When have the Mariners ever *not* sucked? Did you see who threw out the opening pitch yesterday? The Big Unit was on the field with Jay Buhner, Dan Wilson, Edgar Martinez and Ken Griffey Jr.

When a president bows to another leader, he is showing obesience. How can this show anything but a disdain for America?

@ 3, yet they still couldn't manage a World Series appearance.

I'm not convinced that the M's are going to have a bad year. Hell, last year my Rockies got off to a real sucky start and still ended up the wildcard team. The M's can certainly pull it off too, so long as Milton settles down and Cliff Lee is 100% when he comes off the DL.

"but fails to find any long-range solutions, like passing an income tax, taxing the wealthiest people and corporations, or repairing the state's regressive taxing structure."

How about cutting spending? Crazy, I know.

@ 6) Like the $4 billion they cut last year and the $755 million they cut this year?

So Basil...if god forbid McCain was our president, and he bowed the same way as Obama has would you feel the same way?

If Obama's "bowing" is news, I'd say we're doing pretty well.

@3 already said it, but yeah, the Ms won almost 3 out of every 4 games in 2001, and Matt@4, baseball is very streaky and superstitious and I can't help thinking that 9/11 happening right at the pinnacle of the Ms season, shutting down all of baseball for a week. The Mariners were still great after that, but something was lost in the meantime that they weren't able to regain in time to beat the Yankees in the second round of the postseason playoffs. That said, it's doubtful they had the pitching to get past the Diamondbacks in that World Series anyway.

To answer Dominic's ignorant question, the Mariners most certainly did not suck in 1995, 1997, 2000 and 2001, but they sucked for their first several seasons and really, really sucked in 2008.

And even when they've sucked in recent years, they still outdraw most ball clubs in the country. Compare the sad, empty stadium in Oakland for their opening night to the sold out crowd at last night's game.

Also, Ichiro. Any game this season is worth seeing to be able to say someday that you saw Ichiro play.

@ 10, one thing I remember clearly from 2001 was that the A's (that year's wildcard team) kept pace with the M's from at least the All-Star break. The M's record was largely due to having the best start ever (they were 46-3 at one point) before they came back to earth a bit. So I'm not too sure that 9/11 had a lot to do with their premature postseason exit.

Correction @ 11 - They finished May with a record of 40-12, so I obviously hallucinated that 46-3 record. (It couldn't have been 43-6 either. I thought maybe I was transposed digits.) Still, it was an awesome start.

Lord Basil is right. Obama should start greeting other world leaders with a roundhouse kick. That is, if he loves America.

Is this where we get our Milton Bradley hate on? I was crowing in LOLs at his error yesterday.

But to get to a larger point: I visited the Seattle Times M's blog to nourish myself with Mariners fans' tears, and wow. Some dickhead on there actually said, with all seriousness, "The only stats that matter are batting average, RBI, and ERA." I bet you anything that he is a Tea Partyer. To me, that statement is like "SHOW ME THE BIRTH CERTIFICATE!" or "JESUS CREATED THE FOSSIL RECORD!" It's rejecting all facts and logical thinking for angry dogmatism. I'm not a super stat geek and "Moneyball" was not the be-all end-all, but you cannot tell me that RBIs or pitcher wins are better stats than OPS and WHIP.

It's best this way. Other years they've let us get our hopes up before dashing them later in the season.

No, no, no. That guy was right. He shouldn't bow to them because we eat potatoes.

@13, good start or no, they won 116 freaking games in the regular season that year. The 1906 Cubs, whose record they matched, only won two games in their postseason. The 2001 Mariners went on to win the Division Series (largely on the heroic pitching of my hero, Jamie Moyer).

The All Star game was here at Safeco Field that year, and nearly the entire lineup for the American League were Mariners, with 8 Ms on that team. This city will never see a better team or baseball season in general than it did in 2001. The Diamondbacks may have won it all that year, but look where their retired World Series star went to throw out his first ceremonial pitch this April.

@7 Yes. Exactly like that.

Lord Basil, that's nothing. That woman on the Fox clip segment looks like a cartoonish crossdresser, though.

@ 18, all well and true, but the game is about championships, not record-breaking regular seasons. And
if you don't think Randy will ever throw a first pitch in Phoenix, you're nuts. (He probably won't do it in Yankee Stadium, though.)

Matt@23, I didn't say he'd never throw out the first pitch at Chase Field -- he will -- but you can't tell me he didn't choose to throw the first pitch of his retirement here in part due to the incredibly warm reception he got here last year, after he threw his last pitch at Safeco Field.

Also, who are you to say what the game of baseball is about? If the game is only about championships, as you argue, than the game is only about the NY Yankees, full stop. Are fans in every other ballpark and city save New York wasting their time, in your opinion?

I'd still argue that when the Mariners finally win a World Series trophy, that season likely won't be as fun and amazing as 2001, or even 1995 for that matter. And even in 2008, a season of futility, it was worth coming to the ballpark to see Ichiro Suzuki play.

I gave Randy Johnson respect yesterday for fixing Barry Zito.

Okay, Dominic, now you made me feel bad for my "ignorant" comment...

@ 24, you're being dense. Do you think the teams and players have any ultimate goal other than championship? Especially when they won 116 games?

@27, ask Barry Bonds if he had alternative goals other than championships.

OBVIOUSLY, a World Series win would have been the perfect capper on that 116 win season, yes.

If a team doesn't win it all, do they "suck" though? Did the Sounders suck last season?

@ 28, you're confusing me with someone who agrees with the original post. And yeah, Barry said many times that he wanted a championship, which he did play for once.

You might not have been disappointed in 2001, but I know a lot of people who were.

Matt, of course I was disappointed when the Yankees drove a train over the Mariners in Game 5, I'm just saying that 2001 is still something to be proud of, as a fan...

The Palin story reads: "Her typical fee is $100,000, according to a January report in Politico, though she accepts a somewhat smaller fee for events on the West Coast because they are easier to get to from Alaska."

Really? That's why she charges less for West Coast gigs? Isn't "because nobody wants to pay to listen to her" a little more realistic?