As I listen to this, I remember a lot of the `culture shock' as I moved from Boston to Seattle in 2002. My first game at Safeco I got to see Derek Lowe in his dominant starter days vs Jamie Moyer in a better seat than I had ever gotten at Fenway. I remember being amazed at actually being able to call pitches and balls and strikes from row ~15.
In Seattle, there's a giant screen television that tells fans when to cheer. ("Ichiro is fast!", "Raauuuuul", and bullshit like that). At Fenway, the fans just *know* when to cheer. They know the back stories, they know when Manny Ramirez is about to hit his 500th HR, and even smaller things like when a player just broke an 0-16 slump. At Fenway, watching a game is about the *game*, not about the Mariner Moose shooting tshirts or the boat races between innings. There's a virtue in having a tiny stadium where only the `hardcore' can receive season tickets, or even attend most games.
Seattle fans don't pay attention in the same way, and are actually quite contented to just have team that's only pretty good. 10 games over 500 is a great season here, regardless of making the playoffs.. That's the biggest difference.
Ain't it interesting how few fairweather fans the 116 win season won over across the country?
I agree with you there. The whole M's "fan" atmosphere dissapeared when Safeco was built. It turned in to more of a fan 'experience', with all of the 'features' of the park. Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful place to be entertained.....but it's NOT a sport arena, there's NOTHING sports about Safeco....it's about making $$. The whole 'family freindly' thing kinda makes us look like morons. I miss the Kingdome....odd as it may seem....for baseball.
Seahawks Stadium (Still have trouble calling it QWest) on the otherhand....that's a place to see SPORTS. That place is amazing, reminds me of games in the Kingdome, just a better facility.
I also used to remember when the Seattle Center Coliseum was a great place to see Basketball....it makes me cringe when I hear the new ownership wanting a brand new 'multi-purpose' entertainment facility.
Is it fair to hate a group of people if you spent a season following them around, observing, then writing a dissertation on them? If it is then I hate Red Sox Nation.
Especially when they bulldozered your Brewers.
I do have to say it was real nice meeting a lot of Boston fans out in Hawaii while on vacation last week. It's really funny hearing the New England accent while walking in downtown Honolulu.
I do have to say it was real nice meeting a lot of Boston fans out in Hawaii while on vacation last week. It's really funny hearing the New England accent while walking in downtown Honolulu.
Yeah we got smoked, and it sucked that I couldn't go there to watch it...we had a Preakness party with most of my in-laws and friends being Sox fans. It's kind of funny, but ever since then Ryan Braun kind of took up more of a leadership role by saying they "didn't believe they could compete" with the Sawx. Now we have been playing good ball.
Anyway it's not Red Sox Nation that I hate per se, there are just some really uncool aspects about it. On the other hand, it is neat to see a community grow out of liking a sports team or musical group, and being able to forge lifelong friendships, etc. because of it.
Yeah we got smoked, and it sucked that I couldn't go there to watch it...we had a Preakness party with most of my in-laws and friends being Sox fans. It's kind of funny, but ever since then Ryan Braun kind of took up more of a leadership role by saying they "didn't believe they could compete" with the Sawx. Now we have been playing good ball.
Anyway it's not Red Sox Nation that I hate per se, there are just some really uncool aspects about it. On the other hand, it is neat to see a community grow out of liking a sports team or musical group, and being able to forge lifelong friendships, etc. because of it.
Were the Brewers announcers simultaneously reading the pit while calling the game?...Seriously about 10 minutes after this post they started talking about the Red Sox series as a key to the Brewers season, b/c of Braun getting pissed...weird how that works sometimes.
Comments
I agree with you there. The whole M's "fan" atmosphere dissapeared when Safeco was built. It turned in to more of a fan 'experience', with all of the 'features' of the park. Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful place to be entertained.....but it's NOT a sport arena, there's NOTHING sports about Safeco....it's about making $$. The whole 'family freindly' thing kinda makes us look like morons. I miss the Kingdome....odd as it may seem....for baseball.
Seahawks Stadium (Still have trouble calling it QWest) on the otherhand....that's a place to see SPORTS. That place is amazing, reminds me of games in the Kingdome, just a better facility.
I also used to remember when the Seattle Center Coliseum was a great place to see Basketball....it makes me cringe when I hear the new ownership wanting a brand new 'multi-purpose' entertainment facility.
Especially when they bulldozered your Brewers.
I do have to say it was real nice meeting a lot of Boston fans out in Hawaii while on vacation last week. It's really funny hearing the New England accent while walking in downtown Honolulu.
- 8/28/98
- 9/2/00
- 4/28/03, 5/3/03, 7/3/03, 7/5/03, 7/6/03, 7/9/03, 7/11/03, 7/12/03, 7/14/03
- 9/28/04, 9/29/04, 10/1/04, 10/2/04
- 9/11/05, 9/12/05, 9/13/05, 9/30/05, 10/1/05, 10/3/05
- 5/12/06, 5/13/06, 5/27/06, 5/28/06, 5/30/06, 6/1/06, 6/3/06, 6/23/06, 7/22/06, 7/23/06, 12/2/06, 12/9/06
- 8/2/07, 8/5/07
- 6/19/08, 6/20/08, 6/22/08, 6/24/08, 6/25/08, 6/27/08, 6/28/08, 6/30/08, 7/1/08
- 8/23/09, 8/24/09, 9/21/09, 9/22/09, 10/27/09, 10/28/09, 10/30/09, 10/31/09
- 5/15/10, 5/17/10, 5/18/10, 5/20/10, 5/21/10, 10/23/10, 10/24/10
- 9/11/11, 9/12/11
- 10/18/13, 10/21/13, 10/22/13, 11/30/13, 12/4/13
Anyway it's not Red Sox Nation that I hate per se, there are just some really uncool aspects about it. On the other hand, it is neat to see a community grow out of liking a sports team or musical group, and being able to forge lifelong friendships, etc. because of it.