Konspiracy Korner: Hashtag Keep Fighting
yes, in these games, as in all such games

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The right wing, where I stood, was exposed to and received all the enemy's fire ... I heard the bullets whistle, and, believe me, there is something charming in the sound. - George Washington, letter to his brother, 1754

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I dunno but I've been tolllldddd ... someone here is gettin' old ...

Some readers like the approach that says Sports Is Life.  Other Gentle Readers are less inclined to getting their Life mixed with their Sports at the author's whim. Peace, brother :- ) and click on to the next article forthwith.

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Amigo axs, What's wrong with #KeepFighting?  You got something against the 1995 Mariners?

For my tastes, this roster is too stacked for Cinderella subtitling.  The Mariners were the trendy choices to win the AL *last* year.  Apollo Creed's corner wasn't telling him to "keep fighting" against Rocky in the 7th.  Neither should the 2016 Mariners have gotten themselves into this kind of trouble in the first place.  

The M's record is *still* lower than Pythagorean expectation - and their runs for/against are worse than they should be for their bases.  They've been underperforming, not to say underattempting.

SSI has been whining that we should hold off on despair or delerium.  Check them after 162, we sez, not after 62.  Now that we hit 112 and the talent starts to surface, this is a a Jimmy V subplot?  Well, maybe for DaddyO and Dr. D it is ... 

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The 1995 team had real Cinderella aspects to it for me.  The club had never won; their pitching staff other than Randy Johnson was still essentially the remnants of an expansion staff; Smulyan wanted to take them out of town; I was at the game where Griffey broke his wrist, had a big personal problem happen at the stadium in fact... they came from what, -13 games back?  

For the millenials who just joined us, that 1995 Mariners team caught the national fancy.  It was widely credited with --- > helping redeem baseball from the fan resentment over the 1994 strike.  It was one of the Hollywood sports stories of the 20th century.  This 2016 squad is merely a powerful roster that let its playoff chances dip to 20% before hitting a winning streak.

Of course, we defer to Arne on the whole question.  He's the 1995 guru, and if he says it reminds him, go with Arne.

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Not meaning to sound harsh or sour at all.  No way no how!  Personally I don't see the #KeepFighting shtick in any way, shape, or form, but ... If the 25 guys (and Griffey and etc) find motivation in "Keep Fighting," and if fans enjoy it, more power to them.  

Anyhow:  sports has plenty 'nuff drama whether you attach historical meaning to a particular season or don't.   This 2016 season has James Paxton; it has Dae-Ho Lee; it has Hisashi Iwakuma's smile; it has Edwin Diaz; it has the final exorcism of the Top-Down demons that Silentpadna and I have net-battled since July 2001; it has Edgar humbly standing on the top step.  If the pennant race jells in Seattle, it will be as sweet for Dr. D as for anybody, he dares say ...

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Sports are by their very nature given to displays of heroism - Jackie Robinson's, Lou Gehrig's, Ken Griffey Jr's.  It's one of the last places in civilian America you can still see Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage held up as universal ideals.  In baseball, these virtues are expected of everyone.  Manny may be Manny, but those around him are crystal clear about the fact that he is not our ideal.

There's no crying in baseball.  The princess isn't allowed to protest the pea under 15 mattresses.  Baseball is fair and it honors those who deserve to be honored.  Well, pretty much.

In baseball, nobody cuts you a check because you're inventive with your complaints; they cut you a check because you're hard core.  Sometimes, they cut you a check because you've served honorably and you now require assistance.  Wrap your feet up and keep trudging through the snow; if you try your very best but you just can't make it, then we'll carry you, and at any risk to our own life and limb.  It ain't going to be easy, but it's going to be worth it.

True, some of these quaint little "sink or swim" ideas would be cast as "microaggressions," or worse, upon the intellectual heights of our cultural sensitivities.  Fortunately for the old curmudgeons among us, however, the glorification of military-style values is not microaggression -- it is simply a description of life as it exists on the green grass of Safeco Field.  No D.C. correspondents get to shout James Paxton down and/or shout Yu Darvish up.  Either man gets to throw his curve ball for a strike, or not.  

Rhetoric will not be relevant to us at 7:15 Friday night.  It's hard work and perserverance and talent that will matter.  The 1995 Mariners didn't win, you realize, and that was part of the charm of martyrdom.  Winning would have been beside the point, maybe contrary to the point.  Obi-wan sacrifices himself so that the cause (well, at least the baseball field) might live.

George Washington would have loved 21st-century sports, and he'd have paid $9 for an ale on a Friday night, too.  Time-warped into Safeco Field, he'd probably have gone with Guinness and with Edgar Martinez.  He'd have also enjoyed the spirited young bowler Diaz.

