The San Francisco Giants Bounce Back for Third Time

Giants add another World Series win to their ongoing list.

On Wednesday night, the San Francisco giants made history once again. They beat the Kansas City Royals in Game 7 to win their third World Series title in five years. This obviously is not an easy task to accomplish but with a team with many star players and a great postseason playing record, it was not too surprising. To many though, the Giants just got lucky this year.

The Giants’ regular season record did not look so promising and rival teams thought that they would not stand a chance. They only won 88 games, failed to win a division title, and barely scooted into the postseason with the second wild card from the National League.

Of course because of this, the Kansas City Royals were looking better than ever. They had a record of 11-4, which is a .733 winning percentage against some of the best teams out there. That still proved not to be enough to beat the bound and determined Giants.

The absurd thing is to many people is that with a bad of a record as the Giants had this year, how did they even manage to win the World Series again? Was it just luck or were people so awed by the Royals being in the finals that they never even thought that the Giants could have some secrets in their ball caps?

It was not luck at all. Giants pitcher, Madison Bumgarner helped out his team and ended up making history by having one of the best postseasons of all time. He threw 52 2/3 innings, more than any person ever had and even threw five scoreless innings in an elimination game. He was the key person to the Giants winning.

Not only did Bumgarner show how valuable of a player he really is but the rest of the team came ready to conquer also. Hunter Pence scored eight runs and went 12-for-27 with three walks. Tim Hudson, the Major League’s leader with 214 wins, also pitched well and waited 16 years for a ring. Pablo Sandoval even had three hits in one night during Game 7.

Even with star players and a hard working team, three wins in five years is a lot and they should be proud of it yet some people do not think so. With fans calling the Giants’ record a dynasty, Bleacher Report thinks it should be called something different because apparently, their record is not too great compared to other sports. Basically, a “dynasty” is just a word that has been used to describe a team that has won a lot and should use it with pride.

“If the Giants are a dynasty, then were the Miami Heat with LeBron James a dynasty? The Heat won four straight Eastern Conference titles and two NBA championships during LeBron’s four years in South Beach,” Bleacher Report said.

The reporter that wrote that article and many others does not realize how hard it is to win a championship of any kind, especially with tens of thousands of fans counting on you. Even just winning once would make anyone feel like they were part of a dynasty. Even comparing the Giants to teams like the Red Sox and Yankees that have been winning back to back since who knows how long is unreasonable. This is the Giants’ time and they deserve to enjoy every minute of it.

Baseball’s Hidden Dangers

The MLB playoffs is a time to watch some of the greatest teams around battle it out to be named the best of the best. No one would expect to see any of these games turn life threatening over team rivalry or maybe nothing at all.

After Friday’s Angels-Royals game ended in a loss, an Angels’ fan and veteran LAPD officer, was attacked by three men appearing to be Kansas City Royals fans in the parking lot of Angel Stadium. He is now in critical condition.

The motive of the attackers is still unclear but is said to not have have been led from team rivalry, as previous altercations had.

If it was not team rivalry then what could it have been? Did they just do it because no one was around and they could get away with it? Were they not thinking straight due to alcohol intoxication? There will never be a decent excuse for acting like this. Not only are the attackers hurting the victim but also the victim’s family, employees and fans.

This is not the first time that an incident like this has happened at this stadium, or even others in Southern California.

In 2009, Brian Powers was attacked in a stairwell at Angel Stadium, which paralyzed him and he later deceased. Police found no motive from the attackers.

The most notable incident is the 2011 beating of San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow. He was attacked by two Los Angeles Dodgers fans that left severe permanent injuries. Police were led to believe that nothing else but fan-rivalry was the cause in this case.

Stow’s attack not only affected him but also Dodger Stadium. Buying tickets and attendance went down considerably after this incident because fans were afraid of this happening again. That will quickly happen to Angel Stadium if these types of situations are not handled quickly and effectively by everyone involved.

Many people would like to blame the incidents on the lack of stadium security and police officers during games.

“We take any incident that happens in our venues or near our venues very seriously,” said Tim Mead, vice president of communications for Anaheim Angels. “Stadium security is one of our focal points, our fan experience and we take a great deal of time and effort to provide the best environment possible.”

The security and police cannot be held 100 percent responsible because some fans decided to lash out and act like animals after their games.

Security at Angel Stadium was increased during the playoffs for this very reason but they still struggled to have eyes and ears everywhere around the park.

People can come up with any excuse for their motives. The attacks were driven because of the intense playoff atmosphere along with the drinking or the lack of supervision from stadium officials but that does not mean that everyone at any other game that has been drinking will blatantly attack someone. Security and police would like to believe that adults would have better sense than this and would not have to watch over them like hawks.

Anyone that is going to a sporting event with their loved ones would never expect anything this atrocious to happen. This should not even be called “fan-rivalry,” or a case with “no motive.”

Real team rivalry does not involve bullying tactics and harming people. Someone that would deliberately harm another human being like that knew exactly what they were doing and need to be punished for their actions.

Derek Jeter’s Final Days

Many know, one of baseball’s greatest players as, “The Captain,” “Captain Clutch,” and “Mr. November.” New York Yankees star Derek Jeter was definitely one of a kind and his final days wearing those pin stripes showed how special he really was to the sport.

Jeter’s final game was the perfect close to his career. The Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 9-5 on Sep. 25. The Red Sox paid their respects to the captain by bringing out legends Paul Pierce, Carl Yastrzemski and Bobby Orr. They also donated $22,222.22 to Jeter’s Turn 2 Foundation. Loved is an understatement for Jeter.

In the 20 seasons that Jeter has played with the Yankees, he has a World Series MVP Award, five World Series rings, All-Star Game MVP Award, 13 All-Star Game appearances, five Gold Gloves and four Silver Slugger awards. This would be more than just an impressive trophy case for any player.

People think of Jeter as mediocre and overrated just because of how much praise he receives, but know without a doubt that he really is a great player. They even use the fact that there have been many other “greatest players in the world” before him. Of course there were greats before him. Sooner or later there will probably be a Derek Jeter prodigy, but that does not change the fact that his records are some of the best of all time.

As soon as Jeter graduated high school, the Yankees drafted him. He made his MLB debut in 1995 and in just the following year, he won the Rookie of the Year Award, became the team’s starting shortstop, and helped them win the 1996 World Series. Not many rookies, especially at age 22 are even capable of achieving all this in just two years.

ESPN’s Keith Olbermann went on a rant about why he thinks Jeter was not one of the greatest of all time.

“Objects in the mirror may appear smaller than they appear. He has been in that mirror for 20 seasons and to many fans, basically every sports fan under 30, he is the only object that has been in that mirror,” Olbermann said. “In fact, you have to be at least 41 or 42 to have a clear memory of the New York Yankees winning a World Series without Derek Jeter, hence this victory lap.”

That being said, Olbermann makes a lot of money, and has defined his career by offering his unique brand of contrarian opinions. The worst criticism that one can pose Jeter, is that he is so overly worshiped and has such a fan frenzied legend that nobody can possibly live up to it. That sounds much more like every ball player’s dream growing up.

Speaking about the past does not affect the present and future. Jeter was a great asset to the Yankees for the 20 seasons. Is being called overrated in his case that bad anyways? He was worshiped, loved, and treasured by many for doing what he loves.