A brief inventory was taken when the Roadie pulled into Seattle for its final stop on August 8. There were stories like Pat’s in Sacramento that helped bring the healthcare debate into focus. The King demonstrated in St. Louis what gambling can mean to an individual. And in Denver, we saw that some charities are taking a hit due to lower attendance.
But there was no real news-breaker. No real muckraking Upton Sinclair meets Arianna Huffington kind of stuff. I didn’t even get to play Bill Paxton and chase the funnel clouds that rained out the game in Memphis. I’m still here, on the back pages of the Internet, waiting to get called up to The Show.
The feel-good stories were good ones though. French people try baseball. Wisconsinites are so friendly when they tailgate for the Brewers like they do for the Packers. Los Angeles is an aptly named city. But in Seattle, I was determined to find that story that was going to blow the retractable roof off of Safeco Field, even if I had to ruffle some feathers to do it. Unfortunately, I should have realized the roof was already open.
Now You’re Tryin’ To Trick Me
We have seen games for free like we did in San Francisco, and we have seen them through the eyes of those wiser than us in St. Louis, or through the eyes of Taiwanese fans rooting on a fellow countryman. We had not yet seen a game from the friendly confines of a suite with the soft chairs, buffet lines, four flat screens, and two sub-zero fridges that just about complete the baseball-watching experience. Thanks to a regional alumni club of my alma mater and another generous ticket grant from readers like you, the Roadie was to hit the rarified air.
But before the opportunity came to watch baseball’s northern-most (or what I like to call latitude-challenged) franchise in action, the group with whom this experience would be shared settled in for a fireside chat and Q&A session with Seattle Mariner President and COO Chuck Armstrong in the media room located in bowels of the ten-year-old stadium.
Finally! I was set to go. The pump was primed further when Robin, one of the evening’s unofficial hosts came to me and asked if I had any questions. I felt like the Kingdome after Edgar’s double in 96. I wanted to say: “I’ll start with a no-spin caesar salad, filet de Woodward for the entree, and the Frost(ed)/Nixon cake for dessert.” Instead I replied, “I want to ask what everyone else probably wants to know – how has the economy affected the Mariners, if at all?”
She either wanted to throw up or throw me out. She did not know about the blog and I misread the room. Questions about what balks are, the type of grass used at Safeco, and whether arguments with players/managers ever get personal were going to rule the night.
There is so much I know, I think I know, and would like to think I know about baseball, that I forget sometimes that I am in a self-appointed and jaded minority who just wants THE GAME and sees the rest as just another business; and every time I see a middle-aged man with children and that man is wearing his favorite player’s $150 replica jersey, I want to violently shake that guy and scream, “That person does not care about you or your children! Now go to your backyard and teach that boy how to throw left-handed!”
The crowd of nearly 100 people were entertained and informed for 45 minutes by Mr. Armstrong, Mariners’ head groundskeeper Bob Christofferson, and Umpire Tim Tschida – crew chief and home plate umpire for tonight’s game. Mr. Armstrong whetted my whistle with one of his first comments – that attendance was down at my alma mater’s very fun, beautiful, and popular camp in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Alas, while it was revealed that 2008 was very rough for professional sports in the Emerald City only partly due to the departure of the Sonics of the NBA, the Mariners did pick up a corporate sponsor and the ownership group is committed to keeping baseball in town and running a sound, profitable franchise.
Let’s Move Before They Raise The Parking Rate
After our sit-down session it was time to head up to the suite and for me, it was time to find a tale of woe more woeful than mine in a skybox full of graduates from the one of the country’s grandest institutes of higher learning. I figured I had a better chance of passing Ken Griffey, Jr. on the all-time home run list before I’d be able to do that. I was right.
Elliott and Sally had season tickets to the Mariners all the way back to the Kingdome days and kept them up until a couple of years ago. They were in the package with some friends, but as time became the most precious of commodities in their respective lives, back into the general pool went the tickets. Spencer, another one of the night’s organizers said that the Mariner’s better record and word of mouth on last year’s shindig helped contribute to an event that was twice as big as last season.
Then there was the tale of another fellow alumnus, who was the only person on the entire trip who did not give me permission to use a real name when asked. I believe what I can say is not only did this person’s recent and wildly successful capital-raising exploits put me and the rest of us wanna-be investment bankers to shame, but I think I was convinced to drop the ‘Moneyball’ crap and try to write the next ‘Liar’s Poker’.
Die Luft der Freiheit Weht
The winds did blow the Roadie out of Safeco with what it wanted most – a final piece of a 13-city/12-game glimpse into what fans around the country think about the grand game in one of the most introspective times in the country’s history. Stories, memories, and maybe even some multimedia will continue to trickle out over the next few days and weeks to help fill in the middle of this giant jigsaw puzzle that seems to have its borders in tact.
Bottom line overall is that it seems all right now.
In other news – Making his first start since being traded from the the Pittsburgh Pirates, Ian Snell did not make it out of the second inning in the Mariners’ 10-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. The Mariners did tie the game at 3 B3, but long home runs by Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena T5 gave the Rays a lead they would not relinquish. Both teams continue to battle among four other contenders for the American League wild card playoff spot.
Thanks to the Stanford Club of Washington, The Seattle Mariners, and Family Smith for letting an admitted “Californicator” take part in the night’s festivities. Great job, all!
Lyric reference: Andy Fraser/Paul Rodgers
Eunice Mary Kennedy was born in Brookline, Mass., on July 10, 1921, the fifth of nine children and the third daughter of Joseph P. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. Her maternal grandfather was John Francis Fitzgerald, the Massachusetts politician known as Honey Fitz who served as mayor of Boston and a member of the House of Representatives. She attended Convent of the Sacred Heart Schools in the United States and England and Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart. She received a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Stanford in 1943.
Jesse, if you do write a book about your career as a I-banker I’d really like to read about it.