I don’t get this whole “Griffeymania” thing, especially considering his obvious lack of dedication to the game.
I mean, if Griffey really cared about the fans, he would have always done his utmost to excel by, you know… pumping himself full of dangerous, muscle-building steroids, like his ex-teammate A-Rod. But no, Griffey just allowed himself to get old.
How selfish.
Griffey WAS a great player in his early-, mid-90’s Glory Days in Seattle. We had season tickets and went to a lot of games. Griffey would electrify the crowds. People who were around them and went to lots of Mariner games remember that jolt of electricity Griffey would bring every time he came to bat and every time a fly ball was hit that he had to “get on his horse” to run down. He had tremendous speed, acceleration and love for the game. He also had an incredible arm.
The Mariners are re-building. Thinking of Griffey and Ichiro together in the outfield will make me want to go to games again. Sure, Griffey has lost a couple steps and his bat ain’t what it was. But I think Griffey is determined to close out his career where he started and was loved by the fans.
Will Griffey make the Mariners a contender??
Absolutely not. Too many young guys and holes in the line-up. But baseball is entertainment…like pro wrestling where steriods were used to enhance performance.
I take it for what it is today…entertainment.
I grew up in the hey-days of Willie, Mickey and Hank. Those were the true glory days of baseball. I was blessed to see them all play growing up near Milwaukee and Chicago.
I would love to see those days return…but they won’t. Steriods and $$ have ruined the game. But I still see the entertainment value of a Griffey.
Cynical – Nicely written and cogent comments. I agree with you on Griffey. Goldy – funny :).
With all due respect to legends and image building, how does anyone know what Griffey did or did not use from the pharmacy?
I am glad the guy is back because my wife enjoys looking at him. On the other hand .. is there something odd about a tax payer funded entity paying 1000000 to hire an entertainer in these times?
Griffey in outfield w/ Ichiro? I thought he was coming in as DH.
Well, with the economy tanking, the Sonics in Oklahoma, 10,000 Boeing workers about to lose their jobs, the Seattle PI dissapearing a month or so from now, the Seattle Times not expected to survive 2009….
what else is the Seattle news media going to do to distract us from our problems?
“I know, I know! We’ll make bringing back a sports has-been which reminds us of our former glory days, and use it as the front-page lead story for the next three or four days!!!!!”
4. wes.in.wa spews:
That is probably what he will primarily do…but look for him to be in the outfield opening day. The crowd will go nuts!
From today’s Rasmussen:
Friday, February 20, 2009
Shortly after Inauguration, this number was +32. It has dropped 20 points in a month. If that ain’t freefall, I don’t know what is. The honeymoon is over. The PORKULOUS Package & the tax cheatin’ appointees started the eyebrows to raise. Now this Mortgage Bailout ought to bring this number close to 0!
Why? Folks who have worked their asses off and sacrificed to live in a house they could afford are OUTRAGED irresponsible people who cannot manage money and overpaid for their house are being bailed out!
I don’t care who you are. This is about right & wrong…not Liberal or Conservative.
And it’s just plain WRONG to give government money to folks who overpaid on their houses, went for the risky financing and got caught.. and mismanaged $$.
Obama is losing his political capital at an accelerating rate.
Bringing Griffey back isn’t going to do a thing for the Mariner’s chances of making the playoffs this year. But the more I think about it, the Mariners didn’t have a choice. All indications are that Major Leage Baseball is in for a tough financial year. Pre-season ticket sales around the country are down. A minor-league team in N.J. is trying to goose sales by offering free food to kids attending the games. And the big hit will come from reduced advertising revenue, the same thing that’s hitting all the media now, including the Seattle Times.
Combine that with an absolutely miserable season last year by the Mariners, and without any indication that this year is going to be any better, the Mariners had to do SOMETHING to give people a reason to buy tickets.
Several of our vendors have had season ticket packages with the Mariners, and last year we would get calls from them weekly as they tried to give away tickets. Not only did nobody want to buy tickets to the game, they were having trouble finding people who thought going to the game was worth their time, even with free tickets!
Cynical is nostalgic for the “good old days” when greenies were the performance-enhancers of choice, when plutocrats made all the money from the skills of their players, when baseball players were chattel to be bought and sold by their owners without a tad of concern for their preferences.
Sounds about right for him.
What’s your opinion of Marvin Miller, Cynical? (As if I didn’t already know…)
Cynical – I have already cited all the recent polls – and yes, Obama’s numbers are down slightly but he is still at 60-70% approval (and holding steady at 25% disapproval) and the republicans in congress:
Boehner 18% approval
McConnell 20% approval
Those 20-25% that disapprove are almost all republicans – the same republican governors (hypocrites like Sanford) who complained about the stimulus are now accepting the money.
