Occasionally I am called upon to switch my affiliation away
from, objectively, the best teams in professional sports: the Sacramento Kings
and the San Francisco Giants. Most
often, I am asked to abandon the Kings in favor of Los Angeles’ favorite squad,
the Lakers, in light of the facts that I’ve lived in Los Angeles for 11 years
now, and the Kings have missed the playoffs now several years in a row. Add to this that the city of Sacramento
has now repeatedly failed to get a new arena deal done, due to ownership that
seems questionable at best, making their residence there anything but permanent. And then there’s the Kings’ star center,
DeMarcus Cousins, who complains to the referees constantly and whose maturing
process seems to be moving slower than the 405 freeway at rush hour. In response to all of this, I think the
answer is still very clear: the Sacramento Kings are, objectively, the best
team in basketball.
Now comes the scandal surrounding the San Francisco Giants
and Melky Cabrera, who was setting the world on fire with a .346 batting
average prior to his suspension and subsequent admission of the use of testosterone as a steroid. And, a report that someone known to Melky’s agent made a fake website designed to
provide fake evidence to get the suspension overturned. For Giants fans, it was shocking and
slightly depressing. Personally, I
was kind of relieved when Barry Bonds retired a few years ago, since he was
often difficult to root for with his prickly personality and inability to avoid
steroid accusations. Indeed, one
of the cool things about 2010 World Series triumph was that the team was filled
with guys who were easy to cheer for.
Did I mention that the San Francisco Giants won the 2010 World
Series? Ok, just wanted to make
sure that I mentioned that they won the 2010 World Series.
Anyway, various folks, such as the Arizona Diamondbacks’ manager Kirk Gibson and catcher Miguel Montero, have seemed kind of angry about the
whole Melky situation. Assuming
that the steroids were helping Melky out, then the Giants were cheating by
putting him in the lineup every day, and so victories over the Diamondbacks or
any other team this year are kind of questionable now. For now, we have to assume that Giants
management had no idea that Melky was doing this, since that is what they claim.
Manager Bruce Bochy seems like such a cool guy that if he says he had no idea,
then I’d like to believe him.
In fact, I was once put in a similar position as Bochy; the
2006 UCLA Club Tennis squad, under my direction, was disqualified halfway
through the USTA National Campus Championships in Austin, Texas for having an
ineligible player on its roster.
Indeed, one of our girls had played in a tournament for the UCLA varsity
team earlier in the year, which you’re not allowed to do. She had not told us, however, and we
had no idea. But we had already
marched all the way to the national quarterfinals. So the tournament director was stuck, because while he had
to disqualify us, he couldn’t ask us to go back and replay those matches while
we removed that player from the roster.
Meanwhile, we were sad, but made the best of it by spending the
following day in San Antonio, which was pretty hot even though it was only
April.
Anyway, back to my story about the greatest teams in all of
sports. If a team is absolutely
terrible and has players with objectionable personalities that use steroids
constantly, are they still worth rooting for? Well, perhaps not.
Certainly the Sacramento Kings haven’t been much fun to cheer for in recent
years, and I have struggled at times to gather enough interest to watch their games
regularly. On the other hand, the
Giants remain fun to watch, despite Tim Lincecum doing his best impression of,
well, Barry Zito this year.
Are we sad about Melky? Yes, and I will be even less likely to dress up as a Melkman
now as compared to before.
Personally, from there I looked to team management, Melky’s (former)
teammates, and even the team’s announcers for guidance on how to proceed. They seemed sad, bewildered and a
little angry, but had no choice but to move on without him. It struck me as kind of like what
someone might do after they found out their significant other cheated on
them. In this case, you have to
drop your loyalty to the individual who messed up, at least so far as he is not
helping the team. But your loyalty
to the team very likely remains.
Sometimes I think it’s funny that we cheer for, and care so
much about, teams composed of players that we don’t know, have never met, and
who run around a field or court throwing stuff around and hitting other things
over fences. In the case of the
Giants, they represent a city that I’ve never lived in, and pretty much only
visit for the purposes of the watching the team itself. But perhaps I shouldn’t question it any
more for now, and just say… Goooo GIANTS!
P.S. The Sacramento Kings are going to win the 2013 NBA
championship. You watch!
