Considering one of my teams, the San Francisco Giants, made the World Series over the weekend, I felt it fitting to give you a highlight of my sports team history and why I am so excited to see the Giants play for the Championship — HINT: none of my teams had EVER won a major championship since I’ve been alive.
NFL: Minnesota Vikings. They’ve been to the NFC Championship twice, but lost both times — most notably on that Brett Favre interception last season. This season isn’t looking too good at 2-4 so far, but I have hope for the rest of the season. We went all-in trading for Randy Moss (my favorite player of all-time, BTW) so hopefully we can sneak into the playoffs. Why the Vikings you might ask when my other teams are Bay Area teams? I lived in Minnesota for a few years when I was younger and fell in love watching Daunte Culpepper pass to Randy Moss back in the day (see some Randy TD’s here).
NBA: Golden State Warriors. The Warriors are downright horrible. Making the playoffs only once since I’ve been a fan, they are a constant disappointment. The one year they made the playoffs and beat the #1 seeded Mavs was electric, but I would like to see them do better. New ownership and young talent (aka Steph Curry, Monta, and D.Lee) could right the ship for the future. Steph Curry is my favorite player to watch in the NBA — and I love using him and balling it up in NBA 2K11. See this video of him here that is just filthy. This year my Dad went partially in on some season tickets so I’ll be seeing some Warriors games live when I’m at home 🙂
MLB: San Francisco Giants. They’re so close. They’re in the series. They’ve got pitching and a little bit of offense. I hope they squeeze it out, but regardless it should be a great Series. I won’t be convinced they’re champs until they are — I still remember 2002 with Jose Cruz Jr. dropping a pop fly and the Rally Monkey wrecking carnage on our Championship hopes. This year could be different, but again, my emotions are reserved. Brian Wilson is absolutely the funniest and most fun person to watch in the MLB — see here and here. Game 1 Wednesday should be great. If I’m not busy next week I might try to go and catch a game (despite price — I’ve never been to a big game like the World Series before).
NHL: San Jose Sharks. The Sharks are great, scratch that, AMAZING every regular season. Except then they always manage to choke in the playoffs. The latest chapter in the saga was the loss last year to the Chicago Blackhawks in the West Finals. Another year another huge disappointment in the playoffs. Hopefully this year will be different. I must admit watching the Sharks live (and hockey live in general) is the most intense and best overall experience of going to see any of the four major sports.
That’s it for my professional sports recap. For college I never truly had a team until I went to USC. Of course now I bleed Cardinal and rep BLING BLING Gold, but I wouldn’t count them for winning a Championship because I just wasn’t a huge fan back then. But if they won now, I’d definitely say my team won. Hopefully we recover strong from the sanctions and regain our football dominance.
Sports, Sports, Sports. One of the loves of my life.
R