What Your Mariners Jersey Says About You
How much about a fan's identity can we infer from the name on the back of his jersey?
Ichiro: Generally fits one of two categories - (1) Japanese fan who couldn't care less about the Mariners, or (2) guy who jumped the bandwagon in the early Aughts and forgot to get back off. Being the most popular jersey on the team, these people tend to represent Mariner fans more than any other group, and the reputation isn't particularly good. On rare occasions, individuals with this name on the back lucked out getting Ichiro's name on a discounted authentic jersey from the official site while others got stuck with Olerud or Sasaki. These certain individuals couldn't be more pleased with their good fortune, even if the name itself isn't ideal.
Julio Mateo: This guy just moved to Seattle and wanted to be different, so he scanned the roster looking for an unfamiliar name that could help him come off as a more knowledgeable fan. This guy doesn't actually know the Mariners at all.
Felix Hernandez: A smart fan who sticks out now, but who won't stick out in five years when Felix has some hardware under his belt. (late edit: try not to read this as a sex joke)
Own Name: Someone who's too embarrassed to put the name of an actual Mariner on his back.
Ken Griffey Jr.: These fans have trouble letting go. They still go to their childhood pediatrician, they've been issued restraining orders by at least two or three former partners, and they sorely miss Bob Finnigan's annual Griffey column more than everybody else in the world combined. Of the roughly 130,000 tickets available for June's home series against the Reds, they've scooped up 125,000 of them.
Rene Rivera: Is Rene Rivera.
Kenji Johjima: Rene Rivera's mother.
Willie Bloomquist: This guy is almost always either (1) a huge Mariner fanboy, or (2) being ironic. Once engaged in conversation, they'll both tell you the same stuff, the only difference being that one of them is joking.
Matt Thornton: Fairly well-off fan in his mid-20's who knows enough to come up with a hilarious jersey idea and who's rich enough to buy it. While seeing this guy in person may fill you with rage, he's just trying to make some fun of an ugly situation, and isn't to be confused with this next guy.
Bobby Ayala: Hates the Mariners, hates Seattle, and most importantly, hates you. The fact that he has a season ticket package seems to suggest that underneath all the thick rotten layers there lives a loyal albeit totally disillusioned supporter, but the fact of the matter is that, while he used to be a die-hard, those bullpens completely and utterly sapped his love for the game and left him a shattered wreck of a man. His emotional problems led to trouble at work and trouble at home, and now he lives alone and unemployed in a cheap apartment, spending what little money he has on the opportunity to see the Mariners in person as often as he can and keep yelling at them until he feels that he has satisfactorily returned all the abuse he suffered at their hands more than a decade ago. If you tell him to be quiet, he will quickly and rather shockingly compare you to an unwitting sheep being led to the slaughter, but complaining to ushers won't get anything accomplished, since they don't like to go near him anymore. While his pants are tattered and filthy and his hair is disgusting, his jersey is seemingly in mint condition, which nobody understands.
Chris Snelling: Smart guy who knows a lot, but doesn't make it very evident, as he's reluctant to speak in anything other than dejected sentence fragments. Might be concealing a flask.
Raul Ibanez: Generic fan. Easy-going, fairly quiet, easy to talk to, thinks Mike Cameron sucked.
Richie Sexson: Big brick shithouse of a guy, probably wears sunglasses, balding. Drinks a ton, although you don't know where he gets the money to buy so much stadium beer, and lets out a deep formidable grunt every time Sexson swings the bat in an effort to be the first guy in the seats to celebrate a home run. Thinks "singles are for pussies."
Greg Dobbs: Justin Leone trying to hang around and get a few at bats.
Clint Nageotte: Doesn't really stand out, but make sure not to question his motives; he's fiercely confident despite the slimmest of odds. Asking him about his jersey invariably leads to a one-way half-hour "conversation" in which he repeatedly mentions that the slider is good because it moves on two planes, and that it's possible to succeed in the Majors with one pitch, and that Mariano Rivera does it, and that Mariano Rivera is one of the best closers in baseball history, and that Clint Nageotte's day will come just like Mariano's did, and that all you have to do is be patient and in the end you'll see he's been right all along, and that when it happens you'll owe him a beer.
