Mariners FanFest kicks-off another ______ Mariners season…

  In keeping with the “Family–Friendly” business plan that has proved profitable for the Mariners Organization up till this point, The Seattle Mariners will be hosting FanFest this weekend down at Safeco from 11-4 Saturday and Sunday. I will be attending a SABR meeting Saturday at noon at the Elliot pavilion and may pay my 10 bucks as well later in the day to support the team and maybe run around the bases or enter the home run contest.

  Of course Jack Z, Eric Wedge, Felix and other big names in the organization will be there to sign autographs etc. in this sort of prelude to spring training and another season of Baseball here in the Northwest.

Apparently Brett Boone and Jay Buhner along with Dan Wilson will be roaming around as well. This may be a good chance to catch Buhner outside of his normal Northwest haunts over on the East Side, or hovering around the airwaves trying to get a full time job. As for Boone I’m not sure what they are thinking as far as “Family Friendly” considering this guy was pretty well-known to be a steroid user , as well as pretty much a loud-moth jerk in the clubhouse [ask Ichiro about this ]. But I guess Boone did make the HOF ballot this year and perhaps the Mariners are getting us ready for a season where they need to slip-in Josh Lueke and Milton Bradley into our annual summer mix of mediocre baseball and bland entertainment. To be honest I wouldn’t mind the focus shifting away from the whole artificial “Disney Land” experience, back to the basics of winning some ball games for the home fans.

    Oh well what can we do, it’s the only game in town so to speak and football is all but over excluding the anti–climatic Super Bowl between the Steelers and Packers. Either way I am attempting to slowly come out of my  blogger–hibernation period in order to get this blog rebuilt sometime in the next month or so, so as to have her up and running on all  eight cylinders by opening day. Grab your cleats and ink pens and come on down to the “Safe” this weekend, as rain or shine the ” Show must go On”.http;//jeffsmariners.com

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Mariners Nation

With visions of improvement in 2011 dancing in his head…

As we head closer to that special time of the year when we all do our best to be good and spread goodwill towards our fellow-man, I want to take the opportunity to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all those who have followed my humble Blog over the last year.

 

  The 2010 season was painful in many ways including the most painful of all…losing our dear friend Dave Niehaus. But though may of us will be reflecting on the past this Holiday Season thinking about loved ones who are gone or perhaps far away, let us try to remember that it is ok to look back…but don’t stare!

 

  Yes sure enough a new year as well as a new season of Mariners baseball will be upon us quicker than you can say: Jack Zduriencik…

 

  For myself I have been able to move on slowly but surely from the dreadful 2010 campaign, and have begun to feel the smallest kernel of hope for 2011. Of course I don’t have any of the naive expectations that we all had at this time last year, but somehow I gotta believe next year is going to be better in some surprising ways.

 

  At this point it does not look like I will be spending the money and emotional resources to head down to Arizona for spring training like I did last season, but I hope to stay involved with this team via Jeff’s Mariners Fan Blog in 2011.

 

 

I hope to make a few small improvements to the look and feel of my Blog, adding more Podcasts and a few other bells and whistles in order to keep-up with the neighbors here in the blogosphere of Mariners Nation. But mostly I will try to give an honest opinion of our hometown team from the perspective of a fan who loves our team, much like those of you who read this page.

 

   Once again I want to wish everyone out there reading this and especially any actual Merchant Mariners who make their living from the Sea as I once did, a warm and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Tugboat Jeff @ http://jeffsmariners.com

Dave Niehaus lives on in our hearts and imaginations

At Dave's Celebration Saturday

I made a point of heading down to the Safe Saturday despite the monsoon conditions to be a part of  ” A Celebration of Life for Dave Niehaus“. I am glad I did. As powerful and beautiful as the tributes were for Dave, I went to be there with, and for my fellow fans. I needed some healing and a start on some closure so I  can try to move on, though things will never be the same without our old shipmate.

Rick Rizz did a marvelous job as the MC, sadly he broke down at one point in tears and looked back at a picture of Dave in centerfield, as if looking for back-up from his old reliable partner, before being surrounded by the strong arms of support from Dan Wilson, Jay Buhner and Edgar Martinez who came up to the stage to support the grief-stricken Rizz. This was one of the powerful moments of the event, as perhaps it finally hit Rizz that his partner is really gone.

It was also very touching to hear from Dave’s children Greta and Andy as they described our Dave at home. And we all finally got to see his marvelous and strong wife Marilyn when the camera panned onto her off and on through the event. You could definitely see the resemblance between Greta and the old man and she went out of her way to let all of us know how much it meant to the family for us all to be there Saturday, along with all the support and messages of love the family has received in the past month.

   There were a lot of funny stories and anecdotes as well from Jay Buhner, Ron Fairly, and Dan Wilson mostly revolving around some quirk of Dave’s, especially his old-school wardrobe. Dave represented not only the Mariners and our city, but a generation of Americans that were my father’s age and still thought Frank Sinatra was King. Dave I guess represented a Father to some, a Grandfather to others and most importantly a close friend to us all.

  I grew to know and like Dave and his style after listening to him for 30 years through thick and thin dating back to the old Kingdome days, where I along with Dave were there when Edgar hit “The Double” in 1995. I ran into him only once at Boeing field, and yet like a lot of us I feel like I have lost a close friend and indeed someone I loved. I loved Dave for not only the wonderful announcer he was, but because he was a creative, funny and warm man.

   I even was sort of able to come to a truce with Chuck Armstrong today after he announced that the Mariners will be wearing a patch on their sleeve next year for Dave and that there will be a statue created for Dave as well.

  As the crowd cleared out in orderly Northwest Fans style, I could not help but linger in the barren stadium and look up at the announcers booth hoping to catch one more glimpse of my old shipmate  perched up in his crow nest aloft the good ship Mariners. But alas he has sailed away never to be heard from again except in our imaginations, where he always will be with us as long as we can still believe in the magic of Baseball. Smooth Sailing Dave, Tugboat Jeff. http://jeffsmariners.com