Lookout Landing: FanPosts

OFFTOP 11/19 - The Hand of Fraud

2009-11-19T22:03:35Z

As most of you know by now, the Irish again failed to qualify for the World Cup yesterday. They had several gilt-edged scoring chances that they did not convert, so instead of talking about Ireland's return to the World Cup, the entire soccer world is talking about this (the fun starts at the 5.34 mark). Not only was Henry offside, he handled the ball not once but twice. He owned up to it after the game, but that doesn't matter - France won, and is through to the World Cup, on a goal that never should have been allowed in the first place. It seems the only people that didn't see it are the three referees that are supposed to see these things. Instant replay would be great, but FIFA doesn't want it.

There's now a lot of controversy over whether Henry should have said something, should have insisted to the ref that the goal not stand, but I think that's kinda stupid - if Ireland feels hard done by, they should talk to Robbie Keane, who missed an absolute sitter that would have put the game beyond doubt. Instead we get controversy, and demands for the game to be replayed.

So, since the last OFFTOP is filling up/bogging down slow computers and we needed a new one, the question I have is simple: What is the most egregiously bad officiating decision (in any sport) you know of?

Also: movies, beer, bands, you know the drill.

FootbaLL IV (Nov 21st)

2009-11-19T04:33:16Z

Sorry about the belatedness of this post. I could make many excuses, many of them involving Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. But alas, things need to be discussed in a bad way.

First on the agenda: Cal Anderson playfield is always busy at the most convenient times. Some ideas have floated around, including the Lynwood High school, (too far in my opinion) and Garfield High school playfields.

~~Now that I think about it, that's it, really.~~ I remember now... Should I extend an invite to Field Gulls members or just stick to LL'ers? I'm thinking yes but I'll take a few votes before I act on that.

So who's in? Who's out? Who's extremely iffy? Any and all sizes and skill-sets are welcome. New or old, boy or girl, come on down and get active!

Playing: JamMasterJesus (King Max)

LantermanC, aka PlaySportsInSeattle, aka Gimpy

two_hands

Jaejo

Two R's and Two L's

BrettJMiller

JohnBai

Flippy-Floppy: Scruffy Lefty

Fin

Tony Blengino interview on 710 AM ESPN Seattle's Hot Stove League

2009-11-19T03:39:18Z

I started listening to the Hot Stove league show tonight on KIRO-710 ESPN, just barely soon enough to hear the very end of the interview with Tony Blengino. It was awesome...and now I'm desperate to hear the rest of it!

Does anyone know if there is a way to listen to a recording of the program? Does 710 AM post recordings of their broadcasts or interviews anywhere? Thanks!

Anyone have any thoughts on the interview?

OTFPOTD 11/16: Recipes Edition

2009-11-16T16:22:13Z

I recently lost a friendly wager with my roommate over the results of a sporting match, so I need to cook us and some guests a big dinner as payment. I'm feeling a little homesick, so I really want to cook a Vietnamese or Thai meal. I don't have much experience with cooking, but I have wits enough to pull off some fairly elaborate meals if I do my homework and have good recipes (I made a chicken curry meal a few weeks ago).

I plan on using chicken, and I have ready access to a good deal of cilantro, garlic, ginger, vegetables, noodles, and a big stir fry pan.

Also, in this thread, feel free to consider:

-What recipe(s) I should use for the meal I'm cooking this weekend?

-What are your favorite, most especial recipes (and maybe the story of how you found it)?

-What are you favorite types of food and restaurants the Seattle area (or wherever in the world you live, for that matter) - perhaps which neighborhoods or cities have your favorite restaurant scenes or general attractions and vibe as well?

-Does anyone who has grown up and lives in a big city use travel guides for it (e.g. Frommer's, Rough Guide, etc.) to find things to do there?

-What do the statistically or football-ly inclined think of Nate Silver's new Soccer Power Index at ESPN.com (a good summary of it may be found at Dave Cameron's hang out, full methodology here)

-What new blogs, fiction, or LL-safe non-fiction books have you recently discovered?

-What's the best piece of advice anyone's ever given you?

-Anything else you'd like to talk about?

