Sergio Romo's Fire, Take 2

Remember this?

When I wrote my blog post about carving this pumpkin, I ended it with:

"And then I enjoyed watching people notice it as they came to the door. That's the most fun of all...unless I get to go give a picture of it to Sergio Romo. Now THAT would be a blast!"

Well, guess what?

Gotta tell you, this guy ROCKS. He was really cool about the picture...once he figured out what it was. They hurry you along at a ridiculous pace at these "signings". So when I leaned over and asked Mr. Romo if he'd hold onto the picture while I took a photo, I got some harsh admonishments from the dude whose job it is to make sure the line keeps moving, but it was worth that and then some. Romo made sure I knew he thought it was awesome as I scurried away.

Before that whole event, of course, there was this:

And a couple hours before that, there was this:

Smunch isn't likely to make it to the big leagues, but who knows? Maybe he can talk his way in, if he knows the right people.

The day started off with this:

I've written so much about this dude in the past year that it's just crazy to think what a joke he was just a year ago. This year, he was something else. Thank you, Barry Zito, and your beautiful curveball. Sorry I didn't carve a pumpkin for you too. You're just too pretty.

Now, all the Giants need is a Cy Young-award-winning knuckleballer and we're all set for 2013.

Sergio Romo's Fire

Unlike the last time the San Francisco Giants went to the World Series, baseball was all wrapped up before Halloween. At a baseball tournament the weekend prior, someone asked me what I was planning to carve for a pumpkin this year. I'm starting to have a reputation, apparently. I hadn't decided. I thought about Posey or Scutaro or Cain, but all of them seemed a little too clean cut for this project.

When it came to me, however, I knew it had to be Sergio Romo. Sergio Romo, erstwhile setup man and now super popular closer for the World Series Champion San Francisco Giants. I've met him before too. He's a super nice guy. He was part of the team of "beards" in the bullpen in 2010 and signed a baseball for Smunch with the inscription "Fear It!" on it. Funny guy.

Anyway, Romo has a great roar he lets out when he successfully closes a game and I wanted to carve that. So here goes...

I chose this picture.

Blew it up nice and big to use as a stencil on a nice, big pumpkin. I freehanded the lettering.

Spent a cool few hours carving and giving myself a blister.

And then I enjoyed watching people notice it as they came to the door. That's the most fun of all...unless I get to go give a picture of it to Sergio Romo. Now THAT would be a blast!