Sports Teams

I don't fully understand anyone's loyalty to any given sports team. The teams are always in a state of flux and there is no actual team...especially in the pros and a bit less so in colleges. It even happens in high schools,,,maybe not in grade schools...I don't know.

It's like Animal Farm...or a flip book. In a flip book, one makes subtle changes from page to page until the final rendition is completely different than the first. I once worked at a company called Imagine. There were many people working there who came from a company called Iridio. As time went by, there were changes made in company focus, client targets and attitude. I told the owners that if I had wanted to work at Iridio I would have gone there in the first place but I was not one of the owners and could only observe. I made a flip book. I started with the word, Imagine...and on each page, I made a very slight change to the letters...at the end, after fanning through the booklet, what was...Iridio. That was what was really happening to the company as well...but no one seemed to notice...or care.

In Animal Farm (which I haven't read for a long, long time and may be incorrect with the details), the hapless animals saw nearly indistinct changes, day by day..."Didn't that sign used to say...? Didn't the pigs used to live in the barnyard with us? Weren't there people in the house?" Without even being aware of it, the farm animals learned to accept an entirely new reality.

That's what the sports teams are all about. There are very few, lasting members of any team. There are trades made to make improvements all the time. ..or the players insist on moving on...The Seattle Mariners and Seahawks are a good example. The fans show up at the games, paying for tickets, hot dogs, beer, tee shirts and a variety of memorabilia. Nothing stays the same though. The teams don't have any of the same players and the fans keep coming. "Go Hawks! Go Mariners!"...but these are not the same people they rooted for just one season ago. You can't go off thinking Griffey, A-Rod, Paxton or The Big Unit are your Mariners. They're not. They're gone. It's the same with the Seahawks. Yet the rabid fans keep on keepin' on.

Why in the world do the local fans continue to support their team...the individual players...any of it? It's always in transition. There is no real team! Those players who moved to other teams...they return as opponents, sometimes on the same day they left.

Russel Wilson changed schools...as so many others have done. He'll go to a different pro team if the money doesn't work out in Seattle. There is zero loyalty from team ownership or management to players or fans....or from players to teams or fans...and yet the local fan base remains attached to the team. It simply makes no sense. There is no team!

The coaches and managers are no different. There's a revolving door in the offices and clubhouses of all pro and college organizations.

"Didn't that guy used to be our running back? Wasn't he our pitcher?" Go team!

Ultra- BORING DAVE SIMS!

Dave Sims seems to be the most boring announcer I've ever heard. I'd really be extremely pleased to never hear him again. I'd much rather listen to Ken Levine (of Cheers)! Why in the world would ANYONE pay him for his completely boring radio delivery?! Listen to Dave Sims, Rick Rizzs, Aaron Goldsmith...Dave Niehaus. Dave Sims sounds like he should be sitting at a keyboard rather than a microphone. It's downright embarrassing. He's every bit as boring as Ron Fairly (obvious) was. Of course, there were people who were fun to listen to because they sounded completely foolish...like Ken Griffey senior and others. How can it be so difficult to find competent, interesting announcers???? Announcers who don't speak with strange accents from other parts of the country and with a near-soprano voice...people who sound like they actually care about the event?

Rick Rizzs

Rick...did I just hear you say, "the bat flied out of the hands of Shoppach"? Well...I know I did...kinda funny, eh? Flied!?

Rick...what say you get your partner, Aaron, to stop saying things like, "top two, bottom three" etc.?

That sounds just too much like California talk. I don't like it. Dave Simms does that all the time and I just turn off the radio.

It's better to say, "top of the second" and "bottom of the third", don't you think? What say we speak "Northwest" rather than "California"?

Okay...what say you convince "Bone" to get off those truck ads. He has no voice for radio and sounds downright stupid. If I were shopping for a car or truck, I'd definitely be swayed to go to the place where the guy always ends up saying, "yippee aye o kayea". (I have no idea how to properly spell that!) However, I would certainly NOT be swayed by Bone's ads!

Zags/Mariners

So I be looking to see what's going on...

The Mariners just thwumped some who-body 16 to zip in the pre-season. So? So...I think of the Zags. They whumped over everybody and were the number ONE rated basketball team. So? That doesn't mean squat if you can't finish. Same with the Mariners...having a stellar pre-season isn't squat! It's FINISHING that matters! Zags and Mariners....Mariners and Zags...look at the end game...if you're a pawn down, you lose. Welcome to the mediocre Northwest where being competitive is all that seems to matter...and national attention will continue to focus on the...East.

Note to Aaron Goldsmith

Okay Aaron...Don't say, "top three". Say, "top of the third". Don't say, "the five". Say, "I-five". Get it?
Seattle is not part of California! I didn't like  Dave Simms (partly due to his incredibly boring delivery and partly due to his "top three" type of reporting). Aaron...don't be another boring Dave Simms. You're close to what we need in the northwest but not quite there yet. Also...I appreciate hearing what else is going on during a game...how's the weather, what are the people in the stands doing, what is going on in the dugout, etc.? Is the infield in good shape? Is the umpire calling the game accurately? Tell me what's really happening because I'm not there. What's the weather like? Is somebody limping?

I don't want to hear any Vin Scully kind of thing...Many years ago, there was a streaker, running across the field at Chavez Ravine...Scully refused to even mention it! I want to hear everything going on in a game!

Mr. Goldsmith...I appreciate your Spring Training broadcasts so far but I'd be happy if you can take the next step. While Scully seems to have thought he was "painting a picture"...as did Niehaus...it's important to really do it. The next step is to REALLY paint a picture (unlike Scully and Niehaus). Look around during the game and tell us everything!

Anyway...no more, "top three" okay?

Also...I'm anxious to see how it goes when there are "color guys" included in the broadcasts. I don't ever want to hear Ron Fairly or Mike Blowers but I definitely like hearing Dave Henderson, Griffey and Dan Wilson (among a few others). Don't ever let Griffey (Sr) on the air...ever! If you can get Alvin Davis...great! There are others but they never seem to make it on-air.

I listen to almost every Mariners' game on the radio (with limited TV coverage here) and don't mind spending my own (limited) funds to help the team. I just want to receive information during each broadcasted game in a professional manner.

So...Mr. Goldsmith...button up a few issues and you'll rise to the top. (Shit floats). Just kidding...the cream rises to the top, too.