New Readers, Comments, and Moderation
As you’ve probably noticed, USSM continues to grow, and especially lately, we’ve seen an influx of new readers and commenters through widespread references to the site. To those of you who have recently found the blog, welcome. We’re glad you’re here and hope you stick around.
However, when we experience significant growth in a short timespan, inevitably, we attract some folks who aren’t aware of the groundrules for being part of the discussion here at USSM. So, this post will serve as a primer for the new guys and a refresher for those of you who have been around awhile.
Read the USSM Orientation, which is always linked at the top of the blog, right next to the Comment Guidelines. Please take the time to read both of these and understand that they were setup with the best interest of USSM at heart.
Think of the comments as a chance to have a running dialogue with people about the topic of the post. The best analogy I’ve ever been able to come up with for this place is something like a college classroom. We’re in charge, we pick the topics, we set the rules, and we try to foster as much intelligent discourse as possible. If USSM isn’t your cup of tea, there are plenty of other Mariner sites out there for you to try - we’re not going to be for everybody, and we’re not going to try to appeal to the masses.
We expect you to have informed opinions, engage people with respect, and honor the guidelines that you agreed to when you registered for the site. Comments that fail to meet these standards will be removed. We’re also going to begin using the moderation queue more aggressively - posters who have been placed into the mod queue will still be able to submit comments, but they will not appear on the site until they have been approved by one of the authors. If you find your comments are being moderated, take it as a challenge to prove to us that you have something to contribute. Put better quality comments in the queue as evidence that you have something to add to the site and we’ll eventually return you to non-moderated status.
Finally, keep in mind that we’re doing this all for free. We do the best that we can, and if you’re not happy with how the site is being run, feel free to send us an email, and if we can help you with your issue, we will, as best as we can. Constructive criticism is always welcome - “you guys are teh suck!” emails will find their way to the trashcan pretty quickly.
We’re proud of what USSM has grown into - let’s all try to make sure that it continues to be a place that we can be proud of going forward.
As an elaboration of the comment guidelines for newcomers, I’d point out (from my observations) the three most likely reasons to have your post deleted:
1. Off-topic. This is covered in the guidelines, but sometimes it surprises people. And sometimes it’s a bit of a judgment call, but in general it serves to keep things focused, so don’t let it bother you. Save the comment: odds are there’s a game thread or random topic thread coming that you can toss it into; if not, you can always mail it to USSM as a suggestion. If the comment isn’t worth saving and posting later in a more appropriate thread, it really didn’t belong in this thread either.
2. Calling this a “board.” Yeah, it’s an odd idiosyncrasy of USSM, but if you call this site “a board” and your post doesn’t have some other overwhelming redeeming value, it’s going to get deleted. Acceptable substitutes: “site” or “blog” or “here”
3a. Misspelling player’s names. Fortunately (for several reasons) we no longer have to deal with the likes of Pineiro or Spiezio, but misspelling the name of a Mariner in a post is going to get it deleted (again, unless you managed to write something of such value it outweighs the goof). Seriously, it’s not that hard: you follow the team, you see the names, there’s only a handful that present any problem. Misspelling the names of obscure players from the minor leagues or other teams is less likely to get the comment deleted, but if you do it repeatedly or following a dozen posts where the name was spelled correctly, you’re still going to get yourself in trouble. You can look up the stats, so look up the spelling. Isn’t the internet great?
3b Txt-speak and rampant misspellings in general. Nobody gets a comment deleted because they made a couple of typos — particularly since there’s no edit function for comments — but if you can’t form coherent sentences, or you type like you’re a 12-year-old with her first cell phone, or you just obviously don’t give a damn about making yourself understandable through the use of grammar and punctuation, your comment will get deleted. And the rest of us will cheer. The site owners and the mass of regular, core commenters are a remarkably literate, numerate, and educated group of people, which is what raises this site above the mass-market, unmoderated ignorance-fests that constitute the feedback areas on many other sites. If forming complete, punctuated sentences to articulate your thoughts is too much trouble, those other sites await. (And yes, “Woo!” to accompany a Beltre dinger in a game thread is in fact a complete, punctuated sentence. Just try not to do it too much, because dozens of other people are probably doing it too and you’ll take down the server.)
