SAN FRANCISCO Class vs. Crass.
That's the way San Francisco Giants fans see their hostilerivalry with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Most seasons, Giants fans are happy just to see the Dodgerslose. But this year there's actually something at stake - the NLWest championship. And that's reinvigorated one of baseball'sfiercest feuds, although just how fierce depends which side you'reon.
'The Dodgers were created by Satan,' San Francisco Chroniclecolumnist Jon Carroll wrote in Monday's editions. 'Most baseballfans know that. They are a group of evil men with evil intentions.They wear royal blue and play before fans who do not care anythingabout baseball.'
OK, maybe that attitude is a bit exaggerated. But most Giantsfans aren't shy about revealing their hatred of the National Leagueneighbors to the south.
'It's a pure sports hate,' Danny Broone said at a recent Giantsgame. 'I grew up with the concept of the rivalry. You're taughtthat if nothing else goes right during the season, at least beat theDodgers.'
Broone said he attends several Dodgers-Giants games each year,but won't take his two young sons because crowds can get a little too'vehement.'
'It's not so much that you hate those people, but they'restanding in the way of the pennant title,' said Broone's wife,Trisha, a newly converted Giants fan. Her husband said it's only amatter of time before she also despises the Dodgers.
When the Dodgers play in San Francisco, wearing Dodger blue canmean constant razzing by fans. And chants of 'Beat L.A.! BeatL.A.!' are standard - even when the two teams aren't playing eachother - when the scoreboard shows the Dodgers losing.
Bleacher brawls used to be common when the Dodgers came to town,although that subsided in recent years after beer sales were cut offafter the seventh inning.
Any love between the Giants and Dodgers may have been foreverlost the day San Francisco pitcher Juan Marichal clubbed Los Angelescatcher John Roseboroca with a bat.
Aug. 22, 1965, sometimes known as 'Bloody Sunday,' is a daystill remembered fondly by many fans of the Giants, who beat theDodgers in more ways than one. After the ensuing brawl, Willie Mayshit a 450-foot three-run homer off Sandy Koufax to give the Giants a4-3 victory.
Giants manager Dusty Baker - himself a former Dodger - keeps aglass-framed photo of the brawl on his stadium office wall.
'Roseboro deserved it. He needed an attitude adjustment,' saidDennis Denzinger, who peddles souvenirs at Giants games.
As far as Denzinger and other Northern California Giants fansare concerned, Los Angeles is a car-dependent, celebrity-obsessed,smoggy, crime-ridden mess. It's not exactly their first vacationdestination.
Many Dodger fans, on the other hand, said they have no personalgripe with the Giants or their city. The Giants are the team to beatthis year, just as the San Diego Padres stood in the way of thedivision title last year.
'I've got a lot of respect for the Giants,' Peter George said ashe watched the Dodgers on television at a sports bar in Los Angeles.'They've got a lot of good players. It's a great place, a beautifulplace.'
If there are any complaints, it's that Giants fans can be a bittoo intense.
'They've got to learn to chill,' said Tom Wade, anothersports-bar patron.
'It's a very nice city, but it'll never be another L.A. We'recool down here, we go with the flow. San Francisco is locked intotheir culture, we're not.'
Baseball historian Eric Solomon said the reason for thediffering attitudes goes back to the teams' New York roots.
The New York Giants won five World Series titles, while theBrooklyn Dodgers were perennial losers, though they did win thechampionship once, in 1955. Since they moved to California in 1958,the Dodgers have won the World Series five times, while the Giantshave lost both times they made it there.
'The Dodgers go to L.A. and they are real winners, said Solomon,a San Francisco State University professor. 'The Giants go to SanFrancisco, and while they have some great players, they are notwinners. Suddenly, the images are reversed.
'It would seem somewhat logical that there is always a sense ofinsecurity about the Giants. And there is always the sense about theDodgers that they know how to win.'
Not exactly the kind of psychology Giants fans want to hear.Still, they are hopeful Barry Bonds and Rod Beck will outlast theDodgers, perhaps creating another great moment - like BobbyThomson's 'Shot Heard Round the World' to win the 1951 pennant.
