Congratulations to the Giants. I couldn't have dreamed that this team could have done this, this year back in Spring Training when our leadoff hitter was Aaron Rowand and the biggest glimmer of hope beyond our great pitching staff, which was never in doubt- was Pablo Sandoval having another great year after batting a breakout .330 (that turned out well).
As happy as I've been throughout these playoffs and watching the Giants win the World Series!!!! (Still surreal to me) It has been especially hard for me to see just how crowded the Giants bandwagon has become over the last couple months. I can only ask myself, where were these fans before the playoffs? In 2008-2009 when the only thing we had to root for in September was Lincecum winning the Cy Young? Hell, what about 2006 when our #1 starter was Matt Morris? And that's only 4 years ago...
I know this can easily come off as bitter and condescending so I will try to be careful how I word this. I cannot put into words how happy I am for the team and I have lived and breathed them for years. But I cannot help but be upset a bit about trying to cope with all of the "fans" who have conveniently shown up.
This should absolutely be the high point as a fan of the team. And I know that as a sports fan if you want to see your team succeed, dealing with fair-weather and some out-right fake fans is absolutely something you will have to deal with. I guess dealing with that and coming to accept it is all you can really do. At the end of the day your love for the team, if you really are a fan, should trump the annoyance of logging onto facebook and seeing your wall flooded with status updates from people who didn't know who Madison Bumgarner was before the All-Star break.
Instead what anyone else in my situation should be enjoying, is how much more you savor this World Series win. Following a team through its ups and downs, and to see them reach the pinnacle of their sport is absolutely surreal and rewarding. To have followed this team for so long, and reflecting on when Matt Herges was the closer for your team and your best hitter at one point was Pedro Feliz... only to see the team draft players like Posey and Bumgarner after watching them in the CWS and watching them contribute on the biggest stage for your team... there's nothing better as a fan.
Really, at the end of the day when the team you loves wins it all.. nothing else should matter. It shouldn't matter what anyone else says or how many quotes they spit out from the latest ESPN article about Buster Posey they read last week. In the end its about you and your team and nothing anyone else says or does should ever influence that.
So, to you other true Giants fans out there- Congratulations, its about damn time.
To you other true fans of other franchises, not named the Lakers or Yankees, I will leave you with this...
According to the Niners 10th overall pick in the 2009 draft, Michael Crabtree, he is demanding to be paid $23.5 million (how much Darius Heyward-Bey got from the Raiders at 7th overall) or he will sit out the season and re enter the draft next season. For more background info go here.
I say, let him walk, call his bluff, he isn't going to help the team THAT much. Please remember that the Niners are a running team to start with and they did just fine the 2nd half of the season last year after Singletary settled in.
The Niners need to call Crabtree's bluff and tell him that they hate to see him go, but if he must then they won't stop him. Crabtree would be a fool to sit out for an entire year and expect to be the same athlete re-entering the draft the year after- in fact, he would probably make LESS money the next year he was drafted in 2010 because teams would have doubts in drafting him, whether he was the same athlete he was leaving college after sitting out an entire year, therefore dropping his stock to well after 10th overall.
Yes, I am biased because I would be furious that the Niners would have wasted a pick and wouldn't receive any compensation pick (to my knowledge). But honestly making this decision would hurt Michael Crabtree much more than it would hurt the Niners. Choosing to sit out this season would be a huge obstacle to jumpstarting such a bright and promising career. Can you really imagine Crabtree establishing himself in the NFL as an elite receiver down the road if he sat out an entire season and not staying in top physical shape? Where is he planning on keeping conditioned? The AFL? Even if a team would take him for a one year rental, do not tell me that he would face competition good enough to improve him as a player, not even mentioning how much football knowledge he would miss out on and drastically slow down his development as a player.
So in the end, who has more to lose here? If Crabtree sits out this season and pouts all the way to the 2010 draft, he will have:
1) Lost money in the process, both in one lost year of NFL salary as well as the amount of his eventual contract
2) Deteriorated as an athlete by not facing NFL competition, assuming he played any football at all
3) Completely slowed down his process of development as a player being away from the game for a whole year
and 4) Most importantly, he would have lost the respect of many, many people both within the league and with the fans
Crabtree came into the draft with questions about his attitude and his personality as a diva, and for a brief time he silenced those critics after being drafted lower than expected and saying that he would merely take it as motivation and work harder. Now, with this whole fiasco unraveling, does he really think that teams would be willing to spend a pick anywhere close to as high as 10th on him after he sits out an entire year PLUS he has questionable signability and carrys the emotional baggage of a young T.O.?
So, to sum it up please get over yourself and get your ass into training camp Mr. Crabtree. Be thankful that you have the opportunity to play a sport for a living. Be gracious to the team who drafted you and is paying you market value, not even lowballing you. You were drafted 10th overall and you will be paid accordingly. You have proven nothing to have such ridiculous demands, but if you insist on being difficult then go ahead and walk. I assure you that you have much more to lose here than the San Francisco 49ers.
