The return to the long dark winter of a small market
I don’t have a lot to say about Armstrong’s comments, but I wanted to make this quick point:
His comments about the challenges of Seattle’s market, and more generally the preparations to get everyone ready for slashing payroll and going to ground for a couple of years, are entirely lies, based on the premise that Seattle is a small market, which it isn’t, or that it’s hard to make money, which it’s not, and that they gave it a good try but failed because of totally unforseeable events they had no control over.
It’s part of the team’s long and storied history of mendacity, expectation-lowering, and their continual pouting that the fans and the city aren’t grateful enough to them for operating a for-profit business subsidized by us all.
As bad as these years have been, I’m not looking forward to seeing an even more petulant team waving a finger at me in the future, lecturing me on how they can’t afford to upgrade the team because I don’t go to enough games, rather than because they spent so long being so incompetent when the money was easy to come by.
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w/r/t Gillick, Griffey’s body language, et cetera:
Um… that’s a pretty creative interpretation of events, but okay, you’re free to build the reality of your choosing as do all of us.
I didn’t see that Griffey’s body language from the day Safeco Field opened indicated anything of the sort, and I think I count as one of “anybody”
So is the rumor true that the Seahawks are moving to LA next year??
Yeah, because Paul Allen wants to make more use of his jet to fly to games; he hates driving across the lake. And spending all that money om a new practice facility in Renton (with a dock for his yacht) was an elaborate ruse. Or maybe he needs the money (this economy is hurting everybody, right?) and he’s going to sell the team to Jerry Bruckheimer, Jack Nicholson, and Magic Johnson.
Griffey comming back would just be a great idea for attendance purposes. Even if he was at DH. Only way he would come though is if he gets a ring this year.
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.
People might come out for the novelty of a Griffey return for a little while, but there’s no way they’re going to want to hang around watching him suck game after game while the team loses.
Ichiro is hugely popular and he’s been playing well — but the turnstiles are clicking a lot slower now than they used to.
Boston’s still raking in the attendees despite getting rid of fan favorites like Pedro Martinez, Johnny Damon, Kevin Millar, Nomar Garciaparra, etc, etc, etc. Winning == attendance. Nostalgia == newspaper column inches.
I wouldn’t count on any kind of price rollback. This organization isn’t about to say “hey, we suck — our product is worth less this year than last. Sorry about that.â€
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.
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?
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.
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.
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!”)
“The last thing I need is to see Cora on the end of the bench crying.”
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.
mln,
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.
Let’s pretend this is July 2007…
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”.
Coach in the Cubs’ minor-league system in 2000.
General manager for Caguas of the Puerto Rico League in 1999-2001.
Manager, Rookie level Kingsport (New York Mets) in 2001-02
Manager, Single-A Savannah (Montreal Expos) in 2003
3B coach, White Sox, 2004-2006
Manager, LaGuaira Sharks of the Venezuelan Winter League in 2005.
Bench coach, White Sox, 2007-
Finalist for the Pirates & Nationals managerial jobs.