BY HANNAH PURKEY

In print | Published October 28, 2010

San Francisco Giants announcer Duane Kuiper had it right. This Major League Baseball season for the Giants is best described as “torture.” In fact, being a Bay Area sports fan is pretty much summed up in that one word. And yet, torture has never been so much fun. The Giants defeated the Phillies last week and are now facing the last obstacle between them and World Series rings: the Texas Rangers. Without an East Coast team in the series, most baseball fans have shrugged this World Series off as a fluke. But the World Series is too much fun to miss out on as a baseball fan, even if your favorite team was not invited. So here are five reasons why everyone who is tuning in to the Fall Classic without a horse in the race should jump on the bandwagon and cheer for the Giants.

*1. Support the quirky and fight the standardization of baseball. *

The Yankees write into all of their player contracts strict requirements about appearance. Hair must be kept short, and no facial hair is allowed. Things in San Francisco are done a bit differently. The unofficial playoff slogan for the bullpen has been “fear the beard” as many of the team’s relief pitchers have stopped shaving. Brian Wilson even dyed his beard jet black to look more intimidating. How do you like them apples, Yankees? Whether it is a pitching ace that looks like he skateboards to the park everyday, a first baseman that believes wearing women’s underwear brings the team good luck, or a closer who the league actually fined for wearing shoes that were too colorful, the Giants are not afraid to let their freak-flags fly, both on and off the field. With a team full of such quirky personalities, you can’t help but want them to win.

*2. More interviews with Brian Wilson. *

I can’t stress enough how great of an invention the live sports interview was. Even if you don’t especially like sports, you have to love post-game interviews with athletes. If you need proof, just watch the interview with Brain Wilson, the closer for and supposedly most coherent quote-giver of the Giants after the Giants clinched the pennant last weekend. When asked what he wished to say to all of the fans, Wilson, staring straight into the camera and in a manner that can only be described as channeling old westerns, responded: “I hope all of you guys are going absolutely ballistic. We are going to get on a plane tomorrow. And we are going to join you. Fact.” Wilson became a bit infamous with reporters after he gave an interview last year from his house in which a mysterious man scantily clad in a leather outfit and facemask walked directly through the shot. Wilson feigned ignorance and refused to recognize that anything out of the ordinary had occurred while the interviewer proceeded to go a bit crazy. You are always in for some excitement with Wilson, whether he is stepping on the mound or up to a microphone.

*3. You never know who the next hero will be. *

Giants Manager Bruce Bochy described his own team as a “bunch of misfits.” Brian Sabean, the General Manager of the Giants, has taken years to build up one of the best pitching staffs in the MLB. But when it came to offensive power, Sabean mostly picked up players that other teams didn’t want. Some of these last-minute additions from players on waivers have become essential parts of the Giants’ offense. Take Cody Ross for example. In August, Florida decided they didn’t want him and put him on waivers, allowing the Giants to claim him. Last week, he was named the National League Championship Series MVP. And nobody was as surprised as he was. “Two months ago, I thought I was going home and I’d be watching people celebrate on the field from my couch, thinking about my next round of golf. And now here I am.” And the best part about it is that Ross’s story is by no means unique on this team. Burrell was picked up after Tampa Bay designated him for assignment and then became a clubhouse leader for the Giants. Andres Torres in his 13-year career had never been a regular MLB player before this season and now has earned the leadoff-hitter spot and become an invaluable member of the Giants’ defense at center field. The Giants’ rookie of the year candidate and clean-up hitting catcher, arguably a major reason why the Giants have done so well in the second half of the season, spent the first half still in the minors. While they may not fit in on any other team, these players have found a home in San Francisco and a team where they can play their best.

*4. No one thought they could. *

The Giants have been the underdogs all season, and that is just fine with them. “People have been underestimating us a lot,” Wilson said. “But that’s just fine. You don’t want to be the No. 1 seed. You want to be the underdog. And that’s been happening every series.” Now they find themselves in the World Series in a match-up nobody saw coming. If the Giants do win the series, it will be on the back of one-run wins and come-from-behind victories. With the Giants, games are guaranteed to stay interesting right up to the last strike.

*5. They will do anything to win. *

You can say that the Giants don’t have enough offensive power or enough playoff experience. But the one thing there is no doubt that they have in excess is heart. Full of players who see this as their best or only chance at winning a World Series ring, this team will do anything to win, no matter how unorthodox. Bruce Bochy did not hesitate to leave his highest paid pitcher off his 25-man roster in favor of a 21-year-old rookie that was pitching better. In the last game against the Phillies, the Giants’ starting pitcher got taken out of the game with no outs in the third inning after both benches cleared in an almost-brawl. In the following bullpen-marathon, Bochy used not one but two of his starting pitchers, including Tim Lincecum after he had thrown 100 plus pitches the night before. The Giants’ all-hands-on-deck approach to the playoffs will either end with one final champagne celebration or a trip to the hospital for most of the team due to exhaustion-sickness.

Whether you have watched every game or never even knew the Giants were a baseball team, take my advice and tune in to support the Giants as they try to finally bring a championship back to San Francisco. Even if you have not watched any of the postseason thus far, having the Giants in the World Series guarantees that this final match up will be the most entertaining yet.

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