Holy crap--Sherman Alexie just moved up from 78th, in my mind. That goes up there with Roger Angell's piece on the '75 series in the pantheon of defenses of sports fandom. How do we make sure this gets into Best American Sportswriting?

The new A's stadium is only bad news in that one of the best minds in baseball now is no longer under the A's' uncanny budget restrictions. Now the Mariners need to be smart with their money and player moves in order to remain competitive.

So in other words, Mariner fans, get used to last place! Because you can't teach Howard and Chuck new tricks.

Stevens might as well of got some payback then after that nutpounding he got. Didn't they see that he was grabbed by the shirt in that confusion at the end zone.Clearly he was defending himself, just not his package though.. Anyway Raiders lost...lets get on with the Rams game now.

I'm sorry, I'm with the 78 percent of Seattle that's singing "Nah Nah Nah Nah, Nah Nah Nah Nah, Hey Hey Hey, Good Bye!" to the Sonics.

And I like Sherman, he and I go way back.

I'm with Sherman more on an Mariners note, though. I believe in my team, win or lose. I want to see the players as they grow and continue to put it together. The stream of details that lead up to winning / losing, the ability to capture the amazing phenomenon of Team Chemistry during a game/series/season, the ability to stay disciplined enough to rebound from adversity -- all great attributes of my team. I'm not an impatient or fair-weather fan. I'm 100% a player's fan. I hate the worlds of bean-counting, calculating talent as dollars, sports-media soap opera-ing, and stat speak. What it comes down to for me is the mind of the player. Without that, there is nothing. A puppet show.

P.S. Jerramy Stevens: Catch the fucking ball. Make plays. You're your own fucking problem. Get your head into the game.