News Views: #sfriots after Giants Victory

I was delighted to read this morning that the San Francisco Giants have won their first World Series for 56 years. I find it incredible that once again the World Series has been won by an American team; it’s almost as if no-one else cares about baseball. As an Englishman I see baseball as the American equivalent of cricket, I’m sure people will vehemently disagree with this but come on, it’s essentially two games where one man throws a ball as hard as he can at another man whilst he’s holding some sort of wooden bat. In England we have a healthy respect for cricketers and the national side gets a lot of coverage but how annoying is it when you flick on Sky Sports News and it’s county cricket coverage?

In America it’s quite a different story, Alex Rodriguez, currently seen as the world’s best baseball player (I say world...) recently secured a $275 million contract with the Yankees. His previous contract was worth $252 (by the way this blog isn’t just about massive contracts, they’ll never be mentioned again) so I think it’s safe to say baseball players are a little more revered than cricketers. Its just seen as cooler, I mean can you imagine Jay-Z championing the Yorkshire Cricket Club hat look?

Talking of cool, I was in Frisco this summer and I must say it is one of the best cities I have ever been to. From the sheer grandeur of the Golden Gate Bridge to the intricacies of the cities backstreets, overflowing with vintage clothes shops. The hills the city sits upon are so steep it makes you wonder why they bothered building it in the first place but the result makes you glad they did. L.A has the stars and the Hollywood history, San Diego has the climate and beaches but there is something about San Fran that sets it apart; easily the hippest city in California.

Alex is smashing up a door LOL

But not last night. The fans of the Giants very much lost their cool and took the unusual step of celebrating their title win with a good, honest riot. Whatever happened to an open top bus parade? According to American press this has become something of a trend in America with riots occurring after the Boston Celtics took the NBA crown in ’08 and again in Los Angeles when the Lakers won in ’09. Philadelphia saw similar scenes when their team won the World Series a couple of years back. And on the topic of trends, almost unbelievably last night saw the rise to prominence of ‘cyber hooliganism’, with participants tweeting from the riots under the trending topic #sfriots. Crazier still, would be hooligans were using FourSquare to check in to areas ‘with the most action’. I don’t know about you but I would struggle to write a succinct review of a location whilst kicking in a car door.

So congratulations to the Giants for ending their drought. But if you win again can you promise not to riot. And if you do have to riot can people join in without having to join the Facebook group first.