The End of a Beard

The Vancouver Canucks lost today. It was a sad day today for anyone who likes humane, respectable hockey players (read: anyone not on the Chicago Blackhawks). Even so, regardless of my beliefs on the unsportsmanlike behavior of the Chicago organization from top to bottom, this too means the end of my playoff beard.

We had a good run, beard. Indeed, this year looked different than others. The Canucks had put together a strong blueline and had amazing forwards, something that I hadn't seen in years. Hell, Henrik Sedin cemented himself not only as an allstar, but as the shoo-in MVP this season, and Daniel's stats were just as good per game (Henrik put up 1.36 points a game to Daniel's 1.35). Ryan Kesler continued his growth into one of the best defensive forwards in the game and Alex Burrows became a man hated deeply by everyone outside of the Vancouver fanbase thanks to Pierre MacGuire.

Even so, your days were doomed as soon as the injuries hit, beard. Sure, the Canucks stood tall even without Willie Mitchell, Sami Salo, and Kevin Bieksa for extended periods. Hell, the team managed to play through Andrew Alberts' existence, who is the equivilent of Glenallen Hill for hockey speed.

Unfortunately, I should have know better than to believe in you. Luongo reverted back to his playoff expertise, giving up soft goals, and the penalty kill evaporated into a laughably terrible group. Sadly, beard, your days are over. Hopefully, with a bit of health, the development of Cody Hodgson into liquid awesome, and Luongo learning how to play like a real goalie in big games, next year will be special. I hope to see you again, beard, and let's all hope I get to keep you till the Cup is raised over the heads of the Canucks (at least for the brief time before Kyle Wellwood devours it).

Rob Johnson

For a career Rob Johnson is a major league catcher. He wears the pads, he lets his mitt hit the ball, he stands in the batters boxes, and he walks to the mound. Most importantly though he stand on the mound and speaks to the pitchers. He speaks so well while out on the mound that the Mariners pitching staff praises him at everyone opportunity. None of us can know for sure what it is Rob says while he is out there standing next to the pitcher. However, based on my astute lip reading skills I figure it is something like, "way to go", "You're the best", or "Dont worry about those three homers, I still like you!" Pitchers like that.

Some of you might think that paying a guy $412,500 to hit under .150, committed passed balls, and give pitcher compliments seems like a lot. It is not. Consider what the M's pay the other feel good guys, Griffey and Sweeney. Mike Sweeney gets $650,000 to swing wildly at every pitch and give bear hugs, while Ken Griffey Jr gets $2,350,000 to tickle Ichiro and hit weak ground balls to second.

Also, another positive thing about Rob Johnson is he walks and walks alot this year. He has an OBP of .302. That is .152 higher then his average. Not many guys can say that their OBP is .150 higher then their AVG. Sure he has also 16 times compared to 11 walks but ignore that, this OBP is .150 higher then his AVG!

On a serious note: I hate watching Rob Johnson.

Sources: ESPN.com

The Viewer's Bias

It happens to the best of us (read: me). Any game we're watching is instantly changed by terrible officiating that directly leads to our team losing. It happened in the UW-UConn game in 2006 (and in 1998 if you ask my dad), it happens in Mariners game, it happens everywhere.

Of course, almost every time this happens, its more a case of the viewer's bias than anything else. More often than not, important games are officiated very well, Super Bowl Forty of course exempted. I've taken it on myself to work extremely hard to seperate my own personal bias from watching games as well as I can. Certainly its hard to admit that say the Husky men's team wasn't as good as Purdue two years ago, but I've gotten to the point that I can.

The point is, just how much bias should one allow in their sports viewing? It makes no sense for someone to sit and not care at all about the outcome, that's just not as fun. Without any emotional investment in the game, sports becomes nothing more spectacular than doing taxes. However, too much emotional investment can lead to one creating ridiculous conspiracy theories as to why their team lost an important game or can't win the championship (here's looking at you, fans of every Boston sports franchise).

Obviously, the viewer should be emotionall involved. All I am attempting to suggest is that don't get so into it that its impossible to accept any failure. Mike Jensen is going to commit stupid fouls. Marcus Trufant is going to pass interfere every single time. It happens. Let it go and move on with the game, nothing will change it. One day, your team is bound to win a big game thanks to something rather questionable (this does not apply to the Cubs, who will never win anything). With the idea not to let any failures linger in the mind, one can actually enjoy a game while still being emotionally invested in the outcome. Except for games in which Felix Hernandez pitches; every run score against him is cheating.

Milton Bradley: Realizes He's A Six Year Old Child

Milton Bradley officially issued a statement saying he will be undergoing professional counselling for his personal issues and has spoken to team management asking for their support and help. Perhaps I crucified him a bit too soon and too thoroughly.

This is a huge step for Milton. Throughout his whole career and, by all accounts, in the years before that, Milton has had huge anger issues. Not just in that he goes off easily, but that he takes offense at idle comments. In no way does this excuse Milton's actions; he still should easily be able to hve noticed what he was doing was wrong.

