Yep, this post is about the Mariners. However, after being in attendance at that abysmal game last night (lowest attendance in history mind you), the theme is going to take a different track than I had previously planned.

You see, I love the Mariners, and most sports for that matter. I wasn’t able to go to Opening Day on Monday, but I was stoked to go to Day Two last night. I anticipated gushing on here about how excited I am for the season and I’m a fan to the end… blah blah you get the picture. But I woke up this morning feeling very UGH about last night, and just can’t bring myself to exude the excitement I want to.

Don’t get me wrong, you should absolutely keep cheering for the Mariners. I know I will. One game doesn’t necessarily preview how the whole season is going to go. I just wish I hadn’t witnessed that one personally.

SO, in order to take our minds off of a 20 hit game… I would like to draw your attention to this blog post by Seattlepi.com blogger, David Nelson. Like him, I was pretty disappointed in the Mariners’ stance about the proposed new Sonics Arena. I don’t want to get into my reasons here, but David does a great job of pointing out why Mariners fans like me, who also want to see the Sonics return, can still in good conscience root for the Mariners. Worth a few minutes of your time if you’ve been torn on the issue! Thanks David.

As goes along with working in public relations, I read A TON. And, this reading isn’t limited to the Wall Street Journal and NY Times. I devour books (part of two book clubs) and typically at least peruse every article that appears in our local papers and news sites. Today, an article in the Seattle Times caught my eye (well to be fair it published yesterday), and I just wanted to share it with you.

Image courtesy of Fred Hutch website (fhcrc.org)

Those of you who read me with any regularity know I’m an avid sports fan. College basketball being my first drug of choice, but pro football and baseball fall in closely behind it. Seattle Times’ Larry Stone wrote a wonderful article about everyone’s favorite MLB manager to love/hate, Lou Piniella. Seriously, it’s a must read. Apparently Lou is in town speaking at the Hutch Award luncheon today at Safeco Field. Larry got to follow Lou to another speaking event at Seattle’s Hutch school, the only full-time school in the nation for children and siblings of cancer victims.

Taking a step back, most people know Lou as the manager of the Mariners during some of the greatest years the franchise has experience. Many more know Lou as a hot-headed manager who frequently argued his point to whatever umpire happened to be in his sights.

Now, back to the school. Larry notes that Lou was amazing with the kids. He was honest and engaging, and that just warms my heart. He also reportedly took a silly photo with the kids where he’s sticking his tongue out. How fun is that? You always assume people are different in “real life” but you never really hear about the normal aspects of a celebrity. I know that competition sometimes brings out the outrageous in all of us (exhibit A: My blood pressure goes through the roof during Gonzaga basketball games. I just can’t help it.), and it can also bring out the best.

So, I’ll end by saying, well done Lou! I wish I was in Seattle to enjoy your amazing tenure with the Mariners. Hopefully we’ll go win the pennant for you one of these years. Until then, enjoy those grandbabies and get plenty of golfing in.

Congrats to the Mariners! Today the team won it’s Opening Day game versus the Oakland Athletics. And get this, the first pitch was at 3 a.m. PST! Wowza. This was due to the fact that both teams traveled to Tokyo for the game. I know some of you are hardcore and were up for the game, but I still love the M’s, even if I couldn’t get myself out of bed that early! Sorry team.

With the home opener just over two weeks away (April 13, FTW!), it’s time to change your gears and start purchasing tickets! I already have my opening day seats (I’m going with ex-Belle Cathy), and I have blocked a few weekends throughout the summer. Pick up you tix here. Don’t forget that there will be King Felix days too…

This year, the M’s are testing out a new dynamic pricing system, as outlined in this Seattle Times article. Basically, this means that tickets in the same seats may not cost the same on different game days. Tickets will be priced according to popularity of the day, opponents, and several other factors. I love this idea! It makes the tickets much more accessible to a broader group of people, and it will encourage folks to attend the mid-week games. Afterall, is it fair for people who go to a Tuesday game to pay the same as people who go to the Saturday Yankees game?

All in all, I’m excited for another season of baseball. I love this team and I can’t wait to see how we look this year! For those of you who love the Mariners’ commercials, here is my personal favorite:

Hi Readers – We’re debuting a new section of the Belles today, currently deemed “Belles’ Men on the Street.” Check out Henry F.’s account below of his recent move to Seattle. Don’t forget to give him some love in the comments!

