Giants

Me and my Giants Tee Shirt in Europe

Me and my Giants Tee Shirt With TJ and Robbie at McCovey Cove in SF

Click here to see everyone who was was in the original photo before PhotoShopping

Sports fans/fanatics are serious about good luck charms. One day in early May, 2004, when the Giants were slumping in the cellar early in the season, I tried to bring them luck by hanging my Giants Tee Shirt outside on the balcony of my room in Cinque Terre in northern Italy. The Giants promptly proceeded to win 10 games in a row and were back in contention until the last day of the season. Ever since that fateful day when my Giants Tee Shirt basked in the sun on the coast of the Ligurian Sea and brought miraculously good luck to my team, I have made sure to display my Giants Tee Shirt from a prominent place in every city I have visited. This page documents the fun of that endeavor!!

Latest Giants tee shirt sighting - Kailua, Hawai'i, Dec 2007

Right side of hotel, third floor balcony is a blue towel hanging next to the well traveled

giants tee shirt

October

◄◄My Giants Tee Shirt relaxes in the off season by the beach in the south of Spain.

The season is over and the Giants made a run for it at the end, finishing ahead of the Damn Dodgers.

September -

Cheering from Lisbon

As the Giants' season heads for a more exciting finish than anyone expected, my Giants Tee Shirt waved from my bedroom window in Lisbon.

August - Road Trip/Pub Crawl through the rural counties of Ireland

◄◄ Way up north in County Donegal, my Giants Tee Shirt beamed down on the fishing village of Killybegs.

In County Tipperary, my Giants Tee Shirt adorned the old Royal Tipperary Hotel while I whiled away hours quaffing pints in the pub downstairs. ►►

In County Mayo, I stayed at the ancient Belleek Castle,

where my Giants Tee Shirt gazed down on the gardens behind the castle.

July in Dublin

Home of Guinness and Rugged Sports

My Giants Tee Shirt stayed in an old Edwardian flat, enjoying many, many pints of Guinness while we cheered the championship games of Gaelic Football (like American football without any pads) and Gaelic Hurling (like hockey with big sticks but without any ice, without any pads and without any discernible rules). The Giants stumbled but stayed in contention only because their division is so weak.

Nice is nice in June

From our hotel on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France, my Giants tee shirt had a nice view of the beach of the Riviera. The way the Giants played in June, perhaps they had their minds on the sparkle of the French Riviera and not on the diamond.

Budapest in May

My apartment in was right above the California Pub and was only one block from Ferenciek Tere (Franciscan Square). Half a world away and still close to SF.

Opening Day, April 2005

The Damn Dodgers came to San Francisco for the first game of the 2005 season. I have been to every Opening Day in the last 25 years except last year and this year, while in Europe. For Opening Day this year I was in exotic Istanbul, with my Giants Tee Shirt flying proudly (albeit incongruently) above the Golden Horn, with the Topkapi Palace, Hagia Sopia and the Blue Mosque in the background. I hope my Giants Tee Shirt brings them luck this year because it will be a tough season. (The GIANTS won on Opening Day!!)

I was in Athens for most of Spring Training, 2005. Ancient Greek mythology records that the Giants are extremely powerful. When the Giants attacked Mt. Olympus, even Zeus and Apollo and all the other gods combined were unable to defeat them without seeking outside assistance. The myths do not mention steroids.

My Giants Tee Shirt flew from my balcony across the street from the Temple of Olympian Zeus near the Acropolis. The columns of the temple were erected in 515 BC. When it was completed, it had 104 columns, each over 50 feet tall. Today, only 15 columns remain standing.


Yeah, that's the Acropolis on the right. You need to look closely to see my Giants Tee Shirt on the balcony on the left.	There were 16 columns until this one collapsed in October, 2002.	My Giants Tee Shirt is ready for another season.

In the off season, I worked hard to exorcise fully the

Curse of the Collapse of Game 6 of the 2002 World Series

against the Anaheim Angels.

The stupid official name of that team is "The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim," which stupidly translates as

"The the angels angels of Anaheim."

So I did the exorcism twice, just to make sure. Just to make sure.