Lookout Landing as a communtiy

2009-11-14T23:07:31Z

Hi guys,

My name is Chintan Desai and I am a member of the Lookout Landing community and UC Davis student doing a paper on a community that I am apart of. I have decided to choose the Lookout Landing community. In order to do so, I have to collect some census data on the demographics of the community that I have chosen so that I can accurately paint a picture of the community as a whole. Now obviously there is the problem with the anonymity of the Internet, so I was wondering if you guys could help me out by listing as much as you want of the following things: There is no pressure to fill out all of this, but obviously the more I have the more useful it would be.

Age:

Male/Female:

Education Level:

Race/Ethnicity:

Now, obviously asking for people's race/ethnicity may be controversial, but again note that this is simply for a research paper on community. None of this information will be used for anything other than the paper. I will also gladly share the paper with you once it is complete.

Thanks guys! Hope to hear your responses!

The Sabermetrics of Cats

2009-11-14T03:27:38Z

My cat 'Baxter' is the Franklin Gutierrez of cats.

And not just in that he is good looking. He is very athleticic and can do some incredible jumps and backflips.

Truly, he is Death to Flying Things, with extreme bird-catching ability. I would estimate him to be a +20 Birdcatcher, possibly even the greatest Birdcatcher in the league. His defensive value alone is worth 2 Birdcatching Wins (10 Bird Catches per Birdcatching Win). On the MLB free agent payscale of 4.5 million per win in 2009, I thus estimate him to be worth around $8-9 Million per year.

If you are a major league General Manager and are interested in discussing the acquisition this incredible talent, just let me know!

Royals determined to unload Callaspo...

2009-11-12T23:11:34Z

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/story/1564411-p2.html

The part of this article that interests me:

Rumors suggest the Royals are seeking to swing a deal with the Dodgers to acquire catcher A.J. Ellis for second baseman Alberto Callaspo. If true, financial benefits would be down the road. Callaspo should reach arbitration eligibility after next season, but Ellis not until after 2011 at the earliest.

If those talks stall, the Royals seem determined to unload Callaspo in hopes of selling high after a season in which he batted .300 with a .356 on-base percentage, 11 homers and 73 RBIs.

Well, you can't say Dayton Moore doesn't evolve. He's gone from his "look at the wrong things and buy high" strategy to a modified version of "sell high" that has led him to the conclusion that after batting .300 in his age-26 season and failing to qualify for super-2 status Alberto Callaspo has to go. Wow. Callaspo is coming off a 2.8 WAR season where he maintained his excellent contact rate (8.9K%) and nearly tripled his career .ISO. Yes, he's not great on defense and a lot of his value lies in his batting average, but with his ability to make contact there's good reason to believe he isn't due for major regression, and his .315 BABIP this year doesn't exactly scream fluke. The return Moore appears to be looking at? A 28 year old slap-hitting catcher who failed to hit a single home run in the Albuquerqe band box.

Callaspo failed to qualify as a super-2, so he's near league minimum for another year. He's bad at 2B, but he's not a total butcher and he's shown some ability to play 3B in the past. He's also under club control for his age 27-30 seasons, and he's coming off a .352 wOBA this year. He's a switch-hitter whose value shouldn't be undermined too much by the Safeco effect, and as a guy with a good bat who doesn't steal bases or put up gaudy HR totals, he's likely to get undervalued a bit in arbitration, keeping his price tag low through his prime. In short, I'm a fan.

This looks like a great opportunity to add a couple wins to the 2010 roster for virtually no cost. If the rumors are true and AJ Ellis is the kind of return that Moore's looking for, I have to believe the Mariners are capable of stepping in and offering more. We already know Moore overvalues scrappy Mariner castoffs.

Thoughts?

Ackley and Triunfel on MLB TV right now

2009-11-08T01:38:42Z

AFL baseball action on live TV, some kind of all-star game. Ackley is in Center ad Triunfel is at short. So far Ackley is getting a lot of work in Center and he looks like he's got good range. I'm not sure about his arm, he seems to be short arming the ball a bit.

I'm not sure if this is common knowledge, but I'm jonsing for some Mariners and this is as close as we're going to get for a while.