I recently moved from Tampa to Seattle after accepting a position as a technology consultant. I was offered the position a month earlier and immediately started looking for a place to live. After hunting online, I found a reasonably-priced condo in Ballard. The photos showed green shag carpeting in every room except the master bedroom, where the carpet was brown. In addition, the walls were wood paneling and the ceilings were stuccoed, as if the owners were stuck in the seventies. I loved everything I had read about the neighborhood, and the price was right, so after researching on the Internet, I hired some Seattle contractors to bring my future home into the 21st century.

I ambitiously decided to forego hiring a moving company, rent a moving truck and bribe a few of my buddies to travel with me. My travelling companions were Jimmy and Mark, my former college roommates, and our mutual friend, Trevor. I was very concerned that my cat, Magnus Günther, had vanished the night before, and I walked through my apartment complex one final time before we left, calling his name and looking under cars and in the dumpster. I couldn’t find him and we had to leave to stay on schedule, so I reluctantly gave up my search, and we left.

MapQuest put our trip at 46 hours, and we knew we would have to make rest stops, so we only stopped to refuel, and to switch drivers. This arrangement lasted for the first thirty hours, at which time all four of us were bleary-eyed and exhausted. We decided to pull into a rest stop and sleep, and after about four hours, we were ready to hit the road again. I decided to switch to driving the car.

Walking past the back of the truck, I heard a curious noise – a scratching sound followed by a thud and a muffled crash. When I pulled open the door to investigate, a ball of fur flew out and attached itself to my chest. There was Magnus Günther, trembling and hanging onto me as if his life depended upon it. He had slipped unnoticed into the truck when I left the door open while moving. With a sigh of relief, I pulled out his carrier and placed him inside with words of reassurance.

Fifty-seven hours after leaving Florida, we arrived in Seattle. We were so drained and numb from our cross-country trek that we literally collapsed onto the floor of my new home without removing anything from the truck. Thankfully, the shag carpet had been replaced with hardwood floors and the wood paneling and stucco ceiling were gone, and I felt satisfaction as I surveyed my new surroundings through sleep-blurred eyes.

The next morning, we were awoken by my new roommate, Jeremy, standing above us in his boxers, silently staring down at us as he stirred his coffee. I awkwardly stood and made the introductions, and then we got to work moving my things in. Because we were still on Florida time, it was obscenely early in the morning, and we finished before 9:00.

Before leaving Florida, we planned what we would see, and we started the day with a caffeinated beverage from the original Starbucks at Pike Place Market. Kind of a cliché, but what better way to introduce oneself to Seattle? After kickstarting our engines, we headed to the Experience Music Project Museum to check out the Nirvana display. I have always been a fan of the Seattle grunge bands from the nineties, and I was impressed with their collection. Then, we headed over to Lunchbox Laboratory for a late lunch.

Despite the time, Lunchbox Laboratory was packed. When I first read about it, it was still located in Ballard, and I admit I was a little disappointed that it moved to South Lake Union, but the food was every bit as awesome as I expected it to be. I had the Burger of the Gods, and was blown away by the flavor combinations; Jimmy is a vegan and had the same thing (substituting a veggie patty for the meat), and he was equally impressed. Mark opted to build his own burger, and he paid a little extra for a dork patty (duck and pork), just so he could – in his words – say he had eaten a dork for lunch. After our meal, we made our way back to my home and started unpacking boxes.

Since the guys had to leave the following morning, we bought Mariners tickets for that night, and all five of us headed to Safeco Field. I wish someone would have warned me about traffic congestion, because it took a lot longer to get there than I had anticipated, but when we were sitting in the stands, eating Seattle Rolls from Rice ‘n’ Roll and cheering for the team, none of that mattered.

My friends flew back to Florida the next day, and I was left with a roommate who is perpetually in his boxers when at home and a cat who finally left my side and started settling into his new surroundings. As for me, I started my new job the following Monday and slowly explored every inch of Seattle. Every Sunday, Jeremy and I head to the Ballard Farmers’ Market and stock up on produce. I often go to the Ballard Locks for my morning jog, and I love to bring my computer and relax in the Carl S. English Jr. Botanical Garden as I watch the boats go by. Being so close to the water feels like home, and I fall in love with Seattle a little more every day.

So, in general we try to keep things very positive here at Belles of the Sound.  We try to tell you about great things in and around Seattle and why we all-around love it here.  Every once in a while though, and I’m sure you know the feeling, one gets the urge to rant a little.  Now, I am going to do my best to keep this short and let you get back out into today’s gorgeous sunshine where you belong.

