Yeah, we're thinking the same thing you are. Yet another fan-blog where some know-it-all thinks he/she, well, knows it all. Of course!
It's baseball! Everybody is the best player, manager or GM on the planet. Every team would go 162-0, blast through the postseason and proceed directly to the parade if those idiots in charge would just listen to those of us who really watch the games!
Sound familiar? If you're here, that's you. And YOU are what makes baseball, quite simply, the greatest game on Earth.
Baseball lends itself to opinion and second-guessing. Over the course of six months (seven if you're lucky), we have countless opportunities to lament why Pitch X was thrown to Batter Y in Z Situation. Why was the Big Bat sitting out this must-win game (in May)? They pinch hit with that guy? So and so last threw a 1-2-3 frame in A Ball and he pitched the ninth?
All make great subjects for debate, and none have a definitive answer. Fans can debate until the next Ice Age, safe in the knowledge that (a) nobody can ever be proven right or wrong; (b) there will be another move, call, play, etc., cued up for tomorrow and it all starts again.
The game also allows for, and encourages, fierce partisanship, and that's where this page comes in. We're here to talk about the San Francisco Giants. If you know our history we may go off-topic once in awhile but ostensibly this page is for matters tickling the frontal lobes of fans of the Orange and Black. If you're for them, or against them, you're home.
This page, originally launched on Facebook over a year ago, was born out of frustration. A number of Giants-related sites populated social media but most had one thing in common; clutter. For every class act like The McCovey Chronicles, there were dozens of pages and sites that had descended into the abyss of name-calling and insults any time two people disagreed. We were totally unaware there was that much interest in other people's parentage, or that you could detect the IQ, body odor or living space (i.e. Mom's basement) through a flat screen.
Other sites were populated by memes (some funny, most not) or served as platforms for selling what was little more than junk. In extreme cases you'd find all of the above to be true.
Most troubling was the argument that anyone who dared to be critical wasn't a "real fan". What? The fan who dares to criticize isn't there just to hate hate hate (apologies to Taylor Swift). That fan is passionate. The critical fans are often the ones with the deepest connection to the team. They're critical because they care, because they want to see things done as well as they can be done. So this page was created to provide a place for thoughtful debate in the issues of the day.
In short, any fan is a "real fan". The trolls generally out themselves, and they go away if you refuse to feed them. But if you have a clear thought, for or against, you ARE a real fan.
The Facebook and Twitter feeds for SSFGF will remain hot, and SSFGF on Facebook is a great archive if you want to get a feel for what this page can be -- with your help. Please use those forums to keep up with us, and use the comments section here freely. We can't wait to hear what you have to say.
We only have one rule here: keep it civil. You can disagree. You can disagree vehemently. You can wage war on a biblical scale (dogs and cats, living together) and still be family, as some of us find out every night around bedtime (TMI, right?). We want the same thing, to share our opinions about something that's very special to all of us: Giants Baseball.
So let's get started.
Bookmark, follow, subscribe, send up a flare: however you like to set a reminder, do it. Have a thought, be ready to back it up, and keep a sense of humor about it all. If this turns into the Mensa of Giants fandom, just remember: we made it happen together.
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