Doc is back!

In our prayers and wishes Doc.  Know that you are.

My fathere-in-law coming home to hospice care today--more than enough medical concerns for one holiday season.

Don't care about Ohtani...as long as we've got you.

Prayers for a continued speedy recovery too.  Dave.

I was actually starting to get legitimately worried. What does that say about how important you are to us, doc?

I'll be sending prayers for your full recovery and looking forward to your catching up. :)

We gotta get a system in place for one of your relations to give us info in case you disappear...just a "He's alive, just having some medical complications" comment...no need to get unduly personal or anything.

Anyhow...glad you're alive...I need some of your optimism the way this team is run. And all of us missed you.

Sorry to hear about all the VERY tough stuff, Doc, but very glad you are feeling well enough to check in here. 

Father in heaven, please restore Jeff and strengthen and comfort him and his family as they pass through this difficult stretch. We ask for favorable outcomes. In the name of Jesus Christ, who will bring to completion all that he has promised, Amen.

P.S. -- Googling "jugular clot septic" helped me get some idea just how difficult your situation might have been (and might still be), Doc. We are all pulling for you. Feel free to email me at "j DOT andrew DOT barnett AT gmail DOT com" if you are up for a visit (but if not I completely understand).

Re: Mariners

Toy department stuff, but we know what they say about boys and their toys. 

It appears to me that Jerry DiPoto has satisfied himself that his best bet after losing out on Ohtani is to stay with what he's got and hope for an UP season like you describe. There's no doubt the offense has the potential to be top notch. The relief corps has been bolstered. We've got two capable utility men, and we might need 'em both on the roster if we go with 13 in the pen. Bewilderingly, DiPoto appears to think he has a rotation that can perform well enough to compete. I hope he's right, but it seems to me like wishful thinking.

An UP season really depends not only on stats-type performance but also on a serious upgrade in baseball fundamentals (did somebody mention baserunning?), good health, and getting our third base coach to avoid so many bone-headed choices.

Any team rated at .500-ish or a little above has a chance to put together a good run for a single season. For you, JUST FOR YOU, I will do my best to retain this hope.

Welcome back Doc.  Glad to hear you are well or at least out of the hospital.  Praying for continued health.

...I know you're laid up right now and have a lot of stuff going on...but maybe a Seahawks question will amuse you. :)

Any comments on the entire team apparently turning into thermonuclear complete jerks? So many unsporting plays, fights, late hits, etc...didn't expect to see that.

Prayers going out for a speedy and full recovery this holiday season.

I haven't chimed in much as my outlook is rosier than most here. Very much looking forward to next season! I think Dipoto has done an admirable job bringing in some younger foundatoin players in Segura and Haniger. Gamel and Healy are nice looking young players in the mix as well. Leake was a super-solid get, awesome pickup really. Bringing in Erasmo, Marco, Povse, DeJong and more SP candidates is just how other clubs unearth a Kluber or Hendricks or Arrieta.

I like the club quite a bit. It seems there might be some frustration in the fanbase about us not being a juggernaut on par with the likes of the Red Sox or Astros, but those teams fall short all the time. There have been plenty of other teams winning the World Series the past 30 years, the M's can certainly add their name to the list in 2018 with some decent SP.

I'm just happy we are in a position to win and appear to be trying to win as an organization. This is light years ahead of being a fan in the 80's. Don't take for granted having a team that is at least competitive. We need to give some of the young players a chance to futher blossom. I know I'm going to follow and enjoy furhter progress. Should be a satisfying season.

I've logged onto this site in the last couple of years far more often than I've watched Mariners games.  The Mariners annoy me in ways this community never does. Glad you're okay, Doc - we have a lot more baseball and life to get through, far too much for you to be trying to leave early and avoid the traffic.

Get well, my friend.

Glad to hear you've made it back Doc - was worried about you. What you've built here is fanstic, and you're a huge part of making it worthwhile. Get well soon!

I can't do better than what has already been said above... Just ease on back in.

Jonesze is doing a great job in channeling you!

I think I told a version of this story back on on the old Sweetspot message board around 15 years ago when Dr D was a regular so I'll keep this to the point (although it does have a different ending). 

