Small pond, big sakana

Doug:
Friggin' Ichiro. Just when I was starting to envision him a Red Sox uniform zapping out corkscrew singles all ovah Fenway …

 

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Mike:
I know. Resigning with Seattle? How do you say "What a pussy" in Japanese?

 

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Doug:
Seriously. You know being old school and playing with one club your entiah career is cool and all. But when that one club is in a small mahket with a history yeah aftah year aftah year of always being kinda good but nevah evah good enough, well, that's just lame-oh-san.

 

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Mike:
Some guys just don't have the nads for prime time, I guess.

 

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Comments

[Youk Rules]

Is it just me, or was anyone disgusted by the pre-game glitz and glamour, the schmaltz and maudlin sentimentality?

It was embarrassing to watch.

[Harwich Rich]

Say Hey :)

[louclinton]

At least your local newspaper didn't have a headline (as mine did today) about the All-Star Game at the "'Stick".

lc

[Bob]

Wow, did everybody see A-Fraud "drop the shoulder" when he was thrown out at home last night?

He really did look like he slapped the catcher with a purse (or possibly a Hamburger Helper glove) with that feeble attempt to dislodge the ball.

[Harwich Rich]

He was thinking about "the stick"

[IkeG]

Didn't the Mariners just sweep us recently?

What was weird about that A-Rod play was that he stole 2nd on the previous play, then looked slow coming around third. Could be the hammy.

Youk, the only reason I wasn't overly disgusted with the pre-game was that I knew it'd be that way. I wasn't ready for the schmaltz, but I was ready for the glitz, glamour, and maudlin sentimentality.

Ah, real baseball again tomorrow. Rescue me from my surliness!

[Chops]

Ichiro staying in Seattle is a good, good thing. Do you seriously think the Red Sox could outbid the Yankees for the services of a serviceable center fielder? The Gothamites are desperate - they'd pay him twice what we would.

Keep it on the west coast, Ichiro-San!

[h.b.]

Do you seriously think the Red Sox could outbid the Yankees for the services of a serviceable center fielder?

Ah, fuck, how true! I mean it's not like the Red Sox have ever spent mucho $$$'s bidding for a Japanese player or anything.

[Bob]

SDU, a little reminder of your time here:

http://images.thewavemag.com/images/articles/14001-15000/14220.jpg

[h.b.]

Didn't the Mariners just sweep us recently?

Ah, if only sweeping a club were a sure sign of later success (cf. 2006 Red Sox)

Meanwhile Seattle's recent history:

2006 Last in the AL West
2005 Last in the AL West
2004 Last in the AL West

[louclinton]

That's a heck of a picture Bob. Is that food going in or coming out?

lc

[IkeG]

True, hb, but the timing of Bill & Doug's comments is kind of funny considering how lame the fellas looked in Seattle recently. Here's hoping that they bust out of the gates for the 2nd half.

I'm out for the weekend. If anyone needs me I'll be floating in a Georgia lake, preferably on a boat or jetski, and not face-down.

[h.b.]

Ike, you're looking at it micro but the characters are looking at it macro.

The Mariners can sweep the Sox every series for the next 3 seasons and it'll do little to change these facts:

1) It's a small market club.
2) They typically suck.
3) They've had only meager post season experience.
4) Seattle will never be confused with NY or Boston with regard to media/fan intensity.

Small pond. Even the douche bag A-Rod knew enough to get the frig out of there.

Don't get me wrong, Seattle is a cool place to live for you or I, but if you want to be a total kick ass MLB player with designs on leaving a major impact on the game's history, there is only so much you can do in Seattle.

[Harwich Rich]

Ike-just watch out for midgets playing banjos :D

[Bob]

I believe it's going into Joey Chestnut's pie-hole, LC. Unlike his Japanese rival, he had no "reversal of fortune."

It was fun watching SDU marvel at the hot dog eating contest on the 4th. The entire Baseball Tavern was going crazy, and you could just see in SDU's eyes that he thinks this entire country is quite mad.

[Jason O.]

Ike, it is expressly forbidden to question Comrade Secretary Brachen. I only recently avoided the gulag for such an offense.

Come on, hb, just kidding. In the words of the immortal Telly Savalas in the unforgettable "Players Club" ads, who loves you, baby??!!

