No Respect

Yea, yea, yea. I know that I am slacking but honestly, I could really care less. I am paying so much for school that I can't f^ck it up! Something happened last week that really should get mentioned on my blog, and since I have a hour before work I want to get right to it.

Ichiro Suzuki, on September 17, recorded his 200th hit against Ron Mahay of the Kansas City Royals. Ichiro has now become the first player ever to start his career with 8 straight 200-hit seasons, and just the second ever to have a streak of 8 consecutive 200-hit seasons at any point in their career, tying the record set by Wee Willie Keeler, way back before the turn of the 20th century. How is this record going unnoticed? I'll tell you why....

1) People say that Ichiro is a "slap" hitter. That's fine to say that, but he is still getting hits. I would dare you to find someone that can do what he does at the plate. He is nearing 200 doubles for his career to go along with 70 triples and 73 homers. His job as a lead off hitter is to get on first base and he does it better than anyone in the game.

2) He is Japanese. I am telling you this is true. We are not celebrating his accomplishments because he is from a far away country that we tend to disrespect. If any American born player was accomplishing: an AL MVP as a rookie, 7-time gold glover, 8-time All-Star, and a two time batting champ in his first 8 seasons we would think of this man like a god!

3) Seattle is on the west coast and losing it's sports luster. Another fact that tends to be dismissed. Action on the west coast leaves us east coasters flat. Being an east coaster, I am as guilty as the next guy. I could really care less about the a game that starts at 10 o'clock at night. So much so that I am willing to wait for the scores of these games until I get home from work the next day. On top of this Seattle is really only about one thing, Starbucks coffee. The sports in this city is really falling off the map since 5 years ago. Even the Seahawks who hold that sports town together is falling apart. And now that the Sonics are gone I really believe that it is only a matter of time before the Mariners are next to go.

4) The Seattle Mariners suck. They are really bad. For a franchise that went from Ken Griffey Jr. dominating baseball to the Mariners breaking the record for wins in a single season to a 4 year long debacle. There is nothing about this team that should be celebrated. Except for this.

This guy broke the single season record for hits in 2004 with 262. He currently is closing in on 1800 hits for his short MLB career. My only question is will we celebrate him if he happens to stick around long enough to reach 3000, or will it be another record that just won't matter to us.