A Grip on Sports: The World Series once again highlights the pain M’s fans have had to endure since the franchise began

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Watched a little of the World Series game last night. Will watch more tonight. It’s baseball. It’s the Dodgers. The Yankees. The last time the sport is available until buds start to appear on the trees outside. More than the geese above or the red on the maples, this is the true harbinger of winter.

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• Growing up basking in the warmth of Southern California, I never appreciated winter. It was just a welcome pause from hot, smog-filled days. The best chamber-of-commerce moment. A free one, too. Every New Year’s Day, ABC would broadcast the Rose Bowl, show the mountains behind our house tipped with snow as folks sat in the ancient – even then – stadium in shirt sleeves. And dad would grumble about the inevitable immigrants from Iowa or Michigan or Ohio destroying his life-long paradise. Then, late in life, he married one of them.

Not sure if there is a better example of irony in my life. Unless it’s maybe this: For most of my non-adult life, enjoying the Dodgers’ winning seemed as predictable as a 70-degree January day in L.A. It didn’t happen every year but often enough to feel comfortable expecting it.

But like our youth, such expectations fade into the past. Heck, in 2017, when the Dodgers returned to the World Series for the first time in nearly 30 years, our older sister made it impossible for me to stay home and watch. She “forced” me to attend the opener with her. Even if Dodger fandom was not part of my day-to-day life like it was when we used to share the same roof.

It’s not that long winter of L.A. fans’ discontent, the stretch between the 1988 Orel Hershiser-fueled title and the Astros’ trash-can banging theft of another, which stole that glorious fandom from me. It was life. How it changes. How others, and other circumstances, influence who you support.

I realized that last night. Talking with one of our sons. Complaining about a couple calls. Sharing worries the Dodgers would become the first team to blow a 3-0 Series lead, a spot they earned minutes earlier with a 4-2 win in New York.

It ticked him off. Rightfully so.

He is now and will always be a Mariners fan. A long-suffering Mariners fan. Not sure that will ever change. Both parts, actually. M’s fan. And long-suffering.

In our zeal to pass along a love of the game nurtured and grown in the O’Malley-owned Chavez Ravine hothouse, I failed to appreciate the possibility of Seattle’s ownership abdicating the key responsibility of its position: Trying to win. Along with DNA, I passed along a disease, without passing along the wonder drug needed to make it bearable. All the days and nights spent with him in the Kingdome and Safeco and T-Mobile, in front of the TV, within earshot of a radio, nurtured it. Allowed it to happen.

His sadness came out last night. To his credit, subtly. But it was there, emerging as I had to audacity to moan about immaterial matters. To complain about success. To curse and denigrate a lifetime he and millions of folks like him were never fated to receive. How insensitive. Damning, actually.

This is an apology. Not only to my son, but to Leslie in Seattle. Rick on the North Side, Jim on the South. John, Jeff, Jake and anyone else who has lived the Mariner life. Not only has their team never won a World Series, it has never even gotten within a win of one. It may never.

For years Red Sox fans cursed about their team’s failures. All the while focusing on World Series lost in obscene manners. For decades Cubs fans whined about their team’s failures. But even in 2016, when their team made it back to the Series after a 71-year absence, there were a handful of people who had witnessed the last one.

How many Seattle fans have witnessed a World Series? How many have watched their beloved M’s win four games and hoist the trophy? Have a parade?

Each of you know the answer is zero. And there is an almost-zero chance if circumstances, and ownership, don’t change, that it won’t change either.

Shakespeare, as in all things, caught their angst and sorrow best more than 400 years ago. Every year is filled with that group’s discontent. And there is no glorious autumn awaiting them. Only winter.

Or, as noted Cub fan Harold Ramis, who spent his life in an unfulfilled quest to watch his team in a World Series, would probably describe it: “It’s going to be cold, it’s going to be gray and it’s going to last you for the rest of your life.”