[Jason O.]

BTW, it's the 40th anniversary of "The Dirty Dozen," and I am excited.

Brown, Bronson, Marvin, Savalas AND Borgnine? Are you kidding me?? A better cast has never been assembled.

[h.b.]

Didn't mean to come across as disagreeing with Ike but rather to help explain the meaning I, by way of the characters, intended.

Speaking for myself in my own biased way, I think that any ballplayer who doesn't want more than anything else to either play for the Boston Red Sox or the New York Yankees is an underachiever.

[IkeG]

No doubt about the big vs small market, hb. On the other hand, isn't Seattle the best place to land that big Starbuck's ad contract?
"Why is there only one coffee bean in this jar?"
"Winnah! Winnah!"

[yazbread]

Lee Marvin never turned in a bad performance in his life. As to the entire cast of TDD, that type of actor is all but gone today.

[Bob]

//Lee Marvin never turned in a bad performance in his life.//

You can't really blame Lee Marvin, but still:

http://www.oldmovies.net.au/userimages/user1367_1164705400.jpg

[SoCal BosSox Fan]

This interesting little tidbit is on Lee Marvin's Wikipedia page.

"Lee Marvin's character in The Dirty Dozen (Major John Reisman) was based on U.S. Marine John Miara, of Malden, Massachusetts. The two became friends while serving in the Marine Corps."

[Sonoma Sox]

As for all that "pre-game glitz and glamour, the schmaltz and maudlin sentimentality" -
This area (Bay Area) has had a collective hard-on for nearly a week. Cuz I guess nobody really ever appreciates S.F. so they've been going crazier than normal.

Mays was great and deserved some love but after '99 w/ the Splendid one, all else pales.

[Sonoma Sox]

"I think that any ballplayer who doesn't want more than anything else to either play for the Boston Red Sox or the New York Yankees is an underachiever"

Absolutely, HB and here's ancedotal evidence #1 in support:
A's vs. Mariners series last WEEKEND...a battle of division rivals looking to catch the LAofA's. Maybe 20,000 people. Stadium less than half full most games.

Why would any "professional" athlete subject themselves to that??!!

[Kyle]

The M's aren't really Small-Market. they have the #4 or 5 payroll in all of baseball right now, have one of the nicest ballparks in mlb and they're the most popular team in Asia.

they were also cited as the most popular team on the west coast by Business Wire.

they're not being confused with the Sox or Yankees, but it's not like he just re-upped with Oakland.

[h.b.]

re "small market" I get your point. It's not a true small market in terms of dollars spent on the team.

But, it's worth noting, in terms of a media market, Seattle is actually lower in rank than Tampa Bay coming in at #13.

I still stand by my original statement. If you don't want to play for Boston or NY then you're a small timer in my book. Yeah, that's elitist. No apologies.

[yazbread]

HB - any chance you can fix the second panel in the 'Have A Happy 4th!' issue? It seems to still be not showing up. I only ask because I feel that I am looking at an uncompleted piece of work by an 'old master' and I would rather not leave it to future generations to decide what it was that you were contemplating.

[h.b.]

yazb,

There is no second panel on that one. Just the hand holding the sparkler image with flag in the bg.

[Kaz]

I have to disagree. I think Cal Ripken, Jr. is a good example of one of the biggest players in the recent game. I certainly wouldn't call him an underachiever and yet he had absolutely no aspirations to join NYY or BOS.

[Bob]

But Kaz, don't you think that was more about the Orioles being a Ripken family affair than anything else?

[Jason O.]

I wonder if Gehrig started a bunch of games only to be taken out in the first inning just to keep the record intact?

Perhaps, but I have a hard time believing that back in the days of high spike slides that they would have put up with Miller Huggins or Joe McCarthy carrying Lou.

[h.b.]

Yeah, I have to admit that when Ripken was going for the record and the Orioles pretty much sucked (as they still do) that it becomes and example of losing sight of the real goal, the World Series, and devolves into just the sort of big fish/small pond kind of thing I was alluding to.

Yeah, Ripken was very, very happy and comfortable in Baltimore. And, Baltimore won the Pennant in 83 and had some nice high points here and there like '96. But...

