And then thank you Jeff and everybody else who made LL possible.

Without you this place wouldn’t be possible. This blog may have a large community but it’s YOUR large community. You fostered it. It would not be the same without you. You are the glue that binds it together. Thank you for all of your efforts, thank you for not giving up, and thank you for allowing such a fantastic place to come to be.

how much so many people love this site and appreciate all of the effort you put into this site.

Thank you very much for all of the time that you spend creating content and I look forward to your insight as this off season progresses.

Despite the fact that this season went into the hole several months back you’re still able to pump out quality content and find the strength not to throw in the towel. It takes a strong will to gut it out with this team, let alone finding stuff to write about.

This site is one of my favorites and I don’t see myself letting up any time soon. This place is awesome.

Thank you for putting in those late nights and churning out what always ends up being entertaining content. You’ve made me laugh and enjoy the worst sports train wreck I’ve ever had to suffer through, and you’ve educated me along the way. Don’t ever feel bad about having you life take prescient over your work. We all understand, and we all know that while you’ve got a gift, you’re human and you need breaks (especially in a season as terrible as this).

So, in short, thank you for making my favorite sport more fun. I had a great time being able to take part in this site this year.

Interesting?

And just so you know Jeff, it doesn’t matter what you write about, I always find it interesting. Thanks for putting so much work into this.

As I’ve told you before, you are very good at what you do. I have no reason to follow the M’s, yet I read this site daily due to the content. Sites like this are why SBN needs to find a way to pay their writers, especially the really good ones.

What I meant to say was: You really need to write more, and don’t waste your life on girls, work and sleep.

In all seriousness, though, you rock. The amount of work you put into LL is staggering. The longer you keep coming to the conclusion that this site is worth your time, the better we all are for it. But if you don’t take some time away here and there, you’re going to go insane. You’ve got some talented fellow authors and vigilant commenters who can keep the site from going to shit if you take a night or two off. We’re pretty good at self-policing.

So to Jeff, as well as the other mods and the awesome people around here, thanks for all the work and entertainment during this monstrosity of a season.

Cruelly predictable.

The fact that two Angels fans are regulars in a Mariners community speaks to what you’ve created and fostered here at Lookout Landing.

However…

The guilt I feel when I take a night off to see a show, or watch the Padres, or hang out with my girlfriend, or just do nothing.

If you feel guilty for doing normal things in life… I know we wouldn’t want to hold from doing those things. This is a wonderful community you have built. If you want to take some of the workload off, you might want to hold open tryouts for a successor. Then you can have a protégé prepared for when you can’t do this anymore. It’s at least something you need to start considering because most of us would self-destruct if one day this page didn’t load.

Good riddance to 2008. Strasburg ho!

I started stopping by this place because a friend recommended your writing. It made me remember why I love baseball, and wonder why I pulled back from it for so long. Now I’m addicted, pulled in by the people that frequent this site. I love having a place to waste my workdays as well as have an opportunity to learn about baseball.

I really don’t want to turn this into an Academy Awards thank you comment, but really, it seems everyone deserves a thanks. Thanks to Jeff, of course, for keeping this place going even when he’s about to lose his mind—sorry your charges get out of control sometimes. Also thanks M & G for your writing (and picture usage) and your mod powers.

But mostly thanks y’all for being amazing. Although at times this place makes me want to scream, for the most part, I come here to laugh. And the things that y’all have done for someone you’ve never met in person—inquired about jobs, offered a place to stay, checked in during the hurricanes…thanks. Thanks so much.

I’ll stop there. I think many of you know what it is I’m saying, anyway.

You are a great writer and you put up with more shit here (on the field and in the game threads) than most people would be able to deal with.

Please don’t stop, but remember that we all have lives of our own; we will understand why you may need to post less.

So basically, thanks for everything. Following the M’s from Philly/New York would be soooo hard without LL and USSM.

First order of business, New GM/Manager.

Hopefuls? Predictions?

I would offer you my first-born daughter

::salute::

I love coming to LL to read your writing. I enjoy the community, but your writing is why I come here. I don’t mind that you haven’t written as much as you have the previous 2 seasons I’ve been here. LL still gives me a place to go to talk to people who care about Mariners baseball. It’s a like experiencing a little piece of home. I would be lonelier living overseas if it weren’t for LL.