I'm a longstanding (British) Raiders fan off the back of watching Marcus Allen win Superbowl XVIII on British TV, which had just embraced American Football, as we like to call it, in a big way.  The then most successful team, historically, in American sports went on to appear in one more Superbowl (XXXVII) where they were annihilated by their ex-head coach now overseeing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  That's 34 years for anyone counting.  I fastidiously followed the Raiders throughout this period, either listening on very poor AM radio to the AFN broadcast from Germany in the 80s as I lived in Dover, England just a 22 mile channel away from France or through magazine/newspaper updates - sometimes a week or month later.  My fanship, although initially triggered by glory, was not based on continued success (in hindsight, I'd have chosen the 49ers of that era) or sustained contact with the franchise (I was literally thousands of miles away with limited access to any media, the weekly highlights show was shown after my bedtime).  It was purely irrational.  In this country, once you've chosen your team, they're yours in sickness and in health, till death to us part!

I briefly and accidentally met Al Davis when the Raiders played the Saints in pre-season in 1990 which was exhilirating for an 18 year old but the Raiders were fairly well spent after Bo Jackson went down in 1992.  I continued my interest through the 90s and into the internet age, when the Raiders briefly became relevant around the time of Rich Gannon and the Tampa debable, followed by a decade+ of sustained ineptitude and insignificance.  All this to say, my real love of the Raiders was triggered by being introduced to a Raiders forum (Fans in Black) in the early 00s, not unlike this one in its community, although so unlike this one in every other aspect.  As you may imagine from a Raiders forum (as opposed to just a random NFL fan forum), things can get pretty spicy.  Not a huge amount of analysis, lots of vitriol, the place sometimes akin to a virtual barfight.  But... this was the online place of my team of 20+ years (at the time), how could I see these other forum members, despite our complete lack of anything in common, as anything other than kindred spirits.  We were Silver and Black and that's all that was important. 

At least that's what I thought initially.  The bickering would go and on through the 2000s, a lean period by the standards of any sporting franchise.  Yet the thing that kept me coming back was the forum moderator who went by the name of Quartermaster (Bill Johnson in real life although I only found this out much later on).  He was always on hand to provide insightful new content (bear in mind, this was a message board, not a blog, so anyone could post anything).  He moderated spats, he kept the baying masses in order, he promoted civility and did so with a supreme sense of humour.  That forum has thousands of members and keeping them in order was no small task (unpaid as you would expect).  He was also, I understand, active at Raider meccas and tailgates and respected by everyone not just for his online commitment but his general demeanour (in person).

On 31st October, I read a post by the Quartermaster where he was bemoaning the behavior of fans online and contemplating whether to impose some of sort of penalty system for negative threads, insults etc.  It was to be his last ever post on a forum in one or another he has been stewarding since the mid/late 90s.   Unbeknownst to me, he died shortly thereafter on 7th November for a reason I am yet to know although it may well have been published somewhere.  I didn't find this out until around the 22nd November.  In the interim, I checked every day for a new post from the 31st onwards because it was highly unusual for him to go a day without posting let alone two or more, especially during the season.  When I eventually found out what had happened, it was a hammerblow.  The Raiders forum in many ways takes me back to 1983 and I felt a mortal wound.  Like an umbilical cord had been untethered.

Anyway - just realised I've completely failed to keep this short at all.  My message, via elongated pre-amble, is probably that one should savour the moments we have in an online community, especially when the moderator provides genuine stewardship and insight as we have no idea how long that will last.  The Raiders forum continues and many of the more latent member have emerged from the woodwork to provide some direction and continuity in Quartermaster's absence.  I will continue to follow the mediocre Raiders and their under-performing superstars but my online commitment to them is not likely to be the same.

Mariners on the other hand... Continue to be as mediocre as you like despite best intentions and good process etc.  As long as I have places like a functioning SSI and to a lesser extent, LL, I will be a satisfied Englishman on a daily basis!  This place is the beat of my weekly rhythm.

If you any of your are interested, the Raiders forum is here:

http://fansinblack.com/x/forumdisplay.php?3-HomePort-The-Original

There are sometimes restrictions on viewing content or posting.  Stickies at the top mostly contain Quartermaster tributes.

Haven't posted in a long long time but this seems like the right time.

This is my favorite site on the web. You are my favorite blogger and this is my favorite community. I almost never fail to read a thread completely through including every comment.

Thank you for what you do Jeff. You and those who make up this community make it fun to be a Mariner fan, which is really saying something.

G Money's comment about not leaving early to avoid the traffic cracked me up. Get well soon and do whatever the doctor tells you to stay healthy!

And prolonged good health for you Jeff.  It's not the same here without you. 

I think this was the 3rd time that I've wondered about a sudden week+ long absence.  I've not been around as long as several others.  It would be nice if someone in your family knew to contact us.  Preparations often go unused, ya know.  I swear, things you're prepared for are less likely to happen.

Glad to hear you're alright and getting better. 

Good to have you back, Doc!