As baseball fans, we share a common sense of what is virtuous!  It makes us spiritual brothers.  There was a camaraderie in the Kingdome in 1995 that far transcended sports.  Tomorrow at 7:10 p.m., the seven Army Core Values are virtuous.  Their opposites are vices.  It will be a long time before situational ethics is able to veto a 3-2 curve ball.   It's all great, every inning of it, every pitch's worth.

And so the old generation's love for the Seattle Mariners far, far transcends this quizzical attempt to attach them to their 1995 ancestors.  We get undiluted human virtue on display, nightly at 7:10 p.m.  But of course, we got that in every at-bat of Edgar's career, too.  And Mike Blowers'.  And Jerry DiPoto's.

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In Paul Morphy the spirit of La Bourdonnais had arisen anew, only more vigorous, firmer, prouder. ... Paul Morphy fought; on good days and on bad days, he loved the contest, the hard, sharp, just struggle, which despises petted favourites and breeds heroes. - Emmanuel Lasker, world champion 1894-1921

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Maybe, since Griffey Weekend, you hear echoes of 1995 pennant race.  The players do too.  You're in good company.  :- )  When sports are at their best, maybe you prefer to hear echoes of the Founding Fathers' 1776 "pennant" race.  Like Dr. Lasker said, when sports ceases to offer struggle, it will cease to be useful.

Enjoy,

Jeff

Comments

1

Nice, thought-provoking article, Doc! The immediate thoughts it provoked in me were of our fallen former hero Alex Rodriguez, whose penultimate baseball game I listned to last night. A-Rod knocked in an insurance run for the Yankees, against the Red Sox (standing in the way of a Mariners' Wild Card berth, hence my interest) with a mighty swing resulting in a 30' dribbler: 2-3, if you're scoring at home. What s shame, that someone who could have been regarded as the greatest player of his era is univerally booed when he comes to the plate, and universally loathed for his lack of [all those attributes you list in your article]. No loyalty... no sense of duty... no respect...no integrity. 

Sorry to throw in a "downer", to what I find usually is the most inspiring sports site around. But- the end of a long and significant career calls for honest reflection- there's mine!

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Never was able to put my finger on why ARod's shtick is held to be *quite* so distasteful as it is.  He's a phony, no doubts there, but the angst against him seems out of proportion to the angst against Clemens, Steve Garvey, etc etc...

Way back in 1996, InsidePitch declared him firmly and finally to be "Mr. Made for TV" and I think the sheer greed for admiration was part of what put people off.

You bring up the idea of "loyalty" - to Pat Gillick, to his Ranger teammates, to Jeter with the sneaky comments in the press, etc ... and that seems to be as good an explanation as I've heard.

Not to pile on.  Alex Rodriguez is far from the most problematic athlete who's come down the pike.  But he who exalts himself shall be abased...

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I would say that this team is just as flawed as the 1995 team, though.  They had enormous talents too, just as we do now.  The two Martinez lunch, Buhner's first really huge year, Blowers the team MVP for a year (not in total production but in comparison to what was expected of him), a great young defensive catcher named Dan the Man, a bat-first second baseman having a big UP season.  That was all without Griffey.  On the pitching side, RJ was alone in the rotation for the first half of the year, but they rode him like a rented mule so he wound up eating like 1/5 of the innings the team pitched.  And of course, they did go and get Andy Benes in July.  And I'd say that, although year's rotation has arguably much more talent, it hasn't performed any better.  Paxton changes the equation considerably, but until we had him on track, we had Karns doing a Benes impersonation (great stuff, mediocre results), Iwakuma struggling until recently, and a whole lot of blah after that...and of course...King Felix got hurt and isn't as good as RJ...not even close.  And that bullpen was similar to this one.

Having said all of that, the 1995 team was our first love.  It was the summer I came to truly love baseball and the Mariners, the summer Seattle decided it really needed to keep baseball around, the summer we learned what meaningful baseball felt like.  There'll never...ever...ever be another 1995.  Not for me, not for anyone who was there.  That doesn't mean #KeepFighting is inappropriate.  Any good team should have a slogan that the fans enjoy and that the players embrace.  2004 Red Sox: The Idiots, 1979 Pirates: We Are Family!, 2001 Mariners: Two Out, So What?, 1998 Yankees: Every Day a New Hero, The Gas House Gang, the Big Red Machine, the Nasty Boys, The Tomahawk Chop (yeah...I hate that cheer too...but it still counts)...rallying cries that express something about what sort of team you are, that bring people together in brotherhood, and that endure.  This one seems just as appropriate to me as any other.  The 2016 Mariners have a reputation for comebacks, for picking each other up, and for putting in professional at-bats from the first pitch to the last.  They certainly do keep fighting.