How the AVATAR exhibit makes me feel.

Every day I drive by this thing and every day it make me feel just a little, well, like I’d like to throw something flaming.  There is an Avatar exhibit at EMP right now and that giant blue billboard stares me in the face every day as I drive past it.  Now, first, I saw the movie and I enjoyed it.  It was pretty cool looking.  However, I refuse to believe that a movie that came out only TWO years ago already has the sort of cultural importance that is deserves it’s own exhibit.  It just seems wrong.  It’s not Star Wars or Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter (that exhibit I did go to) and I just can’t see that it ever will be that important.  The movie just wasn’t that good.

Also, it doesn’t help that I find James Cameron sort of insufferable as I imagine him lounging around his palatial estate refusing to speak to anyone who doesn’t address him in Na’vi (his own made up language) and tossing rolls of hundred dollar bills into a giant fireplace.  I’m sure that may seem a little outlandish, but he really does seem like kind of a jerk

and he definitely takes himself far too seriously.

So in conclusion I offer up short list of things you should do from now until whenever this thing closes ( I think it’s in September.  I refuse to link to it.): (more…)

Despite the score of last weekend’s Mariner’s home opener, the festitivies went off without a hitch. The evening began with a sweet Make-a-Wish boy running the bases – running the bases is a tradition at Safeco! He stopped and waved enthusiastically to the crowd from each base. Then after both teams were announced, Franklin Gutierrez and Ichiro received their well-deserved Golden Glove awards, and King Felix received his Cy Young Award. Finally, Macklemore was invited out on the field to perform his tribute song to Dave Niehuas. After which, Marilyn Niehaus, accompanied by her family, threw out the first pitch.

While I know some people didn’t think that a rap song was the best way to memorialize the greatest voice to ever grace this city, I felt that the song was perfect. It was complete with sound bites from the infamous 1995 game, and there wasn’t a dry eye in the stadium – that includes the HUGE biker guy standing next to me. It was that touching. I can prove that Dave loved it too, becuase the sun shined through the entire afternoon/evening.

For those of you who were not lucky enough to get tickets to the game, I took a video of the Macklemore performance. Hopefully MLB doesn’t make me pull it down. Video after the break… (more…)

So we are inching our way through springtime and signs of warmer weather are popping up around us.  There are cherry blossoms on the sidewalks, a lack of motivation at work, and of course the start of baseball season.  It is a glorious time where even the Mariners get a clean slate and fans have a chance to have a little hope for a good year.  (This year I am hoping we make .500)  However if the Mariners do start to tank it’s good to remember that we do have some other options.  Sure, you can watch other teams play on TV, but if you’re looking for some live baseball that doesn’t carry quite the price tag of a trip to Safeco Field try a little trip down south to Tacoma and see the Tacoma Rainiers.  For $25, which wouldn’t even get you a seat in the upper decks at Safeco you can get nice and close to the boys in Tacoma.  Also, the Rainiers are the reigning champions of the Pacific Coast League so that’s some quality there. (more…)

First I want everyone to think back to the spring.  It was a time full of hope.  Sure, the economy was bad, but I was convinced that the Mariners were going to be good.  Even then I always tried to temper my hope with realism.  I didn’t want to expect unrealistic things.  I really just thought I would see a solid, decent team out on the field. Every time I watch a game now I look at the guys out on the field and just think “You guys should be so much better!”  It is hard to really figure out what went wrong.  Everyone has a theory, but we have yet to come up with a solution.  At this point I would be happy with us not finishing as the absolute worst team in baseball (so far Baltimore looks like the favorite).  These are the times when it becomes truly challenging to be a fan.

Baseball at Safeco! It's better than watching them lose on TV!

It’s easy to be a fan when you’re team is winning.  It’s a joyous experience.  I vaguely remember that feeling.  However, when you team is obviously crumbling, it becomes much tougher.   It becomes very hard for me to watch the games.  It’s not that I don’t care, it’s just that after a while it is too damn depressing.  You can only watch them leave the bases loaded without scoring  so many times before it becomes unbearable.  The persistent misery also infects the other great joy of being a baseball fan, going to the ballpark.

