M's Drop to Yankees and Padres

I brought a bad vibe, apparently, to Safeco Field twice in six days watching two losses. First I saw the Evil Empire's only win at Safeco (5/12/7) during the 3 game series. Their were as many Pinstripes and Yankee probacks on Occidental Ave. as there was Mariner's gear and the atmosphere in the stadium was unique to A Rod (that guy STILL gets booed like he left town last week) and the Yankees being in town. After a few innings of freezing temperatures on the 3oo level I decided to walk around a little bit for the sake of warmth. I wound up in the jam packed team store overall a testament to the excitment of the game but really my poor choice of jacket got me in there. I eventually found a lapel pin made for the 3 game home stand against the NYY and stood in line for all of 5 minutes not moving an inch forward before I lost my patience and ditched 'em. On my way to the exit I saw a sign for pink mother's day bats for sale to benefit the Susan G foundation. After a few sly moves also know as manipulation, I charmed a cute clerk into letting me buy a bat at a closed register so 'I can get my mom one with her name on it'. Cute clerk said Safeco only got like 40 of them and $10 of the $65 sale price would go to Susan G. My mom's eyes lit up when she saw her name engraved on it the next morning!

Oh yeah, and the Yankees were in town. By the time I got out of the team store Mariano Rivera was warming up in the bullpen in front of nearly 100 people. There was a lot of excitement/heckling at the bullpen, I heard countless snippets of conversation in which a Mariner's fan would insult a Yankee fan then the Yankee fan would respond with something like, 'Go win a championship then we can talk.' Hearing that got old, but watching Mariano warming up was way cool. That guy is going to the HOF with Jackie's number, I think he is the only remaining player with 42.

I was looking to get a bobble head friend for Ichiro so I went to see the Padre's play Friday the 18th(pictured above). I showed up 1 hour before the first pitch and didn't get the Felix bobble. So I turned around and dealt with my pain at Pyramid brewery. The chili was good, the beer goes without saying and their were plenty of TVs to watch the Spurs beat up on the Suns. Then I went back to the ballpark and watched the Padre's bats get mad and effective on the M's pitching staff. I sat in the cheap left field seats which go for $18. I didn't realize they were bleacher seats until I got there, it felt like I was back in High School watching a my school's football team lose.
The Moose's 'The Office' parody on the jumbotron was hilarious and the tribute to Ken Griffey Jr. didn't really receive any acknowledgement from the fans. I did catch Mike Cameron watching it as he jogged to Center field between innings. I was expecting a lot more after the Jr. video played out, my reverent clapping was alone. This really shocked because of what I think Griffey meant to the city for years. Even from the bleeders in the Dome #24's swing looked so damn sweet. I'm starting to wonder if our fans are bitter; I mean who wouldn't move to Texas for 1/4 billion dollahs? I got your back, Pay Rod. When Ichiro bolts for a team that actually wins after this season not a single damn person will have a reason to throw boo-birds on the field, even if he winds up in Pinstripes.

BRANDON IS R O Y 2007 FINAL

If he were as clutch as Brandon.. On February the Tenth of 2004 Seattle Seachicken WR Jordan Kent played a monster game against a monster team the Pac 10 juggernaut University of Washington Huskies. Kent posted 19 points and 16 boards but was hardly appreciated by the UO student section, The Pit Crew by the end of the game. With his father's team up by 3 with 41 seconds to play Kent was fouled by Dawg Tre Simons. Only needing to hit 1 free throw to make it a two possession game Kent missed both and Will Conroy scored his seventh consecutive point for the Huskies to send the game into OT where everyone knew the Ducks would lose it. It's worth mentioning Brandon R O Y missed a 3 pointer as time expired in regulation that would have won the game for UW, another really good reason to like the R O Y. The Ducks would go on to fall to UW 95-88 and split the home stand against the Washington schools; but the victory against the Cougars was beyond hollow. Kent played at Mac with a lot of energy and respect, the guy is a class act that could not hit a damn free throw. I am happy that he was drafted by the home-squad here in Seattle, and am looking forward to him giving me a good reason to buy his jersey. There, I got rid of my beef with 3 men that I wish were as individually smart (Stoudamire), classy (Robinson) and clutch (Kent) as my man Brandon R O Y. I'm done being a hater with everyone not named Zach Randolph and Darius Miles. I appreciate all the hard work the 3 previously mentioned Pacific NW ballers have put in so I could write about them, I look forward to watching you on the TV, minus Robinson in any dunk contest.