Xbox LLive, Pt 3

2009-11-06T21:02:42Z

Might as well post this now, since I heard there's a big game coming out next week.

A bunch of LL-ers are on Xbox Live and play games with each other - who else out there has an Xbox and wants to join up? As of Tuesday, Nov 10, we will be playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 pretty much fulltime, so feel free to join the party and get a few games in.

A forewarning - do not put your earpiece too close to your ear when playing with me.

LL SN - XBL tag

seattlebruin - seattlebruin

Scruffy Lefty - Scruffy Lefty

tootthekazoo - TootMyKazoo

Robert - WeaselRed

BrianL - BDL88

JamMaster Jesus - imeatinbutter

Phildopip - Phildopip

BrettJMiller - Bretticus

Ralphie81 - Ralphie81

royalcurve - Royalcurve

Coach Owens - Coach Owens 00

Nate Dogg - herr414

Ckel - Ckel44

seattlesundevil - Hessbian

hcoguy - hcoguy

bmxnw - Distant Echo

seattlecougar - Heeb McMazeltov

joof - Joofie

Jason X USN - Jason X USN

bluemax - BlueMax MB

qrsouther - PapaBear94 (seriously?? 1994??)

Add your names in the comments and discuss, will update the FanPost with everyone's names as we go.

OT on a friday morning 11/6

2009-11-06T17:31:38Z

Mostly because the last one hit over 1000 comments, primarily due to a spirited discussion about meaningful things.You won't find that here, though, bucko.

Anyone watch the new version of "V"? Was there anything more to it than Morena Baccarin's cool new haircut?

Anyone going any where near the scarifying rotoscoping of A Christmas Carol?

Is Anthony Lane one of the most entertaining film reviewers working today?

"Please make sure, when you buy a ticket for “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” to pronounce the title in full. I know you will. There was a plan to call it “Push,” until another movie got there first. But why not call the new one “Precious,” and leave it at that? After all, Deborah Kerr didn’t star in “The Innocents: Based on the Novella ‘The Turn of the Screw’ by Henry James,” and Dustin Hoffman didn’t star in “Rain Man: Based on the Overwhelming Desire to Win an Academy Award by Dustin Hoffman,” so why the change in rubric?"

Curiously wondering what the plan is...

2009-11-06T04:11:04Z

I'm going to start this off by saying thank you for everyone's amazing insight. I have always been an average fan (not really into advanced statistics) until i started reading the insights of Jeff and Co. My question has to do with the future. What is the plan for Ackley? Saunders seems to have found a home in left. Gutierrez is an absolute stud in center. And, of course Ichiro in right. I know Ackley played first at UNC but he is a projected center fielder. Is Saunders going to be the odd man out? Jeff compared him to Randy Winn a while ago and seems pretth high on him. I guess this is a good problem to have. It would be awesome to hear your guys thoughts on where things might sit come September call ups and how our outfield might look in the future. Sorry if the post isn't up to par with the site, I was never one to be great with words.

Is anyone else going to make fun of this picture?

2009-11-05T15:53:25Z

That was a ripoff, One of the worst World Series' I can remember. I really wanted to see Philli win, Raul would have gotten his long deserving rings, Utley or Lee would have gotten the MVP. Matsui only played in half of the series, he didn't diserve it, Plus I always kinda liked watching A-Rod not get a title.

BTW:

Is Anyone else going to make fun of this picture? I think it needs to be done.

Exploring Hit f/x, Albeit Badly.

2009-11-05T00:40:26Z

I wrote this.

I'll take it down if y'all think it's stupid.

________________

This summer, Major League Baseball revealed its newest statistical plaything, hit f/x, which records the speed of batted balls. This technological toy may not exactly revolutionize the way the game is played, but it does add a critical variable to a hitter’s value – how hard he can hit. Now teams can determine which batters truly hit the stuffing out of the ball.

Strangely, this hit-tracker data seems to go against conventional baseball wisdom. Hit-tracker results have recently revealed that players with lower batting averages actually hit the ball harder than those with high batting averages. Does that mean that to achieve a high degree of success, a hitter needs to hit the ball softer that he otherwise would? Looking beyond the numbers, we discover that this conundrum is an issue of logic.