◄◄◄On the banks of the Tiber River near my apartment in Rome was the 2000 year old Castel Sant'Angelo, which means Castle of the Angels. My well traveled Giants Tee Shirt hung from my rooftop terrace, dominating and exorcising the demons (angels?) from the castle, which you can see to the right of the armpit of my righteous tee shirt, right above the medieval Roman satellite dish. Click here for a photo of the castle.

Across the Grand Harbor from my townhouse in Valletta, Malta, is Fort Sant'Angelo. There has been a fort there since the 9th century so I had to leave my Giants Tee Shirt hanging on my rooftop for an extra long time to allow the breeze to carry its power to the fort but I believe that it finally finished the full exorcism.►►►

Now let the 2005 season begin with the curse completely neutralized and all the players "clearly" de-steroidized.

Post Season 2004

In November, my Giants Tee Shirt hung from my balcony on the hillside overlooking Dubrovnik,

resting in the sunshine on the Adriatic Sea to recover after a long and difficult season.

2004 Major League Baseball Season

Traveling in Europe with me and my Giants Tee Shirt

I was in Amsterdam during Spring Training 2004 and I placed flowers at the feet of speedy Mercury to entreat him to provide great speed to leadoff batters (and return at least a little of the old speed to Barry Bonds chasing flies in the outfield).

Cinque Terre

by Ligurian Sea in north Italy, I hung my Giants tee shirt in the window of my room for the entire world (or at least the 500 residents of the town) to see.

Look closely at the photo on top, at the building just below the castle tower, top floor balcony of the room on the far left. (Click on picture to view as a very large photo) The next day, the Giants began a 10 game winning streak and

a tradition was born.

I also made a pilgrimage to

Assisi

in Tuscany

In the hilltop cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of San Francisco, I lit a votive candle to pray for a solid hitter to fill the #5 spot behind Bonds to offer him better protection from all those walks. I was going to pray for the Dodgers to suffer a series of publicly humiliating collapses to move them to the cellar (and perhaps some irritating sores that would prevent them from wearing protective cups) but the good Franciscan monks told me that St. Francis did not usually answer prayers for bad things to occur. So I prayed that the Dodgers would be very happy when they finished the season in fourth place.

In Florence, the back of my apartment was on a small square that was visited several times a day by tour groups eager to see its two famous medieval towers. My Giants tee shirt hung on my balcony, to the confused consternation of the tourists seeking historical enlightenment. My apologies to Andy & Mia, who usually stay at the Brunelleschi Hotel (the beige building on the right) when they visit Florence. But they are Yankee fans so who cares.

In VENICE they got upset when I tried to hang my tee shirt from the horses mounted on top of St. Mark's Basilica so I had to be content with hanging it out the window of my flat on one of the smaller

canals near the place where the Ponte delle Accedemia crosses the Grand Canal.

The dazzling majesty and tranquility of Lake Como,

nestled in the towering Alps on the border of Italy and Switzerland, seemed like a fitting location to display the Giants logo in late June, while the team was able to claim first place in the Western Division for a few days. Look in the small round window just above the balcony.

PARIS in July and August

The city has been invaded and occupied by Julius Caesar, Attila the Hun and Adolph Hitler: by the Goths, the Celts, the Normans, the English and the Germans and is currently under attack by hordes of polyester tourists from around the globe.

The Giants are currently under attack by the barbarians from the south as both Los Angeles and San Diego try to deprive them of their rightful place as champions.

My apartment near Notre Dame displays a magical totem intended to bring the City of Paris good luck while it sends its good luck vibrations to the other side of the world to get the Giants out of their slump.

Prague in September

In the magical city of Prague, the window of my flat could be seen from the castle on the hill (OK, only with binoculars) and my Giants tee shirt was displayed in the window for the stretch run as the Giants relentlessly chased the Damn Dodgers.

_______________________

London in October

From my flat in London I cheered the Giants in the final exciting but ultimately heartbreaking days of the season.

(Yes, this really is London - near Battersea Park - even though the sky is blue.

Baseball for the family

The gang at McCovey Cove in July, 2003, includes my two boys, TJ and Robbie,

and a couple of my nephews, Jason and Sean.

The Giants beat the Padres that day.

Back to the top of this page

BACK to Home Page