October 8th, 2012 at 9:03 am 
by Ron Cervenka I’m lovin’ it and I’m not talking about a Big Mac. I’m talking about the pure, unadulterated satisfaction and enjoyment that I am getting in watching San Francisco Giants fans suffer in anguish as their team is crashing and burning.
How’s that rally cap thing working out for you?
(Photo credit – Nhat V. Meyer)
I know that the Good book says that we’re not supposed to hate anyone or anything, but at the risk of being stricken down by a lightening bolt, I hate… absolutely HATE the Giants and their obnoxious fans. Why, you ask? What caused me, a guy who loves baseball so very much, to have such strong feelings about Giants fans? Actually the answer to this is one of common decency, something that seems to be in extremely short supply at AT&T Park.
Allow me to explain.
As a die-hard Dodger fan, I travel to quite a few away games each season to watch my beloved Dodgers play. I have been to all of the NL West ballparks (several times, in fact), to Citi Field in New York, and to Fenway Park in Boston to watch the Dodgers play. Out of all of the away ballparks that I have been to, I have never… NEVER encountered fans that were, as a whole, more rude, disrespectful, nasty, or downright obscene than those at AT&T Park in San Francisco. Granted, I have heard that the fans at Citizens Bank Ballpark in Philadelphia are supposed to among the worst in all of baseball, but I cannot even imagine that they could be any worse than those dressed in black and orange in San Francisco.
Even though Giants fans have always been among the very worst in the game (something that they seem to take great pride in), they absolutely went over the top after the Giants won the 2010 World Series (damn you Texas Rangers!). It was as if a prison full of the worst criminals in the world were suddenly released back into society. They suddenly developed a sense of entitlement and expected everybody else in the world to bow down and kiss the black and orange asses. And while they were once at the very least tolerable prior to that dreadful World Series victory… back when they would rudely insult me and other Dodgers fans and I could shut them up in a heartbeat by simply saying “Where do you guys keep your World Series trophies? I can’t seem to find them anywhere” – they are today absolutely impossible to be around and are the very reason why I will never again return to AT&T Park, one of the most beautiful in all of baseball.
Aside from the Giants and their obnoxious fans, AT&T Park is one of the most beautiful ballparks in all of baseball. (Photo credit – Jill Clardy)
But alas, the San Francisco Giants finally… finally won a single World Championship and it was as if 52 years of ghosts and demons had suddenly been set free on the decent folks.
Now I certainly can’t say that Dodgers fans are pure as the driven snow and will be the first to admit that I have been known to heckle non-Dodger fans at the Ravine every now and then (not to mention opposing players within shouting distance of the Left Field Pavilion), but I have always done so as good-natured bantering and without using a barrage of obscenities, as Giants fans frequently do at AT&T Park. In fact, I will never forget attending a game in San Francisco several years ago when a young (25-ish) lady Dodger fan proudly wearing her team’s colors was engaged in some good-natured bantering with a rather obnoxious Giants fan (forgive the redundancy) and for no good reason (not that there could ever be one), this moron Giants fan stood up and walked up behind this lady Dodger fan and dumped his half-full beer over her head and then ran away. This isn’t being a loyal fan, this is criminal, not to mention being completely uncalled for under any circumstances and absolutely appalling.
Sure, Giants fans can and will forever point to Louie Sanchez and Marvin Norwood, the two suspects awaiting trial for the brutal beating of Bryan Stow in a Dodger Stadium parking lot nearly two years ago, and say ‘talk about bad fans,’ but the bottom line is that those two morons weren’t Dodger fans, they were nothing more than a couple of thug criminals who happened to be wearing Dodger clothing. A true baseball fan, Dodgers or otherwise, would never resort to this type of low-life uncivilized violence to show support for their team. And while I, as a true Dodger fan, am embarrassed to have to wear this black eye until the end of time, I don’t have to look very far to see that this type of conduct is exclusive to Dodger Stadium. In fact, I specifically recall that Dodger fan Victor Murillo was recently found dead in the waters next to AT&T Park as recently as two months ago (although how he ended up there is still under investigation), not to mention at least one other death at AT&T Park as a result of criminal behavior at the hands Giants fans.