It is generally accepted in the literary world that plot and character vary inversely; rarely do we find a book with an in-depth plot and intricately developed characters. Similarly, in the world of baseball, speed varies inversely with power; there are exceptions, but it is unusual for a power-hitter to steal 20 bases in a season, or for a lanky speed-demon to hit 30 homers.

A substantial percentage of the batters with batting averages over .300 in the 2009 season had around 15-18 infield hits. There were outliers, of course, but the trend stuck for the most part. Let’s take a look at how some of baseball’s top hitters (in terms of batting average) might have fared without that extra bit of speed. Obviously this is not completely indicative of how they actually would have done, but it’s an interesting experiment.

A table:

	# of Infield Hits	Batting Average	Batting Average Minus Percentage of Infield Hits
Ichiro Suzuki	50	.352	.273
Jacoby Ellsbury	26	.301	.259
Pablo Sandoval	16	.330	.302
Denard Span	23	.311	.271
Jason Bartlett	15	.320	.290
David Wright	13	.307	.283
Scott Posednik	27	.304	.254
Skip Schumaker	13	.303	.278
Hanley Ramirez	17	.342	.312
Nyjer Morgan	15	.307	.275
Derek Jeter	22	.334	.299
Erick Aybar	16	.312	.280

Notice that this trend only serves to prove the importance of speed in the batting averages of players who have an abundance of it. David Wright and Pablo Sandoval still retain high batting averages despite when we subtract a portion of their speed.

Because power-hitters tend to be physically larger and thus slower than other hitters, they don’t beat out as many groundballs as quicker hitters, decreasing their batting average by approximately 17/550, or almost .031. For example, Wladimir Balentien, formerly of the Seattle Mariners, had the fastest average batted ball speed during April 2009 (according to Matthew Carruth http://www.lookoutlanding.com/2009/6/6/901100/mariner-hitters-batted-ball-speeds), but a paltry average. Ichiro, on the other hand, had the lowest average batted ball speed but his usual high average during that stretch.

In reality, batters that hit the ball hard often aren’t quick enough to reach first base on a weakly hit ground ball, knocking a significant amount off their average.

Contact rates actually player a larger role in this issue than does speed. Players, like the aforementioned Balentien, who swing for the fences all the time usually have low contact rates. And you’re certainly not going to get a hit if the ball doesn’t leave the catcher’s mitt. Here I generalize quite a bit – not all power hitters are free-swingers, but those that do see that batting averages drop quite a bit despite hitting for power and a high hit f/x value.

What does this mean? Honestly, I don’t know. Infield hits are flawed because in using them to make a point, one must assume that the official made the right call (error vs. hit). Plenty of power hitters are disciplined.

Any thoughts?

Somewhat OT: Kid dies from aluminum bat, family now rich

2009-11-04T11:14:46Z

Mont. jury awards $850,000 in aluminum bat lawsuit

I'm sure opinions will vary, though most people I've talked to fall into two catagories. One being, what the hell was this jury smoking? And the other being that this will help get rid of "dangerous" aluminum bats in little league/high school/legion ball.

FootbaLL III (Nov 7th)

2009-11-01T21:08:55Z

Is anyone interested in some FootbaLL at Cal Anderson Park or Seattle U this upcoming Saturday at 1ish? I may be a tad late because I have tree planting again. November 7th is the 4th annual Green Seattle Day, and a number of parks in Seattle (Cheasty Greenspace and many other forested locations across Seattle.
Locations include: Carkeek, Golden Gardens, Ravenna Park, Burke-Gilman Trail, Discovery, St. Mark's Greenbelt, Leschi Overlook, Seward, Maple School Ravine, East Duwamish Greenbelt, Westcrest, Lincoln, Camp Long, Orchard Street Ravine, and West Duwamish Greenbelt) are having sponsored events, so if you have time and don't want to play football (or want to play football after planting trees and pulling up rootballs and thistles, go ahead and sign up at your local park. It's a lot of fun.

On the 24th we had flags, courtesy of tworsandtwols, and had good games of 4 on 4 and 5 on 4.

