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Mariners Monday, October 22, 2001
Sympathy stops when game begins
LORRINE THOMPSON, THE OLYMPIAN Originally published October 18
OLYMPIA -- To those wondering if the New York Yankees will attract extra sympathy in this particular playoff year, Bill Hays has a one word answer:
"Elsewhere."
But not in Mariners country, he said.
Hays was sitting in front of a television set in the Radio Shack store he manages just before the start of Wednesday's game.
A longtime M's fan, Hays shakes his head at the notion of pitying the Yankees, even as national sports analysts discuss whether the team will get extra support because of the Sept. 11 attacks.
"It didn't happen to them; it happened to New York," Hays said.
Baseball is an entirely different matter, South Sound Mariners fans say.
The 26-time world champion Yankees generate a lot of emotions in M's fans, but sympathy is not high among them.
"I feel compassion for them as New Yorkers, but as baseball players, I want the Mariners to win," said Shirley Tompkins of Rainier.
"I think people who are baseball fans know this is more about baseball," she said.
"The Yankees have beaten us," said Justin Kincy, 22, of Olympia.
Particularly memorable is last year's American League Championship Series, when the Yankees blocked the Mariners from reaching their first World Series.
"I think the fans are really going to be more into the games," Kincy said. "Every team has a rival. Ours is not so much cross town as cross country."
He has heard sports announcers talking about fan sympathy for the Yankees, but Kincy doesn't think it will go far in the shadow of Safeco Field.
"You almost want New York to win, because of what happened. But this is baseball," he said. "The Mariners have fought their way through and it's like, 'We feel bad for you, but we're still going to kick your butt.' "
Fanny Sparling was thinking about the 2000 series as she rushed back to her office at Fairchild Record Search on Wednesday to watch the game on television.
"It's like last year, deja vu," she said. "I think the Mariners need to get to the World Series. It's time."
Her co-worker, Debbie Payne, admitted she felt a little sympathy for New York. "But not enough to hand them the game," she said.
The terrorist attack in New York "affected everyone in the small world we live in," said Allen Starkey, 30, a Mariners fan since 1983.
"I doubt there will be any extra sympathy (for the Yankees) as far as the game goes," he said.
There may be little sympathy in Seattle, but Yankees fan Shelly -- he uses only one name -- believes the September attacks do affect the playoffs.
"I think some people aren't Yankee fans, but they want New York to win because they want something good to come out of New York," said Shelly, who is from Baltimore and has family members in New York.
Listening to Wednesday's game in his car, wearing a Yankees stocking cap, Shelly said he thinks the Yankees will win the series.
"Because of the tragedy, it takes on a destiny feel," he said.
Perhaps, but it's because of the Yankees' long history of winning championships -- walking over the Mariners for the past 24 years to do so -- that Hays also believes this series is special. "It's the ultimate," he said. "You're playing against the greatest team in history. Why wouldn't you want to beat them?" Besides, said Kincy, two top baseball teams competing is not about anger or sympathy or retribution. "Baseball is like a family. They're all together," he said. Players move around so much that many have competed side-by-side with many players on other teams at different times, some going back to college days and younger, he said. "It's like a war on the field," Kincy said. "But once that's over, they're all together." Lorrine Thompson covers Thurston County and health for The Olympian. She can be reached at 360-754-5431. On the web: Mariners American League Championship Series Special Section (Oct. 17)
The Olympian Copyright 2001
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