The San Francisco Giants are coming to Seattle in May to play a three-game interleague series with the Mariners. Yes! My dream has come true! I'll be there, in my french-vanilla-ice-cream-colored jersey and my black and orange cap. Maybe we can get seats behind the visitors dugout?

All the teams I follow closely sucked this year, except one: the White Sox. And they may still blow it. So here is the list of teams I am rooting for in the playoffs, in order of preference, whether they have made it there or not (TBD by Sunday).

NL

1. Brewers
2. Phillies
3. Mets
4. Cubs
5. Dodgers (DIE!)

AL

1. White Sox
2. Rays
3. Red Sox
4. Twins
5. Angels (DIIIE!!)

Can you tell I hate LA teams? I may have mentioned it in the past. I mainly just hate their obnoxious, fair-weather, show-up-in-the-second-inning-leave-in-the-eighth fans.

The saddest thing about this season was that I did not get to watch a SINGLE Giants game. I got to listen to a few on internet radio, and that was it. I don't think they were ever nationally televised. :( I realized this season that while I grew up in Seattle, and live there again now, I became a Baseball Fan in the Bay Area, and the Giants will remain "my team" no matter how crappy they are or how far away I am. I hope I get to see them play next year. Maybe they will come up and play the Mariners in interleague, and you can bet I will go to the game wearing my orange and black.

/nerd

I don't miss much about San Francisco. I do miss the availability of Peet's coffee, the shopping in Union Square, the Ferry Building Farmers Market, Arizmendi bakery, Golden Gate Park ... and I miss the Giants.

I didn't fully realize it til the season started and I found myself missing listening to the Giants broadcasting crew call the games. Even though the Giants are a fairly subpar team, I know I'm a real fan because I miss them anyway and wish I could still watch all their games.

I didn't cough up for the mlb.tv package, but I paid $15 for a full season of radio streams, so I will still get to hear Kruk and Kuip, Jon Miller, and Dave Flemming. I am convinced this is the best baseball broadcast team in America. The Mariners crew pales in comparison, sorry.

These guys not only have smooth radio voices, but always have something smart, insightful, descriptive, or funny to say. I remember last season listening to Flemming just after a particularly awful performance of the national anthem, dryly commenting that he hoped the song didn't make anyone drive off the road. Heh.

Yes, I am a huge baseball nerd, thanks for asking.

OMG! I'm a Giants fan for life!

My former roommate recently got engaged to her boyfriend of three years. Yay! She sent me a pic of her ring today -- it's a gorgeous square-cut diamond from Derco, the awesome Armenian jeweler where we got our wedding set, as well as a pair of xmas earrings. Love that place. That's where I tried on that thirty thousand dollar canary yellow diamond ring with Tamara. Good times.

Found out tonight that Whitney can't go to a Mariners game with me while she's in town at the end of May. Our annual baseball events had just begun to feel like a tradition. Damn. Well, she'll be back in Sept. maybe I'll just grab some tix for that now.

I still haven't been to Safeco park. My coworker Will was handed a pair of tickets tonight by some reporter. Will goes, "whoa, I've never been to a game!" I was so jealous. I considered trying to weasel my way into going with him, but thought about the hell I'd go through just to get back home afterward, and wished him a great time for his first game. He's a nice guy. I have rad coworkers.

Tomorrow is my last day here. It hasn't sunk in. Tonight my chums from work are taking me out for drinks at a nearby classy cocktail bar. I am still touched when I hear that people will miss me around here. I was always kind of the quiet one, but I have come out of my shell a lot in recent years.

The Giants are finally in the basement of the National League, worst record, twenty games below .500. What a waste. And yet I still listen to/watch their stupid pathetic pointless games. Guess that makes me a "fan." Rah rah.

Yesterday I purchased a new music CD for the first time in like I don't know, four or five years. Yes it was "G-Major, a-minor (x5)". As I call it, in my mind. It was on sale at Borders. How sad is that. I also bought a couple of slim paperback books by John Gardner.

"The Park" by Feist makes me teary in my eye.