(Edit: Flags no longer available)

In:

PlaySportsinSeattle (aka Ocho Cinco Wes Welker)

Katal

JamMasterJesus

Baker + 1

Timdor

Jaejo

BrettJMiller

John Bai (Flippy Floppy) + Softball Wife Lindsay

KirkHarbaugh (If he wakes up)

OFFTOP: 10/30/09

2009-10-30T17:48:19Z

While in college, I was an active seeker of music. It was easy to dedicate the time needed to research, listen, and be discerning in what I listened to. After college, however, my music stagnated for a while. I had a lot of music, just nothing new.

However, when I finally discovered how great podcasts are, I immediately subscribed to some music podcasts (KEXP's Song of the Day, and Music That Matters; NPR's All Songs Considered) and started rediscovering my hunger for new music.

Here's a list of artists I've discovered in 2009 that I really really enjoy:

Alaska in Winter - Fascinating indie electronic. Check out the song Close Your Eyes - We Are Blind. Heavenly.
Asteroid No. 4 - I actually started listening to one of their albums in 2007, but didn't really appreciate it (and their other albums) until this year.
Bon Iver - Spare, ever-so-delicate indie folk.
Choir of Young Believers - Folk + dream pop + indie pop = awesome.
Dead Man's Bones - Ryan Gosling's band. Dark indie folk. Surprisingly good for a celebrity band.
Dr. Dog - Bright indie pop that's sort of a throw-back to the Beatles and the Beach Boys.
Faunts - Incredible indie electronic. These guys fucking rock.
The Low Anthem - Indie folk that is occasionally quite rough around the edges, but is frequently beautiful.
Malajube - Bright indie pop from Montreal.
Patrick Watson - Crazy instruments and deep layering make for a very rich listening experience.
Sarah Siskind - Folk. She has one of the most incredible voices I've ever heard.
Sholi - Complex melding of dream pop and post-rock.
Vitality - Spare, strange. Sort of rap, but not really. The "rapper" kind of sounds like Dan Aykroyd.

Who have you discovered this year? Any new favorite artists? Any previous favorite artists who have disappointed you this year?

Sounders Playoffs Gamethread

2009-10-30T02:13:34Z

CONTEXT

The Seattle Sounders FC and the Houston Dynamo will face each other in the 2009 MLS playoffs, which begins tonight in Seattle.

KEY PLAYERS

Seattle:

Roster

Houston:

Roster

Both the Sounders and Dynamo are filled to the brim with possible difference-makers.

KEY QUESTIONS

Can the Seattle Sounders outscore the Houston Dynamo?

They can.

Can the Houston Dynamo outscore the Seattle Sounders?

They can.

Will one of the Seattle Sounders and Houston Dynamo outscore the other?

Most certainly likely!

X FACTOR

Jaqua

CONCLUSION

GO SOUNDERS!!

h/t Jeff for the template

102709 OTDOD - Home Improvement Edition

2009-10-27T14:31:55Z

It's new OTD time again, folks. In lieu of the usual OT fare of video games, books, making fun of celebrities and yuppies, etc. I've decided to go with a different theme for my occasional contribution to this wonderful site - home improvement.

This is a topic that has been the bane of my existence for the past month and a half, as I bought quite the clunker and am determined to make it livable on a budget. I won't go LLFB and detail every change I've made so far, but here are a couple things that I've done, and a longer list of neat stuff I'm looking to do.

Done -
* New kitchen cabinets
* Bedroom tear out, replacing wiring (drywall going up soon!)

Neat stuff that I may want to build/do in the future -
Catwalk on the ceiling - I don't even like the cat, but I think this would be awesome, especially the carpeted pole in the front room (maybe have the carpet removable so it can serve double duty without the rug burns)
Spray foam insulation - I can't do it now because of time constraints, but this is something I will be coming back to in the near term. It's the wave of the future, and it's not a flying car this time. R-Value of 21 for a 2x4 framed wall with built-in leak sealing and vapor barrier? Yes, please.

