Yes! Yes! Yes!

To quote the sometimes profane Hunter Pence: Yes (2010)! Yes (2012)! Yes (2014)!
I'm more at a loss for words when I think about the 2014 San Francisco Giants, World Champions for the third time in five years. It's almost too good to think that the team I follow has been that good for this period of time. I was just so thankful to finally see the Giants win it all in 2010. 2012 was great and this one was in some ways the best. I guess it just doesn't get old.
I think also of all of the little stories that make each team compelling. To win a championship, you must have great players, good players who play great and to be honest a little luck. When you have a string like the Giants have had, you have to have great management as well.

There's no question that Larry Baer, Brian Sabean and Bruce Bochy have proven to be great management. They have created a great atmosphere in a great ballpark; acquired important players and have managed them in a way that they find success. I also think of the stability they have at the coaching positions with Tim Flannery, Hensley Meulens and perhaps most importantly, Dave Righetti and Mark Gardner. In the case of Righetti, isn't it interesting to think that when he signed as a free agent late in his career and was pedestrian in terms of his effectiveness as a player for the Giants, that it would open the door to him becoming one of the best pitching coaches for a championship team? I finally give a shout out to Dick Tidrow (director of player development) who was instrmental in the raising of players like Lincecum, Cain, and Bumgarner. A management team has its own set of unsung heroes.

The list of good players playing great: Juan Perez had a few big hits and several brilliant defensive plays; Brandon Crawford with his steady defense and big hits of his own; Yusmeiro Petit pitching lights out in just about any role thrown at him; and finally Travis Ishikawa. His hitting in the NLCS could have easily earned him the MVP of that series. Of course he know lives on forever in Giants' lore with his walk off home run in Game 5. It couldn't happen to a nicer guy. I hope that he can savor that moment for the rest of his life.

As for the great players, there are talented players who can play well in the regular season. Then there are the true greats who can elevate their play under the pressure of playoff baseball. These are the ones who are remembered most fondly. The terms winner and champion takes their play legacy to the highest level. In seasons past we think of Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, and Buster Posey (who didn't hit great in this World Series). As for Posey, he appears to be a Giant for life and has been handed the mantle of the face of the franchise. From what I've seen of him, he is a worthy successor to Mays, McCovery and Clark. There's much to say of a catcher that backstops three championships and doing it with humility and class.

The stars of this series were first the jubilant Pablo Sandoval. Appropriately nicknamed Kung Fu Panda, his size and shape belies his great athleticism. The MVP of the 2012 series, he continues to be a hitting machine in the playoffs. Willie Mays (who rarely makes public comments about players) said that he think that "Panda" has the best hand-eye coordination he's ever seen in a player. His praise for the greatest Giant of all. It is so fitting that he caught the final out.

Hunter Pence is for me in so many ways the Will Clark of this era of Giants. He's a passionate player who's desire to compete and win is at another level. With the wild beard and hair; the twitchy way he carries himself (Vin Scully once said that "He makes coffee nervous"); sometimes profane and impassioned game speeches; and those eyes of serial killer. It almost makes you forget he's a great hitter and defensive outfielder. He seems to always be in the middle of a big rally.

Of course, this series belonged to Madison Bumgarner. 25 years old and possessor of a 0.25 ERA in the World Series (read that a few times to take that in). He's the polar opposite of Pence in terms of demeanor. He has the look of a guy who doesn't have a care in the world as he mows down hitters on the biggest stage looking like he's reading the morning paper. With a pitching staff that was scuffling, he put up scoreless inning after scoreless inning with frightening efficiency and command. When writers and commentators start reaching back to compare him with the great pitchers from the dead ball era it gives you some perspective on what we witnessed.

