A positive sporting experience today…

A nice change of pace this evening after one of the worst England performances I can remember, the game I shall mention no more… OK, no more than once more any way.

Tonight was my first Mariners game of the year. Inter-league play with the Cincinnati Reds in town for a weekend series. I got invited and had no idea who was pitching and glanced at the standings for the first time in a couple of weeks and found the M’s were doing worse than I thought. Won 25, lost 46 and 13 games out of first place in a four-team division.

While I enjoy baseball and certainly went through a year or two of going to maybe 20 games a year, it’s been one or two games a year for the last few seasons. Sitting in a three-quarter empty Safeco Field in the cold Seattle spring is not exactly conducive to a great atmosphere. Carl had a spare ticket for this evening, and it was time for a trip to Safeco Field.

And the “hydro races” on the big screen drive me potty. Three boats racing around a course and you’re asked to choose your favorite… At least the game where you follow the hat the ball is hidden under requires concentration. The hydro races and picking the winning boat is total guesswork and for some unfathomable reason the hydros got the biggest cheer of the evening.

I like baseball for the same reasons I like cricket, and it’s not really the game itself. You go there with friends, be social and watch while a story unfolds in front of you.

As with many American sports I dislike all the artificial rabble rousing that baseball feels is required to get some noise and create an atmosphere. I hope the Sounders have shown Seattle that if the team shows passion for the game along with an educated crowd you can dispense with the requests for clapping and yelling.

Spending years immersed in the European football culture (both passionate good and hooligan filled bad) and going to my first baseball game (Astros vs. Giants in the Astrodome in ’86) it all seemed very strange and rather forced. The Astrodome was spectacular, way beyond any other stadium I’d been too. The score board with galloping horses unlike anything I’d seen before and the game interesting (I had someone who knew baseball explaining it to me), however I could never quite understand the attempt at creating an atmosphere.

That’s my problem with the whole American sporting experience. Baseball is perhaps the worst offender, it’s a naturally slow game and that seems to be part of the appeal. As I said, I like how it slowly unfolds in front of you over a period of two and a half or three hours. However the same artificial sense of urgency is present in basketball, hockey and to a slightly lesser extent American football.

If you have a crowd educated in the game it seems unnecessary, football (round ball) has never needed it, even among casual supporter. Whatever the sport it’s clear when things are exciting, it’s clear when things are not going well. I don’t think stadiums need to tell the audience that.

Onto tonight’s game. Turns out Cliff Lee, the M’s top pitcher was starting. He pitched the entire game, only 110 pitches to get through 9 innings. He gave up 6 hits, struck out 7 and gave up no runs. Very impressive outing, he worked fast and the game was over in a little over two and a quarter hours.

Mariners won 1-0 in a very fun to watch defensive game.

Briefly back to the England performance. It really was atrocious, hopefully this gives Capello the kick he needs to actually examine the way they play. I’ve not looked at the British red tops yet (the more mass-media newspapers), but I’m sure they have plenty to say.

Wayne Rooney was upset at the England fans booing the team of the pitch. The team played with no energy, no passion and there was no excuse for that performance at this level. It’s very fair for the fans to make their displeasure known.

If this really is the best they can do, then they don’t deserve to go on. I hope this is the wake up the team needs, I hope Capello makes the changes necessary to do what they have to against a decent Slovenia on Wednesday, where nothing less than a win will be enough.

Stuart Pearce knows more than anyone what pulling on the three lions should mean, if the players don’t get that, if they don’t understand how big a stage this is and the millions of people that this matters too then they should not be on the field.

That’s it, I’ve said my piece about England’s performance against Algeria, not going to mention it again.