Some people are surprised by the heavy hand of moderation at this site. I find it is a big part of why I return daily (along with the fascinating, insightful analysis, of course). There are times when Dave or one of the other USSM guys is a little curt, telling people to look up a stat or search the site for an answer to a question. Don’t take it personally. Remember, he’s having to deal with all the cruft that we don’t see; all those deleted comments that make our experience of USSM better make his life a little worse. And in many cases he’s laid out all the evidence for his opinion in a long and detailed article that is just a search away; if you came late to the conversation, don’t be surprised if your comment or criticism gets ignored or waved away in what seems to be a brusque manner. You’re not going to get a detailed treatise in direct response to your post when it is sitting there waiting for you: it’s up to you to go look it up.
July 12th, 2007 at 12:15 pmAdding a bit to what joser says above:
- Take off the caps lock key. If you want to make a point, emphasize it with SELECTIVE use of the caps lock key or with italics.
- White space is your friend. If you want to write six paragraphs of good, solid analysis, go for it - just make sure to break the paragraphs and not make it one big block of text.
- One of the best rules I’ve ever heard about Internet posting also applies here: if someone says something that angers you, take your hands off the keyboard and count slowly to 10 before posting a reply. You won’t get far here with a flame war, and people will respect you more if you take the high road.
July 12th, 2007 at 12:35 pmI learned the hard way about the whole rosterbation thing, so thanks for the ASB post where everyone could let off a little roster-steam.
July 12th, 2007 at 12:38 pmI give joser’s post a big: “Wooo!!”
Another tip for new commenters — if one of the authors shoots down your CW baseball theory (e.g. “That guy brings grit, a veteran presence and builds team chemistry — and all his outs are productive!!”) please understand that the author probably has a raft of stats on his side and that you, probably, do not. If you do have hard evidence to back up your claims, we’d all love to see it. If not…bow out gracefully and you will retain the respect of the USSM readership.
July 12th, 2007 at 12:41 pmAs a journalist and former sports writer, I just want to say that USSM is where I start my day. The writing here is top-notch, but folks shouldn’t be intimidated. Here’s to the best site, blog, tube (but fer gawd sakes not board) on the Internets!!
July 12th, 2007 at 12:45 pmSome people are surprised by the heavy hand of moderation at this site. I find it is a big part of why I return daily (along with the fascinating, insightful analysis, of course).
I agree completely. This a major factor in making this site so popular among intelligent Mariner fans. I love that I don’t have to wade through dozens of poorly-worded, poorly-argued drivel to find something interesting and coherent. Honestly, even with the great analysis we get on a daily basis from the authors, if there was no moderation, I wouldn’t frequent this site. It’s that important.
Cheers to USSM! And welcome newbies!
July 12th, 2007 at 12:52 pmThere are many popular blogs that have great content but their unmoderated comment threads are unreadable. The moderation here at USSM makes comments a valuable part of the blog, in addition to the excellent posts.
July 12th, 2007 at 12:53 pmI don’t think the moderation here is very heavy, personally. I think that the authors of the blog pay out a lot of rope before they take measures.
July 12th, 2007 at 1:03 pmHell, even a complete and utter jackass such as myself believes that Dave, Derek, and the rest of the crew have done an outstanding job at U.S.S. Mariner.
July 12th, 2007 at 1:10 pmThe Guidelines add a lot to the team chemistry of USSM. I’d expect nothing less from gritty veteran guidelines that always give 110%.
July 12th, 2007 at 1:14 pmI don’t think the moderation here is very heavy, personally.
It isn’t really. Heavy hand is just the typical turn of phrase for such things.
One other observation - if you can’t help yourself, and feel an overwhelming urge to stray from the topic, please be sure to start your comment with, “Off-topic, but….” This makes identifying your comments for moderation purposes much more efficient.
July 12th, 2007 at 1:14 pmA few other suggestions:
1. If you are responding to disagree with a post or comment, re-read it before submitting your comment to make sure you are disagreeing with something the original commenter actually said, not something you inferred or assumed. And if you make this mistake nonetheless, just admit it or let it go — fighting it will only make you look like an even bigger jackass.
2. If your post includes the phrase “I don’t have anything to back this up, but . . . ,” just delete it.
3. While KJR may have its purposes, generally any “sports talk” (discussions among the hosts or with callers) about baseball does not bear repeating here, even for eye-rolling purposes only. This would not include breaking news or interviews with knowledgeable guests (like Larry Stone or Jason Churchill).
