It’s almost impossible to describe the last 48 hours of my life, as one of my life long dreams have come true. After game one of the World Series, we had gone to dinner with the Detroit Tigers infield coach Rafael Belliard, for his birthday, at The House of Prime Rib in San Francisco. While waiting for our table, we started talking about our experience at the Detroit Tigers World Series game 1. I became teary eyed and almost started to cry!
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I had started thinking about my Great Grandma Gambino, who used to take me to Detroit Tigers games growing up. She had Tigers season tickets and all she wanted to see was a World Series. Grandma, I wish you were here today so I could share this moment with you. My Great Grandpa would ask me what my dreams were? If you could make anything happen what would they be? I didn’t want to be a doctor or a scientist, and money didn’t really matter to me. I was already in love with sports and knew what I wanted. I replied at 7 years old with these following answers:
I want to win a high school football State Championship
I want to win a college football National Championship
I want to win or go to a Super Bowl as a Detroit Lion fan or player
I want to win or go to the World Series as a Detroit Tigers player or fan
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At that age I did not realize the odds were less than 1 percent, but my Great Grandpa made me feel as if they were 99.
On Wednesday October 24th, 2012 my baseball dream came true. Not only did I get to experience a Detroit Tigers World Series game, I was able to see both game 1 and 2 with a full VIP experience…
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Game 1
Entering AT&T Park
The crowd was on their feet ready to go hours before the game. This was a great atmosphere, as everyone was twirling their towels and rooting their home team on.
Hours before the game we hit the street with our Tigers gear on ready to get haggled. Stay Classy San Francisco, as you are one of the best home crowds I have seen in years. I did have a lot of trash talk come my way, but in an appropriate manner, which I respect.
Some of the comments I did respect (which show a lot of class and knowledge from the city!):
“You guys are terrible on the west coast this year, we can take these home games”
“Our pitching and hitting is hot, too much for your Tigers to handle”
“Eww! Tigers fans”
“Do you really think you can come to San Francisco and win?”
Hello People!There are women and children at these games! Let’s work harder to set proper examples. I am excluding the drunk idiots who have no respect for families around them. Here are some examples of what not to do. By all means put these people in check as it is very disrespectful to our athletes. My best friend named Brock, had to turn around and do such a thing. These no class drunk fans were out of control and yelling out things like:
“Get off your knees ump, you’re blowing the game” ( You do live in San Francisco… )
“It looks like Detroit is battling San Fran for the gayest team in MLB”
“Justin Verlander Sucks” ( He is the best pitcher in baseball… you’re drunk)
“Detroit sucks! You guys are worthless!” ( That’s why we’re in the World Series… you’re drunk )
” Any swear word + “sucks”
” Detroit is a bunch of P*s*ies”
“putting your middle finger in someone’s World Series video
Brock finally turned around and very quietly so only they could hear said, “do you realize what it says on my coat? We are the murder capital you do not talk to people from our city that way, I would hate to see you get knocked out before this game ends”. He then turned around and the fans shut up for the rest of the game!
As I said, every stadium has the drunk people who have no respect for the game or families around them. I am not taking away from the San Francisco Giants fans as you represented your team in a very classy fashion. A man four rows back was yelling out “Verlander Sucks”. I turned around and asked him “do you watch baseball or are you just drunk, you’re yelling out Verlander SUCKS when his whole family is sitting right here. He is clearly the best pitcher in baseball!”. Two innings later the fan saw me go towards the concessions, not only did he come and say sorry he offered to buy my round of drinks. He then told me “I actually respect you guys and you have a great team. I have had a few to many and I really want this Championship.” I accepted, I said thank you, and good luck Giants but GO TIGERS! We then said cheers, we chugged our beers and headed to our seats. I also had great classy fans go out of their way to come up to me and say “thank you for making the trip out, we are very fortunate to be here and have an opponent like Detroit” a lot of fans said “Welcome to San Francisco, this is going to be a great series.”
Game 2: A life changing experience
We scooped up a wild throw by Doug Fister while he was warming up for Game 2. This is what real fans do because I respect the sport, I realize it is just a ball, and that kid wanted a World Series baseball so bad! Since one of my dreams was complete, I was more than happy to help him get his.
Our seats for Game 2. Right behind the dugout!
It was a sad trip for us Detroit fans, but I ended the night with a big smile on my face for what I had experienced the last four hours. Not only was I able to attend my first World Series game, I was able to travel on the buses with the Detroit tigers family. It was a dream come true and I had a blast. They had given us field passes and we were able to go into the Tigers dugout!
The Gold Refinery Crew in the dugout
I am so fortunate to have a job with a company called The Gold Refinery that the man in the middle named Norman Bean created. I am so blessed to have Norman and his son Brock Bean as best friends. They have done so much for me in my life and now topped it off with a World Series Dream. I can’t thank Norman enough for making this happen, along with Coach Belliard and his gorgeous wife Leonora for hooking us up with family tickets and field passes. What a classy and down to earth couple. I was so happy to have met them and experience a birthday dinner with one of the best coaches in baseball. It was the best experience of my life!
Dinner with the Belliards
Leonora Belliard and I cheering for the Detroit Tigers
Detroit, I hope you have the same respect back home for the Giants fans. No fighting or swearing. Just root the tigers on and we will come back and win the World Series!!!
I am going to finish the article with some highlights from my World Series trip, as I still cannot get over what I experienced.
Doug Fister and the Gold Boys downtown San Francisco
Heading back towards the Detroit Tigers locker room the bat boy biffed one!The icing on the cake for my World Series trip. FIELD PASSES!
There just isn’t enough time to take an experience in like this. We did our best with videos and pictures.
Taking a pic in the dugout
I really hope this article gets to our Detroit City fan base. Please represent our city with class and cheer for the Detroit Tigers in a positive fashion. The city of San Francisco really made my World Series trip a great one, so appreciate the Giants fans for coming across the country to root their home team on.
