Dog Days of Summer

Well sports fans, we have hit the time of year we all dread; the dog days of summer. For those who don’t know, this is the time after the NBA Finals/NHL Stanley Cup (both very good series), no college sports, and all football still seems like a distant thought. Oh yeah, and baseball.

Sure you have your Wimbledon, your various golf majors, and other miscellaneous country club sports, but really outside of mid-season baseball, there is not much going on.

But……

Some notable things have happened recently:

  • Pat Summitt passed away today in a very sad fashion. She is the most important figure in women’s college sports ever. Bar none. She is the Bear Bryant of women’s sports in every way: in both wins, victories on the field of play, and in player treatment. I am not one to eulogize (I let the media do this while they pat themselves on the back), so I’ll just say she could not get away with the things she did as a coach today. Maybe another issue for another day.

  • Buddy Ryan passed away today as well. He is the quintessential great coordinator/mediocre head coach, aka the beta version of Wade Phillips. Great innovator, players loved him, but very questionable actions throughout his career. Again, I am not a eulogizer.

  • Messi missed a PK. Luckily it was only the Copa Cup and no one should care.

  • England lost a country that is 1/30 the size of London. Karma is a bitch, huh?


However the main event was this past weekend was the renewal of the classic rivalry between the Mariners and the St Louis Cardinals. For literally decades these teams have harbored a hatred, scowling at each other across the country, just waiting to match up and determine who is best on the diamond. Due to the fact they are in different leagues, it took 30+ years before they could settle their beef due to pre-interleague play (and the fact the Mariners never can make the World Series).

But this weekend the war began. And after the dust settled, Seattle stood tall winning the series 2-1. Each component of this series was memorable; the pitchers pitched, the hitters hit, and the fans fanned. What a scene! But the highlight of this setto was the Sunday game…..the pre-game to be specific.

StL fans are strong and loyal; they constituted about 35% of the fan population. In order to get to Safeco Field, you have to walk through downtown. Sunday was the Gay Pride Parade in Seattle. And if you know anything about Seattle, that’s sort of a big deal. Anyway, the jewel of the sports weekend was the sight of the confused, bewildered, and somewhat horrified faces on the Cardinal fans when they realized they were surrounded by scores of shirtless men wearing rainbow boas and hot pants while slapping each other in the ass as their straight female friends giggle on the side. I think the Cards fans thought they entered some sort of bizarre Twilight Zone where everything was FABULOUS!!!! Seriously this is the greatest moment in Mariner history.

Of course that is not saying much; the previous greatest moment for this World Series-less franchise was when George HW came to the Kingdome in 1985 and when the Mariner victory ship fired the cannon, the Secret Service dived on top of Bush with guns drawn.