July 12th, 2007 at 1:45 pmOne point re: statistics for the newbies…
When I first came to the site a few years ago, I knew next to nothing about some of the heavy statistical analysis that goes on here. While I took one semester of statistics in college, it had long faded into the recesses of my brain. Gradually, though, with the help of some of the reference materials available out there, I came to understand better what the meaning of many of the statistical terms and concepts at a level that has enhanced my enjoyment of the blog.
So, if you’re coming to this site and are anything like I was, don’t be intimidated if you’re not that up on all the stats and acronyms. Just continue to use the reference materials, and evaluating the information you read with healthy curiosity. It makes the experience so much more enjoyable.
Finally, please don’t get lulled into the thought that this blog is all about stats. The more I’ve learned here, the more I can see that the editors believe that a team should evaluate all information, no matter what the source, to potentially incorporate it and make a change that will be advantageous. The judgment call is whether a certain piece of information is truly important, and that judgment should not be clouded by whether the piece of information came from statistical analysis, or first-hand accounts of scouts.
July 12th, 2007 at 1:48 pmYou guys should really make this a mandatory read before people register. You know, make them check the box that says “I have read, and agree to the moderation guidelines.”
The care and thought that goes into this blog is what makes it one of those 6-8 live bookmarks at the top of my firefox browser that I look for updates on probably 50+ times per day. It’s great to see you guys getting some big time recognition. It’s well-deserved.
Me? I need to do a better job with my shift-key. I’ve been scolded a time or two by one of the big guns around here for my bad habit of lowercase type. So add that to the list of faux-pas.
Keep it up guys…
July 12th, 2007 at 1:49 pmAnd one other thing - if you know the traffic conditions in small-town Idaho, you’re golden.
July 12th, 2007 at 2:08 pmPlease understand, also (from the perspective of a long-time reader, well before comments were allowed):
No one is trying to make things more difficult, or make new readers and posters feel excluded.
We’re simply trying to raise the overall level of discussion here, and that inherently involves a few things:
-Avoidance of rehashing discussions that this community has had many times. Some examples include: the ERA as pitcher evaluation tool discussion; the “why do you call him Doyle” discussion (*quiet sob*); the “why don’t you think Willie Bloomquist is awesome” discussion.
It gets frustrating to have to keep having the same discussion every week, because people don’t take the time to check the archives to see if something has been discussed before.
-It is incumbent on new members of the community to make use of the resources available to them on this site from prior discussions among the community, as well as prior posts by the authors (the “pitcher evaluation” archived post is a great example of this).
That way, if you DO choose to disagree with something that has been said, whether by an author or another member of the community, you will be letting us know that you’ve taken the time to build a solid case for your argument using the same “language” that is used here.
The bottom line is, as stated in the opening post; this site is not intended to be for everyone, and by posting here, you implicitly agree to participate in a different kind of discussion about baseball and the Mariners than happens on the P-I blog.
July 12th, 2007 at 2:27 pmMan, I do love this place, and stop by every day to read posts, but haven’t had the jewels to post yet. This blog is essential to any Mariner fan (or even baseball fan, for that matter) and I would never, ever think of polluting it, like this:
[i]I’s lik the USSM borde. OMG, Willy Blomqist and Juneski Bentecort ARE TEH BOM!!!1!!ONE! Me wanty trad Jeff Weever for Albort Pooholes. Me so smrt![/i]
God damn I love LOLcats. Again, I promise to conduct myself with respect and valour. Welll….as of right now.
July 12th, 2007 at 2:30 pmOne other suggestion that’s kinda in line with what Grizz said in #11 — if you are responding to a previous entry in the comments section, try to refer to it by number or at least refer to the poster.
July 12th, 2007 at 2:41 pmI’ve been lurking for a while, although I have made a few comments that survived the moderation/deletion hatchet.
After reading this, I decided that it would be good to review the “Comment Guidelines” and “USSM Orientation” again. I did find it helpful.
In both of these posts the first reply comment seemed way off-topic to me. Given that these posts seem to be permanent features of the site, it might be worth deleting them, assuming others agree.
July 12th, 2007 at 2:54 pmI wonder if we, as experienced USSM readers, can do anything to help the krew out with some of the basic research stuff that every newbie should know. Y’know, run a couple of searches to find the sources of those discussions, so we can drop ‘em in the comments in response to the “Oh, we’ve been over that a hundred times,” comments.
