Buster Posey on the cover of ESPN The Magazine? A special issue of Sports Illustrated dedicated to the Giants? A decision by Showtime to turn the club into a reality show?
This ain’t Hollywood, baby. If we wanted TV stars, we’d live in Beverly Hills, not the Oakland Hills or on Nob Hill.
A little publicity is fine. We get sick of all the air time devoted to the Yankees, Red Sox and the Lakers. But we don’t need cameras poking everywhere, don’t need to be dissected on Entertainment Tonight.
It’s one thing for Brian Wilson to spend a few minutes on the Tonight Show, but it’s another to try to turn AT&T into Scala — that’s the opera house in Milan, not the restaurant on Powell Street.
“It became clear the Giants had the right selection of players and personalities,” was the explanation of David Nevins, president of Showtime Entertainment, “and later when they won the World Series, it was a compelling choice.”
Did he mean the World Series with the low TV ratings because it didn’t involve the Yankees, Red Sox or Dodgers? That for the 52 years of their San Francisco residence the Giants won a World Series was gratifying. Great pitching. Timely hitting. A blending of talent.
When champion teams — Super Bowl, NBA Finals, World Series — get too much attention there’s a clear and present danger. Sometimes they are so busy acting like champions, getting accolades, they forget the task at hand — to play with the intensity which got them where they are.
The New York Jets, indeed, were the subject of the “Hard Knocks” series, produced by HBO and have played well enough a few months later to be one of the final four remaining in the NFL playoffs. The Jets, however, act as if they’re on stage or on camera even when they’re not. If you can survive the back-page headlines in the New York Post, a TV show is nothing.
What made the Giants so appealing was the label they carried as “misfits and rejects,” a group of semi-anonymous but not untalented ballplayers who took their work seriously but not themselves. Now TV stardom? How ya going to keep ’em down on the (no, lower Market is not a farm) after they’ve seen Paree?
Already some of the players have used the word “distraction,” as if properly they are concerned doing a routine for the tube will take precedent over doing pregame calisthenics.
“It will be great if it’s done right,” cautioned Matt Cain.
The Giants certainly did things right in 2010. They had a perfect blend of skill, humor and appreciation. Unless we were fooled, the players, and manager Bruce Bochy were moved emotionally by the support offered by the public.
Moments are not forever, although the joy of a title will not quickly go away. A bond developed between fan and athlete that was no less enjoyable than watching that Series trophy being carted from one end of the land to another.
“San Francisco has become a baseball town,” declared Giants general manager Brian Sabean.
Let’s keep it that way, and keep the Giants a baseball team, worrying about pop-ups and no time for makeup.
Art Spander has been covering Bay Area sports since 1965 and also writes on www.artspander.com and www.realclearsports.com. E-mail him at typoes@aol.com.
