Alright, alright, you sniffed me out. I'm a lurker. A long time reader and an (extremely) rare commenter. It's not that I am unopinionated, merely that I prefer to hide beneath my blankets as I watch or read anything mariner-related.
Some time ago, Doc, you posted a rather cynical article (with tongue firmly in cheek) and listed some 8 or 10 reasons why Baseball was terrible. I took your bait and replied in kind to each of your specific points. And then I stayed silent for many moons.
And here I am return-ed, as my grandfather would say. My grandfather, who is my idol, my best friend, and who is within whispering distance of death - his own stage IV lung cancer doing the honors.
And I say again, as I said many moons ago - Baseball is a microcosm for life. And we, as Mariners fans, are most often the 'losers' in the sports world miracle merry-go-round. Well, we had Edgar that one time...
But I write to say that unlike our luck with Baseball, old chaps, in life it seems we have each come out a bit luckier than our much-maligned M's. We have survived so many assaults, physical and emotional, and in surviving we've learned that one true axiom that stands above all others - which is that against all odds, against miraculous and impossible odds, we have existed.
My grandfather always used to say "Getting old ain't much, but it beats the alternative."
I asked him once, "What's the alternative?"
To which he replied, "Not getting old. You understand?"
Since then, the two nicest things I can say about a person are that 1) I'll miss them when they're gone, and 2) that I hope they get very, very old.
So to each of the denizens that entertain, inspire, and contribute to the community here, I say thank you most humbly.
And to you Doc, I say that even though I may never meet you, may never share a beer or a porch at dusk, I most certainly will miss you when you're gone. And further, I hope that you live to be 150 years old, happily.
Cheers,
Sumodave