FanPost

Dear Warriors: The East Bay needs you

I've lived in the East Bay for my entire life. I was born in Walnut Creek, I grew up in Danville, I ventured up the road to Davis for college, and now I've completed the circle by returning to the Dub-C (do people still call it that?) -- I live four blocks from the hospital in which I was brought into the world.

As with most sports fans, my region of origin determined which teams I would follow to the grave. That meant the Oakland A's, who played half an hour down the highway from my childhood home. That meant the San Francisco 49ers, since there were no Oakland Raiders until I was 10 years old and their return brought only hassle and inconvenience to my first love, the A's. And that meant the Golden State Warriors, although it wasn't until college that I was really turned on to basketball.

I'm still waiting for my parade. The A's won the World Series when I was four years old, but I didn't yet know what baseball was -- my first clear memory of the sport comes from 1991, right after the team had finished reaching three straight Fall Classics and right before it was plunged into a decade of utter futility. The Niners won when I was nine, but I wasn't into football yet (and I'm still not, really, though at least I watch it now when there's nothing better to do on Sunday). The first thing I really remember about the Warriors is Chris Webber leaving, so I first witnessed a winning basketball team toward the end of my college experience, when Baron Davis led the squad. Sure, the Giants have won a couple of titles lately, but they simply aren't my team of choice. It's like watching something really good happen to your older brother -- I'm happy for you, bro, but it doesn't really do me any good in my own quest for success. If anything, the pangs of jealousy make it even worse.

Last night's A's game, the five-hour, heart-wrenching, gut-punching loss to the Kansas City Royals, hit me hard. I've watched my team reach the playoffs eight times since 2000, and in six of the first seven they lost the fifth contest in a five-game first-round series. In the seventh year, they made it out of that first series only to get swept in the next one. They played a total of four different teams in those eight series, so it was usually the same enemies defeating them over and over and over. And now, in what was supposed to be the peak season in which those demons were vanquished, with the team designed specifically to succeed where its predecessors had failed, they didn't even make it to that first-round series. Not only did they not correct those past failures, they didn't even get the chance to. Meanwhile, the Niners have spent the last three seasons within arm's length of the Lombardi Trophy but unable to seal the deal. The Warriors have tasted success but are yet to gulp it down. And if you're a hockey fan who follows the Sharks, well, my heart goes out to you.

As a sports fan, I am broken. It won't last forever, but right now I am broken. After all the stratospheric highs of this Oakland A's season, to have it all dashed away in one ridiculous night, I'm finding it difficult to see how I can get excited about my team again until the day after they've won a title. If I couldn't even trust a club this good, that accomplished so much for so many months, how can I trust any team again? It seems like no matter what happens, the wrong guy will slump at the wrong time, or the risky trade will go pear-shaped, or the key player will get hurt at the last minute -- whether that be Andrew Bogut in the final days of the regular season, or Kyle Williams in a crucial, exploitable moment, or Geovany Soto in the one situation where he was absolutely necessary. It always goes wrong.

I don't get another shot at the World Series for 12 more months. That's gonna be a long wait, and I've never felt such a lack of anticipation for spring training. If MLB just took 2015 off and came back the next year, I think I'd be OK with that. But in the meantime, I need something to bring me back to life, to restore my faith in sports and probability and the universe in general. I need some team in the Bay Area to step up and fill that void. It's not looking like it'll be the Niners this year, and it sure as hell won't be the Raiders, who seem more interested in pushing the A's out of Oakland than actually winning games. It won't be the Giants, even if they win it all again this month, because they just aren't my guys. Though I'll be happy for all my brothers if they get to celebrate again.

So it is up to you, Warriors. You've improved the last few years without losing that flair that makes you the most exciting squad in the NBA. You have the superstar in Curry, a guy I remember from his college days when I would fill out my NCAA bracket. You have Klay and Bogut and Lee, the strong supporting cast. You have Iguodala, the brilliant free agent addition, the guy meant to tie all the pieces together -- sort of the Jon Lester, to make a clunky analogy. You have Draymond, possibly the single most enjoyable thing to watch in Bay Area sports right now -- no offense to Curry. You have a new coach, who brings with him new expectations and new hope. You've finally got an owner who gives a crap.

It's all there, fellas. The star power, the complete team (bench notwithstanding until we see some games), the rabid fanbase, the exciting style of play, and even the defense. You have the defense. That's still a weird sentence to write about the Warriors, but it's true.

East Bay sports fans are hurting. Our worlds have been rocked and our dedication has not been rewarded. We need a win, and we need it badly. The Warriors are not a perfect team, probably not even among the top few favorites, and the competition they face will be daunting. But the one thing I've learned about sports is that logic is never a requirement to get from the beginning to the final result, that the only real requirement is showing up with solid odds and that sometimes the universe takes care of the rest. The Warriors odds are solid at worst, and that brings with it the best and worst possible thing -- hope.

So that is my plea to you, Warriors. Bring me my trophy. Bring me my parade. The A's, my true love, my pride and joy, failed to do it yet again, and the baseball gods seemed to take particular glee in mocking my brethren and me throughout the tortuous journey. So heal my wounds by taking me to the promised land that my other teams can't seem to reach. We need you now, more than ever. I need you. I want to believe again.

This FanPost is a submission from a member of the mighty Golden State of Mind community. While we're all here to throw up that W, these words do not necessarily reflect the views of the GSoM Crew. Still, chances are the preceding post is Unstoppable Baby!