Hubris in the NL West: Giants fans to fly banner over Dodger Stadium on opening day
Mar 23, 2011, 12:14 PM EDT
So a group of San Francisco Giants fans have put together $8,000 — not an easy proposition these days — to pay for a plane to fly over Dodger Stadium on opening day with a banner that reads “Giants 2010 Champs: BEAT LA”. The Giants and Dodgers open their seasons against each other on Friday, April 1. The following email was received earlier today by the blog Vin Scully Is My Homeboy:
Hi Roberto, let your beloved readers that we have reached our goal of 8K and have made the payment towards the plane company. The beautiful banner has been manufactured. “Giants 2010 Champs: BEAT LA” banner will be flying over your ugly and infested stadium on Opening Day. Have a nice day.
– “The Say Hey Kid”
I’ll have to admit that the “ugly and infested stadium” part made me laugh. But overall, I’m not really looking forward to this.
Ten years ago, or even in 2009, this would have been a great idea; a stab at the heart of an evil empire is always entertaining. The Giants have always cherished the underdog role, and played it well: The Dodgers have had their boot on our neck since we both moved west in the 1950s, with five World Series championships to our zero. Flying such a banner over Dodger Stadium would make sense if that were still true.
But it’s not. Standing up in defiance of a superior foe is noble, but gloating over success is just playing the bully, and I don’t like my Giants in that role. The Dodgers, with their court battles and pitching problems and smoggy weather and empty locker where Manny Ramirez once resided, are a down-and-out franchise. But they will bounce back eventually, and this little stunt could be an inspiration toward that.
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101 percent of our goal [FUSU.INC]
