Why Are the Mariners Followed so Vastly?

[Chris]

Take a look at what goes on over the net. We have one of the largest FanHome communities around and we were one of the largest when we were on scout still.

If you combined all the SportSpot, with FanHome, with Scout posters... We'd have one incredibly large community.

Why is this?

I understand that winning kept the team in Seattle and the 116 win season coupled with the acquisition of Ichiro in 2001 really put Seattle on the map. But, why do people CONTINUE to follow Seattle as closely as we do?

What other teams have a USSMariner or a Prospect Insider that they can read?

We either have the smartest fan base, or one of the largest...

But why?

Why don't other teams have all of these things?

To me, it just looks like luck. We're lucky Jason puts in all that work and we're lucky the guys at USSM put in all the work they do.

[Marinerjim11]

I was a Mariner fan back in 1984 when I was a kid and moved to the Seattle area and I quickly became a Mariner fan thanks to my mom and grandpa. And even though I have moved back to Iowa (sometimes I regret that decision when it gets to be -20 windchill) I keep up with my team.

[The Iceman Cometh]

Great events leave imprints on those that experienced them. 1995 was the kind of year that converts people to lifelong fans... I think most of us will spend the rest of our lives hoping for another year with that kind of magic.

[dawgncarolina]

Originally Posted by Chris

Take a look at what goes on over the net. We have one of the largest FanHome communities around and we were one of the largest when we were on scout still.

If you combined all the SportSpot, with FanHome, with Scout posters... We'd have one incredibly large community.

Why is this?

I understand that winning kept the team in Seattle and the 116 win season coupled with the acquisition of Ichiro in 2001 really put Seattle on the map. But, why do people CONTINUE to follow Seattle as closely as we do?

What other teams have a USSMariner or a Prospect Insider that they can read?

We either have the smartest fan base, or one of the largest...

But why?

Why don't other teams have all of these things?

To me, it just looks like luck. We're lucky Jason puts in all that work and we're lucky the guys at USSM put in all the work they do.

1) I think Seattle-ites are more intelligent and more well educated than the national average.

2) The M's have a HUGE geographical base from which to draw from, with most people from Washington, Oregon and Idaho pulling for the M's, plus some from British Columbia, Alaska, Montana and Wyoming.

3) The M's had a run with great players. Just like many people nationwide are UNC basketball fans because of Michael Jordan (even though he han't suited up in Caroilna blue in over two decades), many people all over the country became M's fans because of the greatness of Ken Griffey, Jr, and to a lesser extent Randy Johnson and Alex Rodriguez.

4) In the same vein, the M's have owned a large part of Japanese interest thanks to our ownership, Sazaki, and especially Ichiro. The Japanese web element is strong, and gives M's fans access to the great work of people like garstar.

But mostly I think it's this:

5) As you noted M's fans have been blessed with a few unique talents in Jason, Dave, Derek et all. Their inpeccable understanding of the game and varied styles of communicating and sharing that knowledge has attracted and inspired many M's fans to become part of the Mariner cyber blogging/message board community. I think if those guys followed some other team, whatever team that was would seem to have the most diverse, intelligent and active fan base.

[RotatorCuff]

Yes Dave and Derek do an excellent job.

[Goose]

Yeah, we're truly blessed with probably the greatest cyber fanbase on the net. The authors and members of sites like Lookout Landing, USSM,PI, Fanhome, ect. are just awesome.

[Timberwolf]

The fact that Bill and Paul's original garage was located in Seattle and that the huge campus in Redmond has drawn a disproportionate number of internet savvy people to the area probably has a lot to do with it.

[Goose]

Yeah, good point.

[RotatorCuff]

I actually disagree with you Chris.

I have found many of the Mariners forums dead over the past few years.

I don't think we have quite the following that you think we have.

[Chris]

Check out the post counts for each of the baseball forums here.

Check out SportSpot.com, Scout.com and add up their posters.

Add in MarinerMinors.blogspot.com, LookoutLanding.com, USSMariner.com (one of the best sports blogs on the net), and ProspectInsider.com (I know you personally disagree, but another top blog on the net).

The Mariners are followed VERY vastly.

There may be some dud blogs out there, but there are some absolutely amazing ones.

[Goose]

And most of the reason alot of those Mariner forums are dead, is because everybody is already at the other places. It's a saturated market.

[Timberwolf]

Three and a half dog poop seasons will depress any fan base. I was a big fan in the dark days of Argyros and I'm depressed.

[Goose]

Personally, I'm excited. I'm excited that baseball is right around the corner.

I don't care if the Mariners improved or not, I don't care how bad or how good the offseason was, it's all irrelevant.

The bottom line is that it's baseball and it's almost here again. I'm pumped!

[Marinerjim11]

Im just happy that baseball is almost here... Hell I would be happy if it were 20 degrees!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Inside Pitch]

Originally Posted by dawgncarolina

1) I think Seattle-ites are more intelligent and more well educated than the national average.

I don't think it's a case of being smarter although I'd rank the public education system in Washington in the top 5 IMO -- a world ahead of where California currently is albeit there are some very valid reasons why.

I think it has everything to do with the internet to be honest. I've been online for a long long time, going all the way back to when I was at Stanford and they and UCLA were busy invention the web as we know it today -- people in Seattle almost from day one have been VERY VERY net savvy, much much so than any other part of the country. Ms fans got a BIG jump on everyone else when it came to talking ball on the internet and information gathering in general.

You also make a great point in bringing up the guys at the USS Mariner site, they are hardly unique for Ms fans, but they ARE better writers than most. A big reason why I got along with so many Ms fans was because for a while there, they were the only people on the net doing so -- I remember reading Derek and some of the guys currently on the USSM when everyone was on usernet.

I think another area where Ms fans were ahead of the curve was with sabermetrics. Personally, I've always felt that one reason why was the fact that the fanbase for the most part is newer, less prone to having grown up hearing about triple crown stats and old school BS. In SoCal, everyone grows up playing baseball year round ... Everyone hears the same old cliches and EVERYONE thinks they know everything about baseball because they grew up playing the game -- IMO, many of those people are just self important elitist types, guilty of having been taught how to play baseball by bad little league coaches who in turn were full of themsleves. Anyway the greater point is they are slower to consider the newer information currently available than someone who hasn't been conditioned to believe that RBIs are important etc etc..

Anyway, I've been to a lot of parks all over the country and the stuff I heard at Safeco was pretty lame by comparison, (keep in mind I deal with a lot of "look at me I'm at Angel Stadium" types in SoCal), so, Im not sure intelligence and baseball IQ go hand in hand but as far as the internet goes -- Ms fans are IMO ahead of the curve.