Mariners Fans are Tired of the Eternal Rebuilding Project

The Seattle Mariners had the day off today as they prepare for the San Diego Padres series this weekend hoping to get back on track. I took a couple days off from my Mariners Blog to process where we are at the mid-point of the season and to recuperate from the last ten days of mostly losing baseball. I started this Blog for two reasons : 1) I love Baseball and the Seattle Mariners are my home team 2) I Fancy myself as a writer and had been stuck with writers block for a couple of years and figured one way to get through that was to write every day about something I have a passion for.

Somehow I made it through my rookie year of 2010 and decided to give it another shot in 2011 with the only expectation that the Mariners would improve this year and mange to finish third in the AL West. So far I am right on both accounts. However something unexpected happened along the way……The Mariners got hot for a couple of months and suddenly I found myself hoping and believing again that this might be our year. Nobody forced me to get excited and attend more games than usual, I volunteered for the emotional experience.

But now I just feel kind of blah since June 21st when the Washington Nationals came back in the ninth inning from a 5-1 deficit to beat us 6-5. I know I am not alone in this as most of the people I know in the real world are not surprised that the Mariners are faltering and actually they don’t seem to care much….hmmm sort of sounds like the top brass of the Mariners have us right where they want us.

It seems over the past ten years that the goal has not been winning but selling tickets and creating a family-friendly environment at Safeco Field complete with hydro-races and occasional bobbleheads nights. Truth be known it is has been apparent to me for several years that Howard Lincoln and Chuck Armstrong don’t really care for us uppity hardcore fans who love the game and want to win, and have built their business plan around the casual fan.

This year seems to be no exception as any mention of improving the club is always met by the party-line : “We don’t want to spoil the Rebuilding Process”. So perhaps the business-minded types are not paying attention to the ever dwindling fan numbers over the past ten years and instead plan on stringing us all along forever with the idea that once everything is perfect we will magically contend and all the fans will come rushing back. This is absurd logic and would never fly in New York or Boston or Atlanta for that matter where there are a lot more passionate and vocal fans and media types who expect their owners to go for it every year and thus reward them with full stadiums and large profits.

But alas here in Seattle the land of mellow, outside of a few brave journalists and assorted renegade bloggers like myself, most just either go along with the “Eternal Rebuilding Plan” or fade away completely and go watch soccer or go hiking. It sure gets old and tiring being a Mariners Fan in this town though I’m grateful we have a Big League team even if the top management operates it in a Bush League manner at the expense of the fans. Go M’s! http://jeffsmariners.com