If you troll the blogosphere for the latest news on the Seattle Mariners, more than likely you come across several threads posted calling for the heads of President Chuck Armstong and CEO Howard Lincoln. The "terrible twosome," as they have been referred to, are deemed responsible for the mess the current Mariners are in. Both have been part of the Nintendo ownership regime headed by Hiroshi Yamauchi for the past 17 years. In large part, this is the same group that brought in Lou Pinella as manager in 1993, drafted Alex Rodriguez, and brought in fan favorites Jamie Moyer, John Olerud, and Mike Cameron. The ownership group was also responsible for bringing in overseas talent in the form of Kaz Sasaki as the closer, who won Rookie of the Year honors, Shigetoshi Hasegawa, a talented middle relief pitcher, and most notably, Ichiro Suzuki, who won Rookie of the Year, Gold Glove, and MVP honors in 2001.They also would get the new "Safeco Field" constructed in 1999, deemed a top 5 stadium then and one of the top venues still today.

Continue reading "Are Lincoln and Armstrong that bad?"

Jack Zduriencik, the last person interviewed for the job, was named the new general manager of the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday morning.

But Zduriencik, whose name was first linked to the Mariners by the Seattle P-I, will have to wait a couple of days for his coronation.

Because the World Series starts Wednesday and major announcements are strongly discouraged by Major League Baseball during the Fall Classic, the Mariners will not be allowed to have a news conference to introduce the new man until Friday, when Tampa Bay and Philadelphia have the first of two off days during the World Series.

Zduriencik comes to Seattle from the Milwaukee Brewers, where he was vice president and special assistant to the general manager for player personnel. He was picked from a field that included four people -- Los Angeles Dodgers assistant general manager Kim Ng, Toronto Blue Jays assistant GM Tony LaCava and Jerry Dipoto, the Arizona Diamondbacks director of player personnel.

Continue reading "Jack Zduriencik is Mariner's Man of the Year"

While I struggled with the concept of losing a team I had grown up with, I wondered what my options were. Was there a way to jeopardize my fanhood in this situation? I came across an article ("Rules for being a true fan," Feb. 2002), which, though dated, actually helped me immensely in my decision. A friend of mine, also a die-hard Sonic fan, decided he would join me in deciding where we should take our loyalties.

Over pizza at a local Old Chicago, we went over every option. Do we wait it out and become NBA widows and hope Seattle gets a team again? Do we take our alliance and move it down to the upswing rivals of Portland? Or do we dare follow OKC, which represented all that was wrong with the NBA? Though I loved Sam Presti and the core he was building (Westbrook, Durant, Green, etc.) I felt it was not the players I loved so much, it was the city and the history of the franchise that I loved. I couldn't bring myself to do it.

Continue reading "How I became a Pacers fan"

Last night, the NBA tipped off with the reigning Boston Celtics playing LeBron's Cavaliers, and prevailing on their championship ceremony. Right now, I'm going to get a little preview of the teams in the East and how I believe they will fare.

Here are my predictions:

Atlantic:

1) Boston Celtics - It's hard not to think they may be the first team to repeat championships since the Lakers from '00-'02. Despite the loss of Posey, this is a still a solid team with young talent meshing well with the Big Three.

2) Philadelphia 76ers - Adding Elton Brand was a great move along with re-upping Louis Williams and Andre Igoudala. Igoudala is one of my favorite players and is so explosive. He'll be far more effective this year in the playoffs with Brand now taking some of the focus offensively.

Continue reading "My 2009 NBA Eastern Conference Team Predictions"