The 2011 Seattle Mariners: Why I Still Care

The word summer is like a drug to folks in the Pacific Northwest. Just mention it to some pasty white office drone while he's waiting for the bus in the rain in his bright orange Northface windbreaker and goofy looking hiking boots he got at REI and watch him get that faraway look in his eyes while he gets pummeled with memories of sun and swimming and warm evenings and playing in his backyard as a kid until dark and and and and....what else?

Baseball!

My dad pointed out to me once that the opening day of Major League Baseball is the physical proof that we made it through another year and another winter. This rings very true in the northwest and even truer in places where snow covers the ground from October to March.

So to me, the Seattle Mariners, even at their worst, can provide me with good feelings. Especially on a 75 degree day at Safeco Field. I can think of few places I'd rather be at any given moment.

The Mariners home opener is quickly approaching on April 8 and I will be in attendance with the Sanford clan and my girlfriend Cassie. My dad and I have made a point to go every home opener we can, starting back in 2001 (Ichiro's debut, no big deal!). We've missed a few years here and there, but have been consistent the last 4 seasons.

The team lost 101 games last year for the 2nd time in 3 seasons, and I witnessed quite a few of those losses in person. It wasn't pretty. The M's have been a truly bad team for most of this last decade and things won't be getting much better in the near future. Yet here I stand, excited as all hell for another season of punishment.

Why?

Because a day spent watching a bad game of baseball is still significantly better than a day at work or doing something similarly boring.

Because every 5 days or so during the season I get to watch Felix Hernandez, one of baseball's most dominant pitchers and last years AL Cy Young award winner.

Because I get to keep watching Ichiro play the game like no one else does.

Because no matter how much baseball I watch, I'll still probably witness or notice something I've never seen before. At any given game, you never know what you might see.

This perspective is terrifying. Hail to the king, baby.

The 2011 season will be significant for another much more depressing reason. It's the first season in the team's entire 34 year existence that Hall of Fame announcer Dave Niehaus won't be in the booth doing the play-by-play. The man who narrated all of the team's most memorable and most mundane moments died last November of a stroke.

Back in the Kingdome days

Now, I never met the man, but when you've accumulated an absurd amount of hours listening to someone call your team's baseball games, year in and year out, you come to feel like you know him. He was funny, well-spoken, had an instantly recognizable voice and wasn't afraid to call out the home team for poor play. When the M's truly struggled, you could hear the frustration in his voice. He was on your side. The fan's side.

Ken Griffey, Jr. said in an interview after Dave's passing that it was like everyone's grandfather had just died. I can personally say that I've never been so affected by the passing of someone I never met, but god dammit, it still hurts and it's only going to hurt more when the regular season starts without Dave for the first time. That's one aspect of this season I'm not looking forward to.

I'll end this post here even though I have more Mariners-related thoughts to share, but I'll save them for another day.

Rest in peace, Dave Niehaus.
Go Mariners.