Bay Area fans, count your blessings
Nice year for Bay Area pro sports teams not named the Warriors.
Take out a calculator and do the math. The Giants and A’s combined for a 139-185 record this past season (winning percentage: .429). The 49ers and Raiders enter Sunday’s games at 3-11 collectively (winning percentage: .214).
Hey, let’s fire everyone! The line forms behind former Giants pitching coach Dave Righetti, “reassigned” last weekend to a nebulous role. Really, what did he ever do?
Oh, wait. He presided over a pitching staff that propelled his championship-starved franchise to three World Series titles in five years. Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner blossomed into stars on Righetti’s watch. He’s smart, savvy and classy.
Nah, the Giants don’t need a guy like him coaching pitchers.
This seems like a good time for Bay Area fans (and club executives) to take a deep breath. Relax. Remember what a remarkable decade this has been for pro sports teams around here.
It’s a crazy idea in this Twitter-driven era, contemplating more than the past five minutes, but let’s try. To briefly review the ledger starting in 2010:
Giants: Three championships.
Warriors: Two championships, three consecutive NBA Finals appearances.
49ers: Three straight NFC Championship Games, including one Super Bowl (2012 season). Raiders: 12-4 last season Sharks: First trip to the Stanley Cup Finals (2016), plus two other conference finals appearances.
A’s: Three consecutive playoff berths (2012-14).
Wow, that sounds like a market languishing in sports purgatory. How on earth do we ever find entertainment? Should we put paper bags over our heads, like Saints fans back in the day?
Winning is not a birthright. Giants fans became spoiled in the wake of their team’s glorious run. Fans of the 49ers became spoiled a generation ago, during their team’s longer run of glory. Warriors fans are spoiled right now.
So even if the 49ers are in a massive rebuilding project … and even if the A’s have been irrelevant the past three years … and even if the Giants were unwatchable all summer …
All in all, we still have it pretty good.