Manchester

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As Geoffy writes today (and yesterday), M'sTV will change, or should change, the landscape of Seattle sports. The blog-o-sphere, right on cue, erupts in a hail of cupcakes thrown across the tables. LOL.

Baker writes, okay, the local nine now has big time dinero. Let's see them act like it. (They already have, to some extent, with the Hamilton and Fielder offers, and the Felix contract.  Things are showing signs of change.)

Another, notable blogger writes, the Mariners have always wanted to win every bit as much as anybody else ever did, so SHADDAP about it already.

Others fall in line, usually not according to logic, but usually according to how much they personally like one author or the other.

Young Frankenstein's view of the situation?

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Talking points, as opposed to analysis.  Jus' crackin' peanut shells, throwing 'em over the rail, and watching a game.

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Dr. D bears the M's no ill will, none whatsoever, for the Josh Hamilton whiff.  

Jon Heyman has it that the Mariners offered 4x$25, with two more years pretty easy to get, and he has it that the M's were bitterly disappointed to lose out on him.  As to this specific transaction, it doesn't sound like there was anything the Mariners could do.

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Rumor has it that Arte Moreno slammed a take-it-or-leave it offer, to prevent Hamilton from going back to the Rangers to match.

From a business standpoint this would be shrewd.  From a Christian standpoint - which Hamilton advertises to be his standpoint - it's a temptation from the pit.  If Hamilton gave the Rangers (his family, the ones who bore with him despite his addiction problems) his word that they'd get to match, and then $125M purchased a lie from Hamilton, well, that right there is Faustian temptation.  It could be the pivot point of a movie.

Daddy-O at first objects to being anointed an SSI Yo-Yo.  Dr. D repossesses the award in the middle of the night, indignant that Daddy-O didn't appreciate the honor.  Daddy-O, sadder but wiser, asks for his award back, but inquires as to the availability of even higher awards.  Does SSI have anything like the Fickle Finger of Fate award?

I knew we'd been grasping for something, but wasn't quite sure what it was.  Hey, they recycled 21 Jump Street and that was only 20 years ago.  This one's going on 40 years ago.  I bet you that we even have to explain it ......

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The Flying Fickle Finger of Fate Award, saluting actual dubious achievements by the government or famous people, such as the announcement of a new Veterans Administration hospital to be erected in Southern California shortly after another such facility was destroyed in the Sylmar earthquake of 1971. The trophy was a gilt, outstretched finger atop a square base. "The flying, fickle finger of fate" was already a familiar catchphrase on the show (Dan Rowan would use the phrase when ushering "new talent" like Tiny Tim on stage). - wikipedia entry

For those who just joined us, Rowan and Martin used the Fickle Finger Award to lampoon people who had (1) been successful but (2) hadn't earned it.  

Inspector Clouseau, and Bill Murray's unwitting "spy" in The Man Who Knew Too Little, those type of characters were in the spirit of Fickle Finger award winners.  Man Who Knew Too Little is one of my favorite "garbage" movies to rewatch once a year on cable.  Most times, you get movies in which wonderful people stumble into undeserved tragedy, like Katniss in The Hunger Games.  Me, I love movies in which complete dummies stumble into total victory, like Dr. D in The Mariners Blog-O-Sphere.

=== Quote of the Match ===

The color analyst, hardly an Arsenal fan, calls center midfielder Jack Wilshere "a great, great player.  He and Fabregas are" ... tremendous, wonderful, chips and vinegar, I forget the word he used.

I/O:  Much rejoicing that Cliff Lee did not join Texas or the New York Yankees.