[1]Tomorrow afternoon, California time, the San Francisco Giants will be warming up for the World Series. Even from 400 miles away, they’re still my team. These West Coast Giants are baseball’s equivalent of “always a bridesmaid, never a bride,” having competed in, but never yet won a world championship. As a kid, I used to watch the last-place Mets play in Shea Stadium, perched on my father’s lap. And In 1989, ten days after a major earthquake toppled a piece of the Bay Bridge, I went to Game 3 of the World Series draped in team colors, and wept, as 40,000 strong sang, “San Francisco, open your Golden Gate…” I like the social gatherings around sports and the way an entire city, no matter Democrat or Republican, can come together to root for victory.
Illustration by Hiroshi Tanabe [1]