The San Francisco Giants were in New York this past weekend, playing a fun four-game series against their sister team, the Mets! Citi Field fills with Giants fans when their team comes to town, I like to think long-suffering Mets fans are the equivalent of Giants fans pre-2010, and the fanbases are therefore pretty compatible. In short: The tame rivalry is all in good fun.Citi Field's left field backs up to a few rows of seats, then to Shea Bridge, which offers a beautiful view of the field at large, and an up-close-and-personal look at whoever is playing out in left. On Friday, some cool kids hauled poster boards to the park to heckle Hunter Pence, the Giants' gangly, alien-like outfielder.
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DeadspinWhoa, shit. Watch where you're hurling those insults, big guy. But wait a second… Hunter Pence is notoriously anti-automobile, or at least very, very pro-electric scooter. The Giants even made a bobblehead!
Photo via Hunter Pence's Instagram
I think we should pause here and review the basics of trolling: In order to go for the throat, you must prey on your enemy's weakness. Smart, effective trolling—the kind that could make an outfielder quiver in his high socks—requires a basis in truth, and is best served ice cold.
The thing about trolling is that you can't just half-ass it like these Mets fans did. Because guess what? These kids left the gap wide open for Hunter Pence to reclaim the lead. They hung a slider right over the plate. They walked the pitcher to face ol' Crazy-Eyes Pence. In layman's terms: they were about to get brutally owned, in the nicest way possible.Giants fans (myself included) jumped on the joke over the weekend, making jokes about Hunter doing nice, respectable things like letting you use his Netflix password or reading Susan Sontag in his free time. Really, all the prescribed behavior on both sides of the Hunter Pence fan/foe divide were tame and plausible enough to make them believable. That's what made it fun. It was Trolling Lite. Kind of like how both the Mets and the Giants are playing Baseball Lite™. It's cute. "Keep taking a crack at it because who cares if you win or lose! Nothing matters!"
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Today, a couple days after the Giants left New York, Hunter jumped in on the fun, effectively stealing the Hunter Pence Does This meme from the little boogers who haunted the Shea Bridge all weekend. He quickly addressed the scooter/car misconception:
Along with a photo of him in a car in a showroom, mostly to capitalize on the joke:
He threw in another one that could really be extrapolated over all types of lending-based services. May it never be said that Hunter Pence is not kind, does not rewind:
What a good sport that Hunter Pence guy is. He's thus far shrugged off all sorts of jokes about his fielding and batting mechanics, and has now demonstrated a valuable ability to take baseless trolling in stride. But let us not forget the kale-lovin', wild-swingin' maniac is the one who is calling the shots. There are many things Hunter Pence Does or Does Not do, but let it be known that Hunter Pence always wins.
Lindsey Adler will never forget the time Hunter Pence saved Tim Lincecum's no-hitter. Follow her on Twitter.
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DeadspinWhoa, shit. Watch where you're hurling those insults, big guy. But wait a second… Hunter Pence is notoriously anti-automobile, or at least very, very pro-electric scooter. The Giants even made a bobblehead!
The thing about trolling is that you can't just half-ass it like these Mets fans did. Because guess what? These kids left the gap wide open for Hunter Pence to reclaim the lead. They hung a slider right over the plate. They walked the pitcher to face ol' Crazy-Eyes Pence. In layman's terms: they were about to get brutally owned, in the nicest way possible.Giants fans (myself included) jumped on the joke over the weekend, making jokes about Hunter doing nice, respectable things like letting you use his Netflix password or reading Susan Sontag in his free time. Really, all the prescribed behavior on both sides of the Hunter Pence fan/foe divide were tame and plausible enough to make them believable. That's what made it fun. It was Trolling Lite. Kind of like how both the Mets and the Giants are playing Baseball Lite™. It's cute. "Keep taking a crack at it because who cares if you win or lose! Nothing matters!"Today, a couple days after the Giants left New York, Hunter jumped in on the fun, effectively stealing the Hunter Pence Does This meme from the little boogers who haunted the Shea Bridge all weekend. He quickly addressed the scooter/car misconception:
He threw in another one that could really be extrapolated over all types of lending-based services. May it never be said that Hunter Pence is not kind, does not rewind:
What a good sport that Hunter Pence guy is. He's thus far shrugged off all sorts of jokes about his fielding and batting mechanics, and has now demonstrated a valuable ability to take baseless trolling in stride. But let us not forget the kale-lovin', wild-swingin' maniac is the one who is calling the shots. There are many things Hunter Pence Does or Does Not do, but let it be known that Hunter Pence always wins.
Lindsey Adler will never forget the time Hunter Pence saved Tim Lincecum's no-hitter. Follow her on Twitter.