Just yesterday, I got hit with this wild urge to look up stats for those 2012 World Series Giants players. You know, the champs? Thought it’d be easy. Famous team, recent enough history… how hard could stats be? Boy, was I wrong.
The Google Nightmare Begins
Jumped straight into Google, all fired up. Typed “2012 giants world series roster stats” like a normal person. Page after page of junk flooded my screen. Team history pages, news articles about the parade, ticket stubs selling on auction sites? Seriously? Where’s the meat? Where’s the numbers? Just wanted to see Tim Lincecum’s ERA or Posey’s batting average, man.
Drowning in the Paywall Abyss
Kept clicking, getting more desperate. Every site promising stats locked it down faster than Fort Knox. Paywalls everywhere. “Subscribe to see Buster Posey’s 2012 postseason!” Gimme a break. Felt like they were holding my curiosity hostage for ten bucks a month. No thanks. Almost threw my laptop.
Down the Rabbit Hole of Useless Data
Found one site without a paywall! Got all excited… only to find career totals. Cool, Brandon Belt’s whole career? I need October 2012, dude! Scrolled forever on another page only to find player bios and interviews about “the magical run.” Yeah, magical my foot – I just want Pablo Sandoval’s World Series OPS! Felt like chasing ghosts.
The Tweak That Saved My Sanity
Finally took a breath and thought like a robot. Started trying different words. Typed “2012 san francisco giants postseason player statistics breakdown”. Weirdly specific, right? Hit enter without hope. And bam! Third link down – a clean page, no paywall nonsense. Just simple tables. Rows and columns. Names. Innings pitched. Hits. Batting averages. SLG for Game 1, Game 2… everything laid out plain as day.
Turns out I was one stupid keyword away the whole time. “Breakdown.” Who knew? Lesson learned: when stats hide, get boringly literal. Saved myself money and years off my life.
