Stadium Affair: Polyamory and Professional Sports

By Siouxsie Q Wednesday, Jul 23, 2014

I fell in love with the San Francisco Giants in 2009. I had grown up an Orioles fan, so I already had a proclivity for orange and black-clad underdogs that kept me on the edge of my seat. Being a Giants fan is not for the faint of heart: Even after two World Series wins, there is no certainty. One day they haven’t won consecutive home games in over a month, and the next day Bumgarner and Posey are in a grand slam-hitting contest.

In the 2009 season when tickets were still cheap, my girlfriend and I would often go down to the stadium on a whim to grab a couple of scalped club-level tickets and hold hands under the stadium lights while the wind from the bay made our cheeks burn. Watching baseball feels a whole lot like falling in love.

Stats and trivia aren’t my things. My love of baseball is based entirely on feelings. For me, baseball isn’t about the team with the most skill. As the coach in the musical Damn Yankees will attest, baseball is about the team with the most heart. Anyone who’s seen the way Tim Lincecum gazes towards home plate before he winds up to pitch should be able to see that he plays the game like he’s in love with it.

But it’s not 2009 anymore, and my beloved San Francisco Giants aren’t exactly underdogs these days. Tickets are no longer cheap and I don’t live in San Francisco anymore. Like many other Giants fans, evictions and rising rents have pushed me across the bridge, where the green and…