Why the Giants Deserve a World Series Title MORE Than the Rangers

There has been a lot of hype around the Rangers. They succeeded in out-scoring, out-pitching, and out-playing the hallowed Yankees. And to top it off, they had never won a post-season series before, not even at the division level.

What a story. I can see a movie being written right now. This is the Cinderella team of 2010. It's a feel-good story. From the depths of facing bankruptcy, to the outright win of the American League title, and on to the World Series. The country will be rooting for them, praying that they will put the final coat on their Cinderella story.

But they don't deserve it.

At least not as much as the San Francisco Giants do.

Here's why:

First of all, let's just be clear on the fact that The San Francisco Giants have also NEVER won a World Series either. It's not like they have tasted the limelight that the Rangers have been robbed of. It's a luxury neither team has experienced. They are on equal ground in that regard. Sure the Giants have won their share of post-season series, and have even made it to the World Series a number of times, but they've never won.

The "Giants" won their last World Series in 1954 against the Indians. Swept that series... but they were the NEW YORK Giants. That was not this team. Saying the New York Giants is the same team as the San Francisco Giants is like saying the Washington Nationals is the same team as the Montreal Expos.

But I'll indulge your snide disagreement. Let's just say that we have to count them as the same team and therefore concede that the "Giants" have won a World Series while the Rangers have not. Even if that were the case, the Rangers weren't in existence until 1961.

So let's do the math. The Rangers have been waiting and hoping for a World Series title for 49 years. But the [New York] Giants, having won their last title in 1954, have been striving for that coveted pinnacle of bragging rights for 56 years.

The Giants have been waiting longer for this than the Rangers have. No matter how you look at it, this is the case.

But, going back to reality, the San Francisco Giants have never won the title. This series will be played by two teams that have never had the honor. No matter who wins, it'll be their first time. What an awesome series to watch.

So don't go rooting for the Rangers simply because of the media hype. Look at the stats. Look at the real numbers. All things being equal, the Giants have waited longer than the Rangers. They're further ahead in the waiting line.

Don't you hate it when people cut in line? Step back, Rangers. This is the Giant's year!

How to Cure Baseball

I haven't written a blog in a long time, favoring Facebook over Blogger. But this past weekend I got to return to my hometown in Gilroy California and I was consequently re-immersed into a culture that loves Baseball.

Growing up, I loved baseball more than any of my friends. I was fanatical. I remember being in 6th grade and running to find the newspaper in order to memorize all the most updated stats that had been achieved the previous day. And on Christmas morning, if 90% of my presents didn't have the San Francisco Giants logo on them, then Christmas wasn't successful.

I even stuck through the baseball strike of1994-1995. A year and a half with no baseball. MLB suffered and many baseball fans turned to other sports, never to cast their eyes back at the sport they used to love. I stayed with it, and when the players finally came back, I was their first fan.

Eventually I went off to college. Not only did I move to a state that had no professional baseball team and no televised or radio access to the Giants, but my studies and part-time job kept me on campus from 7am to 11:30pm (literally) every single day. Needless to say, I lost track of baseball. I still watched the playoffs and World Series for a few years, but eventually Baseball took a backseat to more important things.

...like college football. Growing up, I had never been a football fan. Never. I tried to like it for years, but I could never get into it. College changed all of that. Suddenly the game made sense, and it also helped that I now had an alma mater that I could cheer for.

I quickly learned that football was widely loved by most people, while baseball was loved only by a very select few. As a matter of fact, I was hard pressed to find a single person in my 3 years at BYU that even remotely enjoyed baseball.

For the past 7 or 8 years, college football has filled my thirst for sports. But in the past few months, I've been finding myself more and more interested (re-interested) in baseball. After all it was the sport that I devoted so much of my life to.

So I've been thinking: why is it that a majority of people don't care for baseball but adore football? Sure, if you live in the Bay Area, or in Boston or New York (for example), most people will live and breathe baseball. But, having lived in two states now that have no pro baseball teams, I can say with full confidence that most people love football, and not baseball.

The reason is this: every football game counts. Every football game is crucial to the team's standings and to their possibilities of getting to the playoffs or to the coveted bowl game. In baseball, each team plays approximately seven million games a year. The games aren't important for themselves. If you miss a game, no big deal; it will barely put a dent in their standings if they lose anyway.

Here's the solution: baseball needs to go the way of football. They should have about 20 games in a season. Period. One a week for 20 weeks. I don't care that the reason football has only one game a week is to let the players physically recover, and that baseball players don't need to recover (other than pitchers). Big deal.

Baseball should play one game a week, let's say Saturdays (great day for a ballgame). This way, each team would have one starting pitcher that would pitch every week. He would become the "quarterback" of the team. Commercial products would glamorize him and clothing would be created in his name. He would lead the team. You'd have your second and third stringers as well but they'd rarely play.

You could raise ticket prices a bit to make up for lost revenue, but consider this. Rarely does a baseball stadium sell out for a game (there are a select few that are always full, but as a whole, very few). Therefore, if you held only 20 games, one a week, people would flock to that one game as they do with football. Take the tickets sold for the previous 5 games of a normal season (as it is now) and cram them into the stadium on that one day. They wouldn't lose any money. Not to mention the rise in revenue from more effective product placement and glamorization of the sport.

Then come the playoffs. Single elimination, just like football. The World Series? You do one game. It would be as big as the Super Bowl.

There, I've solved baseball's issue. Do it my way and baseball would have 10 times the fans it does now. Sadly, this will never happen. And so, while I am becoming more interested in finding a way to follow baseball again in my MLB-less state of Nevada, I will stick to my college football and catch the occasional baseball scoreboard.

Brooklyn LeIsle Dougherty

Brooklyn is HERE! She was born yesterday, Friday January 8th, 2010, at 8:13am. She weighed in at 10 pounds and 3 ounces! Whew! 22 inches long too!

Both baby and mom are doing great. I haven't posted on this blog for almost a year, but I know not everyone has Facebook (there's still time to repent), and so I thought I'd share some pictures here for all you non facebook-ians.

By the way, for those curious, LeIsle is Megan's middle name too. It's a family name. It's pronounced: Lee-Eye-Uhl (silent "s").