BRANDON IS R O Y 2007 Pt. 3

I hope Brandon R O Y does not become another over-rated Huskie; When a person has a vertical leap of 43.5 inches they are able to make-up for mistakes on the basketball court. Nate Robinson will never be able to fix the mistakes he made the past two seasons during All-Star weekend. The Slam Dunk Competition has been struggling for years; an event formerly filled with real talent fell to the Hardwood crawled to the corner of the gym, curled up and died. Nate Robinson made sure the event stayed in the corner, away from respectability and dead to me not once but twice! In 2006 after Andre Iguodala got every damn fan on their feet or on the floor with the amazing the ish you see on the right Nate stepped onto the court overrated like UW in March his junior year. More then a dozen attempts later I think she dunked it, I do know she took the trophy home. Thank MJ that she didn't join his Airness 87-88 on the list of repeat dunk champions(Jason Richardson 02-03) in 2007. I do blame her for keeping Dwight Howard and the crazy 'sticker shock' out of the final. Dwight Howard threw it down in the first round of competition in 07 while putting a sticker of himself high high up on the backboard. You just know he had something way more sick planned for the next round and Kenny Sky Walker made for a way tight gold chain wearing big man dunk champion, right? I will never forgive you Nate Robinson, but I do root for you in spite of the FACT you're living a lie. You and Roy did slap the Ducks around for 3 whole years and got a little help that one time in 2004 at Mac Court..

BRANDON IS R O Y 2007 Pt. 2

Let us hope Brandon R O Y doesn't follow in his foot steps; When I hear the name 'Damon Stoudamire' I don't think of phrases like, 'Good decision maker', 'Quality passer/defender' or 'Smarter then my breakfast toast'. Thinking about 'Mighty Mouse' evokes images of weak defensive play a shoot, shoot and maybe pass PG and most prevalent 3 legendary arrests for pot. The hit list includes in chronological order; 1)An empty home owned by Stoudamire on the west-side of Pdx is searched by Police after a house alarm is repeatedly set off. The search reveals a gang of weed, which Damon's father PSU legend Willie Stoudamire takes the fall for. 2) After a game against the Sonics Sheed and Stoudamire roll back to Pdx in Stoudamire's yellow H2. You and I may get away with this one because we aren't rolling a truck that screams, 'Pull me over' but the Blazers caught Blazing. Pulled over for speeding cops find residue on the floor boards and a Bob Marley tin filled with weed. 3) Completing his degree from UA Stoudamire tries to leave town and attempts to board an airplane in Tucson. Maybe it was the summer course work or bong rips but D-Stod straight up gives airport security a ball of tin foil filled with gas after setting off the metal detector. Tinfoil?! I forgot this is supposed to be about Brandon, who got screwed on the ROY vote. However he is not the first Blazer rookie to be put over a barrel by a Raptor. As a Huskie Roy had it coming..

BRANDON IS R O Y 2007

Brandon Roy is as Pacific Northwest as they come, that's why I ordered this tee right after I heard he won ROY. The former Pac-10 player of the year got robbed by not being named unanimously.. Brandon isn't the first Blazer freshman to be robbed by a Toronto Raptor; for the 95-96 season Arvydas Sabonis finally decided to come play for the home squad years after a Hall of Famer and a sick, sick, sick, sick, sick and sick cast had been broken up. Apparently Sabonis was not interested in making the Blazers a dy-nasty from the mid 80s til probably the early 90s. Fortunately he did eventually cross the pond for the 95-96 season. Sabas starting for a playoff team averaged 18 and 8 lost the ROY to a player from the Toronto Raptors, at the time an NBA doormat franchise. Can anyone name that player and his drug of choice? WARRIORS ALL THE WAY!!!!!