Wednesday, May 6, 2009

NKotB Part Three: San Francisco Fightin Friars

HISTORY: This AL West Franchise has resided in Tacoma under 2 different owners, Honolulu under 2 different owners, and now San Francisco under 2 different owners (link to moving from HI to CA story). The previous owner, dsphalinger, was the 5th in the first 5 seasons of the franchise's existence. He took the right approach, built from the ground up, and had the team competitive, finishing over .500 and in 2nd place in each of the past 3 years. Still, this franchise has never made the playoffs. Still the franchise ranks ahead of only 5 others in all-time wins, and is one of just 7 never to make the playoffs.

OUTLOOK: The squad is loaded with home-grown talent. Four top ten draft picks: Mark Hitchcock, Kevin CansecoDude Wheeler, and Rob Ross are on the big league roster (though Canseco is injured). Five others drafted in the first 3 rounds are also on the squad. The team is off to a blazing start, winning 10 of their first 11 to open a 6 game lead on bossmao and Salem, a franchise that's won all 11 division titles.

NAME: While many believe the Fightin Friars moniker to be a shot at the San Diego Padres of MLB, it's actually an astute literary reference made my duece1212. The Friar's Tale is a part of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. The story tells of a Friar and a Summoner that do not get along. You see a Summoner is an ecclesiastical court official whose job is to summon. He's essentially the church's version of a process server, or your basic bounty hunter. duece12 actually took literature with Dog the Bounty Hunter in high school, allowing Dog to cheat off of his homework in order to pass the class. So, the moniker is actually has a double meaning aimed largely at poking fun at Dog. Here's hoping Dog doesn't find duece.

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