Obviously, there’s “Evaluating Pitcher Talent” on the sidebar. Where are some of those other discussions that crop up on a regular basis that need a response, and where are those discussions located?
July 12th, 2007 at 3:14 pmAnother reason why this isn’t a forum is because [i]square bracket tags do not work[/i].
HTML, OTOH, does.
Using square bracket tags makes you look like a newbie.
Please learn a little HTML. All you need to survive around here is em and a. If you want to be cool, there’s blockquote. Using strong is akin to shouting into a bullhorn. And for the love of Tim Berners-Lee, close your tags.
July 12th, 2007 at 3:17 pmOne more, which is really a question for the moderators more than anything:
We often drop “breaking news” items in the first thread that comes along. I did this yesterday with the Adam Jones news, and then Dave moved it up into the top-level as its own post. And yet, I felt a little guilty for going off-topic in the middle of a thread. (Adam Jones wasn’t off-topic in a discussion about how wonderful Ichiro’s contract is, was it?)
Should we attach a line to a comment that says, “Breaking News” or something, to alert the moderators? How do the blog administrators want us to deal with that stuff?
July 12th, 2007 at 3:18 pmI think DMZ has had plans to address such things …
July 12th, 2007 at 3:28 pmI was thinking we might be able to help him out on this score.
July 12th, 2007 at 3:30 pmWhat’s the USSM policy on posting in pantomime?
July 12th, 2007 at 3:32 pmOr posting in semaphore?
July 12th, 2007 at 3:44 pmSit on your hands.
July 12th, 2007 at 3:49 pmHow about a required reading to the article about faulty arguments. I can’t remember the website, but that was an invaluable tool in deconstructing most baseless claims and warrantless arguments.
July 12th, 2007 at 4:12 pm25: Here is a list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies
July 12th, 2007 at 4:20 pmThis website knows how to play the game and is willing to get its uniform dirty. Why, it’s just like Willie!
July 12th, 2007 at 4:27 pmQuestion: Sorry, I know this is probably an embarassing question but where on the blog do I find the Archives?
July 12th, 2007 at 4:33 pmAlso, it’s customary on days that Felix Hernandez starts a game to wish everyone a “Happy King Felix Day.”
Happy King Felix Day!
July 12th, 2007 at 4:35 pmI admire your efforts to keep things literate around here, USSM, especially as the game day comments seems to be ballooning every week. Trying to police spelling and grammar on a sports blog must at times seem like fighting a war against drugs or terror. But keep it up, just so long as you forgive the ocassional drunken post(s)… some of these games end pretty late, you know!
July 12th, 2007 at 4:37 pmCan we get a game thread up? I am anxious to practice posting thought-provoking, statistically sound, non-hashed over, and properly syntaxed/spelled/punctuated comments that don’t get snuffed. Plus I miss Mariner baseball games.
July 12th, 2007 at 4:52 pmWe often drop “breaking news” items in the first thread that comes along.
Should we attach a line to a comment that says, “Breaking News” or something, to alert the moderators?
I believe the answer to that is that ideally you should use the “Email the authors” link under “Contact us” and suggest it as a new topic. Dropping it into a comment thread is often tolerated initially, but it can be obnoxious if it takes over the discussion there, which will soon lead to annoyed comments about how a separate post is up for that subject already.
July 12th, 2007 at 4:52 pmsome of you are saying to put some things in italics
July 12th, 2007 at 4:53 pmhow do i put something in italics?
#36, see post #21…
July 12th, 2007 at 5:07 pmSeriously, italics in basic HTML involves using , also / . For italics insert an i between the before the word, number, or phrase you want in italics. Then insert a /i between the AFTER the word, number, or phrase you want in italics.
July 12th, 2007 at 5:09 pmWell, dang, I guess I don’t know everything. Like what shows up when you type HTML symbols… Anyway, insert the leftward “less than” sign and the rightward “greater than” sign after “using” and “between the” (twice) above.
Clear?
July 12th, 2007 at 5:21 pmFor all new members I would suggest checking out hardballtimes.com and fangraphs.com. They helped me understand a lot of the terminology that goes on around the blog. Fangraphs win probability is fun to watch as the game goes on also.
July 12th, 2007 at 5:22 pm#24– hmm. a wiki-Faq?
#36–
July 12th, 2007 at 5:23 pmangle bracket em anglebracket
word(s) to be italicised
angle bracket /em angle bracket
like this?
