The Trophy Returns To Thom's. Well, Next Door Is Close Enough.

Tonight I found out that the World Series trophy won by the San Francisco Giants in 2010 is coming to the place the Giants once called home this weekend: New York City.

And it will be on display for Giants fans in NYC to see at Finnerty's, which is the bar that is right next door to Professor Thom's on 2nd Avenue in the East Village. It will be there on Saturday from 3-5 PM.

Finnerty's has been a Giants/Niners hangout for just a couple of years, but they attract huge crowds for the football on Sunday and it was packed for the World Series last October. It's run by my friend and onetime softball teammate Dieter Seelig. We've always had a good natured rivalry with Finnerty's, and it's good to see them celebrating in this fashion.

I've been at two World Series trophy viewing parties, one for the 2004 Red Sox title at the Yale Club next to Grand Central Station in November of that year, and the other for the second Sox title of 2007 at Professor Thom's in January 2008 (that's me pictured at it). The New York Post covered the Yale Club viewing in 2004.

And the film "Blessed! Still We Believe 2" that my friends and I appeared in about the 2007 championship season of the Red Sox covered the Thom's viewing in 2008 at the end of the movie.

It's really funny that this would be the third time the World Series championship trophy will be coming to New York in the last six years not having been won by a New York team. (But it's cool the Giants remember their roots and bring it back to where it all started for them. The Red Sox brought down the trophy here to honor their huge New York-area fan base, while at the same time tweaking the Yankees a bit in their own backyard.)

Trust me when I say that it is a fun time being at one of these gatherings, and being next to that beautiful hardware. I said after the 2004 viewing that when I die I want a picture of me that was taken at it (which I also sent out as a Christmas card that December) to be blown up, but on an easel and displayed next to me, as I want that to be what people remember me for.

One of the happier moments of my life.

Here's more about the Giants trophy and it journey back to the East. So if you support the Giants and are in the city on Saturday, I would suggest going to Finnerty's to check out the trophy. It's an experience you will remember forever.

Trust me on that, too.