Steve Bloom/The Olympian
It can take a lot out of a fan trying to get the attention of his favorite Mariners player for an autograph, as 4 year-old Jared Meister of Bonney Lake found out Sunday while attending the M's-Dodgers exhibition game with his dad, John. The Mariners won, 6-3.

Steve Bloom/The Olympian
Mariners outfielder Ichiro (right) talks with pitcher Shigetoshi Hasegawa as two earnest young fans try to get their attention before Sunday's 6-3 exhibition victory over the Dodgers.

Something of a nut for Mariners

LORRIE THOMPSON

Originally published Monday, April 1, 2002

I can't help but notice a difference: Lots of new fans. Or maybe just newly excited fans.

Lorrie Thompson

THURSTON COUNTY -- Mmmmm, Opening Day, baseball season, 2002.

It's been a long wait for Seattle Mariners fans to lay eyes again on Ichiro's mesmerizing moves, Bret Boone's energy, Edgar Martinez's hitting mastery, and something that became as important as any player last year -- that tight weave of a team truly playing together.

It's Opening Day, and we fans also get to lay eyes on new Mariners like Jeff Cirillo and Ruben Sierra and see how they'll fit into that tight weave.

Though I'm trying to bask in the grassy, leather-slapping, wood-cracking glory of Opening Day, I can't help but notice a difference this year: Lots of new fans, mainly. Or maybe they're just newly excited fans, or maybe they're converts from other teams (smart people, in my mind).

Whatever they are, there are more of them, and that has forced some observations on the nature of Mariners fans.

I'm such a creature. Been a fan since they used those silly pitchforks (OK, tridents) for a team symbol. And I've always used that word "fan" fairly easily.

But now, with so many manic Mariners fans everywhere, I've come to a difficult acknowledgement of what a fan actually is:

Something of a nut.

I've seen you all, sitting with radios tuned to M's games at your work desks, arguing in the mall with some guy wearing a Yankees hat, Mariners antenna balls and stickers decorating your cars, asking anyone you see with a radio during game time: What's the score?

(Nowadays you'll almost always get an answer, rather than a puzzled look from someone listening to Faith Hill. Cool, huh?)

Because of that realization, some things are starting to make sense about my own life.

When my parents want to entice me up to a visit in Tacoma (and honestly, why would someone visit Tacoma?), they arrange family get-togethers at the same time Mariners games are flashing on their big-screen TV.

I always thought that was an amazing coincidence.

When spring arrives, my teen-agers start rolling their eyes and heading for their friends' houses during games, grumbling something about me hogging the TV and making a racket.

I thought it was a spring thing. They're teen-agers, after all.

I get e-mails from friends across the country, hooting and cackling as they TRY to compare their pathetic teams to my Mariners. I think one of my, er, energetic responses caused a system crash in Baltimore.

(And by the way, losers, we have Cirillo and Ichiro and Boone and our shortstop is no longer playing with a serious lung disease, so don't even bother with your puny threats this year.)

I thought everyone got these kinds of e-mails in the spring.

All through baseball season my friends approach me each morning with either exuberance or caution, and I'm endlessly amazed at their clairvoyant reading of my moods.

Turns out they were just checking the box score before talking to me.

And I've finally realized that all this isn't necessarily, well, normal.

I mean, I care about the Sonics. I start watching them about when the playoffs begin, and when they get eliminated, I think, "Oh, that's too bad."

What I think when the M's get eliminated from the playoffs is not printable. Especially if the Yankees are involved.

So thanks to all you new fans, here I am, coming to grips with the realization that fans are kooks, and I'm a fan, therefore ...

But I can live with that, especially now that so many more people walk around with radios attached to their ears so I can check the score, now that it's not so lonely in the cheap seats.

And maybe some new programs to help people like us will spring up.

If there were a 12-step program for Mariners fans, my children would sign me up and drag me to the meetings. They'd have to if a game was on.

And I'd probably go, though not for the reason they'd intend.

Hi, my name is Lorrie and I'm a Mariners fan. Anyone want to talk about this year's bullpen? And who has a big-screen we can use for these meetings?

After all, when you're a nut -- er, fan -- you need all the support you can get.

Lorrine Thompson covers Thurston County and health for The Olympian. She can be reached at 360-754-5431 or lcthomps@olympia.gannett.com, if she is not in front of a TV watching a Mariners game.

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