Belles of the Sound

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.

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…)

  This has got to be it.  This has got to be the low point.  I have to believe that it can only get better from here.  This really is just a tragic end to an abysmal season for Seattle baseball fans.  As I am sure all of you know by this point on Wednesday Dave Niehaus died of a heart attack.  The last few days every time I get into my car to go anywhere almost every radio station is playing their touching tribute to the man who has been the one positive constant in an inconsistent franchise.  And I find my self tearing up each time.  Whether they are replaying favorite and most famous calls or interviewing one of the many, many, many people that loved him I can’t help but get a little emotional.  It seems strange to get so worked up about a man I’ve never met.  However, he has been a big part of my life (my WHOLE life!), especially as a Mariners fan.  The game won’t be the same without him.

To hear Ken Griffey Jr. (finally coming out from that rock he’s been hiding under since he left the team, tough this is really no time to be critical) and Rick Rizzs get choked up about him just makes me so incredibly sad.  Worst of all is that this last season, in all it’s awfulness, was Dave’s last.  He really deserved better.  I guess the rest of us will just have to try to find a fitting tribute to arguably the most important and easily the most beloved man in the Mariners organization.  There is a growing pile of flowers, signs, rye bread and mustard outside Safeco Field.  There is a Facebook group suggesting we rename Safeco Field after Dave Niehaus.

Today they are opening up Safeco Field from noon to 3PM.  It looks like there won’t be anything scheduled but it is an  “informal open house” for fans to come to the field and share stories or just to hang out.    Details for a more formal memorial will be released when they are available.  In the meantime you can check out the Mariners tribute at www.mariners.com/dave.  Definitely take a chance to relive (video above) what Dave said was his favorite call.  The double by Edgar Martinez which scored Ken Griffey Jr. and won  the Mariners the 1995 ALDS.  He was just as excited as we were.  The worst part is that even when things got bad with the Mariners, Dave was always good.  It looks like now the Mariners are just going to have to try to be good all on their own.  Do it for Dave!

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