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WSU: It’s not often we kick off the Washington State section with golf. But today we do. Why? Jim Meehan’s golf column centers on Cougar alum Derek Bayley and his return to Pullman as an assistant coach. … The second, and last, scheduled bye week is upon Wazzu football and its fans. No first look at Saturday’s opponent because there is no Saturday opponent. Instead, we can pass along Jon Wilner’s weekly playoff prognostication, as it ran in the S-R this morning. In it he mentions WSU’s chances should it finish 11-1. Our feelings on that are clear: Even at 11-1 the Cougs are not going to be invited to participate. … The S-R site also holds Wilner’s Best of the West rankings, which we linked yesterday when they ran in the Mercury News. … Elsewhere in the (new and old) Pac-12, the Mountain West and the nation, John Canzano has a mailbag we want to pass along. … Oregon State’s long snapper is in the news. Not for a bad snap, which is the position’s usual way. But for defeating a huge opponent: testicular cancer. … We can pass along the Beavers’ snap counts against California and more proof recruiting never stops. … Is there a quarterback controversy in Seattle? Yes. Among the Washington fans. The head coach and his staff? Jedd Fisch says no. … Oregon’s home game with Maryland in a couple weeks has a kickoff time. The Ducks visit Michigan this week and whether they will have two key players is still to be determined. … One reason Colorado is playing better? The offensive line is playing better. … The same can be said at UCLA. … Arizona State may get its starting quarterback back this week. … In the Mountain West, Wyoming has decided to change starting quarterbacks. … How does Boise State coach Spencer Danielson decide whether to go for a fourth-down? … Even though San Diego State lost to WSU, there were a couple positives. … Utah State has some momentum, and a win, headed into its second bye week. … Bronco Mendenhall took a lock back at New Mexico’s latest loss.

Gonzaga: Yvonne Ejim deserves all the accolades. She has been exceptional the past two years, dominating the middle and leading the women’s program to unseen heights. But the surrounding cast has changed. Though Ejim was named to the 2024-25 Naismith Trophy Women’s College Player of the Year Watch List on Monday, staying on the list may depend on how well the new group plays just as much as her performance. Greg Lee has more in this story. … Ryan Nembhard was named to the Bob Cousy Award Watch List yesterday as well. It is the third time Nembhard has made the list, the second as a Zag. Theo Lawson delves into the news in this story. … The Athletic released its preseason ranking. The Bulldogs check in at third, only behind Alabama and Houston.  

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, an official, who incorrectly overturned a call in the Idaho State-Northern Arizona game, has been suspended by the conference. … Montana State is looking forward to the matchup with Eastern Washington. … The Montana offense has turned explosive thanks in part to one receiver. … Coming off a bye, Portland State gets ready to face Sacramento State.

Preps: Dave Nichols has a notebook today and though it starts with a swimming note, it includes another note we have not experienced in the decades of being around GSL sports. Every one of West Valley High’s fall teams are undefeated. … Dave also has a roundup of Monday’s truncated action.

Seahawks: At 4-4 – like almost everyone else in the NFC West – it has become prove-it time for the Hawks. … The defense, Mike Macdonald’s pride and joy, has a lot to prove itself. … Are the Hawks sunk? Well, even Macdonald admits they have some sunk costs. … Scuffles? There are bigger worries. … DK Metcalf’s injury for one. … We have answers to pass along.

Mariners: Freddie Freeman has driven the ball out of the park in each of this Series’ first three games. His first-inning two-run blast brought home a limited Shohei Ohtani – he played despite having his left arm in a sling pregame – and gave the Dodgers a lead they would never relinquish. … The Yankees have not held up their end of the bargain.

Kraken: Shane Wright returns to Montreal as Seattle begins a key early road trip.

Sounders: Seattle began its MLS playoff run Monday night in Lumen Field. Won. It does not matter that it took winning a shootout to get it down, despite playing a man up after the 66th minute. The fourth-seeded Sounders’ topped the West’s fifth-seed, the Houston Dynamo 5-4 in penalties. The best-of-three series moves to Houston on Sunday.

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• I felt bad. And slept badly. Luckily, the baseball gods have afforded me this opportunity to make amends. I worry, though, they will enforce more punishment. Allow the Yankees to win the next three or, if they feel I’ve really sinned, four games. To turn the tables. To make the Yankees not only the first team to blow a 3-0 lead in baseball history, but the first in World Series history to come back from a three-game deficit. Could they be that cruel? Yes. Yes they could. Which is why I am sorry to ever have been dismissive of the Mariner fans’ pain from never making a World Series. The baseball gods are evil. Diabolical. Satanic. And probably have an entire walk-in closet filled with Astros jerseys. Until later …