Sacfeco Field is a great place.  Sunny-day baseball in Seattle is so much fun.  The view of the city over left field is spectacular and there is nothing like sitting in the warm sunshine and watching your favorite team play.  However, it’s not as much fun to watch your team lose.  Last weekend, on a glorious, 80-something degree day after the fog burned off, I sat in Safeco Field and watched an unfortunate  8-2 loss to the Yankees.  It really made me think.  I still had a mostly good time at the ballpark.  But then that brings up a question, how much should we support the organization with our money if they keep losing?  We don’t want the management to think that they can continuously field a sub-par team and people will keep shelling out 8 dollars for a beer regardless.

So how much do we support them?  I think there is nothing wrong with still enjoying a nice day out.  For one, I really think that this team was supposed to be good.  I don’t think anyone thought that the team would be this bad.  I think behind all of the bad games there is still an underlying desire to rebuild the team and win.  It just takes patience.  We just have to hope there is some real improvement before people run out of patience.  It will happen eventually.

On the bright side, we can all be happy that we’re not Pirates fans! (Check out this article in Sports Illustrated to feel better about our losing team)

*Photo courtesy Ceci Campagna

I have spent the past few days a  little depressed.  I am part a large group of Seattlites who are coping with a loss.  No one is dead, no one is really gone forever, but right now it feels like it just a little.

My favorite baseball player, George Kenneth Griffey Jr. has retired. Kenny.  The Kid.  Junior.  He goes by many names and they all mean great things to baseball fans in Seattle.  When I was a kid I saw him in the Kingdome and it was thrilling.  It makes my wrist hurt when I think of the catch that stalled his career.  When he left for the Cincinnati Reds we didn’t hold it against him.  He wanted to be with his family.  Sure, there was money involved, but no one ever pretended there wasn’t.  I didn’t hold a grudge.  The city didn’t hold a grudge.  He wasn’t booed, unlike some others (*cough*  A-Rod)  When Cincinatti came back to Seattle with Griffey in tow my family was there, cheering his return with the rest of the city.  Cincinnati and Chicago had to know that they were really just renting Junior.  He would always belong to Seattle.  We may have loaned him out, but we never truly let go.

Then, last year, he was returned to us.  Sure, he was a little worn around the edges, not longer in mint condition but he was still unmistakably our Junior.  I feel like he was part marketing ploy and part team rejuvinator.  At least from the outside looking in,  he seemed to be an integral part of helping the Mariner’s form a sense of harmony in the clubhouse and gave me new hope.  There was so much hope before this season.  We all knew he couldn’t play forever, but I guess at least I had hoped that it would last a little longer.

The local and national media are really playing this one like he died.  Too often they are really focusing on Griffey’s recent struggles.  It is as if they are saying, like you would when a loved one is painfully ill, that it is all for the best.  Griffey is in a better place now.  His career may be dead in the technical sense, but I hope he is still alive and very well somewhere. He’s not dead.  I have to keep telling myself this.  I have been in a bit of a low mood and I just have to keep reminding myself that Griffey is still around.

I think what we all need is a chance to properly honor him and show him how much he has meant to this city, to the fans, and to all of baseball.  I think that he didn’t really want to go and he to is mourning a loss.  I only hope that in a little while he will come back and let us all celebrate  him.  He has given many a gift to this city and we only want to repay the favor.

(This post, much like Mike Sweeney, was fueled by my love for Ken Griffey Jr. )

OH HAI! For the second season in a row, or as they say “nawt first annual,” the folks over at Seattle-based I Can Has Cheezburger are hosting “Cheezburger Night at the Mariners” on Thursday, June 3. Last year’s event saw more than 1200 fans from around the world descend on Safeco Park to meet Ben Huh and enjoy food & drink before heading into the stands to root for the M’s!

Expect this year’s event to be just as spectacular and then some! Attendees will enjoy the same benefits: discounted tickets ($16), special Happy Cat Hour in the Bullpen Landing with Huh, and new-this-year Happy Cat Bobbleheads (while supplies last).

So Cheez friends, are you with me!? I’m definitely going, and I’d love to see meet up with you there. Leave me a comment if you’d like to join me!

Details breakdown:

When: Thursday, June 3 beginning at 5:10pm (game starts at 7:10). Game is versus the Minnesota Twins.

Where: Safeco Field’s Bullpen Landing (map)

Cost: $16 (normally $20) Buy tickets here.

Why: Cause, darn it, sometimes it’s fun to be silly. And let’s face it, all this “silliness” has made Ben Huh a wealthy, wealthy man.