Saturday 19 March 2011

The difference between Dodger fans and Giant fans



I'm talking about Brooklyn Dodger fans and New York Giant fans.

On January 22, 2011, under the headline “S.F. Giants Return for Fans They Left Behind,” the New York Times reported that a group of San Francisco Giants players and executives returned with their World Series trophy to New York, where they were greeted warmly by many old-time Giant fans. So warmly that Bill Neukom, Giants’ managing general partner and chief executive, was moved to say, “It’s really heartwarming. There’s a sense of a community of Giants fans. You have to be impressed by the devotion.”

Brooklyn fans are different. We don’t forget so easily. I still haven’t forgiven Leo Durocher and Sal Maglie for throwing at Carl Furillo. Nor have I forgiven Charlie Dressen for bringing in Ralph Branca to face Bobby Thomson that day in '51, when Thomson had been lighting up Branca all season. Don't get me started on Charlie Dressen.

With Brooklyn fans the intensity of feeling never seems to go away. A recent Associated Press article quoted two old-time Dodger fans. One says, “Dodger fans hated the Giants. To the core we hated them. The rivalry was unbelievable." Another says, "We hated their uniforms, we hated their ballpark, we hated their announcer and we hated Channel 11 for televising their games." You can tell these guys are still fuming.

Recently a friend reported to me that the Los Angeles Dodgers will be holding some kind of “retro day” this season when they’ll wear the old Brooklyn uniforms with the Brooklyn “B” on their caps. My (cleaned-up) response: “Screw ‘em.”

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