Joel Pineiro: There's only one person dumb enough to wear this jersey, and that's the one person who doesn't realize how awful he was. Hence, Joel Pineiro's old hairdresser, who's attending the game with his friends in Ibanez jerseys because all of a sudden he's not getting much work anymore, and didn't have anything better to do.
Jose Vidro: You can't tell if this guy's trying to be funny or not, but either way, you're not laughing. Conspiracists maintain that Vidro jerseys are planted throughout the stadium by the concession stands in an effort to make the hardcore fans drink a lot more beer.
Julio Cruz: Old.
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90 comments
Comments
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Isn't that the fan who is still living the dream?
And what about someone with a Jeremy Reed Jersey?
by Scruffy Lefty on Mar 25, 2007 3:01 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Reed jersey
Said fan is also stronger physically than the player after whom the jersey is named.
by Jeff on Mar 25, 2007 3:09 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
There is a lot of untapped potential here
lots of comedy gold.
by Matthew on Mar 25, 2007 3:11 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Oh shit, I forgot Wolcott.
by Jeff on Mar 25, 2007 3:19 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Is it wrong that I now want
by Edgar for Pres on Mar 26, 2007 7:01 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
What about Beltre?
by John on Mar 25, 2007 3:24 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
meant to insert like
by John on Mar 25, 2007 3:39 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Hey, wait a minute
For the record, though -- I wear baseball t-shirts to my volleyball scrimmages every week, and inevitably, someone ALWAYS asks me if whatever the name on the back (anything from Utley to Mauer to Kendall to Meche to Washburn to Furuta to Satozaki) is my last name. The only times they haven't is when I've worn either "Ichiro" or "Olerud". No joke. I get the feeling they pretty much have no clue who anyone is if they weren't on the 2001 Mariners.
Oh yeah, and I met a guy last year in the stands who had his own name on his Mariners jersey because he used to be a minor league baseball player (for the Phillies, not the M's, but still)
by Deanna on Mar 25, 2007 3:34 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
I'm still laughing that...
by TIF on Mar 25, 2007 4:16 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
His name is..
You don't see the Mariners catcher running around with "Kenji" on his back. The Yankee's left fielder wouldn't have "Hideki" on his back (if the Yankees used names). Sasaki Kazuhiro had his right. Hasegawa Shigetoshi had his right. Etc.
Ichiro is the only one getting away with having his first name on his jersey.
by TIF on Mar 25, 2007 4:24 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
I'm sure anyone can
by Mariner John on Mar 25, 2007 4:27 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
The reason I bring that up tho...
I could be wrong on that. Might be an urban myth. I still find it funny tho.
by TIF on Mar 25, 2007 4:31 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Oh
by Mariner John on Mar 25, 2007 4:32 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Ichiro actually decided
by BrettJMiller on Mar 25, 2007 4:50 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Ichiro's name on his back...
Favor the Bold
by IcebreakerX on Mar 25, 2007 9:00 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
He had 'Ichiro' in Japan though
by Graham on Mar 26, 2007 1:30 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Man what a disaster that was
by Goose on Mar 25, 2007 9:29 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
It wasn't that bad
Rod Smart, Tommy Maddox and Mike Furrey
by Scruffy Lefty on Mar 25, 2007 10:39 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
I was still living in Vegas
by Gomez on Mar 25, 2007 11:53 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Uh, are you really not aware
It's true that some are definitely Ichiro wannabes, but some are just foreign players where it makes more sense given complex or inconvenient last names ("Benny" Agbayani, "Alex" Ochoa, "Rick" Short, etc), and some Japanese players where they too have an extremely common last name and more unique first name. The only case where I don't get it is in the case of Tsuyoshi Nishioka, who just decided to go by his first name... except that Tsuyoshi is like a super-common first name, so he's just being a dork. Whatever.
