Observations from Attending My First Giants Game in 2008

I attended my first game of the 2008 season in San Francisco last night when the Giants played the Mets. The Mets won 9-6 and scored about 8 runs in the fifth inning. I left my seat at the end of the fourth inning so I missed out on almost all the fun. Here are my observations and notes from the game.

• Barry Zito sucks. The fans got behind him in the beginning but turned on him once he got in trouble and started giving up walks and hits.  Here is a video of Zito I took attempting to throw a strike - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEc9pw1Aw7M
• The Giants try to pretend that Barry Bonds never existed. They don't sell his jersey anymore or have anything in the park to remember him by. I did see one guy with a Barry Bonds jersey.
• The Giants have set up tables outside each entrance gate where fans have to open up their backpacks and purses for inspection by security before they are allowed to enter the park. The security guard told me they started doing this a few weeks ago. He inspected my backpack and asked me if I had any weapons such as knives, boxcutters, or guns with me. Of course, I said no. I wonder if he asked the white old lady behind me if she had knives or guns too!
• Last night was really really cold and windy. It reminded me of the Candlestick Park days!
• I saw former Rolling Stone editor and music journalist Ben Fong-Torres at the park. He was on the same train with me and was telling his friend how terrible Zito is. 
  
• Zito is always a topic of discussion with fans. They always discuss his salary and how he is the worst acquisition ever for the Giants.
• What happened to all the pretty girls? I guess chicks do dig the long ball and since Bonds is gone, so are the hotties. Maybe they will show up in the summer when the weather heats up?
• There were lots of Mets fans in attendance wearing their Mets jerseys, hats, and jackets. I saw some Beltran, Wright, and Santana jerseys. 
• The park was filled up for a Tuesday night and there were not a lot of empty seats in the lower levels or in the bleachers. 
• The ushers are overly aggressive and rude. Nothing has changed from past seasons I guess. I saw two confrontations between fans and ushers. The confrontations ended up with the fans storming away angry and the ushers with a smug smile on their face. Is this how you want to treat your season-ticket holders and fans?  
• One usher came up to me and asked me where my seat was. I told him I had no idea and walked away.
• I missed out on the big fifth inning by the Mets because I was playing Gran Turismo on the new Playstation 3s they had in the club level.  I saw many Giants fans leaving and I thought the game was over. I walked to a TV and saw that the score was 9-3. 
• I was in the elevator leaving and the Giants employee operating the elevator  yelled "Going down" and one fan responded by saying "Just like the Giants" which made everyone laugh. The employee asked what the score was and some fan said it was 30-3. 
• Lou Seal is the most entertaining Giant. I would rather see him pitch than Zito. I am sure Lou can hit better than Brian Bocock or any other player pretending to be a major leaguer. Here is a video of  Lou Seal being funny