Letter to the Mailbox: What Happened?

Long time reader, Allfrank noted in the comments that I'm no longer listed at MCC and asked me what happened.  As is my wont, my comment was too long and I didn't feel like chopping it up this time, so I'm posting it.  And, of course, adding to it.  :^)

Sad is as Sad Does

If I'm no longer listed at MCC, then that is probably over the dustup I had with them when I had the temerity to suggest that people who wanted Brian Sabean fired did not deserve to enjoy the success we had up to that point (that was after the NLCS) unless they come out with a mea culpa.

A number of people came out to blast me, including Grant, calling me "pretty sad".  What's sad is that people don't feel some responsibility for encouraging the firing of Sabean, of being the villagers with the pitchforks and fire, demanding satisfaction.  It is one thing to complain about his moves, which is what Grant did, another to encourage the firing of another human being, which I don't recall Grant doing but he sure reacted like he did.

So if they removed my link, that's OK, that's on them, I would never retaliate in kind.  Actually, I was afraid of being banned and having my account shut down, given the severity of the reaction, so just removing my link is actually a relief.  I do enjoy posting there.  Of course, I haven't checked in for a while, so who knows now about my account.  :^D

Responsibility

But if they are able to enjoy all that crap about firing Brian Sabean all these years when what he was doing was putting together the elements that led to our World Series championship, I don't see why I can not take a moment to voice my annoyance at all the people who openly advocated for his firing.  They had a problem with my timing, but when is the right time, all I would get is "Pollyanna" crap if I argued otherwise before and my argument would not have any legs to stand on until the Giants did really well, which they did to get into the World Series.

And not that I believe that we as fans have that sort of power to get someone fired:  but, particularly with a change in leadership from Magowan to Neukom, you can't really know what Neukom might do.  He might read all that crap and decided that it would be better to have a clean slate and fire everyone.  Before him, Magowan, if he's the egotist that some people paint him as (I doubt to that extent, but it's not like I know him either), might have reached the point where firing Sabean and gang might be the move to divert attention from him.  We don't know, owners have done weird things in the past (took over as manager, create a promotion that started a riot in the park, heck, almost anything Charlie O. Finley did as the owner of the A's).  I doubt that any of our crap gets our owner to fire someone, but then again, you never know.

And we do know some Giants people read these stuff.  Krukow mentioned reading comments at one site (I think it was Baggarly) and I would bet someone is assigned to judge the mood of the fans by reporting on general trends and stuff.  At least I would if I were the boss, it just makes sense to monitor the mood of the fans, particularly in the age of customer relationship management.  With a half billion dollar investment asset, you should be monitoring all avenues of discussion regarding your team.  You may have a great plan for fixing the team, but if the fans aren't coming out in the meanwhile, you can't pay your mortgage.

S.O.S.:  Save Our Sabean

As you know, Allfrank, I've been supportive of Sabean through all these years.  I waved my flag clearly and proudly particularly at MCC because I think that any Giants fan wanting to be near a lot of other Giants fans have to go there today (Baggarly and ELM too, and I think DrB will be one too).  I believe he had a plan and I explained the plan as best as I could, and I know that made me a pariah there, but as an analyst, when you "know" you are right, you have to go all in.  People don't pay you good money for touchie-feelie answers, they want something definitive.

And having a bit of the OCD, I can't do definitive unless I feel I had all my ducks in line.  I felt that I did and eventually captured much of that in my Giants business plan, so I was willing to put myself on the line, put myself out there, and support Sabean.  Because I felt that he had a plan that worked towards building a team that would not only get us to the playoffs, but to the World Series championship that we've all been waiting and hoping for all these years.

And I know that some people appreciated it.  I used to see comments out at MCC asking if I had something positive to say about a situation or just in general, because there was a lot of negativity there, negativity that eventually reduced my involvement there, because otherwise I would just spend my days and nights there stating my disagreement.  And a few people thanked me here.

Thankless Job But I Can't Help It, That's Me

And, to be absolutely and positively clear, I don't do this for thanks or recognition, though like anyone else, I appreciate it.  It is a bit of the OCD that drives me:  I can't stand not knowing where my Giants stand.  I'll support them when they are down, I'll cheer them when they are up, I just want to understand, the best that I can, where the Giants can be expected by the end of the season, and I set my hopes accordingly.  That gives me calm, relief.  If I expect them to be .500 then I would have a whole different perspective on how they are doing than if I expected them to be competing for the playoffs.

And I didn't want to be that blind fan that just doesn't see it, I hated that and didn't want that for myself.  First it was fans in the 70's who thought that the Giants were going to be OK, and even though I just started following baseball, and with no one really to guide me - my Dad was an immigrant who was not into professional sports - I was able to figure out that, no, they weren't.  But that was OK, they were my team, and I told my fellow Giants fans (few in the East Bay) that they were mediocre.

