SBC Park

I don't know how many Baseball fans are out there, but I had the opportunity to watch my 1st SF Giants game at SBC Park. I never knew such a beautiful ballpark can be made. It's like if there was a ballpark for god, SBC would be it. Even though it's not a domed stadium, whenever you feel like buying yourself hotdogs or drinks, it's like you are inside a shopping center.

I took many pictures of the SBC Park, and began to realize how much I miss SF Giants baseball. I've been a Giants fan for almost 25 years, but never experiened watching a Giants game in SBC. Back then, I used to go watch Giants game at Candlestick Park or whatever they call it now. Back when I was in Jr. High School, I partcipated in throwing beer bottles at the LA Dodgers. Not the fans, but the players. In the 80's it was very common for pitchers to intentionally pluck hitters and go back and forth. Then players gets pissed and started to charge at the mound it's like a giant dog pile. The game gets delayed for another 30 minutes and it wasn't easy to break up the fight. A Giant pitcher plucked a Dodger hitter, and went back and forth. Giant fans wanted to protect their Giants so we all began to throw beer bottles at the Dodgers. Some Dodger players were very upset at us. The game delayed for more than an hour, those were the good old day. After that game, MLB established a new rule for bottled drinks.

Back in 93 (the 1st year with Barry Bonds), the Giants had a free baseball giveaway for the 1st 30,000 fans to enter in Candlestick. I think it was the Atlanta Braves game. One day, the umpire made a very bad call against the Giants. The fans weren't happy, and began to throw their free baseball at the umpire. The game was delayed for an hour, I guess they stop giving out free baseballs after that incident. The field was covered with baseballs. It was really fun to be there and watch.

Now when you watch a baseball game at SBC, things have been a lot more mellow. You don't see players throwing things on the field. Just fans waiting to see Barry Bonds hit one out in the Bay. The way that ballpark was built, it was built for Barry Bonds. You see people chasing after every homers he hit. Unfortunately when I was at the game, Barry Bonds was injured. My father said he saw Barry hit 2 HRs in the Bay, that would have been cool to watch.

I forgot to mention, back when I was a student at USC, I had some time to go down to Dodger Stadium and wear my SF Giants hat at the game. It was fun being hated by Dodger fans. For the 1st time, I was at a stadium where I was watching a Giants game from the visitors side. It felt wonderful being hated.