Once during the 2010 pennant race, I happened to wear a San Diego Padres cap to work, just because it was the least sweaty in my collection. Upon encountering Amanda Stupi, our web producer for KQED Public Radio's Forum program, I immediately knew I'd committed professional suicide as far as she was concerned: "You're wearing a Padres cap?" she said, her inflection a unique mixture of disgust, pathos and awe that someone could ever do something so contrary to God's plan.
She's a big Giants fan...
So imagine our shock around the office when the following appeared on her Facebook page. Read it and weep, Giants Nation -- she can't be the only one...
Dear Giants Organization,
I'm packing a bag and I'm going to stay at my sister's place for a few days. I'm so angry and disappointed, I don't even know where to begin. I just have to get away from you for a bit.
Your actions have made me assess our entire relationship -- and question whether it's been based on a false premise all along. With Barry, I gave you a pass -- I chose to put the blame on the business of baseball rather than on you as an individual team. Same thing when the Mitchell report came out. I chose to put my hope in your efforts to clean house along with the rest of the league.
But this -- this is ugly.
First there was Mota. I figured, for the most part, he was an isolated case, an aging player on the bubble trying to stay in the game.
But Melky. Sure I had my suspicions...I mean who hits like that? But I figured after Barry you wouldn't let a player have a break-out year, garner All-Star MVP status, without making sure he wasn't on the juice. And you certainly wouldn't promote the hell out of a player, what with the roaming "Melkman" and all, if there was even a remote possibility that he was using banned substances. Boy do I feel dumb. And used. And angry.
Worst of all, this makes me question the 2010 season. How many of those guys were using? Did we just manage to slip under the radar because no one expected much out of our team to begin with? What is it about the San Francisco clubhouse? Do our players really cheat more than others or do they simply get caught more frequently?
I'm sure I'll come back to you. I've learned to do a great job overlooking the parts about you I don't like: $6 sodas, chewing tobacco, All-Star voting that starts one month into the season... But it will be very hard to root for you the rest of the year. What good is a playoff berth if this is how we attain it? Our season is tainted, and we fans are screwed. And I don't know if we can ever go back to the way things were.
When the news first broke, George Kelly of the Bay Area News Group Storified fan reaction. But now that the news has really sunk in, how about you, tender Giants fan, with the Juan Marichal bobblehead and the circa 1989 "Will Clark For President" tee-shirt? Are you taking a break, or just digging in deeper in the face of Facebook and Twitter taunts from your Dodger-fan ex-friends? You know, stuff like this...