July 12th, 2007 at 5:27 pmMSB you are a better HTML instructor than Karen
Now I guess I need an emoticon lesson.
July 12th, 2007 at 5:29 pmOr not.
July 12th, 2007 at 5:31 pmI think you can do this: <i> and </i> to get around the fact that HTML eats up your greater than and less than symbols.
July 12th, 2007 at 5:32 pmOh wait.. I think it’s <i> and </i> If that’s not it, then I give. LOL
July 12th, 2007 at 5:33 pmLet me just say that I am glad Dave is making it a point to discuss this. Some of the recent threads were getting especially painful to read.
July 12th, 2007 at 5:41 pm[its/it's]
July 12th, 2007 at 6:02 pmFor HTML formatting help, here’s a decent guide to the easy ones.
July 12th, 2007 at 6:10 pmSomebody brought up a good question above. Is there any way to peruse the archives of this blog? I know I can hit “previous entries” a bunch of times, but I’m talking about going back years. Any way to do that?
July 12th, 2007 at 6:16 pmw/r/t off-topic posts: just don’t do it. Ever. Just don’t. It’s amazingly fucking annoying, because often we’re trying to write up a post on “breaking news” as every other thread disintegrates into discussion of that thing, and so instead of “news post” our job turns into “news post”+”clean up every other thread”
On general news-of-the-day posts, that kind of thing’s fine, but I hate, hate, hate people shitting on threads because they think they need to hijack to talk about some other thing.
July 12th, 2007 at 6:17 pmOne more thing — never, I mean never, refer to “Beltre” as “Bustre.” Then again, the way he has been going lately, why would you?
July 12th, 2007 at 7:13 pmSince I love the very occasional moments when I can contribute useful information: one can insert a lesser than/greater than bracket character in one’s HTML by typing the following, without spaces:
& lt ;
July 12th, 2007 at 7:16 pm& gt ;
16. “The bottom line is, as stated in the opening post; this site is not intended to be for everyone, and by posting here, you implicitly agree to participate in a different kind of discussion about baseball and the Mariners than happens on the P-I blog.”
And what kind of discussion would that be? While I appreciate the work Dave puts into analysis and do find it well-written, I find most of the discussion a contest at who can most “cleverly” denigrate the players, coaches and front-office personnel, of course hiding behind the cloak of anonymity.
This might be a “different” kind of baseball discussion, but is it more enlightened?
July 12th, 2007 at 7:34 pmIf you really don’t think that USSM fosters more thoughtful commentary than, say, the PI blogs, or the ESPN forums, I don’t know what to tell you.
If you disagree with the tone/content/etc of comments, you’re welcome to participate and change it.
July 12th, 2007 at 7:39 pmI don’t have much of a cloak of anonymity, considering I post here using my real name.
As far as the rest of it goes, I don’t find it to be true at all. Yes, people in the organization do get criticized here, but it’s mostly because they’re bad at their jobs.
But a lot of players are praised here on a regular basis. Ichiro, Felix, Adam Jones, etc.
Coincidentally, they tend to be the ones that are good at their jobs.
July 12th, 2007 at 8:36 pmthis site is awsome finally a website with people that actually know something about baseball like those guys that use like a whole formula to see how good ichro is. ya this is a good site
July 12th, 2007 at 9:53 pmI got a comment deleted for referring to this as a board. My apologies - I’m relatively clueless about web verbiage and terminology. I was wondering, though: what’s the origin of this dislike? Is “board” a pejorative, or merely inaccurate? What makes a site not a board?
I hope this doesn’t come off as a passive-aggressive needle - the moderating here is one of the reasons I read the site. I’m just curious, and ignorant.
July 12th, 2007 at 9:58 pm55. I’ve never seen the PI’s blog’s moderators outright say a player “sucks,” as I have here. Whether you don’t like a player’s performance for whatever reason, does the word “suck” or its intent ever raise the level of discussion?
I could participate and change it to the best of my ability, but if the tone is such where no mistake on the field is forgivable, every slip lampoonable, and certain players garner wrath “just because”… I’d say that’s a little beyond the scope of what I can do. You, as a moderator, though, might have a little more authority in that regard.
And, 56. No doubt, USSM has its favorites. They can do no wrong here. But I think the others, the ones who might be deemed “bad signings” are doomed and placed under a greater microscope almost before they put the uniform on. If they help the Mariners, either no reaction or downplayed reaction. If they fail, someone’s to blame.. if not the player, the manager for using him or using him incorrectly, or Bavasi for signing him, and all hell breaks loose.