Glad to see you are crowing over those numbers, fool.
rhp–
I agree with you…the Mariners had to do something from a marketing standpoint and with signing Griffey, I think they hit a home run (IF Griffey stays healthy…and that’s a big if).
In the last several years, the only games I went to were when I got free tickets to one of the Suites or the lower level Buffet/Bar etc.
That’s not really baseball…but ya gotta eat.
cnr@10
You failed to cite your source.
Probably the Daily Kos or some others dipshit left-wing rag.
You KLOWNS go nuts over Rasmussen because they are historically very accurate. The best.
The numbers I cited were the STRONGLY Approve and Disapprove number which are very important. Folks in the mid-ranges of approval are still giving him a slight nod and the benefit of the doubt…but those are the soft numbers cnr.
A 20 point drop in one month on your Strong Approval vs. Disapproval is very significant…go ahead and try to minimize it. Doesn’t matter cuz it is what it is…incredible freefall for a popular new president in his 1st term.
Cynical I posted the Real Clear Politics Poll earlier in another link but as always Dr NotRight ignored it. He had to because the average is not around 70%, and it’s been steadily dropping…
It’s a good thing Griffey is coming back. Seattle sports haven’t been too good lately and the Democratic clown called mayor screwed the pooch on the SuperVomits.
Cynical @ 7 said: “….Folks who have worked their asses off and sacrificed to live in a house they could afford are OUTRAGED irresponsible people who cannot manage money and overpaid for their house are being bailed out!….”
You’ve been listening to Rush again this morning, I expect. Rush spends a lot of time trying to get his listeners outraged by telling them that everyone else is outraged.
But this doesn’t meet what I’m seeing on the street. I’m still doing regular debt counseling at my church, which has a pretty conservative membership. I’m seeing quite a few people who did EVERYTHING RIGHT, and they are still getting caught in the wringer by the current situation. A year ago many had two jobs, plenty of equity in their house, and could handle the payments easily. But the combination of falling house values which in some cases wipe out 20-30% equity, and the loss of one or both jobs, are leaving them with few options.
What I’m hearing from them is the repeated phrase: “I don’t understand. We did everything right. We got an education, worked hard, were loyal to our employers, were financially responsible, and gave money to our church and other charities. Now we are out of work and about to be homeless. What did we do wrong?”
As the current rescession/depression expands, more and more people are finding their friends, neighbors, or family members in a similar situation, and realizing how lucky they are that it hasn’t hit them, too. It will take some time to turn this situation around, and it may well get worse before it gets better, in part because now it’s a worldwide rescession.
If you read the history of the Great Depression, you will find that while most people then realized that they were contending with forces beyond their control, there were always some (Republicans, mostly) who insisted, as you do, that no government assistance be given to the unemployed. They insisted, as you do in your post, that the homeless and unemployed were in that position because of their own faults, they were either lazy or incompetent. They insisted on repeating this mantra, despite the fact that obviously more than 25% of the workforce wouldn’t voluntarily keep itself unemployed while they and their families were homeless and starving.
The DOW was at 8300 when Obama took office…it’s now @ 7300…down 12% in one month.
I enjoy you KLOWNS trying to pin this on Bush.
The fact is, the market is forward looking and has been in freefall since it became apparent Obama was going to be President.
Obama has done nothing to give us confidence.
Now Clinton is cautioning Obama to stop all the negative BS and be more positive.
Hard for a guy to do who’s whole campaign was personal attacks.
Back on October 1st, the DOW was at 11,000. That was about the time it became apparent Obama was going to win.
It has dropped 3700 points since then or 35%.
I believe Obama owns most of this decline.
You KLOWNS try to make the flawed argument that somehow the market stagnantly looks at the past and present.
Au Contraire you PINHEADS…it looks only 1 direction FORWARD!!
No wonder you KLOWNS can’t make $$ in the market. You are stuck in the past!
rhp–
I don’t listen to Rush…haven’t for many years.
I did listen to Rick Santelli and to Liberal friends of ours who are outraged!
It defies all sense of fairness rhp.
Let’s have no consequences for failed investments. What a joke.
Folks believed real estate would continue to skyrocket. While they were making these stupid buys….we were selling off almost all of our holdings. All we have now is 3 rentals, a couple lots and our home…no debt.
Did I make sacrifices to get to this point. YUP.
Did I make good decisions? Hidesight says YOU BET!. I certainly didn’t sell every rental house or other property at the absolute peak…but most were sold fairly close.
