San Francisco Giants 2012 FanFest—a big yawn
If standing in line for three hours to get an autograph is your thing, then no doubt you had a great time at the San Francisco Giants’ annual FanFest today.
I went the past two years and I can tell you from my own experience, it ain’t all that.
Today’s event drew an estimated 36,000 fans, most of them wearing Panda hats and Tim Lincecum or Buster Posey jerseys. Many more wore Matt Cain shirts.
Roseville’s D.J. Silva showed up in his latest Brian Wilson look-a-like garb. (Dude nailed it again.)
All of them—however differently they may have shown their love for the Giants today—had one thing in common…
They all had to wait. Again and again.
Want a picture of the 2010 World Series trophy? Wait in line.
Want to visit the Giants clubhouse? There’s a line for that, too.
Some camped out overnight, thinking the gates might close early again (like last year). They didn’t. The Giants changed some things around this year to make sure everyone got in.
After all, how can you maximize your Giants merchandise sales if people are stuck outside?
I thought about going again this year, but my son had Little League tryouts at 8:00 this morning, and we had a Kings game in Sacramento this evening. “Squeezing in” a Giants FanFest would have sent me over the edge for sure.
Based on what I saw on Twitter and Facebook, parking around AT&T Park, as expected, was a bitch. The trains were overcrowded. Fans were pushy.
On the KNBR stage, it was more of the same talking points we’ve heard since the season ended.
In other words, today’s Fanfest was a big yawner.
If I’m going to wade through a crowd like this…
…I want to see a ball game.
But that’s just me.
For those of you who went, my hat’s off to you. I’m sure many—if not most—of you had a really great time.
Yet, many of you are probably thinking about staying home next year for one reason or another 36,000.
Spring training is almost the opposite. You can get much closer to the players; they’re actually a lot friendlier. Autographs are plentiful (and you don’t have to wait in a long line to get one). And the weather’s even nicer than it was today in San Francisco.
And they actually play baseball.
Scottsdale, anyone?
12 Responses to San Francisco Giants 2012 FanFest—a big yawn
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I agree. Been a fan for 32+ yrs (yes I’m old). Realized I’m a fan of my team not of individuals, unfortunately they come & go.
Having said that, I loved the whole casting call experience because I love the #SFGiants team.
amen, that blog post nailed it. Re-thinking Scottsdale. #actualbaseball
Dident go either…..worked instead! Cant wait for opening day!
I went with no expectations of getting an autograph or meeting a player. I just wanted to have fun, and I did! I want baseball, too, Troy, but I couldn’t help myself. This was just so much fun. I give my take over at my baseball blog, Grubby Glove.
Appreciate the perspective as always, Michael. Glad you had a good time! (By the way, readers, you can find Michael’s post here → http://grubbyglove.wordpress.com/2012/02/05/san-francisco-giants-fanfest/)
fan Fest was awesome
Okay, I understand that there were close to 40,000 people there. Don’t have one if you can’t run it right. The people that set up fanfest knew beforehand that there was going to be a massive turnout. Before fanfest, it was advertised all over the internet that players were to be signing autographs for the fans and that you can even get a picture taken with them. They didn’t even have a photo booth. Why not? The only thing they did right was spreading out the autograph stations very far away from one another in order to spread everything out. As for getting autographs, that was the worse system I’ve ever seen. You never knew who you were standing in line for. They rotated players with no set schedule (easier for the people running it of course), there was no consistency or adaquate system in place and people waited on average 3-5 hours on line AT ONE STATION! And people have the adacity to say that there were so many other things to do besides waiting on line for autographs? Trust me, MOST of the people coming to Fanfest were there for the autographs. I’m not saying all, I said MOST. If the sole purpose of certain people were to come and get autographs and you have to wait on line all day then how can you see anything else? The people running this didn’t account for that? This Fanfest was a mess. Period. They need to make a 2-3 day thing out of this. There are a ton of Giants fans, they know that, but their system is aweful. Another problem was that the players kept rotating so you get all excited to meet Cain or Posey then wind up with someone else that is barely on their roster. I think fans should have the option of meeting who they want and they should know what time and place that players will be with a set schedule in place. I’m not saying that guarantees a Lincecum or Cain autograph, but it at least is a better system and gives people the best chance to get one. That’s all that I am saying. I’ve been to several other MLB team fanfests before and aLL of them had a better system than the Giants Fanfest one. The Giants Fanfest system was by far the worst. Not knowing who the heck that you are even standing on line for is aweful. Most people walked out with zero to 2 autographs and they waited on line all day. Some people blame those fans for waiting that long (they have the option of not waiting, I realize that), but I say why the heck advertise autograph signings in the first place (like it’s the biggest attraction there), unless it works properly? Kids left that fanfest crying that they couldn’t get an autograph, as well they should. If you can’t run it with that many people, then make it a 2 or 3 day event and stick to a schedule and not a free for all. At least that will give people a chance or give them an idea so they don’t waste their time. That is exactly what this fanfest was….a waste of time….WHAT A MESS. The worst one I have ever been to, by far. I’m sure the people that can care less about autographs will have plenty to say about my comments, but that just leads me to believe that they just weren’t there for autographs as their priority. Based on what I saw, most fans were, so save it.
I had friends who went who had a great time. But they are diehard fans. just sayin
I went and it was alright…but then again I didn’t line up for autographs. After that Niners loss my husband and I wanted to go and get excited for something again, which we did.
I had the best time of my life this year. Last year was the worst time of my life. Last year I was in line across McCovey Cove at 7 am and got in only to wait in line and never get an autograph or hear an interview. This year I got there at 5am, parking was free in Lot A , I was second in line and got 4 autographs right away. While waiting in line for another (2) autographs I met a women and her son. Her son had never gotten an autograph before and his favorite player was Buster Posey. With a little bit of luck (and connections), we got the autograph schedule and got Timmy and Buster’s autographs. Thinking about calling it a day, I grabbed a beer and listened to some interviews. After 30 minutes of interviews, I was heading out the gate when I heard a gentleman yell “Clubhouse Tours”. No lines there, barely anybody in my tour and it was beyond my expectations. We came out through the dugout, I grabbed another beer, met up with a friend, grabbed a few things in the dugout stores and headed home. It was one of the best days of my life. I think everyone expects to get a Lincecum, Posey, Cain, or Wilson autograph. True fans will take anything, wait anywhere for any period of time just to say hi to Brett Pill.
Wow, Luke, sound like you definitely had a great time! Looks like the early bird caught the worm! Thanks for your perspective.