My Nana (and yes I call her Nana, because if I called her Grandma she wouldn’t even respond — you have to love family traditions) approached me last Easter proposing a wager.
Nana is a bigger Giants fan than anybody I know. That’s saying a lot with all the passionate people I know who claim to bleed orange and black, but Nana’s the only one who keeps written score … every game.
To say my comments regarding the Giants that afternoon were pessimistic would be an understatement. I was predicting a last-place finish in the National League West, along with perhaps the most inept and powerless offense in franchise history.
When a woman in her eighties challenges you to a bet, there’s really no way you can back down without immediately being required to send your credentials to the curators at the “Wuss Hall of Fame.” So when Nana suggested that we wager a dinner on the Giants (if the Giants finish last she buys, I pick up the tab if they finish third or better), I shook her hand said, “It’s a bet.”
My uncle Phil jokingly asked Nana why a true Giants fan wouldn’t bet on her favorite team finishing first, she showed how dim the team’s hopes were this season when she said, “I’m not crazy.” This from a woman who’ll keep score and hope for a win even when the Giants are down by 10 runs. But with the way the Giants have played lately, first place is not as impossible as previously thought.