Hey, I bought my 1st house in 1976 for $29,000 and sold it 10 months later for $55,000. At one point, I’m sure it was worth $450,000. But I Took my 1st profit and leveraged it into 3 houses. Yup, the Carter Depression years were a challenge…but once Reagan got in their, we bought a lot of property.
Timing is everything.
Combo of good research, a little luck and the courage to pull the trigger.
My plan was always to simplify to where I’m at today.
Some folks wildly roll the dice.
Not my style.
Doing 15 or so short-term trades last year was new for me and exciting. Haven’t done anything for months.
Frankly, I think the market is way oversold today…and a guy could make some more short-term profits in certain stocks.
May give it a whack!!
After blamimg everything gone wrong on their watch on Clinton for the last seven and a half years the Republicans now blame Obama for everything gone wrong the last six months. I missed the part where they actually assumed any responsibility of their own. So much bullshit.
I see that Cynical the Narcissist is sharing his insipid investment advise again. So full of himself. Yawn.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Griffeymania eludes me
———-
Our economy and banking system are tanking, and you’re talking about Ken Griffey, Jr?
Yep. He and those deluded fools who voted for Dumbya twice and held him in high regard right up until Jan 20 have this shitstorm on them.
Obama Warns Mayors on Funds
President says he will “call them out” if they waste money from his economic stimulus plan.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....id=topnews
——–
Greg Nickels’ phone is going to be ringing off the hook.
John–
Funny.
Obama really knows how to hype up this accountability BS…Obama is long on rhetoric and very short on follow-thru and common sense understanding of the consequences of his failed policies.
America is waking up after being mesmorized by this Inexperienced Community Organizer turned President. I disagree with his proposals. I also question who he is surrounding himself with and his lack of judgment under fire.
The heat is on this guy for the first time EVER. And he is burning political capital at an alarming rate.
All this “accountability” rhetoric will come back to haunt him after endless stories of mis-spending hit the newspapers day after day.
Obama will spend all his time calling people out….trying to hide from his foolish policy and spending.
@ 15. rhp6033 spews:
That’s approx 52,000 jobs lost in every state of the union. That’s the population of Olympia, out of work, in every state, last year alone.
And according the conservatives, all of them were losers who only have themselves to blame for being out of a job and possibly loosing their homes because the homeless and unemployed were in that position because of their own faults, they were either lazy or incompetent.
How’s that winning hearts and minds?
Three points:
The only Rush I listen to is comprised of three Canadians who have nothing to do with Frank Marino whatsoever.
Griffey returning to Seattle is a goodwill gesture, but not much else. He’ll play in right field, but mostly DH. He says he’s in great shape, but who really knows what will happen? But all cynicism aside, given how horrible a year it’s been for Seattle sports in general, his return is not only appreciated, it’s a necessary salve to the collective soul (!) of Seattle sports fans. And with the return of Griffey, the Husky men’s hoopsters leading the Pac-10, and the impending debut of Sounders FC, 2009 is looking up so far.
Continuing on Griffey, I wouldn’t call the last 15-20 years of baseball, the Steroid Era. Instead, I’d call it the Lost Generation. Widespread, entrenched, systematic cheating by the players (with management, owners, and even the commissioner turning a blind eye to it all) brought down hallowed records, filled the stands, made a lot of people very rich, and for all intents and purposes saved the game, but at what cost? Innocence lost, trust lost, much like how the game was damaged by the Black Sox Scandal. And the only great player of the generation not touched by the taint of steroids (we hope) saw his chances at becoming perhaps one of the greatest of all time marred by injuries that at times seemed cruelly unlucky.
@23: My link is from the latest Gallup poll, cynical.
What the idiot cynical doesn’t cite is that Rasmussen (unreliable most of the time and biased in the way they ask their questions) still has the republicans at under 25% apporval and Obama’s total at over 60%.
Yeah, Obama had a bit of an inaugural surge – but most of the country backs him over the lying republican fools. Cynical is the same idiot who claimed there was no global warming when we had a cold snap.
Cynical has no ability to understand data or synthesize information – another republican fool.
We’re in the biggest economic depression since the Great Deporesion of the 1930s, with unemployment numbers larger than any recorded numbers (they started counting in 1968), more than half a million jobs lost every month, dozens if not hundreds of bank failures, and all of these events are being replicated across the entire globe, but the stock market slide is Obama’s doing. Uh-huh.
BTW, I also heard that Ken Griffey is of the colored persuasion.
I do not know if Griffey in Seattle again will work, but he did help put the Mariners on the map the first time he was here. Before him, there were times the Kingdome was a ghost town. We’ll see what happens.
