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It's All About The Giants As you know, I am a fanatical San Francisco Giants baseball fan. I've been in the sports world for a long time, and there is only one team that will make me nervous during a game, and that's my beloved San Francisco Giants. With any game, sporting event, team, coach, executive...you name it....I am hard pressed to lose any sleep over the outcome, interview or the circumstance. The only exception to that rule involves my Giants. When they won the World Series in 2010, the victory and celebration thereafter brought me to tears...I never thought I'd see the boys win it all in my lifetime. When I watch a replay of the last strike thrown by Brian Wilson in Texas, it still gives me chills. Fast forward to 2012, and the Giants are taking me for another memorable ride that is almost incomprehensible after surviving six...count 'em...6 elimination games in getting to the World Series. Once the Boys from the Bay arrived to the Fall Classic, the beatdown was on. Never in my wildest dreams did I foresee a four-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers. I was assuming that Detroit's Justin Verlander would control two of the games, and my guys would have to win four of the other five....and after all the elimination games, that didn't seem like such a stretch. The Giants swept the Tigers. Detroit mustered a grand total of 6 runs on 20 hits in the four games. In the Tigers' sweep of the Yankees in the ALCS, in the clinching Game 4 win, the Tigers had 8 runs and 17 hits against CC Sabathia and Co. Incredible...improbable....and downright indescribable. I loved every second of it...and while the 2010 title brought uncontrolled emotion, this championship brought me off my couch with a huge grin. I couldn't help but laugh at the ESPN baseball experts that jumped on the Tigers' bandwagon....in fact, 22 of the 27 "insiders" picked Detroit. Only Eric Karros of FOX Sports was more uninformed and clueless about the outcome. The Tigers had a great year...and they are good enough to make a return trip to the Fall Classic....but this season belonged to the San Francisco Giants. Think about it.... The Giants sold out every single home game at MLB's most beautiful and picturesque ballpark. The Giants placed more starters in the All-Star game than any team in baseball. The Giants captured the All-Star Game MVP and had the winning pitcher, too. The Giants experienced a perfect game by Matt Cain. The Giants showcased the NL batting champion in Buster Posey. The Giants will have the NL MVP in Posey, too. The Giants buried the LA Dodgers after Magic Johnson's 250 million dollar shopping spree in August. The Dodgers led the NL West on August 19th. The Giants won the NL West by 8 games. The Giants became the first team in baseball to win a Best of 5 series by losing the first two games at home and then winning the last 3 games on the road. The Giants rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the NLCS by winning the last 3 in the series. The Giants won 6 elimination playoff games..that hasn't been done since the mid-80s by Kansas City. The Giants became the first NL team to sweep the World Series since 1990. The Giants became the first NL team to win the World Series twice in a 3 year period since the Big Red Machine in the mid-70's. Simply a magical year...and it is a perfect way to end another Orange October. The San Francisco Giants....World Champions.....Again. Closer to home, the Carolina Panthers continue to fail miserably. After firing GM Marty Hurney last week, the team proceeded to go to Chicago and dominate the Bears and then rolled over and played dead when it mattered down the stretch. In the end, it was another disheartening last-second loss. The Panthers are 1-6, and only the equally inept Kansas City Chiefs and Jacksonville Jags can sport one win by the end of October. The Panthers have now lost 30 of their last 39 regular season games. This week, Cam Newton meets RG-III in DC. Panthers and Skins....both teams know how to lose leads, but there is a better vibe surrounding RG-III than Cam Newton these days. Newton has a lot of work to do with his game and his head. I still think fans need to relax with him....expectations are totally out of whack after last season's awesome rookie year. But Panther fans are so ticked off thinking they bought into a lemon of a season, that they are out for blood. Somebody is going to pay for making everybody look foolish about playoff football in Charlotte. Let's face it, we want the team to do well...but the franchise has been a consistent loser. This will mark another year under .500....and in 18 years of playing big-time NFL football in Charlotte, the Panthers have all of four winning seasons. That's not impressing anybody. The Bobcats open up their NBA season this week. ....and they've already been eliminated from the playoffs. The good news is that Michael Jordan's team is hoping to eclipse their win total from last year by Christmas.....see if the Panthers can make the same claim? The college football season enters November and it looks like we've got four teams in the hunt for the BCS title: Bama, Kansas State, Notre Dame and Oregon. LSU can throw their name into the hat by knocking off #1 Bama in Tiger Stadium this weekend. That will be a great scene, but the Tigers will need improved play by their shaky QB and they'll need to create some turnovers....and that's something the Tide just doesn't seem to do much these days. LSU has won 22 straight games at home, which is the nation's longest home winning streak....however, the Tigers are just 1-6 at home vs. #1 teams. Notre Dame is waking up the echoes after their impressive win over Oklahoma in Norman. The Irish defense is nasty, and they can play with anybody in the country. The schedule loosens up the next three games against a trio of ACC-caliber stiffs before the season ending game with Southern Cal. USC gets to host Oregon this week in the LA Coliseum. The Trojans beat the Ducks last year in Autzen Stadium, but this Oregon team looks better than the '11 version, and I can't say the same for the guys from Troy. But the SoCal guys will have a direct influence on who will be playing for the BCS title. Kansas State continues to play, and beat-up everything in its way. They are least flashy of the publicized teams in the hunt, but their efficiency is overlooked. Bill Snyder continues to perform miracles in Manhattan...people around the country need to start paying attention to the Power Cats....they can flat-out play. |
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