Thunderbirds Are Go!
Pressing up against the orange crush coming down 2nd towards the ballpark, I hear the Star-Spangled Banner coming from live TV leaking out of the 21st Amendment, then seconds later, the familiar deafening dopplered low shrieking roar as four F-16s from the Thunderbirds (I think) pass low over the park and set off car alarms around me.Yes, once again through some sort of cosmic joke a local team is in the grand finals of the North American Men's Baseball Championships (a.k.a. the World Series), and once again we don't know quite what to make of it (it all seems so unlikely, for the same reasons as last time). They actually won the previous time; they seem to be able to win it this time, too, with a bit of luck and a lot of effort.
On BART coming back, lumbering through the wye deep under Oakland, the train operator comes on the PA and tells us the Giants have hit a homer — Go Giants! But we're a subdued crowd up there in the first car, and only a few people react with more than a smile. After all, we're the ones heading away from the ballpark...
Later, back home, I walk out to put the recycling in the dumpster as Jim, Garth, and Mick all wander out to have a smoke and do their recycling at much the same time. I ask Mick if he's watching the game. What game? he says with a wide smile. What's the score? Jim asks me, adjusting his hipster hat (he's one of the few people I know who can get away with wearing one non-ironically). I laugh and tell him I haven't a bloody clue, I'm not the baseball-watching type either. Right, he says through puffs of smoke, but someone had to ask. Mick asks if I'm rooting for anyone. I say, sure… passively. This becomes the running gag for the next few hours, we're all rooting passively around the building now! Go Giants, etc.!
Much later, after cars go past honking horns loudly every now and then (in Oakland A's territory!), I know something's going on over the Bay, and I break down and turn on the telly — and the Giants are up 8 to 1. A few minutes later, the Giants win 8 to 3; it's all Barry, Tim, and the Panda this evening, apparently, but what would I know?
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