Wetland Sports Blog Manifesto

Ladies and gentleman, welcome to Wetland Sports, a blog about Seattle sports. Hopefully, you've been enjoying or hating the marginally consistent and remarkably coherent, if not always grammatically correct, Wetland writing. 

I could tell you that I chose the 13th post to lay out our blog manifesto (which every blog is required to produce within the first 30 days of existence or risk sanctions from the ubiquitous blog regulators, or as we like to call them, blogulators) because that was the plan. But that would be a lie. The truth is we don't have a plan. 

I should now probably tell you exactly what this blog will be about, who we are, what kind of posts and features you can expect and so on. Well, the fact of the matter is that we haven't really gotten that far yet. 

Here's what we do know: We're a group of guys who love sports and love talking about sports. Seattle sports in particular. So this is going to be us opining, hopefully somewhat coherently, about Seattle sports and following all the compelling story lines. 

Already, we've written about the M's chances in 2009, Griffey's clubhouse presence, Sounders fever, the new sports radio showdown and the Hawks draft. 

The backdrop of all those sub-plots is the most compelling story line of all: Hope is in the air Seattle sports fans! 

In the fall of 2007, when it became clear those evil, soulless cowboys from Oklahoma had indeed managed to get their fat greasy palms around the throat of our beloved pro basketball franchise and that any hope for a rescue was out of the questions, we began a truly precipitous slide into sports fan hell. Single tear. 

Last summer, the Sonics left and M's floundered. By the time baseball season had come to a merciful end, both football teams, the Seahawks and Huskies, were already doomed to lost seasons filled with heartache, misery. By the time, the recession hit, Seattle fans were saying, thank God we have something else to take our minds off our horrible, poorly managed, poorly coached sports teams. [Cue view from above of us collectively screaming into the stormy night: "WHY!?!?!?!?!"]

It got to the point where I'd go to a party in Manhattan (full disclosure: I'm a Seattleite at heart and grew up there, but now live in New York where [shameless plug alert] I write and edit a small newspaper in the Bronx called the Norwood News) and  people would ask me where I'm from. I'd tell them Seattle and they'd immediately give me a hug, like my grandmother had just died. "It must be tough to continue waking up in the morning," they'd say, or at least, that's what I heard, and then immediately rush to get me a really strong drink. 

Seriously though, people around the country, I feel, have been very empathetic to our plight. Knick fans especially for some reason. But that's because what we've endured has been historically and absurdly depressing. 

Still, like any train wreck, especially one you've been experiencing over and over again for most of your entire life (M's one of only three teams, including the Nationals to never make World Series, in case you forgot), I couldn't look away. (It's also because following Seattle sports is more like an involuntary tick for me, rather than a conscious decision.) And slowly, like a slug going up a downtown Seattle hilll, things started to turn around. 

The hiring of Jack Z and Wakamatsu looked well thought out at the time and looks like a stroke of rare Mariner front brass genius now. 

Sark was an after-thought hire, but looks like just the ambitious, energetic, rule-stretching head coach who could succeed in at least making the Huskies not a complete walkover next year. 

And, by all accounts, the Sounders have been built from the ground up into what could be a perennial soccer juggernaut complete with rabid fan base. (Soccer is the new Sonics. Get on board now.) I even liked the Hawks offseason moves (TJ in the Housh!). 

Now, obviously, we're not sure how this is all going to play out, but we'll be here writing about all the twists and turns whenever we feel like it. So tune in. 

Feel free to rant, rave or just say hi. We'll let you know when we have more about what we're actually doing. For now, enjoy the hope. The Mariners are 5-2!