The San Francisco Giants World Champion Trophy Tour made a stop at Chukchansi Park in Fresno California on April 5, 2011.
Chuckhansi Park is home of the Fresno Grizzlies, the Triple A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants.
Even though the tour stop was in Grizzlies country, the day was all about Giants fans.
The gates were supposed to open at 12:00 pm. With the line threatening to stretch all the way down the street and around the corner, the staff was forced to open up at 11:30 am.
The long lines didn’t seem to discourage the Giants faithful. Fans were in good spirits as they waited in line to get a chance to see the trophy and get a picture of themselves while standing next to the hardware.
There has been a lot of legendary players in the Giants organization. Only time will tell if any of the current players on the defending champions' team will ever be held in that regard, but fans are very happy with what the Giants achieved in 2010.
Regardless, legends are still roaming the halls of the the minds of Giants fans.
“It was just like back in the Juan Marichal days and Willie Mays and all that,” Said Eddie Alvarez, a fan who was about halfway through the line to see the trophy.
Some fans have been waiting over 50 years to see the giants win a World Series.
“The last time the Giants won a World Series I was two years old,” long time fan Frank Sipes said. Sipes went to his first Giants game in 1963.
When Frank was asked about the emotions he felt after the final out of the 2010 world series he wasn’t shy about his feelings.
“I got a little choked up,” he said. “I was happy, I was really happy.”
Longtime fan Robbin Moore had her own type of emotions: “I felt like if they could do it I could fulfil my dreams, it was very uplifting for me,” said Moore, who was there with some special needs friends from her employer Vocation Plus INC.
The last time the Giants won a World Series, the franchise was in New York and the year was 1954. No worries for Giants fans though, the long road to a championship didn't seem to bother the fans as they seamed almost giddy at times as they inched closer to the trophy.
Days like this are what being a sports fan is all about. As a fan, you take the good with the bad and all sports franchises have their share of bad, but when the team finally breaks through, the bad times are all but forgotten.
There wasn’t a lot of pageantry on this day, just fans brought together to revel in the teams' recent triumph that they have waited so long to experience.
It was a day to just be proud to be a Giants fan.
Gean May Is a Contributor for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand or from interview materials from the Fresno Grizzlies.
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