Griffey coming back to Seattle at age 39 is like a girl who dumped you in college calling you 50 years later because her husband died. I wouldn’t pay 50 cents to watch him hobble with a walker to the batter’s box.
@29 He wasn’t a candidate for a nursing home then. This guy will turn 40 this year. Don’t have any expectations.
Microsoft, Intel Firings Stir Resentment Over Visas
Microsoft Corp.’s plan to eliminate U.S. workers after lobbying for more foreigner visas is stirring resentment among lawmakers and employees.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/.....refer=home
———–
@27 Daddy Love, speaking of unemployment numbers – any concerns about whether your employer deserves the heat?
Steve #45 Here’s your sign… why are you ignoring the truths?
Dr NotRight:
Enterprise Klaxon sound BULLSHITTIUM Alert BULLSHITTIUM Alert BULLSHITTIUM Alert Captain to the Bridge…
TPM already blessed Rasmussen as the most accurate. Gallup was dead last fool.
Better write yourself a prescription. You are still a fool. Dr Fool that is.
End of BULLSHITTIUM Alert Enterprise Klaxon sound turned off.
See how simple that was to explain?
Can you say decimation? D.e.c.i.m.a.t.i.o.n
27. Daddy Love spews:
Liar, Liar pants on fire…you are spewing the dickheads talking points again. The Carter debacle was worse than this…much worse.
Wake up and Grow up.
The Daily Kos is not a good source of historical info DL
“Carter debacle”
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Carter will go down as one of the worst presidents ever,and left Reagan with a mess to clean up no one could have ever imagined.
* that during the Carter Administration the inflation rate climbed higher each year he was in office, rising from 6 percent in 1976 to more than 12 percent by 1980
* the unemployment rate remained high at 7.5 percent
* interest rates reached a high of 20 percent or more twice during 1980
* Carter’s Misery Index scores a 16.27.
* George W. Bush’s Misery Index for his term is 7.96, well below half that of Carter.
* in his first month in office he cut the Defense Budget by $6 Billion dollars
* he unilaterally removed all nuclear weapons and reduced U.S. Troop levels in South Korea
* he canceled the the B-1 bomber program, further weakening the U.S. Military
* he reinstated the draft
* his SALT (Strategic Arms Limitations Talks) One and Two treaties served only to weaken U.S. defense
* Carter’s National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski admitted that the United States began sending aid to anti-Soviet Afghan Islamist factions on July 3, 1979 (even then Carter was a sympathetic ally of Islamofascists)
* Carter and Brzezinski started a $40 billion covert program of training Islamic fundamentalists in Pakistan and Afghanistan
* he single-handedly ruined our relationship with Iran, a U.S. ally since World War II thereby allowing Iran’s maturation into the world threat that it is today
* he refused to allow American athletes to participate in the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics
* he increased the payroll tax for Social Security
* the prime lending rate hit 21.5% in December 1980, the highest rate in U.S. history under any President
@37: Your personal opinion on Carter being bad? And how reliable is that?
Based on past experience – your personal opinion and about $3.50 might buy a cup of coffe.
The worst President in history is the lying sack of s#!^ that we just got rid of.
Carter never started a war that killed hundreds of thousands of people under false pretenses while lying to the American public.
Carter never started with a budget surplus and turned it into the largest budget deficit in history.
Carter never wasted a trillion dollars on Iraq and then didn’t even count that money towards the real deficit.
In fact, Obama is going to tell the truth about the deficit – unlike the lying bush administration:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02......html?_r=1
Yeah, the economy went sour after Carter – but Carter was only President for 4 years and he had the first oil crisis and inflation.
He did not ruin our relationship with Iran – they ruined it. And Reagan paid off Iran with drug money and made a deal with them to free the hostages – again, Reagan lied and sent arms to Iran for hostages and used drug money and the contras to get it.
Cynical – your grasp of history is a slippery as your grasp of logic – neither amounts to much.
Yes, Carter was not a great leader – but he was nowhere near as dumb, crooked, lying and corrupt as Bush.
Hell, the dailypus is not a good source of current info.
Look how easy it was for these dailypussers to get suckered into believeing a fake video. They lap up anything that drips onto the floor.
Are we talking about the carter that spent more time talking abut wearing sweaters and telling us we were out of oil and forced us to visit the gas station on odd-even days instead of getting our hostages back?
I’d like to know what baseball related reason there was in signing Griffey. This appears to be ALL about nostalgia and selling tickets.
@41
That sounds about right and it gives the local media something cheap and easy that wont offend anyone to carry on about.
Goldy spews: ‘Griffeymania eludes me’
Just like gainful employment does….
Dr NotRight:
Huh? Carter decimated the military, even for a nuclear submariner…