unforgettable

guys. guys.
you're going to hate me.
this is not a sports blog.
but.

THE GIANTS ARE WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!

*whew* now that that's off my chest...

i am honestly going to remember this morning for a very long time. after my enormous disappointment at the failure of my rugby team - the Sharks - to claim the 2012 Currie Cup title (which you can read all about here, if you're in the mood to laugh at me ;) ), i was poising myself for another upset.

sure, maybe it was a little more improbable - while the Currie Cup final is set up as one winner-takes-all match, the World Series is a best-of-7-game series, so the winning team only needs four for a win - and the Giants already had 3 in the bag. but i admit to losing a little faith. i admit to feeling nervous that after having won so many games straight, the Giants wouldn't be feeling the bite as much as the Tigers, their opponents, for whom this match was the final straw.

and was the game tight! a single run for the Giants at the top of the 2nd inning, which was followed by a two-run homer by the Tigers at the bottom of the 3rd, to which Buster Posey responded with a two-run homer of his own at the top of the 6th, which was met by a single-run homer by Detroit's Delmon Young... which took us to 3-3 after 9 innings. with both Phil Coke for Detroit and Jeremy Affeldt and Santiago Casilla for San Francisco pitching like heroes. i started smsing my mom - a crazy Giants fan, and the main reason they're my team.

then, at the top of the 10th, Ryan Theriot singled. Brandon Crawford gave a superb sacrifice bunt, which sent Theriot to second. with Crawford out, Angel Pagan came up to the plate but struck out swinging. two out. Marco Scutaro stepped up and hit a single that enabled Theriot to make it home and score for the Giants. 4-3 in the middle of the 10th.

Sergio Romo came in as the Giants' closer. he struck out Austin Jackson. Don Kelly replaced Avisail Garcia and stepped up to the plate; Romo struck him out. Miguel Cabrera - Triple Crown winner, and having already hit a home-run earlier in the game - was next up to bat. two out. and Romo? he pitched a strike, then a ball. another strike, another ball. 2-2. a foul. and then? a fastball that was a called strike. and the game was over. and the Giants won.

up until this season, i've been a Giants fan largely in name only. thanks to Chris, over this season, i've come to know a lot more about the game and have absolutely loved following it. the Giants had a great season but struggled against the Cubs in their first few postseason games, and then struggled again when they faced the Cardinals (Chris's team) in the National League Championship Series. they somehow made it through to come up against the Detroit Tigers, who swept the American League Championship Series against the Yankees 4-0.

and then they won it - they won the World Series.

this morning's going to be engrained in my memory for a long time to come - being woken up by Chris at 2AM, heading down to the common room bleary-eyed and talking sleepy nonsense, getting frustrated when the Tigers managed to score.

swaddling myself up in Chris's red-and-blue blanket (as i so often do when watching sports in his res), munching anxiously on twirly rainbow marshmallows and Caribbean onion chips, taking swigs of Coca-Cola straight from the 2l bottle in an attempt to wake up properly. an exhausted Chris retiring after the middle of the sixth inning, only to return at the bottom of the sixth with his Heineken hoodie, proposing a trade for the blanket i was wrapped up in, since his bed was freezing.

and then the last couple hours alone, staring intently at the television, willing the Giants on with every fibre of my being. having to run to the bathroom twice after all the Coke i'd drunk, when i technically wasn't supposed to be in the res at all (but our res TV doesn't have ESPN - so there was no question there).

smsing my mom with facts that i'd hear from the commentary of the game, like the 10 000 Giants fans who were gathered outside City Hall in San Francisco, or the "lucky charm" of Jeremy Affeldt and his wife's new baby (they have three kids; in each year - including this one - that one of their children was born, the team for whom Jeremy was playing at the time won the World Series. HOW COOL?!). getting tense towards the end and chewing on my knuckles. sending this text: "YEP! GIANTS WITH A RUN - 4-3 AT THE MIDDLE OF THE 10TH! NOW JUST NEED 3 OUTS! I LOVE BASEBALL!"

watching Panda giving his teammates in the dugout bear hugs as they waited in anticipation for Romo's final few pitches. watching the Giants players's faces as Romo struck Cabrera out. watching them race onto the field and dive at one another.

watching Romo in tears; watching the players go nuts with champagne in their locker room; watching as Larry Baer, Chief Operating Officer of the Giants, was handed the Commissioner's Trophy after having declared that, "there're no better fans in the world" than Giants fans. watching as Panda was announced as Most Valuable Player of the series, and not being able to understand half of what he said in his interview! (you watch it, and tell me if you can distinguish everything... it's tough.) being in a ridiculously happy daze. i'm still in a ridiculously happy daze!

since i have no SF gear, this is what i'm wearing today... oh yeah.

and that's where i'm gonna leave it, since most of you have probably stopped reading and/or have lost all hope in this blog ever putting sports aside and returning to its normal narcissistic lifestyle nature of posts. but guys.

best day :D