OFFTOP 6/29/09 - Avoiding Work Edition

It’s alright. Christian Bale at his moody best, I suppose.

My most favorite active non-Mariner is Mike Cameron, which is sort of unfair, but whatever. Least favorite non-Mariner is Vlad Guerrero, hands down. A deep-seeded hate for Vlad the baseball player.

Fave non Mariner:

Jamie Moyer. That might be cheating but he was my favorite Mariner for years. I even went through all the cycles of acceptance when I heard about his trade. He just represents that classic player without lights out stuff still goes out and gives you a chance to win mentality. I just love that old bastard.

Most Hated Player: Torii Hunter. Seriously, fuck that cocksucker. I honestly hope he dies in a fire for all those fucking game changing home runs he has stolen from us. And the way he thinks he is one of the greatest center fielders of all time.

On vacation down here in Tenn. and my family lives pretty close to Pringles Park so I get to see a game. I plan on getting some good pictures of the park, Halman, Fields, and Aumont. I’ll share them with y’all when I get them online.

Why I like him is pretty easy: when he was with us, destroying pitches and playing great SS, I was in my formative years as a fan. When he left I was devastated. Obviously he has not quite been the same guy and the steroid talk and playing for the Rangers/Yankees has soured a lot of people. Nevertheless, he will always hold a special place in baseball for me as Junior and A-Rod were the two guys that made me fall in love with baseball.

My least favorite player is Joba Chamberlain. It’s funny, I almost never hate the players on the Angels nearly as much as I hate their fans, but with the Yankees I despise the players even more than the fans. This spot has gone to Derek Jeter for many years, but Joba the Hutt has taken over. Listening to people verbally fellate him every day during the last couple years was awful; it was made even worse for me because the young guy who actually deserved the gushing praise was my favorite player on my favorite team. For “stealing” Felix’s thunder, Chamberlain falls on my shit list. Obviously this is not his fault, but hey fuck him anyway.

My favorite non-Mariner who never played with the Mariners is Alex Rios. A few years ago I had him on my fantasy team (I know, no one cares) and he was awesome (until a staph infection). I loved his name (Alexis Rios—just sounds awesome) and his game. While he hasn’t quite lived up to what I thought he might have been, he is one of the few players that I am 100% biased towards. For some reason I cannot evaluate him normally; I always make excuses for bad performances and consider his hot streaks his true talent level. He is the only player that turns me into a 9 year old watching baseball, when I felt that my heroes could do no wrong.

Seriously???

Wow.

I’m an intern so I get a 1 hour lunch and only work 8-5. And to me there is nothing quite like taking lunch at 2, getting back at 3 and realizing “holy shit only two more hours!” It’s like Christmas and my birthday but everyday

- One guy crowd surfing with a Rockies game jersey on … during Tom Jones.
- Two guys wearing Dodgers caps
- A Twins fan
- A guy with a Big Papi T-Shirt.
- Countless Yankee caps.
- A guy with a White Sox cap.
- I watched Fleet Foxes in the hope of spotting some people wearing Seattle sports wear but alas I was the only one in the crowd with a Mariners cap on.

Sci Fi movies – I just watched 2001, and even though I loved the books when I was little (2001, 2010, 2061, and 3001), I thought the movie sucked. Absolutely nothing happened in the last hour. You need to be tripping balls just to sit through the movie.

Some favorite non-M’s players: Justin Upton, Zack Greinke, Tim Lincecum, Curtis Granderson, most Rays, off the top of my head.

The cake would go to Mike Cameron, though: I wrote this on Beyond the Boxscore a little while ago:

I’ve never seen anyone enjoy playing baseball more than Mike Cameron does, and it infects everyone he meets. I’ve never seen any ballplayer with greater sense of excited and thrill than when Mike Cameron got to be an All-Star at the 2001 All-Star Game at Safeco. It was awesome. I don’t remember exactly when he said it, but he said "we enjoyin’ our enjoyment" once and that perfectly captured the way he approached the game.

He was my favorite player ever since he robbed Jeter of a home run in his first week as a Mariner. He won over Seattle with that catch.

And he was a monster of a player – a 5-6 win player in his prime who would’ve been worth 6-7 wins (and been a legit MVP candidate) if he hadn’t been the league leader in flyball % playing in the worst park for right-handed hitters in the AL. Aaron Gleeman made the case persuasively in 2003 that Cameron was the most underrated player in baseball. Dave Cameron said Cameron was a legit +20 to +25 CF from 1999-2001. I knew nothing of this when he played for the Mariners, but I had the sense from the start that Mike Cameron was almost as valuable a player as Griffey.

If the HoF cared about outfield defense, he’d be a borderline Hall-of-Famer – Chone has his career WAR at 42.6, or 135th since 1955. He’ll well exceed, for example, Jim Rice in career WAR after this year. He rocks.

but it doesn’t make sense to me that a walk doesn’t count as an AB, and yet Rivera gets an RBI for walking in a run. Am I the only one that doesn’t get this? How can you get an RBI in a non-AB?

