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Giants fans on a World Series high

The first hint of hooch wafted through the air immediately after Edgar Renteria went yard.

SAN FRANCISCO – The first hint of hooch wafted through the air immediately after Edgar Renteria went yard. Within moments after Brian Wilson struck out for the final out of the World Series, a man in a yellow windbreaker took out a brick of the stuff and lit it on fire, waving it in the air from the unlit end so ``Everyone can feel the love.''

It wasn't exactly Haight-Ashbury – too many black and orange hats and too many orange t-shirts – but the scene around 7:30 in front of City Hall last night – where thousands had congregated to watch the Giants win the World Series on a big screen television -- was distinctly San Francisco.

Cars and skateboards flying down Market Street, the former blasting horns. Fans lining up on both sides as if it was a parade, screaming, screaming, screaming.

And the strong smell of marijuana. Today, Californians go to the polls to vote for Proposition 19, which broadens the legal use of the stuff. Proponents argue it will both solve California's budget shortfall and disable dangerous drug cartels.

Based on last night, you'd think it had already passed.
``I've got to get here away from here,'' said a man named Sam, holding his 9-month-old. Wearing a ``Let Timmy Smoke'' shirt – a reference to star pitcher Tim Lincecum's brush with the law on a pot charge last winter – the father was not about to mix politics and child-rearing.

``I like the shirt and Prop 19 is OK,'' he said. ``It will get the drug dealers off the street. But this is a lot.''
The horns were still blasting a good hour after the game ended last night. It was the first World Championship for the Giants since they moved to San Francisco in 1958. A parade is scheduled on Wednesday.

With or without Proposition 19.