A Giant's Game . . . Life in the City

Our San Francisco friends invited us for the weekend and to the game . . . Giants vs Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday. They have a home on Lincoln Way which is the street on the south side of Golden Gate Park. Like the park it leads right down to the ocean. Ocean Beach to be exact, and since it's only a mile, their home is considered to be in the Outer Sunset, one of the dozen or so fascinating neighborhoods of this gem city.

San Francisco you see, is California's premier city. We natives think of it as "The City" so when somebody says 'where are you going?' you say 'why, to The City' and if they have any class, they know that means San Francisco. Now this surely will offend Angelitos and we don't have time to get into that here. This thumbnail is about just one day and one game.



The Giants lost as they have been doing too much according to our hosts, 7 to 4. But the experience of the crowd and the spirit of things was memorable. The AT&T Park as the field is known, apparently seats around 50,000 people and on this Sunday there were 37,000+ according to the announcements. Our friends have season tickets which, although the get them free, cost the average buyer $37. Now, since there are 81 home games that works out to just about three grand a season.

The gate price is 39 bucks though so 37,000 times $39 = nearly a mil and a half. And that's before you figure in the $25 parking, the $5 sodas, and the $8 beer. I'm beginning to see how players can get million dollar contracts.

But our friends, being SF natives, are savvy. While they live clear across town (all of seven miles) they know how to get the most out of the muni system. For a paltry 50 cents each we got from their place to the park. Yes, it took half an hour but the bus delivered us and hundreds of other Giants fans, right to the door.

After the game we sampled ghastly over-priced but delicious oysters in the awesomely remodeled Ferry Building which, about a mile away from the park, was a neat stroll along the bay. Excuse me, The Bay. Ferries coming and going, fire boats, and snug pubs on the water.

I could go on for some about this place but it's hard to put the essence of such a cosmopolitan metropolis into words. You just gotta go and feel it for yourself.

Editor