Normal projects in the pipeline -
Make a real front door
Built-in office desks and shelving
Tear down and rebuild shed
Replace deck/patio

Links to sites that I read about housing/remodeling/design -
http://diydiva.net/
http://www.inhabitat.com/
http://www.doityourself.com/

So, now comes the sharing portion of the show. What things have you done to make your place more livable? Good ideas that maybe you don't see everywhere? Any questions about work you want to do? I know I have quite a bit of experience in roofing, siding, electrical, insulation and tree work. I'm sure there are other people here that know about other things as well.

As always, normal OTD rules apply - talk about whatever within the rules.

It's Friday, 10/23/09, and we need another OTFPOTD

2009-10-23T20:14:29Z

The recent OTFPOTD has exceeded the critical mass of 1000+ posts. I was going to save this one for Monday, but eh, I've never done one of these and I'm way overdue anyway.

Possible Questions:

* Fall has been a topic of late, both in Seattle and NYC, where we are jumping wildly from low-60s to low-40s and back again on any given day. We've talked holidays and nature and football and BEER, so here's another question with a different spin on it: do your music listening habits change with the leaves? Do certain bands or albums typify fall for you more than any other season? Extra credit: what about reading?

* Strangest book you have ever read? Strangest movie you have ever seen? Explicate. Was it worth it?

* What non-curse, non-buzz word would you care to never hear again?

* Via MarinerJohn, what's your favorite archipelago?

* Via waldo rojas, most overrated board games?

* Let's talk disappointment... in music. Who is an artist that you were really excited about back in the day that never followed up in the way you expected, or otherwise got mired in prolonged periods of mediocrity?

* Movie series reboots have probably been done. What about video game series reboots? Any particular successes, failures, or ones that generated mixed reactions?

Go.

So, I broke both my wrists...

2009-10-21T23:57:31Z

So, I broke both my wrists. Both of them. Crack! Happened in a flash. I was locked out of my apartment. It was late. I thought, “No problem, I’ll just climb right up to the fire escape and go through my kitchen window,” which I routinely kept unlocked because I had once taken a look at the fire escape and the protruding, seemingly-climbable bricks on the side of the wall below it and thought “Hmmm…if I’m ever locked out I can just get in that way. Easy!”

It didn’t go as planned.

I remember the moment I realized I was going to fall. I had climbed up several feet of brick wall and felt pretty confident about the transfer to the fire escape. I reached back to grip it, and I felt my other hand slipping. It was out of my control at that point. Crack! Sir Isaac was right.

I like to think that I reacted like a cat. That I spun around in the air from my back-facing position and let out a subtle purr before I broke my fall…and my cheekbone…and my eye socket…and my right wrist…and my left wrist.

I suppose I laid there, in a pool of my own blood as they say, for a little while. It was around midnight in a particularly nice neighborhood in San Francisco. The kind of neighborhood where people don’t simply walk around outdoors at midnight. Eventually, I woke up and looked at my wrists. Sometimes one’s palms are facing them. And that was true in this case. But the way my arms were positioned, I was pretty sure I should have been staring at my knuckles. My immediate thought was: “Now how am I going to get up there to sleep this off?”

An hour or so later, I walked alone into an Emergency Room. I remember looking at my crumpled wrists after the fall, and I remember walking into that ER, but I do not remember the interim. I believe there must have been an intervening Samaritan, but I don’t know who it was. Was it you? If anyone out there helped a rather unsightly and disfigured young man, wearing a stylish black suit, to an emergency room in a nice neighborhood of San Francisco at midnight recently, please contact me. And tell me why you wouldn’t escort me through the frickin' ER door! Was it really that much further to take me? Was I bleeding on your precious purse? What if I’d have tripped on the way in? I think I will write you a Missed Connection on Craigslist.

The woman at the front desk told me she had some forms for me to sign. This is where my memory returns. I did not sign the forms. Instead, I held up my mangled arms. That is mangled-armeded-person speak for “If you don’t mind, I’d rather not sign those forms.”

A doctor saw me, despite my inability to write down my address and phone number and to check a box for whether I was experiencing any pain. She fixed me. By fixed me, I mean she told me to hold my breath and reach out my arms, and then she pulled on both my hands, and repositioned them so that they were facing the right way. I checked. Yep! Those are my knuckles now. Much better.

