As for [John McLaren], come on he is a great bench coach and will probably be a head coach next year somewhere. Why not here? He has the winning attitude, has the smarts and knows the game well. Another plus side is that Seattle fans for the most part still love him and would welcome him to the franchise. Even if he doesn’t get it because their is someone better, i would still like to see him get a chance at it.

Yeah. So much for “hey, he’s a good bench coach”.

Anyone who cares as much as Cora does about winning would, agreed. The image of him sobbing on the bench after the playoff elimination is tattooed on my brain.

TotallyNotWilly,

I was mostly joking, but what I meant to imply was that a winning Sonics team with high attendance (a good indicator of fan support, no?) would have gotten its new arena. Walker torpedoed the fan support to a point that most people didn’t care, and the politicians acted in accordance with that general apathy. You can rescind your “NO,” I don’t disagree with your point about the broken dynamic, and to quote DMZ, “Screw the NBA.” I’m sure most of us can agree on that.

True enough. If Cora were hired as the manager of the M’s, he’d be reduced to tears every game, given the mediocrity of this team and front office.

I’m sure he gives 110% and takes one game at a time, too. C’mon, a “winning attitude”? That 2001 team had “winning attitude” if any team ever has, and how many World Series rings did that get them? Or are you saying Lou Piniella didn’t have a winning attitude? (Is the difference between Piniella’s Devil Rays and Piniella’s Cubs that he had a winning attitude in Chicago but not in Tampa? Or maybe, just maybe, it was the players?)

I certainly hope you don’t think Joey Cora is going to make a difference in attendance (”A Mariners game? But they suck!” “Yeah, but Joey Cora’s in the dugout now!” “Oh, in that case, let’s get box seats!”)

As for Joey Cora, come on he is a great bench coach and will probably be a head coach next year somewhere. Why not here? He has the winning attitude, has the smarts and knows the game well.

How do you know he’s a great bench coach, or has more of a winning attitude, smarts, or game knowledge than any average ex-ballplayer candidate?

Another plus side is that Seattle fans for the most part still love him and would welcome him to the franchise. Even if he doesn’t get it because their is someone better, i would still like to see him get a chance at it.

And this is really what it’s all about: nostalgia. I loved those teams as much as anyone, but we’re not going to build a winning team, or draw bunches more fans, by bringing back the heroes of the past. If anything, it’ll damage the good memories when yesterday’s heroes can’t rescue the team from today’s problems.

The Orioles are offering $1 tickets for the month of September (in limited numbers). Angelos may be a meddling idiot, but apparently he is capable of feeling shame, or at least obligation. Just think: it’s now cheaper to see Adam Jones play in the bigs than it was to see him at Tacoma. And let’s not forget Camden was the prototype of the beautiful neo-retro ballpark style that Safeco embraced. Apparently that only works for so long. If the M’s keep losing like the Orioles, $1 tickets may be in their future too.

Ichiro is hugely popular and he’s been playing well — but the turnstiles are clicking a lot slower now than they used to.

As for Joey Cora, come on he is a great bench coach and will probably be a head coach next year somewhere. Why not here? He has the winning attitude, has the smarts and knows the game well. Another plus side is that Seattle fans for the most part still love him and would welcome him to the franchise. Even if he doesn’t get it because their is someone better, i would still like to see him get a chance at it.