Wonder if Balitmore fans would trade Ripken's record for, say, a couple WS titles?

I dunno. Like I said, I'm totally biased on this, so my thoughts don't really stand up to sound reasoning.

[soxdownunder]

Thanks Bob!!! At least they didn't catch the reversal of form on still camera (or did they?). I had them laughing at lunch yesterday about that whole hot dog thing!!

[soxdownunder]

Oh, and you're dead right - quite, seriously, loco. Muy, muy loco. Indeed, I even took photos of both the transfixed crowd at the tavern and the television set to prove it was a post IPA (? that's the 'hoppy' one aint it) hallucination!

Thanks again for all the fun.
http://picasaweb.google.com/soxdownunder/Holix2VDRaysGame2Timmy/photo#5083448562041693442

[Joey]

"Absolutely, HB and here's ancedotal evidence #1 in support:
A's vs. Mariners series last WEEKEND...a battle of division rivals looking to catch the LAofA's. Maybe 20,000 people. Stadium less than half full most games. "

uhh....those games were in Oakland. to be fair, the Mariners fans do seem to pack the house every night.

[Sonoma Sox]

Joey - I'll be fair, Mariners fans do show up but their consecutive sell out streak ends when the Sox or Yankees leave town. Yeah it's smaller but Fenway is packed when the Royals come to town

[Joey]

i'm a sox fan.

The Mariners led the entire MLB in attendance in 2001 and 2002. they were 2nd to the Yankees in 2003. They were 8th (ahead of the us who were 9th) in 2004, our world series year.

Seattle may be the 13th largest media market but baseball is different, because every game is broadcast in Japan due to their nintendo ownership.

they're actually probably the largest media market in baseball.

[h.b.]

they're actually probably the largest media market in baseball.

This puts their overall lack of success in an even more disparaging light.

How do the fans tolerate this situation? Or does management, knowing they have the Japanese fans locked up, just not give a shit about putting a championship club on the field for the Seattle-based fans?

[Bob]

//The Mariners led the entire MLB in attendance in 2001 and 2002. they were 2nd to the Yankees in 2003. They were 8th (ahead of us who were 9th) in 2004, our world series year.//

Safeco Field has 10,000 more seats than Fenway.

[paddy24]

Yeah, I-Rod winning a title with the Marlins and then rejuvenating the Tigers with his play (rather than riding coattails). That's small-time. So was Kirby Puckett winning twice as many championships as the Red Sox have won since 1918 over a five year period with the Twins. Jack Morris winning a title with the Tigers in 1984 and then pitching a ten inning shutout in Game 7 to win the Series. Definitely no nads there. Greg Maddux leading his team to about ten straight play-off appearances and a World Series title - he's a small-timer too. Call me crazy, but I like players that win championships by being great - with whomever they are drafted by or are traded to. Anybody can win a championship like Clemens by angling to play with other great players. Puckett and I-Rod (to name but a very few - don't forget there are dozens of examples in the other sports) simply did the best they could with the situation they were in and were rewarded for it. Even Gwynn made two World Series. And is Steve Nash a small-timer because he doesn't angle to play for the Knicks or Lakers? Love the strip, but this is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. If you don't angle to play for the Yanks or Red Sox, you have no intestinal fortitude, balls or drive to be a winner. LOL. Yeah, OK. Jason Giambi. Big time. Ichiro Suzuki. Small time. Ichiro has forgotten more about baseball than Giambi will ever know. - Paddy24

[h.b.]

Love the strip, but this is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard

As I said in a comment above, "... my thoughts don't really stand up to sound reasoning."

So glad that you spent all those keystrokes to generate all those pixels just to reach the same conclusion.

Now, I wouldn't say your doing such was "dumb" but it does seem a tad, I dunno, inefficient, don't you think?

BTW who the fuck is Tony Gwynn? Is he that fat judge on American Idol?

[paddy24]

H.B. - I didn't see the second remark. I nearly choked spitting up my coffee while reading the initial remark. I can't stand players that angle to be on "winning" teams, so I had to put in my two cents.

[h.b.]

Paddy,

I figured you missed the earlier comment, but I sitll couldn't resist busting your balls a bit, after you busted mine.

Well deserved. Like I said, it's a silly bias of mine, no denying.