Steve Dilbeck: San Francisco Giants fans can’t let go of their LA envy

I just read “Do Dodgers fans have to root for either Giants or Cardinals in NLCS?” a piece of fluff written by Steve Dilbeck, and posted online in the LA Times, October 8th, just after Los Angeles had been eliminated-prematurely-from the National League Playoffs, in the first round.

The dilemma, according to the author, is that the fans of the recently deposed Dodgers, are not so much worried that their team got beat, but that they now must choose between two less than savory teams, for which to root in the National League Championship Series: hated, arch-rival San Francisco, or the St. Louis Cardinals, a team “we’ve had our fill of around here.”

These are fans of the team in LA with the highest payroll in baseball, which just made an embarrassingly brief appearance in the tournament that separates ballplayers who are better at stats, than the ones who are better at bats.

In response to the question posed in the title of the piece, No Dodgers fans, you do not have to root for either the Giants or the Cards. You may root for the Beverly Hillbillies, instead, if you choose.  Cy Young knows, with an attention span the length of a Yasiel Puig/Madison Bumgarner confrontation, it doesn’t really matter which team LA fans root for.

July 6, 2013; San Francisco, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Yasiel Puig (66) walks back to the dugout after striking out against the San Francisco Giants during the first inning at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: ©Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

No sooner will Dodgers fans have their televisions tuned into the NLCS, then it will be time for the latest installment of “Oprah does Springer” and they will collectively forget that there was once a pitching star named Clayton Kershaw, who dissolved under the glare of October lights.

Of the San Francisco fans, to whom he referred as “chip-on-the-shoulder fans” he opined,

“They’re cultured! They drink wine! They have cool bridges! [This next part is quite profound.] They try really hard to talk themselves into stuff, but they can’t let go of their Los Angeles envy.” Delusional is the first word that comes to my mind, and nothing else sidles up to get in line behind delusional.

LosAngeles envy? Are Northern Californians supposed to be attracted to concrete?

NorCal people are attracted to what about LA? Asphalt? Congestion? Mickey Mouse? Tar pits?

Traffic? Smog? Plastic? Most everything most NorCal residents find unpalatable, is embodied in the artificial culture of SoCallywood.

As for the St. Louis fans, “…it’s that sanctimonious feeling of both their players and their fans…because they’re this wondrous mid-market team that does things ‘right.’” That would mean that the Cardinals develop players from within the organization (seventeen of the 25 players on the 25-man playoff roster) as opposed to having Magic Johnson just write a check. It’s so much simpler.

The author concludes by suggesting that Dodgers fans simply “go neutral” and that “…we’ll wake you when it’s time for the World Series.”

Giants and Cardinals fans had a hard time placing any credibility in the author’s claims. After all, in order to take any of his comments seriously, Giants fans would have to get past the part about the Dodgers fans going to sleep until the World Series begins.

You see, San Francisco and St. Louis fans were under the impression that Los Angeles fans were never actually awake in the first place; that would at least explain the presence of a Yasiel Puig on the team.