I feel that I would be remiss to not give just a small shout out to Joe Panik (best defensive play in the Series), Michael Morse (big time R Brandon Belt (hitting over .300), Jeremy Affeldt (winner of Game 7) and so many others. This was a team effort from top to bottom. Speaking of the franchise, perhaps the best example is equipment manager Mike Murphy. He is nicknamed the franchise as he has literally been with the San Francisco Giants since the beginning (he was a bat boy in 1958). When Panik broke his belt on his sparking game changing double play, the Murph was ready to get a clearly used replacement belt. Everybody pitches in for the win.

As Lou Brown of the movie "Major League" fame said, "My kind of team, Charlie. My kind of team."

Second Intermission: My Thoughts On Our Season So Far

We are now three quarters through the season. I realize just how time consuming it is to coach a high school basketball team, have an engineering job and still have all of life's chores to keep. If you follow this blog, you notice that I haven't been writing as much since the season started. I would also say that the time commitment has been worth it. I see the great privilege I have to teach, encourage and lead these fine young men. They are some of the best that any man could ever want as a son. Many of them are high caliber basketball players and all have worked very hard to improve on their skills. I see them becoming men of God who can impact and lead in this world. As a coach I hope that I can impart whatever has been given to me from God and other men who have impacted my life. I also hope I don't blow it as I feel the great responsibility of this position.

Proverbs 17:17
A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.

I can't say enough about the assistant coaches I have working with me. Mark and Bruce are the highest quality of Godly men who keep me grounded and humble. Beyond that I can think of many times when their basketball input was invaluable. Bruce came up with the defensive scheme that helped us take on one of the top teams in this area and kept us close the whole way. Mark once spotted that a team's press was focused too much on the middle of the court and the sidelines were wide open. Stuff like that can elude me and they have the insight to countless occurences that helped the team. More than anything, I feel like we're on the same page with what we want to accomplish with the team. Leading them to see teamwork, hard work, fighting through adversity and winning shows the characteristics that God desires for the team to have in life. I am deeply indebted to these men for the help, wisdom and friendship.

Looking back in life, I see that one thing that I like to do is be analytical when it comes to watching sports. Perhaps it's because I was mostly a bench warmer or perhaps it has to do with my "geeky" side. Anyway, I find myself very much alive during the games. Seeing things and figuring out how best to get the most out of the team is really invigorating. I also love seeing the team succeed. It's funny, my competitive side is really strong, but I'm more passionate about the boys being able to succeed than just getting the win. I want so bad for them to get the taste of victory that comes from working hard as a team.

Running Rick Torbett's Read And React offense continues to amaze me. I continue to get compliments about how the offense flows. When it works and the team runs it well, it's a beautiful thing to behold. It's a scheme that can't be scouted and works well against all defenses. After two seasons, I think we're getting more and more into it. I realize that it requires a lot of conditioning to run this. With comfortability I hope that we can learn to outwork the opposition and hunt for those scoring chances. My secret hope is to see multiple staggered screens come to fruition. Then I'll be a little kid again watching  Rick Barry at Oracle Arena.

We now have installed four defenses. We have the standard 2-3 zone that work well against bigger teams. I maybe too stubborn to use it a lot. Perhaps it's so familiar I want to give the team's a different look. The chaser is something I really enjoy watching. It confuses teams and can really be effective. It's a matchup zone that requires an long athletic "chaser". I'm so glad we have two players who fit that role well. I'm surprised that we have been very effective in man to man. Considering the team's youth and relative lack of size, we have done quite well in it. I use it a lot more than I expected. It just goes to show how mature our team has become. We just added a half court trap. Right now, it's a work in progress. I think I need some tweaks to get it to work better. My hope is that this can work well when we're down and also get us some momentum at times.

Our practices were getting stale (as they usually do during the season). I'm so glad I read up on some coaches boards as one gave me the great idea of making practices a competition. Keeping score of each drill has taken the intensity and focus to a new level. I've even said the team that "wins" the practice is the starting team for the next game. Competition is in a man's DNA. It just took one tweak to bring it out and give our practices the next level of intensity that I was looking for. Nice to see the team completely gassed after a practice. I'm hoping they will see there's always a next level to achieve.

