I am so torn. As a native born Texan, I should root for Texas. As a Mariners fan and Seattleite, I should root for the Mariners.

I think I'll be Canadian and go eat some dinner and have some homemade cake a friend made.

God help you if Dave Niehaus passes away in his sleep tonight, Mr. Machkovech.

I'm starting to fall asleep too, but when Rick Rizzs mentioned the red, white and blue bunting hung up around the ballpark, I wanted to pound my head against my keyboard.

I hope the whole stupid crowd falls asleep, and wakes up in their own mustard-colored vomit in late September. This waste of public funds, time, and an ecological cesspool (82 useless multi-hour traffic jams) is just plain nauseating. As are all the fey 'baseball fans' who overintellectualize this yokel-ridden pile of shit.

Exactly. When Rick Rizzs is your alternative, you cling to Neihaus for all its worth. At least Dave Valle isn't in the mix any more.

Niehaus has been leaving after the first few innings of TV to go do the radio broadcast for a very long time. It's been least a solid year since they changed up the rotation at all.

The silence, the pauses, the ambient noise is what I find comforting and appealing about a baseball broadcast. You just have be with it like it's part of the environment. I say the more hems and haws the better.

@7: Don't get me wrong; I'd take more silence. I watch too much NBA on TNT to answer that one any other way.

The team's TV and radio announcers swap for an inning or two half way through the game. The team's top announcer typically does mostly TV and and an inning on radio.

Dave is better suited for radio: he actually admits he doesn't like TV and only does it because the team wants him to.

And yeah, the plan is always for Dave to do 3 innings and for Dave Sims to do the rest.

Live-slogging the Mariners in the 7th game of the world series would be a blast.

@ Karlheinz Arschbomber: You are an arrogant asshole. You're really going to act like you are somehow above the game of baseball...? And yet here you are at 5:30 in the evening, clunking out a scrooge-like diatribe on an internet message board.

Opening day is awesome, if you don't like it get back in your bent over position at the bathhouse. I'm looking at your Karl, you man whore. Go M's!

Thanks for the encouragement and kind words, Dan.
I don't necessarily hate baseball.

I just hate being forced to pay for it with my taxes and my time and increased pollution. In a stadium which LOST a popular funding election. Can you say "Robert Mugabe"?

Of course our taxpayer-supported Game of Hicks cannot legally be Live-Slogged. You've all heard the MLB mantra "Any descriptions or accounts..."

@14, calling baseball a "Game of Hicks" would sure seem to suggest that you hate it. Get over yourself. Then go fuck yourself.

@2, If we could only be so lucky! I travel a great deal and can tell from first hand experience that Niehaus is one of the worst in baseball. What you call nostalgia, I call ignorance of the truth. Fortunately, unlike wasting resources on Edgar or Bret Boone when they were well past their prime, hanging onto this old bore won't cost the team any wins.

When I first moved to Seattle I would listen to the games on the radio because my TV blew up right when I was getting settled in. The switch-off between Rizzs and Niehaus was very confusing until I got my TV back (after about 3 months) and I realized that they were doing the TV broadcast too. Then I was just puzzled about why they did that. It still doesn't make sense. One of them should be on the radio for the whole game, the other on TV.

@16: I beg to differ.

To each his own I guess, but I find Dave head and shoulders above most local radio baseball guys. Partly, it's cause he really is old school in his style and I just prefer that type of delivery.

He beats the crap out of any of the national baseball guys, who should really learn how to shut up a little.

I'm with you gnossos. I hear people complain about this or that about Dave or Rick. Then I listen to the other guys. Constant yappin just to fill the space... but they do it all out of their press binder so it's repetitive. I like Dave and Rick because it's like spending the day with some guys who love baseball telling you about the game, not some guys who are hoping to graduate to ESPN fuckin Game Night. Also, some of these other guys are supposed to know a bunch about baseball and sports but they say the stupidest things about baseball to fill the space. Better to talk about the decor than say stupid shit.

Try and watch/listen to a game of cricket. That's a buzz!

I wish there was a feed of the games without announcers at all. Just roll the relevant stats up on the screen and let the ambient noise of the ballpark suffice. I went from watching every single Mariners telecast to watching about 10% because I couldn't stand the announcers. Rick Rizzs is the worst, by far. His schilling for the M's is unbearable.

Agreed. Bring back Tom Paciorek.

Rick Rizzzzzz definitely is the worst. I hate his smarmy voice and homerism. One thing I have never forgotten was when the steroid controversy was raging in 2002-3, and Rick said that Bret Boone was one of the good guys, because he got his strength and power from a "disciplined exercise regimen." I nearly drove off Westlake when I heard that. I like to think I was vindicated when Bret went off the 'roids and subsequently bounced out of the league.

Niehaus is great, even if he's a senile old fart. But FWIW, I like Jon Miller (local Giants broadcasts only, without Joe Morgan).

I've only been here 16 years, so maybe Niehaus was truly great back in the 80s, when the Mariners really sucked and nobody was listening. But he lost his fastball a long time ago. Like a number of players, he made the Hall of Fame based on longevity, not any particular talent.

Then again, he's got it all over that cloying homer, Rick Risssszzzzz.

dave simms anyone? i would prefer to listen to dave #1 any given day of the week.

"struck him out"
god. i hate dave simms.