I can’t say as that I have one – I have several and they’re sorta interchangeable. I was very bummed to not be able to see Joey Votto when I was in Cincy, I really like Russell Martin, and as hard as I try I can’t quit Randy Johnson. Okay, that’s a lie, I’ve never wanted to quit Randy Johnson.

Least favorite? AJ Pierzynski. No real reason why, he just irritates me.

I’m not crazy about scifi as a genre so I’m not anywhere near an expert on what’s good and bad. I like Firefly. But we just started watching Battlestar Galactica, and I really like it – but I like it because it’s not so much sci-fi as drama in space.

I have a lot of players on other teams that I like but I tend to favor younger guys. I really like players like Nick Markakis, Shane Victorino and Andre Ethier. They are good but fly under the radar. Basically any prospect who doesn’t come up in New York or Boston.

I’m not sure there’s anyone I hate besides Jeter since Paul O’Neill no longer plays. I guess I don’t like Michael Young, Brian Roberts or David Eckstein very much.

but since that doesn’t really count it’s Pujols or Manny. If Vlad hadn’t signed with the Angels it’d be him hands down Most hated is probably Hunter, but that’s more a result of his being an Angel and killing us. I also can’t stand Carlos Zambrano, Chone Figgins. Chipper Jones, Francisco Rodriguez and Jeff Kent who was such a douche I’m ignoring the fact that he’s retired because I want to convey how much I hate him.

 my favorites are Pujols (self explanatory), Lincecum (who doesn’t love him?), Sandoval (otherwise he might eat me), Zobrist (whoa).

Hatred of current players…Chipper Jones (he came up as a Brave at the time when I despised the Braves the most), Nick Punto (I swear we played the Twins six times last year and he was an annoying little shit), Chone Figgins (seriously dude your name is cho-knee).

I just got a brochure from King County Public Health about West Nile virus.

Pujols, I suppose.

Although I am to the point where I like Franklin, Pineiro, Spiezio and Jeff Weaver ironically.

Favorite player that never played for a team I root for?

Gosh I don’t know, I like Smoltz until he jumped ship to Boston. Barry Bonds and Greg Maddux are no longer playing… so… Chase Utley? I guess?

Favorite non-Mariner?
Nick Swisher:

He always sticks out his tongue for no reason it’s kidna weird he’s just awesome like that the only Yankee I like. Next would be Max Scherzer this one is because he throws an awesome change-up from the 3/4 slot and I’m a FB/CU guy before I busted out the slurve.

Though the actor kinda creeps me out – though I think it’s because the first movie I saw him in, he was naked in close proximity to John Turturro, and that’s never a good sign.

“Who is your favorite active non-Mariner baseball player? What is it about them that makes you like them?”
-Has to be Mark Teixeira, and I have no idea. I think I was really impressed by him last year, when we played the Braves, and it just sort of stuck. I detest the fact that he went to New York, but for that much money, I’d go live in Thailand in a cave, so I can’t say I’d blame him. I should hate him, because he looks really douche-y; but I can’t. I enjoy watching him play.

Who is your least-favorite/most-hated active non-Mariner baseball player? What is it that makes you unable to stand them?
-It’s a toss-up between AJ Pierzynski and Gerald Laird. And doesn’t everyone hate Pierzynski? Once again, it’s just a weird thing I get from both of them; they both just seem like jackasses. I’m sure they give money to cancer people and take in stray kittens off the street or something, but this is just a gut reaction.

but I’ve enjoyed the start of the Marlins’ Emilio Bonifacio. The combination of speed, aggressiveness, and not playing for anyone in the division, Boston, or New York, really help with this. I would like Torii Hunter but he’s with the Angels.

How come nobody has mentioned Player A as their least favorite non-Mariner? Perhaps he doesn’t exactly count, but I think his continued bashing of Seattle in the media and other irritating tendencies make him an exception.

Favorite non-Mariner: Jim Thome. Mostly because of these (and numerous others). Even though I know that’s irrational. Also, the fact that he made a special trip to drive his 500th HR ball to Cooperstown with his dad. That’s just awesome.

Cole Hamels gets special mention.

Most hated Non-Mariner: Francisco Rodriguez. What an asshat. Honorable mention: Jose Canseco, not for the steroids, but for this game. I remember seeing that game and I never stopped hating him from that moment on. 8-year-old me could really hold a grudge.

Beer!

but collapsible comments are coming back soon. It’s being worked on.

I have three tickets to the AAA All-Star Game media day/open workout thing. It’s Tuesday the 14th at 2pm at PGE Park. You also get a free hat. I personally can’t imagine anything less interesting than a AAA media day/workout thing, but if that sort of thing’s your bag let me know and I’ve got tickets for you. FREE HAT!