Another Lucky Bounce

When I started this blog in April of 2010, I had two concerns.  The first was that I wouldn't be able to motivate myself to keep writing regularly.  Thankfully, my continued enjoyment with blogging and the support that I've received from my small-but-loyal pack of followers has turned this into a non-issue.  My second worry was that I'd run out of material, particularly because I would soon be a fan of East Coast teams living on the West Coast. Without local New York area games to attend, what would I write about?  Could I find enough Bay Area sporting events that were simultaneously worthy of Caught Looking coverage, worth my hard-earned money and interesting to my audience?

In this second regard, I couldn't have been more fortunate over the past fifteen months.  The New York Giants' victory over Green Bay yesterday, which results in them heading to nearby San Francisco for the NFC Championship game this coming Sunday, is just the most recent example of how sports scheduling and circumstances have fallen my way over the past year and a half.  On Sunday, I'll be attending the Giants vs. 49ers game in person, which will be the second time I've had the chance to see the Giants visit Candlestick Park this year.  Had San Francisco instead come up short this past Saturday, however, I'd be watching at home as Big Blue traveled to New Orleans.  Here's a review of the good sports-related luck I've received since I moved to the Bay Area in September of 2010:

• My two years at Stanford happened to coincide with arguably the two greatest seasons in Cardinal football history.  I got to watch Andrew Luck, perhaps the greatest NFL quarterback prospect of the last two decades, in person and for free about ten times over the past few seasons, and attended high-profile games in-person against Oregon, Cal and Washington, among others.  I also got to see the Card play in two BCS Bowl games (albeit not in person) while I was a student here.  Who saw that one coming when I chose to enroll at Stanford?  The men's basketball team is also playing great this season, so maybe I'll get to witness an NCAA Tournament run, too.
• Despite only being in the Bay Area for the first two months of the MLB season, the Braves happened to visit the Giants at AT&T Park early last year.  I made my first trip to AT&T last Easter and, in addition to touring what has since become perhaps my favorite baseball park, saw the Braves win a dramatic road game.  Once I was back on the East Coast for the summer I got the see the Braves play numerous other times against the Mets at Citi Field and once against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park, and though I'm not a Yankees fan I did make it to Oakland to see them play at the-stadium-formerly-known-as-the-Oakland-Coliseum, too.
• While I missed the Knicks' visit to Golden State this season (it was just after Christmas and I was still back in New York), last season I saw a Knicks victory over the Warriors at Oracle Arena in Oakland.  The Islanders don't visit San Jose this season, but last year they did and I was there to see them lose (of course) to the Sharks at beautiful HP Pavilion.  Seeing each team once in two seasons isn't bad, especially considering I went to other Warriors games at Oracle last year and plan to hit up another Sharks game at HP in the next couple of months.

As you can see, it's been a solid year or so to be a Braves, Giants, Knicks and Islanders fan living in the Bay Area.  Hopefully my luck holds out until the end of June, when I'm back on the East Coast for good.  Maybe if I root extra hard, I'll get a Knicks vs. Warriors NBA Finals?  While it seems highly unlikely, that's one of the best things about sports - a fan can always dream.