Then it was the fans in the 2000's, the woe-is-me band of blindly un-optimistic fans who inhabited the USENET (I remember Grant from there, but he wasn't one of them) and wore their pessimism as a badge of honor.  I analyzed the 2003 team and said that we were going to have a good season, and decided to post it there to see what others had to say about my analysis, and many of them ripped it to shreds, said no way the Giants are any good, look at the players they got, it'll never work!  They were the opposite end of the spectrum.

Not in it For Links
So if they removed my link, that's OK with me.  I've never asked anyone to reciprocate my linking them.   I've never gone to another website and ask if they would post my link there.  If I wanted "thousands of readers" I could have had that early on by taking the offer to write for another blog who had that audience already. That's not important to me.

That's why I avoid mentioning my blog when I post because I hate those who trumpet, "Hey, you know, good topic, I just happened to have released my take on the subject and I have a totally different take" or worse B.S., like I've seen someone actually go on-line under their Internet name and point out their article, which was written under their real name, and wrote "Hey, this is a pretty good article, you should go check it out."  Now that's pretty sad!  I only mention my blog when it relates to the research I already did and I didn't want to post another 10,000 word essay when I already had something on my blog.  But I try to avoid it as much as I can.  I chose to walk a different path, to the beat of a different drummer.

Responsibility to Show the Correct Light:  Fiat Lux!

I won't cater to those who want to throw bricks at people, just because they don't understand or care to understand.  It's really easy to criticize or make fun of someone if you take the easy route and focus on one thing or another.  Everybody will fail in one aspect or another.  If I am going to throw a brick, it will be after I've gone over the overall situation and made the assessment that this person must go.

We may just be nerds sitting in our mom's basement typing out this stuff but if I'm going to publicly advocate for the firing of someone, I think that there is a higher level of moral and ethical responsibility for whatever crap you throw out there onto the internet.  There must be some level of ethical behavior regarding that, it is one thing to say that someone is making a stupid move, another to say that he deserves to be fired. 

They are human too, you just need to have enough empathy as a human being and wonder how you would feel if someone said that about you publicly.  If I deserve to be fired, sure, I'm man enough to handle it, I've never avoided hearing the worse about myself, but I would want the criticism to be fair, educated, and logical.  I would want some insight into what I'm doing wrong, so that I can better myself.  Still, there must be some level of empathy for your fellow human beings when you post stuff like that, and some level of responsibility for what you put out there. 

And not that I think I "know it all".  I know I know a lot, but that's because I read a lot of news about the Giants and OCD enough to do that, I know not everyone is like me, so I wanted to share that knowledge with others who desire to know more about the Giants and baseball but are not so OCD.  Who like me want to have a realistic view of their team, the now World Champion San Francisco Giants (it'll never get old).  Who don't want to be lazy and take the easy way out and get the pitchforks out to slay the monster (in their mind) because they don't have the empathy to realize that you are attacking another human being publicly.  I wouldn't do that unless I have all my ducks in a row.  And so I try to read and learn all that I can, so that I can cogently write on my favorite subject: the San Francisco Giants.

So I try to illuminate my readers. And I want to be illuminated as well as to illuminate. Fiat Lux!

Ants

I know people think I'm weird but I'll share an insight into my mind and behavior.

I learned to admire ants when I was young.  The social structure, the collective working for one common goal, the sacrifice for the greater good, hard work, all for one and one for all.  (Don't care so much for them now that I'm a home owner :^)

When I'm writing, I feel I'm just one worker ant helping the Giants fan colony survive another winter, another season.  Do you want to be a lemming oblivious to the cliff you are led off of by others or do you want to be a realist and know where you stand, whether solid ground or quicksand?  I have chosen the latter path.

Why I Write

So if my link is gone, it's gone.  C'est la vie!  I didn't ask for it to be put there, and, no doubt, I was happy when it was put there; hey, I'm human.  And so there is some sadness, but I'll live.

But I don't write just so people can link to me, even the biggest and best Giants website.  And I don't write to agree with what everyone else is saying.  And I don't write to avoid the unplesant message, though I would try to lessen the pain of the message if possible (but if anyone rankles me, I'm going to give as good as I get). 

I write because I have an itch that I need to scratch.  I write because I want to know, to the best of my abilties, how well the Giants are doing and what they can be expected to do.  I write because I know something, something others don't.  I write because I want to share that something.  I write because I feel a kinship with my fellow Giants brethren and baseball fans in general. 

I hope that my sharing of my thoughts, knowledge, and analysis helps another Giants fan enjoy the Giants more and baseball more.  If anyone has, then I've succeeded.