Isaiah 30:20
Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them.

Friday was perhaps a significant day for team team. We played Christian Academy of Knoxville which is ranked number 6 in East Tennessee. They have two players who have Division 1 scholarships and their best player is an underclassman. They have first class facilities and it was senior night. Considering we have a a small talent pool, no facilities and an all volunteer staff, games like this one can become embarrassing very fast. Not so tonight. We had the lead at the half. It was close for most of the third quarter. The coach tried at least four different defenses to stop us. I could tell the home crowd was very concerned. Sadly, they did wear us down and we ended up losing. But we gained so much more: we earned the respect of everybody in that gym; we proved to ourselves that we belong with one of the best in the area; and we do have a next level that we can achieve. I can never say I'm glad we lost a game, but it was something to behold knowing what we proved. It's like the first Rocky movie: he loses the fight but wins something deeper and more gratifying. I even got a my fan boy moment when Atlee Hammaker (former San Francisco Giants pitcher) took the time to come up to me to say how impressed he was with the team. I count that as a little gift from God that would mean something to me.

We are 10-20 right now but take away losses to the 2A and private schools and we're very close to .500. We are ranked #10 in the Southeast for home school programs! With four sophomore, five juniors and one senior, the future is bright!

Good Vibrations

I know that many have had the pleasure to see "their" team win the championship so my experience is not unique. I write this to get it off of my mind and in case you are a Giants fan, can share in the joy. Last night the San Francisco Giants won the 2012 World Series. My team is the champion of baseball!

I think that more than any other team, in any other sport the Giants are so closely ingrained into my life. Candlestick Park was where I got to see my very first professional sports event. It was at a time when the outfield wasn't enclosed, Willie Mays was heading into the twilight of his brilliant career and I was an impressionable child who saw the magical game of baseball. I remember seeing the green grass and larger than life stars of the day. I still can picture in my mind's eye Mays at the plate, McCovey's long stretch for the putout, the flamboyant Tito Fuentes flipping hit bat before stepping in the box. That sort of bond can last a lifetime. The players have changed, the stadium changed, but the game and the team are the same.

I remember being a fan when it wasn't cool. Those lean years of the Stoneham family trading off its stars (May, McCovey, Perry, Maracial, Maddox, Foster, Sarge Matthews) was such a trying time. There were some bright spots, Vida Blue became my favorite pitcher, Joe Morgan's home run kept the hated Dodgers out of the playoffs in 1982. After the horrible 1985 (100 loss) year, Roger Craig  and Will Clark brought on a great period of prosperity. I was just out of college, had season tickets and my team was winning:
1987 NL West Champions
1989 NL Pennant (my first playoff games, and my only World Series experience: the earthquake game).
1993 brought on the Bonds era with the last great division race, after that a baseball labor dispute and some up and down years. 2002 brought another pennant and a nightmare game 6.
I see that through all those years, I grew up, went to college, got a job, went to Cooperstown,  got married, had kids and even bought a campground. The one thing that was missing: a championship.
2010 fixed that:

46 years on earth and I finally got to see it happen. The Giants are champions! Stud pitching (Lincecum, Cain, Bumgarner and Wilson) and timely hitting (Huff, Ross, Uribe and most of all: Edgar Renteria) characterized this team. Lots of unknowns stepping up along with a staff of arms that could be lights out. I strangely feel like in some weird way I can die in peace now.
Fast forward to 2012:

Even better pitching (Zito, Bumgarner, Cain, Lincecum, Vogelsong and Romo) with some clutch hitting (Sandoval, and Scutaro) and you have another championship. So today, I'm ecstatic. I'm wearing my Giants jersey to work. All those cold nights at the 'Stick, seeing Willie Mays traded, all those lean years, the embarrassment of the steroid era, the 2002 debacle, losing on the last day in 1993 for now all background noise drowned out by two championships. The joy of baseball is back and I'm again that little kid wide eyed and loving the good vibrations of it all.