City of Losers
I must be a jinx for Seattle sports teams. The last time I went up there to watch a sporting event, it was for Super Bowl XL in 2005, which saw the Seahawks go down in flames. I’m not a big ‘Hawks fan, but I felt sorry for Seattle sports fans. Not so much this time, though. I just got back from watching the Red Sox take two out of three from the Mariners last weekend, and in addition to watching the Good Guys beat Seattle in their own park for the first time this season, I got to see all sorts of other cool baseball stuff, including: Home runs by David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez, the debut of Erig Gagne in relief, back-to-back doubles by Coco Crisp (who then got run over by the Mariners’ mascot on an ATV–seriously), and a stolen base by none other than Big Papi, which was sort of like watching my living room couch steal second.
Speaking of stealing bases, Hebrew National hot dogs sponsored a contest where a kid was given the chance to run to second from center field and literally steal the base. If he could get it, he could keep it. Now, maybe it’s just me, but that’s just about the most anti-Semitic contest I can imagine. What’s next, Manischewitz challenging one lucky fan to charge outrageously high rates of interest on personal loans? Somewhere in the bleachers, a stone-faced Palestinian father leaned over to his son and whispered, “That’s exactly how they got the West Bank.”
Politically awkward contests and attempted vehicular manslaughter aside, though, I’ve got to say that Seattle is one hell of a team, and their ballpark is top notch. I’m looking forward to going up again sometime when the Sox aren’t in town, just so I can root, root, root for the home team.
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