So next week, when I am free, I am going to be wonderfully remarkably busy. There will be to-do lists! At some point I need to take my camera and make a photo essay of San Francisco, of things I want to remember.

+ this morning I had my teeth cleaned. A solid bill of health as usual. Early 30s and only one teeny filling, acquired four or so years ago. It must be genetic. My dentist wants to see me for a thirty minute exam next week since I am leaving her care forever.

+ I really really REALLY need to get back into regular exercise. But I have a plan. There's a yoga studio a few blocks from my place and as soon as I am no longer employed, I am going to sign up for their $30 for 30 days deal, and then start going five days a week. I really want to get into the whole bored housewife thing, you see. I'll start my day with a leisurely coffee, walk to yoga for an hour, go home and watch the View...

+ Desk here at work is mostly cleaned out, and Brian is coming by with the car so I can put a box of my stuff into the back. Might as well get it taken care of now.

+ Though I am out of here next Friday, I still get to go to the company-sponsored baseball event tomorrow: Giants vs Nationals. Sure, it's two last place teams, two unknown pitchers, Bonds won't be in the lineup, and our seats are in the upper deck. But we get $10 in food vouchers! YEAHHH GO GIANTS!!!

+ I've been writing a thing about mix tapes for the book. Oh how I remember how hard I worked on mix tapes for people, and how I treasured the ones made for me. Terrible Neil made me a great one in 1997, a really great one, which I am sure I later burned or broke. But it had a Led Zeppelin song: "Good Times, Bad Times." Thinking of this last night I realized I didn't have any Led Zeppelin in my music library. They are not carried by iTunes. Husband found a um way to acquire the full discography, and now I have I - IV as well as Physical Graffiti.

+ I tivoed Bonds hitting 756 and the ceremony following. Brian called me because he works across from the ballpark to tell me everything was blowing up.

+ Now if only the Giants could win this game.

+ Went to coffee with my coworker Jennifer today, which was a nice break. We talked about Seattle and real estate, how impossible it is for anyone middle-class to buy in SF. She may move back to the NW in a couple years, which would be neat. She is from San Diego but lived in Seattle for years.

+ Happy birfday Leonard!

Posting from Allison's boyfriend's sweet house in Milwaukee... It has been overcast and warm all day.

After the game last night, we walked back to Camp Kickass. Stopped at Dunkin Donuts on the way, figuring that since we'd walked about six miles that afternoon, a donut was in order. We hung out for a few minutes, then got in the rental car and headed north. It took about ninety minutes to reach Milwaukee. Allison was still up, though tired, and showed us directly to our futon in the guest room. I was awakened in the night by some thunder and rain lashing the windows, and then by the nearby whistle of a passing freight train.

Oh and as for the baseball game. The tickets and receipt claimed a 7:05 start time, but ESPN moved the game back to 6pm instead. So we missed the first two innings, which worked out because it made getting to our seats easier. Before the game, Brian and I walked to Claire's and hung out in her bachelorette pad enjoying a beer and some snacks.

We were in the upper deck along the first base line. The place was packed with people. I looked for other Giants fans, they were easy to spot in cream and black jerseys. I was there with my three Chicago pals, who naturally were cheering for the Cubs (though they are all really Tigers fans). Claire and I rooted against the Cubs. Brian was neutral.

I spose it was a good game -- I expected the Giants to be blown out, but they actually managed to get the lead for a couple innings, an amazing feat. I was particularly glad that Bonds did not start, which I am sure irritated all of the home team's fans. Ha ha. He hasn't been productive anyway, no real loss. From where we were sitting, I could easily spy on my local Giants broadcasters in the booth. I love those dudes.

I got a hot dog and was pleased to find that it was grilled, not steamed. It was good too, though I am still not a fan of the neon green relish. And no I did not put ketchup on it. What do I look like some kind of animal?

Showing true class, the Cubs fans in the bleachers decided to celebrate their late rally by throwing trash all over the field. Nuff said.

And that's what happened the last time I watched a Cubs game, when their manager went apeshit after a play at third base and got ejected.