And then there are some who make a big deal of going by only their first name instead of their full names... I make a point of calling them by both names; Teppei Tsuchiya and Saburo Ohmura in particular, but others as well.
by Deanna on Mar 25, 2007 10:55 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Well,
Favor the Bold
by IcebreakerX on Mar 25, 2007 11:25 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
*hopes for a sequel*
by Mariner John on Mar 25, 2007 4:26 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
What about
by Coach Owens on Mar 25, 2007 4:50 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
I hate you
by Scruffy Lefty on Mar 25, 2007 5:10 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
<b>Rene Rivera:</b> Is Rene Rivera.
I don't have a jersey, I just have a shirt that says "Goose" on the back. So I guess I fit under the category of "too embarrassed to put the name of an actual Mariner on his back, and too cheap to get an actual jersey."
Though I've had a few people ask me "When did Goose Gossage play for the Mariners?"
by Goose on Mar 25, 2007 6:20 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Crap, forgot to format that right.
by Goose on Mar 25, 2007 6:20 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
No you fit in the category that I fit in
by Edgar for Pres on Mar 25, 2007 7:06 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
I think I'm just old
Collins and Renee Lacheman, don't seem to cut it I guess.
by gt6triumph on Mar 25, 2007 6:30 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
What if you have
does that make you old school felix lover?
by PShwa on Mar 25, 2007 7:55 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
The only piece of...
Ken Griffey Jr. was the best thing to happen to Seattle baseball since, well, since pretty much ever. I don't wear the Griffey jersey very often, and I probably won't wear it to the Reds series, but to me that jersey's about remembering how much fun he used to make the process of going inside the Kingdome in July to watch baseball in Seattle. Nothing wrong with that.
And just for the record, I've never been the subject of a restraining order.
by pdb on Mar 25, 2007 8:23 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
If not during the Reds series...
by johnbai on Mar 26, 2007 1:17 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
It's less about that...
by pdb on Mar 26, 2007 2:09 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
I was thinking about that today
Then I came to reality and realized I was a poor college kid who can't afford one.
by Frerken on Mar 26, 2007 7:31 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
And
Mike Cameron: This person is very smart. They realize the importance of Mike Cameron's defense and don't discount his offensive contributions just because he strikes out a lot.
by ConorGlassey on Mar 25, 2007 9:31 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Oh, I forgot
I WAS THERE
116
Haha. It should have been...
I WASTED
$250
by ConorGlassey on Mar 25, 2007 9:40 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Anyone sporting their name
by Scruffy Lefty on Mar 25, 2007 10:40 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
I like the guy from Oakland
by Deanna on Mar 26, 2007 1:23 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
wearing a jersey with moose on the back
by tkjinak on Mar 25, 2007 10:51 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Guillen
by Huindekmi on Mar 26, 2007 3:38 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Great Post, But....
Jeez, you know I WASN'T... until I read that. ;)
by scoutingbook on Mar 26, 2007 4:30 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
What about edgar martinez?
Plus, I'm 24 and I am not balding...I'm a big sexson fan.
What about beltre?
by sirjorgeofculver on Mar 26, 2007 9:02 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Do I get a pass?
by kva15 on Mar 26, 2007 10:59 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
grrr...
by Kirk Hammett on Mar 26, 2007 12:04 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Which reminds me
by Gomez on Mar 26, 2007 12:49 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
football
Personally, I have an Edgar M's jersey. My Seahawks jersey is an abomination, though - 99 Levon Kirkland.
I bought the jersey partly because I grew up in Kirkland, WA. A couple of months after I bought the jersey the team:
- Changed the uniforms
- Cut Levon Kirkland because he was too fat
by BrianV on Mar 26, 2007 12:55 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Holy crap.
by Phildopip on Mar 26, 2007 1:02 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Dan Wilson jersey
by Deanna on Mar 26, 2007 12:58 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Heh. Pat Borders
by PositivePaul on Mar 26, 2007 1:34 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
HEY
by Deanna on Mar 26, 2007 1:37 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
True Story...
"What, do you want people at Cheney Stadium to think I'm Cranky Yankee?"