LEONETOWAIVERS

The name has changed, the website has changed (twice), your supporting writers have changed but you’ve been the main writer for the last 5(?) years. Even back on the ESPN board, it was obvious that you (and Trent and Devin) that you were talented even if you were just battling retards like DM and Vert. It’s been exciting to see this blog grow from a blog on blogspot rooting for a unknown AAAA 3rd baseman to the very successful site it is today.

It makes me glad that not only did you want to give up, but that you never actually did, Jeff. Fantastic job you’ve been doing, dude.

Because, unlike the average grizzled MLB veteran, your output quality hasn’t decreased – just the quantity. I honestly couldn’t have made it through this season without LL; hell, I stopped caring about the games in mid-August, which is horrifying. But anyway, this place made the rest of the season worth having, and I can’t thank you enough for that. Next time I’m in SD, the first several rounds are on me.

And I buy good beer.

I started here as a lurker in the end of 06, I believe. Since then, I’ve become more and more involved, and the team has become more and more pathetic. However, the site has maintained the quality that brought me here in the first place. In fact, I’d say it’s gotten even better. I was in on nearly every game thread last season, and for most of the early part of this season. It was fun to run through all the emotion of a game with other people. I’m the only person in my small circle of friends that even cares about baseball, so it’s nice having all of you here to act as surrogate, baseball-loving friends for me.

Jeff (and, to a lesser extent, Matthew and Graham), you owe us no obligation to write. Your writing brought most of us here, but the community has been what has kept many of us coming back. The content on this site is amazing, though, and always a source of knowledge not otherwise found in day-to-day life. Keep it up, and here’s to the most exciting offseason I’ve been able to experience as a fan.

Salut!

…but read it daily because of the great content and laughs. Thanks, Jeff and crew!

Good thing you didn’t, because the Mariners blogosphere sucks without Jeff Sullivan.

Don’t ever quit. Make them drag you away. Keep up the good work.

Please keep up the good work – I have little time to comment, but I really appreciate all of the late hours you put into LL. What is that magic sleep limit? I’m struggling to find a balance between completely delirious (my wife and I couldn’t remember what day or date it was this morning) and just delirious enough to produce good work.

This season sucked, but for some messed up reason I’m sad it’s over. Can’t wait for 2009!!

To Jeff and company,

I don’t want to make a scene, but I am more grateful than you could image.

My last 18 months have been more difficult than I wish to repeat. I have relied on watching baseball as a source of conversation, entertainment, and (my poor timing) healing and hope. There were a few months there were I read every single word posted on this site, just to avoid thinking about other things. Now, fittingly with the end of the M’s season, I have moved on to a new period in my life.

So when I say I am grateful for your diligent and sometimes brilliant writing of this mockery of a professional baseball club, please understand how sincere I am.

With that said, may the Seattle Mariners have the greatest off season of any professional sports team ever.

And this goes for everyone. Jeff, who is the blogger I can only dream of becoming (not really because that’s weird but you know what I mean), Graham for his intelligence and verbal smackdowns (and for teaching me that yes, Livan Hernandez is truly awful) and Matthew for being the best goddamn ferry on the planet. And to all the regular and irregular posters – y’all are hilarious and good company. When I was isolated in Arizona last fall, it was amazing being able to hang online with people who loved the Mariners, were good company and weren’t complete retards. Thanks, everybody, you’re awesome.

to all of the above comments. You are single-handedly responsible for me losing my business since I never get a damn thing done. Next time I drive west on I-8 I would gladly buy you a tasty beverage. Uh, don’t stop believin’?

I’ve just gotta say…this sounds like a bunch of whining to me.

Suck it up, pie faucker, or you’ll be getting a collect call from Jeff Cirillo. Believe it.

low five

I visit this site pretty much daily, and, having made the rounds like some kind of cheap internets whore, I can say without pause that this is the greatest sports community in existence.

Thanks to everyone who makes this place tick.

Starting from about 15 minutes after I learned that the Bedard trade was going to happen, this has been one of the most difficult years of my life on a personal level. I tried to use sports as a relief but with the exception of 35 sexy minutes on June 23rd, the first time one my team made me happy was last Sunday.

