Wanted to let you know the birthday went well. Got a crock-pot from mom that will for sure make cooking fun in the future. Maybe something good for Christmas. The first reference to being old also came from mom. Thanks.
Karen sent out some cowboy boots. Yes!
And I'm going to have cookies for about a month. I think even Zoe Storck sent some, which would be a record.
Thanks to everyone for the wishes and gifts.
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I was going to put some news in like I normally do. You now, pretending I know something. But instead, here's what I just finished doing: MLB Network showed a replay of game five of the 1995 division series between the Mariners and the Yankees. Watched the whole game.
Man, how did the Mariners win? Refuse to Lose.
Seriously, I remember when that happened. Remember the people honking. Remember thinking I could hear the Kingdome crowd screaming (while hoping the building would stay standing). If the Mariners ever won the World Series, I'd celebrate in all the ways an eight year old couldn't on that night.
Knowing what was going to happen didn't have any effect of the on the feeling I felt when it happened. It wasn't even Dave Neihaus I was listening to (did anyone even know that Brent Musberger was calling the game on the television broadcast - don't lie, you had your T.V. on mute and your radio on), but even the national call gave me chills. Seeing Ken Griffey, Jr. at the bottom of the pile gave me chills. Alex Rodriguez being the first person to jump on Griffey gave me that familiar "what could have been" thought.
Think about how good the Mariners could have been if they'd kept this team intact. A-Rod, Griffey, Edgar, Randy Johnson, Tino Martinez, Vince Coleman, Dan Wilson. They would have needed to get a closer for when Charlton fell apart (well, a whole bullpen, really), but their offense was basically set for years. Sorry, forgot Jay Buhner. May bad. But honestly, I just listed five guys that should be hitting between three and six in the lineup. Yeah, that good. That team could have kept the same base for the next 10 years. Under some guy named Lou Pinella. My mind is going crazy trying to process it.
Oh yeah, and analyze how you may, but the Mariners still would have had the first crack at Ichiro. It wasn't need that brought him to Seattle. It was Nintendo. So add that guy to the top of the lineup. Granted, the Mariners' payroll would have been somewhere in the $120-150 million range, but let a kid dream, alright?
So, needless to say, my night was awesome. Might as well just go to bed now.
http://bentondc.blogspot.com/2009/12/birthday-refuse-to-lose.html?showComment=1260832338123#c8206213710918802370'> December 14, 2009 at 6:12 PM
I remember that whole season so very well. Remember 2-year-old Eryn coming into the living room and seeing the baseball diamond on tv, and running with an ecstatic look at her face toward the tv, gasping, "bah-ball!" And when we won that game, running out the back door along with all our neighbors and whooping it up for Lou and the boys. Of course I also remember what happened next: seeing Joey Cora crying in the dugout. But still an awesome year it was. 2001's 116 wins was amazing, but you can't beat 1995.
And I only said you were old because you said it first on Twitter.