How do I put this?  I went to the World Series Parade in San Francisco today, and was a bit underwhelmed.

Winning the World Series for the second time in three years feels amazing, and is cause for great celebration in the Bay Area.  I come from a city (Cleveland) that is positively starved for a national championship of any kind, so I feel a bit guilty for nit-picking about the parade.

I don’t want to be THAT PERSON: The one who whines about some ridiculous non-hardship, as if I’m really put out.  And I really don’t want to be labeled a humble braggart.

You are familiar with the term humble braggart, right?  They are those falsely modest folks who say stuff like…

• Bummer, the limo that drove me to my appearance on Letterman hit a pothole, and I spilled my glass of Swarovski-studded limited edition luxury vodka all over my Vera Wang dress.  I hate it when that happens!
• I never gain weight, no matter how much ice cream I eat.  It’s really frustrating.
• My husband and I braved Hurricane Sandy in our Greenwich Village brownstone.  It was terrifying.  I mean, I had to move my red carpet gowns to a different closet because of a leak!  (A real celebrity made this statement today. I’m not kidding.)
• Why aren’t OUR World Series parades that good anymore?

All that said, 2012 parade organizers made some changes that I didn’t really consider enhancements.

This year, players rode in convertibles rather than motorized trolley cars.  I’m not sure why.  To be fair, there is a downside to trolleys; a player can only be seen well from one side of the street as they pass.  In 2010 Matt Cain was on the “wrong” side of the trolley for me, and I was disappointed not to get a good look at him.

But the upside of a trolley is the riders are elevated, making them much easier to see if they are facing you.  While I didn’t see Matt Cain in 2010, I saw Tim Lincecum, Brian Wilson, Freddy Sanchez and others very well, even though I was pretty far back in the crowd.   I got some fantastic photos that day, which set the bar pretty high.

This year, I waited for more than two hours but barely saw any players for more than one or two seconds, because fans standing in front of me blocked my view.  Also, the cars drove by pretty fast.  I think they were running a little late.

Big surprise: Pat “The Bat” Burrell provided the best photo-op of the day!  He was riding in the scouts’ trolley.

Organizers also chose to intersperse players’ cars, and slower moving trolleys carrying family members and Giants staff.   There were sizeable gaps between vehicles, which made the parade feel kind of long.   Besides, while I’m sure members of the Baer family are very nice I’m not really all that interested in them, even if they are throwing Halloween candy in my direction.   Next time, let’s put THEM in the cars that zip by at 20 mph.

Starting tomorrow, baseball will be 100%, officially over for 2012.  No more crowds wearing orange and black, streaming towards Third and King Streets.  No more detours, or street closures, or parades.  No more ballpark bratwurst, or trips to the dugout store.  (I can’t promise this last one.  It’s aspirational.)

It’s NBA season now, and time to turn my attention to the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors.  Sadly, I don’t think either team stands to fare as well as the Giants did this year.

So I guess it may also be time to start planning my trip to 2013 spring training.