I am not so ignorant as to believe that all Giants fans are idiots; in fact I recently met a true die-hard Giants fan named Brian at Dodger Stadium last week who is actually a good guy. He was even blessed to have caught Buster Posey’s home run ball on October 2 while wearing a Buster Posey jersey, no less. Like me, Brian travels to all of the other California ballparks to watch his team. And though Brian currently lives in the L.A. area, he was born and raised in the Bay Area. And of course I always give him the full on bantering every time I see him at the Ravine, but it is always done in (relatively) good taste and he takes it well knowing that it comes with the territory.
Brian is a rare exception – he’s a cool Giants fan. He caught Buster Posey’s home run ball last week at Dodger Stadium. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)
Of the six other MLB ballparks that I have been to (soon to be seven when the Dodgers travel to the Bronx next season), I would rate Citi Field, Coors Field and Chase Field as the three ballparks where the locals were most respectful of visiting Dodger fans. And I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge that the fans at Fenway weren’t among the most passionate baseball fans I have ever seen – passionate without being disrespectful to visiting fans, that is (although I wouldn’t recommend wearing any Yankee paraphernalia there). Granted, the times that I was at Citi Field and Coors Field the Dodgers swept both the Mets and Rockies respectively and this usually tends to take away some of the hostility from even the most loyal of fans.
Cain’s pain and Arroyo’s gain.
(Photo credit – Eric Risberg and Carlos Avila Gonzalez)
But regardless and even though I have never been a Cincinnati fan (in fact I used to despise them when they were in the NL West), I am thoroughly enjoying watching the Giants getting their asses handed to them by the Reds and wish nothing more than for the Giants to go “three and out” because I HATE the Giants and their obnoxious fans.
Did I mention that I HATE the Giants and their obnoxious fans?
Posted in 
Where to start? Giant fans have definitely changed since the 2010 championship. They were always arrogant, but with a WS title now in their history, things are a lot worse. We aren’t even close to the way things were in the Candlestink Park days though. You took your life into your own hands when attending games in that cesspool. Back in the 80s, there was a Dodger fan murdered in the Candlestick Parking lot, but it received next to no publicity.
I posted a personal story about my step-son, (yes, a Giant fan) who was assaulted outside San Francisco’s AT&T Park in 2004 after a game on the OKP Blog shortly after the Bryan Stowe beating in April 2011: http://opinionofkingmansperformance.blogspot.com/2011/04/please-give-to-bryan-stows-foundation.html
Shortly after it posted, the CBS Evening News somehow tracked down my home phone number and said that Katie Curic wanted to interview my step-son and I. Out of respect for the family of the deceased person in the situation, we didn’t do it. The point I make is that San Francisco, L.A., Philly, Boston, NY, they all have a thug element that attends games and you can never let your guard down.
If you happen to read my story from 2011 that is linked above, take a look at the posted comments. One by a woman that attended Giant-Dodger games with her mother back in the 80s chronicles the abuse that they had to put up with.
As a fan that has probably attended as many “away” Dodger games as home in my lifetime, there is no doubt that San Francisco is the most dangerous place to watch a game for Dodger fans. In my younger days I thought nothing of attending a game at Candlestick wearing blue colors. Now, I rarely do so, even though things are safer at AT&T. I tend to chalk that change up to being older and having more common sense. Young and stupid is asking for trouble.
And speaking of young and stupid,,,My Dodger fan son (Ev, Jr) thinks nothing of going to a game decked out in Dodger jacket and cap, deep in the bleachers of AT&T. More than once he has returned home with his clothes drenched in beer. He’s young and feels invincible. I have told him he’s asking for trouble, but he attends with a group of young Dodger fans, so he feels there is more safety in numbers.
That is a story that I had never heard before, Evan, and I apologize if my post triggered any bad memories for you or your family. That certainly was not my intention nor the direction that I intended this article to take.
The point of my article was merely to share the gratification that I was feeling in watching the Reds pound the tar out of the Giants and to shove all of the hate and discontent that Giants fans have bestowed upon us for decades right back up their… well… noses.
No need to apologize Ron. I started out on one topic and it snowballed. Dealing with that “element” in ball parks is a simply a fact of life. I just went with the topic and steered in another direction.
As far as the Giant fans current misery caused by their team’s awful play…I can relate. I live that “hate and discontent” every day, so I definitely get some pleasure out of their plight.