We Made Them Wait. They Made Us Wait. We Were Better At It.

Not the same as Buster Posey's against SD, but STILL GREAT.

The San Francisco Giants won the 2010 World Series. It was the first time in 56 years. It was the first championship in San Francisco. It was the first World Series title that I could remember.

So it follows that San Francisco should live up this title like it hasn't been lived up before. And they did. The city after Game 7 was in uproar (in a good way). There were crowds outside AT&T until the wee hours of the morning to welcome the team bus home. The parade was still being cleaned up on Thanksgiving.

But when the Giants finally returned home to AT&T for their first regular season series as world champions, they took it too far. Whoever organized the festivities should be commended for the fanfare, but should then be repeatedly punched in the kidneys for making the entire Giants fanbase seem like smarmy jerks.

Train playing a song about San Francisco. The entire team entering through the center-field fence. Willie Mays handing off the championship banner. Brian Wilson and his beard climbing up a wall and raising up the flag with "We Are The Champions" in the background.

Great. It took forty minutes, and it was a little cheesy, but great.

Who were those guys on the first base line, though? Oh right, the SAINT LOUIS CARDINALS.

Again, the person who organized the event did a fine job, but having the Cardinals introduced before the festivities even began was a Total Frat Move. I mean, remember when the Giants actually had to play a game on Friday? Tony La Russa looked pretty mad after about 45 seconds of the Train performance. And when La Russa is mad, the opposing team knows. Just ask Dusty Baker.

The Redbirds returned the favor, however, and for every minute that the Giants made them wait, the Cardinals repaid it double in extra innings. And for every moment of awkwardness there was one of torture at the end of the game.

Brian Wilson was mad at the lack of strikes. Mark DeRosa was mad about the abundance of strikes. Ryan Franklin was mad about the resurgent Panda. Panda was mad that people started trimming fat off the sides of their panda masks.

Tony LaRussa was mad at everyone for laughing at his glasses, so he came up with one of the most unique managerial decisions that I have ever seen and put his left-fielder at third base. And Aaron Rowand smashed one down the line, right at LF/3B Allen Craig. (By the way, La Russa should ALWAYS be in the running for Manager of the Year.)

Luckily for us, there are some things that can't be defeated by managerial expertise. Like a bomb off the left-field wall.

Alex Pavlovic tweeted the following:

@AlexPavlovic: Today, we spell redemption R-O-W-A-N-D. #SFGiants

And you know what? If Aaron Rowand is going to be as productive a bench player as he has been, I can't just write him off. He's fighting for a roster spot, and Great Scott! is he fighting for it. He's hitting .600 with 3 runs and a .900 slugging percentage. And for the second straight year, he capped off the home opener with a walkoff hit.

Thank the baseball gods that the Giants won. WIth that pregame display of hubris, the Giants are lucky no one got struck by lightning.

Don't get me wrong, they deserved to celebrate. We just have to remember that 2010 is over and 2011 is here.

We can enjoy this weekend, but hopefully the Giants remember that there's still baseball to play.