I ended up having surgery on my face and both arms over the course of two weeks. All the nurses call me “Spiderman,” with subtle irony after my wall-scaling ability. Robocop is more appropriate. I am chock-full of titanium. Some of it will be taken out with later surgeries. Some of it will stay, and become a part of me, and enable me to sense human body heat and fire lasers out of my eyes.

I am still in the healing process. There was a time when I could do nothing. Literally, nothing. Now I can do most things. I can even type, though not as fast as before. That is why every word that I write here is so carefully thought-out and eloquent. Because it takes longer to produce each one, so I must be more particular.

I moved to Seattle and started a new job a couple of weeks ago. It was a couple of weeks after my surgeries. I called ahead to tell them that I would be disfigured. Luckily, I am not a model or a yo-yo champion. But still, I feel a little bad for my new employer; they thought they were hiring a much better looking fellow. A fellow who would maybe play ping pong with his co-workers on occasion, or be able to operate a stapler without using his chin.

I took a profile picture for the company website today. I was very nervous about it beforehand. When you get surgery on your face, it disturbs the nerves quite a bit and takes time for them to get sorted out. For the longest time, it hurt for me to smile. I got mad whenever anyone cracked a joke and then I would laugh and cry at the same time. And not in a "I'm crying because it is so funny" way,"but in a "I'm crying because it is excruciatingly painful" way. It is a little funny in retrospect. It was even funny at the time, but that just made it more painful. Anyway, now smiling does not hurt, but my grin is a little droopy. Half of my face is still a bit numb, though it is no longer swollen, and no longer that noticeable, unless you stare at it in a mirror for hour after hour, which I do. So pictures are nerve-racking. Hehe, sorry.

I think the picture came out okay, but it is only thanks to a good photographer, creative lighting, and Photoshop. It makes me really wonder what all those Maxim girls really look like in person. They might all have swollen faces and subconjunctival hemorrhages.

I have been to many doctors lately. Sometimes I try to memorize the words they say like “subconjunctival hemorrhage” and then I drop them in a sentence like it’s no big deal. I don’t even flinch. I am very matter of fact about it.

I am the pride and joy of my physical therapy clinic. They are very impressed with me. I am well ahead of schedule in my movements. I can now touch my thumb to each finger, rotate my wrists to almost 85 degrees each way, and bend my left wrist to about 50 degrees forward and 45 degrees back. I can also high five with a person of below-average strength and I can almost make the live long and prosper sign. That’s all meant to impress you. Unless you are recovering from a broken wrist -- then it is meant to put you to shame. Do your exercises, loser.

Some people say how lucky I am. And it’s true, in a way. I survived. I will make just about a full recovery. I can supinate my wrist to almost 90 degrees. (Ha, did it again!) My swelling has gone way down. I live in a time of Photoshop. On the other hand, I did not make it up to my kitchen window to get to sleep that night. And I had been leaving that kitchen window unlocked day after day for no reason. I guess it’s all relative.

So how does this relate to the Mariners? Well, I don’t know. Relax. I’ll get to that. But don’t you think there are more important things to think about? Yeah, you have two working wrists and a winning smile now, but that could all be taken away from you in a freak accident after your attempt to scale a wall in the middle of the night.

I guess it relates to the Mariners because this is the only place I have to write down thoughts and receive comments and this blog is about the Mariners. But also because of how much I enjoyed this season. The Mariners were out of the playoff hunt from late-July on. Griffey did not hit 45 homeruns and win the batting crown like I thought he would after the first game. Three of the guys I was most looking forward to watching at the start of the season (Bedard, Morrow, and Clement) did not break through and become great players. We had our injuries. We had our heart-breaking losses. Our top prospect fractured his fibula.

But all that said, it was my most enjoyable season as a fan since 2001. Easily. There is hope. There is progress. There are reasoned hands at the reins. There is Felix Hernandez.

When one breaks his cheekbone…and his eye socket…and his right wrist…and his left wrist…and suffers a subconjunctival hemorrhage, one learns the importance of taking a step back and not taking anything for granted. There were so many great moments this season. There are so many great things to love about this team moving forward. So many exciting players in the big leagues and in the minors. And if things go a bit wrong, we have Photoshop.

I am not taking any of it for granted.