July 12th, 2007 at 11:07 pmI think there probably IS a lot of dissing on here, whether the posters/moderators think it’s deserved or not. But an example to contradict you, BKM, immediately pops to mind–the USSM folks were against the Ibanez signing from the beginning and then kept admitting over the last couple of years that it worked out much better than they expected. As Ibanez got to an .825 OPS in 2004 and .869 last year, instead of declining as they’d expected, the authors didn’t keep harping on how they’d been against the signing and Ibanez actually sucked regardless of his numbers.
This year, of course, things aren’t going quite so well in that regard.
July 12th, 2007 at 11:55 pmOh yeah, plus–the picking on disliked players and “no reaction or downplayed reaction” when players who someone doesn’t expect to do well DOES do well?
That seems like pretty typical human behavior to me, and I find it hard to believe you’d find it to be different on any other board, blog or forum where people post casual comments.
July 13th, 2007 at 12:01 amSo, this post will serve as a primer for the new guys and a refresher for those of you who have been around awhile.
I guess I’m a little of both. I used to read USS Mariner regularly several years ago, and always found it to be an incredibly valuable resource. I recently started checking in here more often in the past couple months, and some of the changes are interesting. For one thing Peter, Jeff and Jason seem to have disappeared, and there’s more of a reliance on game-threads than on content, but life is busy and the content posts are still great.
Some of the changes in tone are a bit striking. Overall it seems a bit more belligerent than it used to me. Derek was always a bit caustic and I figured that he was a nice guy in real life and probably just didn’t represent his true personality via his web writing. Writing for the web seems to make people sound a lot more snarky than they really are, for some reason. But now Dave seems to have adopted that tone-of-voice as well, and it’s a bit hard to read, to be honest.
I can understand the need to be authoritarian about the comments, though the result is that commenters err on the side of sucking up out of a fear of getting banned. But at least the information density is high.
Just thought I’d mention how the site seems to have involved from my perspective over the last few years. You guys know your stuff inside and out, but the tone doesn’t always do your writing justice.
July 13th, 2007 at 7:18 amThe tone is fine and serves a purpose. If you said something incorrect or unsupported in a college classroom, the professor is not going to set you on his or her knee, hand you a lollipop, and tell you how smart you are. You are going to get called out. At that point, you can study up before you talk in class again, or you can transfer to an easier school and complain about how mean the professor was at your old school.
And if you had to put up with the personal attacks and other garbage the authors do (on this site, other sites, and in emails), you would have occasion to be cranky too.
July 13th, 2007 at 9:50 amThere aren’t any players that “can do no wrong” here, that I’ve seen anyway.
There’s been MANY posts lately about how Felix has been using poor pitch selection, for instance. He also got a fair amount of criticism for his poor work habits/self-maintenance, back when he was in that phase.
But what Grizz says is spot-on; this place isn’t intended to be a touchy-feely, everything is sunshine and lollipops sort of forum for discussion.
If someone sucks, we’ll say he sucks, and won’t sugarcoat it. If he doesn’t suck, we’ll say the same. And regardless of which side of someone’s suckitude you’re on, you should be prepared to back up your position with solid factual information using useful statistics (so if you’re saying that Jeff Weaver rocks because of his ERA, we will laugh at you).
July 13th, 2007 at 2:09 pmI view this place as a support group for my addiction. I can’t go to sleep at night without seeing how the M’s did. My friends are much more detached, normal, fair-weather fans. This place saves my wife from having to listen to my insufferable opinions about baseball — USSM gets them, instead.
July 15th, 2007 at 11:26 amI know it’s not on subject but thanks to all of you who commented on my fill-on stint broadcasting for the M’s last week. Even the negative comments.
It was a crazy situation, especially being thrown onto the telecast and then that crazy play, but I had a great time, I love the Mariners, and although I was a little rusty and my voice is my voice, I think I conveyed the joy I felt being there and covering the M’s. And I think you could follow what was going on.
In any event, this is a terrific blog. And I learn more about the team from you guys than from anywhere else.
If anyone is interested, I have a blog as well. It’s more humor oriented. But for those who do enjoy my act, I invite you to check it out. Today I have posted my travelogue on my Seattle trip.
http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/
Thanks again.
Ken Levine
July 15th, 2007 at 10:11 pm