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A week or two worth of "keep fighting" and I could see it.  Especially from Mather's, JeDi's, Servais', and Edgar's point of view.  Have lots of respect for their persistence this year.

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But just think of the playlists the ballpark guys can create! Just out of my library: 

  • Fight For Your Right (Beastie Boys - nod to one of our own at MC)
  • Kung Foo Fighting (Carl Douglas & Vivian Hawke)
  • Street Fighting Man (Rolling Stones)
  • Saturday Night's All Right For Fighting (Elton John)
  • Drink and Fight (Flogging Molly)
  • This is Why We Fight (Decemberists)
  • The Fightin' Side of Me (Merle Haggard)

Foo Fighters almost have to sing the anthem if they hit the post season, yeah? 

Heck - the team could be described as a Seven Nation Army (White Stripes) due to the nationalities of the players on the current 25-man. (USA, Canada, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Cuba, South Korea & Japan). 

It's all for fun. If it motivates the players and gives them some kind of little mental boost, then I'm all for it. 

“It was awesome,” Shawn O’Malley said that evening. “That’s one of the greatest players to ever play the game, telling you to keep fighting. He’s done and he doesn’t have to be a part of it, and he still is. He told the fans to have our back. It just shows you the kind of person he really is.”

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That Beastie Boys song definitely works for this team, on lotsa levels.  :- )  They shoulda been partying hearty from April, but sometimes the authorities throw a wrench into the works...

I wonder how many denizens remember the *rock star* Elton John from the early 70's.   Will always remember the early aggressive stuff with great reverence.

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O'Malley's quote ... surprising and pleasing how much resonance Junior has with the kiddies.  So why can't they get him around more this fall?

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M's Watcher's picture

Keep Fighting is an appropriate mantra for a team that has frequently not shown up.  Times like getting swept at home by lesser teams, or at least teams you expected to finish ahead of in the standings.  Or times like the getaway days of a series, merely salvaging a series win instead of a sweep.  This is a mantra that encourages them not to continue a positive behavior, but rather admonish them to always fight instead of mailing in games.  They need to remember to always show up.  You are right that this isn't an underdog team.  This team should win, but is in this position by their own (lack of) effort and performance.

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There's a little tint of frustration with the situation they put themselves in, and that might be what I'm trying to get at.  VERY well stated.

Not to be too hard on them.  They seem like a cool group of ballplayers.  Sometimes it takes a year or two before everybody hands in the note that says I'M IN ... that would have been my own preferred mantra, both in Safeco and at SSI ... ;- )

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Somewhere in my classroom I have a great article, written by George Will, that I clipped from Newsweek several years ago.  Have used it in my Psychology classes.

Here it is:  http://www.newsweek.com/will-your-brain-cubs-84569

I've not read the book "Your Brain on Cubs" that he writes about.  I should.  But it seems that among the premises of the book are these three:

1. Our affilitation with sports teams fills our psychological need for clan.

2.  Hope springs eternal is indeed part of why we do it.  (Even for Cubbies fans)

3. Rooting for the M's (or Cubs) brings about real/measurable changes in our brain chemistry.*

Will's last paragraph:  The brain "wants" to see outcomes as connected to preceding events, so fans get the brain-driven pleasure of thinking that their rooting, which is prayer in a secular setting, somehow helps cause their teams' successes. Well. It is said there are no atheists in foxholes. There should be lots of them in Wrigley Field as the Cubs finish the 10th decade of their re-building effort.

Substitue "Mariners" for Cubs in that last line and "22nd season" for "10th decade" and you, voila, have us guys today.

How about this as a slogan:  Mariners:  Still the best legal drug in the Northwest!

Or M's:  Ganja for the soul!

Or M's: One win over the line Sweet Jesus!

Tongue in cheek, of course.

I still like "Ya gotta believe!"

* This does not aply to Orc fans.  They have no brain, of course. 

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Thanks Keith-O... and George Will can't begin to hold a candle to YOU in terms of wisdom or sports philosophy... as usual his shtick comes off (for me) as patronizing and elitist.  I mean it in a good way.

I think you should start quoting YOURSELF from this point ... :- )

M's:  Ganja for the soul has a pretty high BABIP.  The surrealism factor is way up there this season.  Also Dae-Ho Lee looks pretty suspect, by the look on his face most the time...

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Puddle Swimmer's picture

Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart star in the action packed comedy thriller Central Intelligence. Sure to blow your mind.

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