All I Want For Christmas

Whether you celebrate Christmas or Channukah (the “c” is silent, or so says Adam Sandler), Kwanzaa, or even Dia de Navidad, it’s that time of year.

If Santa was real and you could wish for anything in the world, what would it be? Well, that’s easy for most. Peace on Earth, Solve the issues concerning the homeless and starving in our own country as well as all others, good health to all, blah, blah, blah.

All great thoughts and more meaningful than anything else I will speak of this morning. (yes, it’s 2:47 AM on Christmas Eve, and I’m up thinking about baseball. Someone lock aim and fire, will ya?)

Personally, I’d wish for my family and friends to live happy, healthy lives and for the planet to somehow see eye to eye on everything.

I’d also wish for lots of cash to fall through my chimney tonight so I can take care of some of the above on my own, and of course pick up a new laptop in the meantime.

I’d also wish that traffic went away, the ticket prices in the NFL and NBA were more reasonable and that Bill Simmons would write a colun each month about his favorite movies, sports related or not.

I’d love to see the rain let up here in Seattle before mid June and for Christmas morning to be white with snow… just for the day.

I also wish I could wake up to Kate Beckinsale lying under my tree, lickin’ on a candy cane.

But as I digress, I do wish for the Seattle Mariners to be a solid, intelligent franchise who showed patience, elegance, desire and innovation.

I wish for Felix Hernandez to stop eating syrup-covered pasta in January rather than April, and for the King to find his command – and keep it for the next 15 years.

I wish for Adrian Beltre to put up consistent numbers, even if in the end it’s the same year-long result as 2006. No more months of sub-.600, eh, pal?

I wish for Ichiro to just play ball and not worry about covering for his teammates.

I wish for a clue, so I can give it Mike Hargrove. The next one he finds will be his only.

I wish for Horacio Ramirez to remain healthy – it’s the only way the club can get anything of value in return for Rafael Soriano, one of the very best setup men in baseball.

I wish for the front office to stop rushing the kids. They probably already ruined Tui’s career, and Rob Johnson isn’t far behind.

I wish for two more miles per hour on Travis Blackley’s fastball. Sitting at 88 gives him a shot.

I wish death to the win column for the Oakland A’s and LA Angels. May they forver be stuck deep in loss city.

I wish Mariners fans were all as intelligent and passionate about winning as the blogosphere in this town. Maybe then, the suits and FO would be held accountable.

I wish Chris Snelling was still a Mariner.

I wish Miguel Batista was not.

I wish a certain scout friend of mine was employed by the Mariners.

I wish the Mariners would trade Richie Sexson already. Punt, Howie, it’s fourth and forever and your quarterback is Kelly Stouffer and your best receiver is Jerramy Stevens.

I wish I too had a remote control that could fast forward, rewind and pause real life situations. I’d certainly abuse that magic, and the Mariners would come out ahead, trust me,

I wish I had 10 hours to spare, so I could sit and watch all five Rocky movies, available free with On Demand.

I wish I had three REAL wishes.

One would certainly be for World Peace and Good to health to all, of course.

Another would be for the friggin Mariners to turn this ship around.

It’s about time some of the moves the Mariners make just happen to pan out. The last time something worked out for the hometown nine was when? The 2004 signing of Raul Ibanez? Since then, deals such as Beltre, Sexson, Washburn, Spiezio, Aurilia and Everett don’t look so good.

The trades to acquire Eddie Perez, Ben Broussard and Horacio Ramirez aren’t bragging material. Bill Bavasi has been terrible overall. Even when the chips turned up blue, such as the Freddy Garcia trade and the deal involving Randy Winn, it ends up being some other club’s shade.

The Seattle Mariners have not acted like a baseball team since 2002. They’ve operated solely like a business, where money is the ONLY object.

I just wish Seattle had a baseball team.

Ah, heck, I’m not going to waste my last wish on the Mariners. They’d still probably find a way to screw it up. Either that or bad luck would slap them in the face again.

All I really want for Christmas is for my Dad to take me to see Rocky VI, no matter how terrible it may turn out to be, and buy the popcorn and soda… just like he did so many years ago when the rest of the series’ chapters were released.

Happy Holidays Everyone.  And when I say everyone, I truly mean that for everyone.  Logan at revolution, Willmore (who think i dislike him – I do not), Lance2, all included.

Stay safe and enjoy the holiday.