Anyway, the Giants lost. If I have anything positive to say about the Cubs or their fans, it was that (in my section) people were very spirited and paying close attention to each pitch and going bonkers even when a Giant hit a foul ball. I felt like it was kind of over the top though, especially when the crowd went wild for a routine fly ball hit by one of their batters. No you guys, it's not a home run, it's an out.

But it would be cool if Giants fans would treat every game like it was a playoff game, you know? Maybe our fans have gotten too used to winning and don't know what to do with a loser team on the field, and Cubs fans are so used to losing and futility that every base hit is like a grand slam to win the World Series.

Which is kind of pitiful, really.

We hung around after the game and watched the grounds crew. By the time we left, the streets were still full of drunk douchebags, as expected. The five of us headed west, straight down Addison to Lincoln, and by then we were alone.

Anyway. On a quiet shady street in Bayview, Milwaukee. We had all-you-can-eat Middle Eastern buffet for lunch, which was amazing, then headed to the food co-op to get coffee. We will start back toward Chicago in the next few hours and try to lay low the rest of the night so we can get up super early to make our trek to the airport and home.

I've been watching the A's for like six years and I don't remember any bench-clearing brawls. They have always been a pretty laid-back team, very few episodes of intentional beaning that I recall, not a lot of hotheads on the roster* -- now that Bradley has been traded to the Padres. I am watching them play against my hometown team, the Mariners, and looked up when I heard the broadcaster say, "and everybody's on the field..."

The A's and Mariners in a fight! Wow.

Apparently pitcher Joe Blanton was going for a live ball that had rolled into the on-deck circle, where a few Mariners were standing, and trying to find the ball he pushed Ichiro Suzuki out of the way. Ichiro stepped away, hands in the air (and avoided the whole mess), but his teammate Jason Ellison (former SF Giant, 5' 10", 180lbs) took offense and went after Blanton (6' 3", 250lbs) from behind. Kind of a bad idea.

After the knot of players was pulled apart, I was entertained by two things: 1) the camera staying on Joe Blanton as he yelled "Fuck you! Fuck you bitch!" at the Mariners' dugout, and 2) the camera continually cutting to Ichiro safely down on the bench, laughing his ass off and talking to his teammates (he is now fluent in English, clearly). I love him.

I wonder how many players will get beaned in the remaining innings of this game.

* Edit: How could I forget Jason Kendall?? I don't know.

I'm watching the Giants game and our broadcasters just mentioned that the Yankees radio color commentator is a woman. Half of the radio broadcast crew for the New York Yankees professional major league baseball club is female.

I am no Yankees fan, but this fact makes me incredibly proud.

I mean, can you imagine that happening in football or basketball? In those sports, the woman journalist is 100% of the time stuck down on the field or on the court, looking very pretty and thin, providing little updates at the half or whatever. Never allowed to actually call the game. It doesn't happen in nationally televised sports unless women are also playing the sport. Because apparently people with vaginas are only capable of reporting on sports played by other people with vaginas.

So I turned on the Yankees radio feed on the internet just to hear it for myself. There's a woman calling the game! Cool.

Another fun fact: There is only one female ballpark PA announcer in major league baseball, and she works for the SF Giants.

Stuff like this makes me glad, but then reminds me again how the American media, especially in sports, is still really, really sexist. Women are still designated for certain roles only. We don't do voiceovers for movie trailers. We don't host nighttime talk shows, or game shows (British imports don't really count, I am talking about the big ones that stay on TV for decades). On the radio, we don't anchor the drive-time hours, we are the sidekicks, and god forbid TWO women host a major market radio show together, though two men is the rule rather than the exception. What's so bad about a woman's voice? Is it only supposed to be used to turn a man on, and sell something to him? Women's voices are not considered authoritative or strong or funny?

We comprise over half the population. A qualified Presidential candidate with a vagina is considered a liability for that reason only (though that isn't said *out loud*) -- though in most cities and states, women politicians are now the norm rather than the exception. So it's okay for us to be mayors, governors, representatives, senators, doctors, teachers, and lawyers, but I guess PRESIDENT would be taking it too far!

sigh. This was going to be a baseball post but the Giants are losers and I kind of stopped paying attention. And plus I'm a girl, I'm not supposed to be interested in sports.