The point is, Milton has finally realized that he has problems and that it isn't everyone around him that is wrong. Even more impressive is that he is letting others help him. If Milton has expressed any one thing in his career it is his desire to be completely independent of all those around him. However, in this case, he has finally allowed others to help. As they say, admitting you have a problem is the first step, and hopefully this leads to Milton reforming his attitude and living a happier life both in baseball and in all other areas. Good luck to the man, and hopefully he doesn't disappoint.

Milton Bradley, Six Year Old Child

Originally I planned on writing a post on one of my favorite Mariners throughout the years, Mike Cameron, today. Unfortunately, Milton Bradley ruined that, much like he does with many things.

I've often thought Milton has been nothing but a man with a large temper problem caught in some very unfortunate situations. He takes a lot of heat still for trying to fight an umpire in San Diego, though everyone seems to forget that it has been confirmed by many of the players nearby that the umpire had thrown some racist slurs at Milton beforehand. Honestly, I've always felt bad for the guy; it's tough enough to be the guy that goes off at the smallest thing, I can only imagine how bad it must be when you must spend every day in front of millions of people.

Even so, I can't in good conscience forgive him any longer. Sure, I'm a Mariners fan, so what he's doing now hits closer to home than a lot of his other crap. And sure, his lack of hustle these last few weeks is nothing different than what he's done anywhere else. However, never have I heard of an athlete in any sport simply walking out on his team, let alone in the middle of the game.

If you didn't hear what happened, or simply didn't care enough to read about it, Milton Bradley struck out looking in a recent game with the bases loaded. As such, Milton berated the umpire, going so far as to continue yelling at him from the dugout (your guess is as good as mine as to how he didn't get thrown out). Manager Don Wakamatsu did his best to console him, which of course led to Milton Bradley declaring he would no longer play for the Mariners, packing his locker, and leaving the game in the 6th inning.

This is ridiculous. I've seen plenty of kids in youth baseball leagues quit in the middle of a game because they were doing bad, but a 31 year old professional? There is absolutely no excuse for this kind of behavior. Hell, even the kids who do it usually get reprimanded and I've never seen one leave their team forever over it. Milton Bradley seems to think he is above everything around him and can do whatever he wants, and frankly I'm tired of him feeling so entitled. I say, let him leave.

Of course, if he does leave the team, that means we can void his contract, pay him nothing, and instead pay Jermaine Dye to hit better and be half the asshole. Problem solved.

Mike Cameron

Even without a history of success, Mariners fan have always amazed me with their unrequited love of some players. Guys like Dan Wilson or Jay Buhner will never have to pay for anything in the state of Washington again and neither of them is exactly Hall of Fame worthy. Yet even with the astounding number of fan favorites, I've never truly understood why Mike Cameron can't get more love.

Throughout his career, and certainly in his prime here in Seattle, Cameron was by far the best defensive centerfielder in baseball. Sure, he batted about .250 his whole time here and his OBP was never significantly higher, but he hit enough homeruns to help balance that out a bit (and he certainly tried to hit a homerun every chance he got). Now I understand he only played four years here, but Joey cora was here about the same period and I know people who would marry him if the opportunity arose. You know who you are and seriously, back off him, you're not even gay, and I'm pretty sure Cora's married anyways.

But I digress. Mike Cameron has never been anything if not a class act and was always open with the Seattle media in his time here. He's always seemed an affable, likeable man and certainly has always produced on the field. Cameron was a part of some of the best Mariners teams of all time. yet, nobody ever seems to really mention him amongst their favorites.

Now I'm not arguing for Cameron to be listed among the all-time Mariner greats or to have his number retired. All I'm saying is he doesn't get the respect he's due from Mariners fans. The man gave his best years to Seattle and has never asked for anything back, but i don't think I've ever met someone who thought of him as their favorite player or really anything close.

Maybe it's because we had to trade Griffey to get him. Maybe it was because he collected strikeouts like a fat kind hoards Abba Zabbas. All i'm asking is for Cameron to be given the same due Seattle fans give to Cora or Freddy Garcia. Bring him back for a first pitch or do some commentary when he's retired. I know it'll be tough to get him to do much right now thanks to his insistence on still being good at baseball, but I can only hope Seattle gives Mike Cameron his due and appreciates him as one of the most likable and important Mariners to ever play.

The Mariner and Home Runs: Dead Ball Era Revisited

As you may have noticed the Seattle Mariners don't have much power this year on their team. So far through 24 games they have hit 9 homers. If they continue on at this rate they are on a pace to hit 60.75 HR all year. The Mariners can't possibly keep up this record setting pace of un-power can they?

To help try and answer that question I looked at the combined HR totals of all the position players currently on the roster form 2009. Last year the Mariners current players hit a total of 122 homers. That is a good sign. We can even take away the 19 that Griffey hit and the M's were still at 103.

Also a season ending HR total of 60 would be completely unheard of in this era. The lowest HR total by a team in the last 10 years is 94 by the 2008 Giants. The average lowest is 114.27HR. You have to go back to 1991 to find a team that hit less 70 HR and that was the Cardinals with 68.

Basically the Mariners current HR rate is unsustainable. They are going to start hitting homers eventually. They are going to have to hit them in bunches. That or they are going to bring back the Deadball era.