through what was an epic month of October, and what is one glorious day in November. And you have but one responsibility. And you owe it to the person who taught you the good book of San Francisco Giants. You need to pass this story on, keep this love alive. And when you tell the story simply tell them, 'We're the Giants, we're San Francisco, and we're the World Champions!"

And some fun photos!