I bought Blackley's. So, I guess that makes me a fan of Australians, but not cool enough to be a jersey-wearing Cult of Doyle-ist...
by PositivePaul on Mar 26, 2007 7:15 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Speaking of the Cranky Yankee
by Phildopip on Mar 26, 2007 1:48 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
That's the hope.
by Jeff on Mar 26, 2007 1:56 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
There's always a chance.
by Jeff on Mar 26, 2007 2:23 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
I saw a Pinero Jersey for sale
by Burnside Brian on Mar 26, 2007 1:36 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
I'm an A's fan, and I have my alias on the back
by Zonis on Mar 26, 2007 1:40 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
I had the same problem with the Pirates
There was a while where it wasn't actually possible to get Pirates player number shirts, even, because the people in the shop admitted that they didn't want to spend the money printing them up only to be stuck selling them for pennies after a guy got traded. I mean, as of like a year ago you could still get Brian Giles and Matt Lawton shirts there for like $5... and I don't even want to think about the leftover stock of Sean Casey shirts...
by Deanna on Mar 26, 2007 2:14 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
If they've got a Jack Perconte jersey
If they've got an Alvin Davis jersey, they think it's old school, but it may say more about their ability/willingness to update. Inspect for signs that it was a free giveaway (i.e. Les Schwab patch, KIRO 710am decal, QFC,etc.).
Other jerseys are really split; there are clearly more than one interpretation.
A Betancourt jersey could mean that the fan likes defense, that they appreciate value, OR it could be a rich fan of the new commercials, which leads to great exchanges like:
"Did you see that 'double play twins' ad! Man, he's so crazy! They were all playing 'Connect Four' in the clubhouse! I had that game! Do you remember the part when they're riding a tandem bike? In Hawaiian shirts? I was dying. And then Beltre is all 'you guys are crazy' and the music is hilarious too, it's all" ::gets punched in face::
Harold Reynolds can be either a decent little throwback for fans of the SB, or it can be a subtle tribute to the timelessness of inappropriate hugging.
Mike Blowers can be either an old-school saber guy, who liked the three true outcomes before the three true outcomes were cool, or just someone who's desperate to be on TV.
Carlos Guillen can be someone mocking the front office's record in trades, or it can be someone commenting on the fact that it is rad to have many beers after Mariner games.
Ryan Anderson - either another subtle jab at the M's record at developing pitching prospects, or a surgeon.
by marc w on Mar 26, 2007 3:14 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Anyone want to take a stab at Jay Buhner?
by Phildopip on Mar 26, 2007 3:28 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Elma, WA
That said, Buhner is great and I hope he goes into announcing some day. He is probably in my top 5 favorite mariners of all time.
by Edgar for Pres on Mar 26, 2007 4:06 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
If he ever goes into announcing
by Goose on Mar 26, 2007 4:16 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Don't forget
by Scruffy Lefty on Mar 27, 2007 7:19 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Elma...
by PositivePaul on Mar 27, 2007 8:29 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
You can take my Sasaki All-Star jersey
nah, just ask me for it.
by Paytheline on Mar 26, 2007 6:28 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
As stupid as it sounds
by Robert on Mar 26, 2007 6:47 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Worst i've ever seen..
by Kirk Hammett on Mar 26, 2007 6:42 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Reminds me of Charles Gipson's only fans
by Mariner John on Mar 26, 2007 11:20 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
I still have a 34, Garcia....
by basebliman on Mar 26, 2007 7:37 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Uhhh.
Can I get.
Uhhhhhhh.
(Dude, try some of my tacos)
Uhhhh...
How many should I get?
(30)
That's what I was thinkin!!!!!
by PositivePaul on Mar 26, 2007 7:56 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Where's Scruffy when you need 'im?
by Phildopip on Mar 26, 2007 9:52 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
working :(
by Scruffy Lefty on Mar 27, 2007 7:20 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Jeff--
by BrettJMiller on Mar 26, 2007 8:31 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
I'm thinking tomorrow afternoon.
by Jeff on Mar 26, 2007 8:33 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Awesome man. Looking forward to it.
by BrettJMiller on Mar 26, 2007 8:46 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Come to think of it...
by Jeff on Mar 26, 2007 9:32 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
My dream jersey . . .
by DCMariner on Mar 26, 2007 10:02 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Hargrove Jersey
by Tom2000 on Mar 27, 2007 9:51 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

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