Griffey in Town This Weekend (Tragically We Are Not)

All will be right with the world on Friday night when Ken Griffey Jr. steps into a Seattle batter's box. Mariners fans with any amount of brain will be on their feet pounding their hands together a-smiling like the Joker, except us. We will be missing the moment that we’ve been waiting for since 2000 because of our friend’s wedding--we are doing a great deal of breathing into a paper bag this week.

Griffey saved baseball in Seattle, brought the relevance to the franchise, and made it cool to be a Mariners fan in a way that Mike Kingery never could.

In the end he left for less money, his family, and chance to head home. For a brief time we were irrationally angry (in that special way only a sports fan can), but soon we realized that he was there to be appreciated, and we were so lucky to be able to watch him for eleven years.

In a perfect world, Griffey would be chasing down Hank Aaron’s record (even America’s finest news source agrees), before finishing his days playing for the Mariners.

We can only hope that the Mariners front office will decide to do something right and get him back here. We don’t care what it takes, just do it.

This weekend will be very special for the city, and we’re sure for him. We are also positive that re-living the moment on TiVo will be the same…where is that paper bag?