Nine to ZERO??? Seriously?? WOW!

The 28th is a bittersweet day for me.

But now, it is more sweet than bitter.

The San Francisco Giants, otherwise known to some as the 'misfits and outcasts' have again....against all odds it seems.........kicked some serious Texas butt! 

The underdog...outcast...misfit.......whatever description you choose to use for the SF Giants........is the year's Cinderella story........and, perhaps the greatest in the archives of baseball history.

I lived in TX for 8 years, and was fairly content there for most of that time.  Yet, I did find some people to be hypocritical.......vastly conservative, and have a penchant for clenching on to old ideas that are long past their shelf date (i.e.:  not allowing evolution and intelligent design to be mentioned in the schools, drilling for fossil fuels, a glut of SUVs, an endless sea of fast food chains and shopping malls, etc.).  It was hard not to love the people that had so much pride for their state.  Yet equally hard was it to embrace people that were so arrogant, ignorant, and unenlightened. Someone said that 'Texas is all hat, and no cattle', and while this is a gross overgeneralization and a stereotype, I have to say that a lot of 'cowboys' that I met personally in Texas were emphatically NOT the 'real deal'.

 This is not a generalization of the people in Texas.  I met many bright and open-minded people.  Yet, it never felt like 'home' to me, and as chameleon-like as I can be when it comes to trying on new destinations to see how they 'fit'...........I always felt like an outsider.  Perhaps, even like an outcast or 'misfit' at times.  Sometimes, I even felt judged.

So, I moved to the 'Island of other misfit toys'.........and, I couldn't be happier.  People who are 'different' are embraced here.  New ideas and even radical ones are encouraged, and not shut down.  'Liberal' is not a dirty word.  It is an open, accepting, and progressive place.  It is a place that seems to take the understudies, put them in the spotlight, and turn them into the brightest stars.  And yet  all the swagger and flash and trash-talk are suprisingly absent.  You can walk down the street and see people dressed in t-shirts and levis.  You don't see the flash....the big hair...designer jeans and jewelry...fake lips and boobs...expensive cowboy boots and trucks...untucked shirts...and, the infamous 'gentleman's clubs'.  You walk around and, for the most part, see a very diverse group of people that seem to NOT want to call attention to themselves, and who are hard at work on trying to solve many of the world's problems.  I haven't been here very long at all.....but never have I lived anywhere where I felt more 'at home'.  You notice the beauty of the land...not the ostentatiousness of the people.  You see hard work and an 'anything is possible' spirit.......without any BS or swagger.  So.......while it may be absolutely shocking for several people in this country that the Giants made it to the Series and now have 2 wins under their belt.....it doesn't seem shocking to me at all.  The story of the San Francisco Giants is merely an analogy for the often maligned 'Left Coast' in general, and all the misfits and outcasts who live here.  While others may see  mice, I see horses; where others see a rat, I see a coachman; where others see lizards, I see royal footmen.  And, at the end of the ball, when some people see a simple country wench..........I know who the princess is, who will end up wearing the glass slipper.

NINE TO ZERO!  WOW!!