What readers are saying
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Alex Rodriguez
Mariner ownership shows total disrespect for fans
How dare Mariner management display this utter lack of respect for the people who pay the bills. How dare they have the temerity to even suggest how we should behave. How dare they treat us like wayward toddlers.
What's next, checking us for dry diapers? How dare they!
Phil Bate, Kirkland
Owners deserve boos
What is this, Montessori baseball? We are invited to come and mortgage our house for a few hot dogs and a soda, but when it comes time to expressing our opinions about opposing players, we are silenced. Greed is playing shortstop for the Texas Rangers and they want us to be nice?
Kenneth Wagner
Be ashamed, Seattle
Seattle, you should be ashamed of yourself. Your lack of class shines brightly throughout the baseball world. Will Junior and Randy Johnson receive the same treatment when they come back? Will you eviscerate Phil Condit? They all left our so-called wonderful city.
Maybe our city is not all that great after all. Let's see: liberals, tree-huggers, leftists, environmental strangleholds, and worst of all classless fans. No wonder they left. Texas, here I come.
Rick Cauldfield, Bellevue
A-Rod treated unfairly
Shame on you for your treatment of A-Rod. Here is a man, in his mid-20s, who chose to earn over $250 million, and you fault him? Of course, you forget he was instrumental in making the Mariners a bigger market team. Of course, you forget he was instrumental in providing some exciting postseason activity over the past few years. And, of course, you forget you would have done the same thing.
Jay Weintraub, Federal Way
Media deserve boos
The media have reached an all-time journalistic low. It's like they're trying to instigate hatred for a young man who did nothing more than accept the best deal he was offered. Any person, in or out of baseball, would have done the same thing.
A-Rod has been much more gracious than the fans or media. The shameful treatment of Randy Johnson, Ken Griffey Jr. and now Alex is a blot on the city. Players are not the personal property of Seattle or M's fans.
Betty D. Forsyth, Seattle
Love now disappointment
Yes, we all remember all of the great things Alex Rodriguez did for the team, but what some fail to understand is that we still do love Alex. Because Seattle fans worshiped him for so long - let's face it, he has pretty much grown up as a Mariner - we all feel like parents whose child has done something to totally disappoint us.
If A-Rod really thinks that the money is so important, then I feel sorry for him - and feel all the more a fool for holding him in such high esteem for so long.
Heather Okrent, Monroe
Payback for players
What greedy ballplayers need to remember is that you can't keep treating fans like garbage and expect them to blow you kisses for it.
Kevin Bonny, Seattle
Save cheers for Edgar
Does it strike anyone as odd that more passion is devoted to booing, deriding players on talk shows, and spending hours creating scathing signs than supporting the home team?
A suggestion to everyone who wishes to vent some emotion at the All-Star Game at Safeco Field. Put every ounce of frustration caused by spin-doctoring agents and whining ballplayers, each vocal cord stung by lies and half-truths, into giving the largest, most passionate standing ovation ever seen for one man who represents everything good about athletics: Edgar Martinez. Thanks Edgar, for all you do, and more important, the way you do it.
Roger Brodniak, Mill Creek
Will Ichiro be next?
It appears that a lack of sunlight is turning Mariner fans brains to mush. The fans' anger would be better directed at an ownership that has allowed arguably the best pitcher and two best position players in baseball to slip away. The ownership also built a new ballpark not suited for their two lost power hitters.
Meanwhile, here in Texas, we are anxiously awaiting Ichiro's free agency.
Ken Rives, Arlington, Texas
Husky uniforms
Dog more like weasel
They obviously used a weasel as the model for the new Husky logo. And the new colors - mauve and mustard - are appropriate for a weasel, too.
Robert G. Meredith, Kirkland
Washington Nikes, anyone?
The new Husky logo is almost an exact replica of the Nike brand logo. Maybe they should just change the team name to the "Washington Nikes" and get it over with.
Mark Nelson, Seattle
Send us your backtalk
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