My first year in 2012, this team inspired me an immeasurable amount. They taught me through each inning and each play and each game what it means to believe in yourself and beat the odds.
To forget about the numbers.
To rewrite history.
To carve, create, and chart new records.
That was my first year in LA.
Their journey propelled mine. Their motivation drove mine. Their tenacity challenged mine, pushing me farther and moving me forward.
Their stamina reinforced mine.
Their resolute resolve strengthened mine.
In 2013, we didn't stop believing. We believed in the #evenyears.
For 2014, I started my dream job. But I sought to push myself more.
More of a difference could be made, more of an impact could be created, more of a journey to telling stories that matter could be forged. I had to prove myself.
Once again, I looked to the Giants for inspiration. Two World Series championship titles in the span of three years and they hadn't become complacent. They were still working harder than ever.
I marked down games in my Google calendar, color-coding the chunks orange. I watched from my apartment in Los Angeles, in person when we played in LA, and then in London as I went on work trips during the regular and post-season. I wore orange to work on our red carpets.
I told the story of the Giants. Got others to believe.
With our wildcard game, we played fully with our equally wild hearts. And as we advanced in the postseason, everyone kept writing us off and out.
But we kept believing.
And we played with our hearts on the field, our names on the line, our backs to the wall.
This is a team that plays for each other. In 2012, it was all about playing for the name on the front; not the back.
In 2014, it was the same rationale. Along with even more inspiration in our arsenal. The #YESYESYES movement and our belief in our #ChampionBlood.
And we prevailed through #OrangeOctober and spent #OctoberTogether.
We can all have those #YESYESYES moments in our lives.
Those magical moments where we're two outs from a one-run loss and we rally back, push the other team into an 18-inning, six-hour-plus game that lasts a total of two days pushing into midnight, and belting out a HOMERUN.
Those unbelievable, is-this-real-life moments where the game is tied with the NL Pennant on the line and Ishi, a player who almost quit baseball altogether after feeling times of defeat throughout his career, hits a walk-off HOMERUN into the stands and we've captured the pennant.
Those incredible moments where we are down by three runs after the first few innings in the World Series Game 4 and instead of our morale plummeting, we start a GIANT rally and score 11 runs on the board, overcoming a deficit, pushing forward, and working beyond our limits for a dream.
Now, we are a dynasty.
When history was against us, we made history.
When everyone else said an away team has not won a Game 7 of the World Series away from home for many decades, we didn't listen.
When everyone else predicted a win from the other team, we shut them out, cheered our own names, and yelled, YES, YES, YES louder than any of the critics, historians, broadcasters.
When everyone else pointed at a time more than a decade ago when our team had won a Game 1, lost Games 2 and 3, won Games 4 and 5, and had to go back to play Games 6 and 7 away from San Francisco and claimed a devastating pattern would recur, we didn't pay any attention.
We remembered the times we overcame deficits. The times we won elimination games. The times we stood together, in black and orange, to prove that TOGETHER WE ARE GIANT.
We prevailed. And we came out World Series Champions. And Kings.
Kings wear rings. Kiss the ring. #CHAMPIONSTOGETHER
Thank you, Giants, for a truly indescribable, wholly unforgettable, and gigantically rewarding 2014.