Yet despite this, LL helped me get through the rough parts of 08 by not only teaching me more about the game that I hate to love but connecting me with people that I can consider genuine friends. Thanks to all you people that made it happen. I owe you all

And also made it possible for devoted Mariners fans to interact and evaluate teams and players without using hollow stats like ERA or RBI. You do an amazing job at writing, in fact the content of this site is comparable to content people write for a living, if not better. I did not know a whole lot about baseball beyond what any casual fan knew before finding USSMariner or Lookout Landing, but while I feel the intelligent input I did was probably next to nothing, its been hell of a learning experience for me. Not only that, but you made it fun to read with your witty commentary. And I can’t forget to mention Matthew, Graham, and Gomez (if Gomez is still here, doesn’t seem to be on the current mod list) for also being awesome contributors to this site as well. A team like the Mariners doesn’t deserve fans like you guys.

I haven’t posted on here in maybe a month because I lost interest of the Mariners for various reasons, including an increased work load and school starting. I couldn’t imagine how hard it would be to have to write about a team like the Mariners as a hobby on a daily basis. That shows true character and I hope that one day your effort for writing for this site will paid off, whatever it may be. I look forward to see what happens in the offseason and will look to Lookout Landing first for full coverage whatever it may be.

Here’s to hoping for a good 2009 and a 2008 Rays WS!

Thanks for the amazing content. I keep saying it, but it’s worth saying again – for someone relatively new to even the sport, your writing is very accessible, interesting, informative and thought provoking. And often a lot amusing.

A website’s/blog’s success owes little to its style and a lot to its content, and for that we are truly thankful.

Have to add my own thanks. I have a job that keeps me from my friends and family for long periods of time. It is so great to have a place where I can spend some time each day to keep me sane. I have you to thank for that Jeff, and I will always be grateful.

And if you ever feel depressed, come back and bask in all the praise.

You probably didn’t mean to evoke such an outpouring of support, but there’s a big community here that really values what you do… and would be deeply saddened if you had to walk away from it all.

Also, I don’t think anyone was worried about the slump in recap production. As the team goes, so goes the inspiration of all of its writers. I thought the balance was fine… since I took a few days off here and there anyway, I barely noticed any drop off.

Thanks for seeing it through, I hope the Rays give you some PS joy, and the front office does something to make you happy in the next 5 months.

That photo made me realize that, in spite of my best intentions, I didn’t make it to any LL/USSM this year. And I’m a more empty person because of it…

Even when you’re not here in person, you’re here in spirit, and that says a lot about you. That you persisted and stuck it out when you had good reason to surrender says all the more. The community you’ve fostered completes it all.

The roster turnover, both good and bad, definitely helps keep this place alive. I’ve been there through most of it (though, sadly, missed out on the pre-Fire Bavasi/L43 days on the ESPN boards, as I’ve only been on blogs since 2004), and sites like this have definitely changed me as a person.

Not sure if that change is for the better or for the worse, yet, but life’s definitely more fun having this cyberspace to hang out in…

In 2007 LL helped me find humor in a personally trying year. In 2008 LL found ways to keep me interested in one of the sorriest MLB products I have ever seen.

Always take care of your own needs first, but I will enjoy your work as long as it is available for my consumption.

While I haven’t posted much on this site (largely due to moving to Maine and getting used to watching games on East Coast time), Jeff, you and the rest of this community have made watching my 22nd season of Mariner baseball bearable even during what has arguably been one of the hardest seasons to endure as a fan. The work that each of you do have helped make me a more educated fan, and made watching even the worst games leagues better than sitting in one of the local dives listening to a rowdy group of drunk Mainers shout “YOOOOOOOK!” at the TV for three hours every time the Sox play.

I’m sure you put in more time and effort than the majority of us realize, and persevered when many of us would have just thrown up our hands and say “F**k this, I quit!”. The fact that you do this out of your love for our team and the game, and not for profit makes your work even more amazing.

So thank you Lookout Landing. I look forward to keep reading, and learning, and preparing to do my little dance to the Felix Day song in 2009, and here’s to the quick demise of the Lincoln/Armstrong regime and having them replaced by a collection of rocks that give money to a competent GM. One can always hope right?

Despite the fact that I didn’t really start participating in the community until this season, I’ve been reading since the L43 days. You’ve been really influential in my baseball education, and I thank you for all the work you’ve done over the years. The one good thing about being a Mariners fan is the quality of the blogosphere and I hope no one takes it for granted. To say that LL is the best of the lot is high praise indeed, but it’s true nonetheless and it gets better all the time. Thanks Jeff, and thanks as well to Matthew, Graham, Gomez and everyone else that’s contributed over the years.