For those of you who are not from around here, we love the Mariner's. They tend to be, well let's be honest, horrible. BUT, true fans stay loyal and true to their team through the thick and the thin.
Since I, Christina, was 15, I have been a FAN! It was mid-July in the Kingdome and the Ms were challenging the Chicago White Sox. Frank Thomas was a mammoth of a man and unfriendly. However, our Ken Griffey Jr., Jay Buhner, Edgar and Tino Martinez...the good ol' boys were poised to give us a great game--America's game! The Kingdome was a monstrous globe protruding from the earth in the Sodo District of Seattle. Everything about it was amazing, but by the mid-1990s, it was beginning to fall apart. The Mariners were pretty good in those days. I have vivid memories of the 1995 Mariner's going to the play-offs--I had a lot of substitute teachers as all my Y-Chromosomed educators seemed to think it appropriate and fun drove back and forth across the state during the weeks the Mariners were in contention. We lived 300 miles from Seattle, by the way! But we all felt the energy and excitement bursting through every vein in our bodies. That was my senior year of high school.
Then off to college I went, although, as most college students quickly find out...a full-time student's life shrinks from footloose and fancy free to a miniature bubble filled with reading and writing and lectures (or at least mine did). Therefore, nothing that went on between 1996 and 2000 registers clearly in my brain aside from school and summer baseball! School was out, games were cheap and the crowds were contagious. I fell more in love with the game and my M's during those years because it was really the only thing I could latch on to...that I had energy enough and time enough to pay attention to. And we got a new stadium!
In 2001, we had a 116 game winning season (for those of you who don't know in baseball...that's real good--a Major League record for most wins in a season!). What a thrill it was to watch and see them consistent and unified. Since then, we've had our ups and downs, but I'm still a fan.
Many a summers' evenings, I spent watching or listening to the Mariners and the voice of the Mariners was Dave Niehaus. Last winter, he passed away while preparing a BBQ for his big family and the entire Seattle area wept over the loss. I never realized how special a voice can be until this tragic moment. I wept. When people think of the Mariners, they think Dave Niehaus. He had a was of bringing baseball to life through the airwaves. Matt and I went to the Mariners Home Opener the other night. The game was pitiful to say the least, but it was still an amazing night. Seattle honored Dave well and it was a bit surreal to hear commentators; voices but not hear his. He will be missed, truly.
Here's to hoping the Mariners can pull it together and at least be a 500 team!
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