Rain, Rain...go away.
Marko’s recent rant on American sports got me to thinking. No, not a direct response to his words but something I think about often- Seattle and Sports. I like to call it the Kendall Gill condition. I’m sure this happens in other cities or specifically to other stars but it sure seems to happen a lot. Kendall Gill was a moderate star in the NBA back in the 90’s. He was a decent shooter, great slasher, and strong finisher. Gill was a very good athlete. He came to Seattle in the early-mid nineties right around the peak of his career. After a short while with the Sonics his play began to suffer. He announced he was diagnosed with clinical depression. He never rebounded and was traded. A few years later he returned to playing good basketball, scoring 21 a game. So yeah once instance? Need I mention everyone’s favorite, Vin Baker?
Well the reason I’ve been thinking about it lately is because of the Mariners. I love the guy, but what has happened to Adrian Beltre? He came off of his best year in MLB hitting 48 home runs for LA by hitting 19 for the Mariners. That may be closer to his career average, but man – that’s a big swing. Richie Sexson, our other big bat, isn’t fairing all that well either. He had about 40 homeruns last season, but only 10 to speak of this year. Yes I know that homeruns aren’t the only factor to consider, but their batting averages aren’t much to gawk at either - .231 and .205 respectively.
The trend usually is that we sign these stars, they can’t handle the rain, they move on and return to glory. Shawn Kemp started, and for the most part finished his career in Seattle – so you can’t really count him. It’s only those who come in at their prime. Ray Allen has been the only real exception I’ve seen lately. He can be simply amazing, but until we get a permanent impact player in the middle – he may see his hopes of championships fade. Keep in mind I’m young – so I may not have seen the Dale Ellis’s of the past. I have high hopes for Chris Wilcox if we can keep him. He didn’t really come in from playing great basketball – he was in the shadows up until this point.
So, any ideas? Is it the rain or possibly newly found coffee addictions? I can’t explain it. I should finish by saying that I am hardly a fair-weather fan. I watched the Sonics let another season slip away. I was there the whole time. I still even have a few Mariners on my Yahoo Fantasy team.