You will often hear of a certain event or game that it captured the spirit of an entire season on its own. Today I ask you, the reader, to choose the event that best illustrates everything the 2008 Seattle Mariners were all about. The event that best epitomizes the anguish, the humiliation, and the occasional hilarity of a season gone to waste. There are many candidates, but there can be but a single nutshell, so choose wisely, and take your time. For this is pretty much the most important ballot of the year.
WARNING: many many .gifs to follow. Upon clicking through, please allow time for the images to load. View the images before voting.
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
6 recs | 108 comments
And now I don't ever want to close this page
Graham MacAree - October 8, 2008
This must be so much easier on me than it is on all you guys
Jeff Sullivan - October 8, 2008
It took a while to load all of those...
It was worth it though.
Slurvey - October 8, 2008
Man, tough call.
I think “O (Bad angle)” is the most metaphorical though. This team couldn’t keep up with anything.
ThundaPC - October 8, 2008
Lawn Darts shows how inept we were.
However, for me the season ended the 2nd game of the year when Hamilton crushed JJ and our season. That is what I might have chosen.
Sec 108 - October 8, 2008
I voted for O
as the perfect metaphor – charge the season and then OOPS!
seattlebruin - October 8, 2008
There were many that could be more in-depth metaphors...
…but O is simple and to the point.
Omerta - October 8, 2008
The Sexson homer getting robbed just pissed me off.
I voted C it shows no matter what we do right we’ll just end up losing in someway after that. I hate you mets…
Slurvey - October 8, 2008
I love how K-Rod points to the air like it's a routine popup
thank god someone will probably pay him a shitload of money and he’ll regress. Hopefully it will be the Angels
basebliman - October 9, 2008
I voted F
Maybe because I haven’t seen it before and it made me laugh the most, but falling over right from the start was exactly what the ‘08 M’s were all about. Felix getting hurt is more of a representation of Seattle sports in general to me.
On a related note, I or M would work great for the Angels’ year (or A for the Mets’ last two)…
Crystal for DH - October 8, 2008
Oh, and we should also have Clement missing the pop-up.
Crystal for DH - October 8, 2008
Way to steal my thunder
JI - October 8, 2008
No we should not
Graham MacAree - October 8, 2008
You're no fun
JI - October 8, 2008
Good times!
.Taylor - October 10, 2008
I vote F
It epitomizes the epic fail at even the simplest tasks that was Seattle ’08
mariners124m - October 8, 2008
To me
Lawn Dart perfectly conveys the comical ineptitude of this team.
BrianL - October 8, 2008
Lawn dart is the funniest,
and that’s how I voted. Although now that I think about it ‘bad angle’ really does sum up the 2008 season best.
brayden04 - October 8, 2008
This fucking killed me.
Great post.
brayden04 - October 8, 2008
This post killed my internet
seattlebruin - October 8, 2008
Well there's that....
brayden04 - October 8, 2008
No gif can describe it
P. Miguel Cairo makes the team (bringing a knife to a gun fight).
Tony S - October 8, 2008
If I may...
JI - October 8, 2008
Stop posting gifs in this thread
It’s breaking my internet
Corco - October 8, 2008
You were warned.
JI - October 8, 2008
It is a .gif thread
Jeff Sullivan - October 8, 2008
I just went to McDonald's and back and it's still not done
Corco - October 8, 2008
Firefox 3.
Teej - October 8, 2008
Seriously
Jeff Sullivan - October 8, 2008
I'm running FF3 on a brand new 2.6 gig mac
and it’s still taking this page about two minutes to fully load.
pdb - October 8, 2008
Not saying I don't like it
just defending those with older machines.
pdb - October 8, 2008
It does take an awful long time
hence the warning. It’s just a one-time thing, though, and I think it’s worth the trouble. I love most of these.
Jeff Sullivan - October 8, 2008
Yeah, they're all pretty awesome
or depressing, I can’t figure which.
pdb - October 8, 2008
Yep, about 2 minutes is about what it took for me to load.
And I’m on a machine that’s almost 5 years old with FF3. Although once it loads and is stored in cache, I’m able to come back to it and it loads instantly, provided I don’t close the browser.
With that said, I’m going with B. JJ’s season is a pretty good example of the Mariners season as a whole. Came in with high expectations, and failed them. In this instance he failed them spectacularly.
God, I was at that game too. It was freezing and it was horrible.
Goose - October 8, 2008
That is number 2 for me.
I’m pretty sure Brett was standing next to me when that happened. That place got quiet real fast.
Sec 108 - October 9, 2008
I'm using the most recent build of FF3
Corco - October 8, 2008
New computer? Defrag? Faster connection?
This post is definitely intense, but a trip to McDonald’s is excessive.
Teej - October 8, 2008
Sexson falling belongs in this post
Jeff Sullivan - October 8, 2008
I wish I could find the better take of it but I can't.
JI - October 8, 2008
I keep expecting K-Rod to be struck by lightning and be vaporized each time
It disappoints me on every loop
Scrupio - October 8, 2008
The way their season ended makes the lack of smiting a little more tolerable
ningwers - October 8, 2008
I don't need no cracka ass special effects.
JI - October 8, 2008
Thanks Franklin
Scrupio - October 8, 2008
O
Seeing the ball roll for a few seconds then watching Raul shoot by arms flailing is classic.
Perfectly encapsulates the fail of 08.
Will Kier - October 8, 2008
The way he is running is priceless.
brayden04 - October 8, 2008
I don't know if I'd vote for it No. 1, but Michael Young's homer off Bedard on Opening Day was pretty foreboding.
Teej - October 8, 2008
Vote for I
3 events happened in this clip which can be seen to sum up our season. First, the M’s tried to do well (WFB running hard). Second, the M’s failed (WFB getting called out). Third, the team imploded (WFB collapsing in pain).
Scrupio - October 8, 2008
He got out? I thought he was safe because Wash had to run for him afterwards or something like that.
Slurvey - October 8, 2008
Stop ruining my argument
It sounds better when he’s called out
Scrupio - October 8, 2008
"I DON'T CARE!"
Slurvey - October 8, 2008
I'd be hard pressed not to choose N
seeing as I was at the game and all… damn it, Raul >:(
ningwers - October 8, 2008
We were also at A
Limerickx - October 9, 2008
Flurking shnit
I forgot about that :(
ningwers - October 9, 2008
"Bad Angle" is my favorite of the season, but for this specific pool, I have to go with Vidro hitting himself in the face.
Teej - October 8, 2008
*poll
Teej - October 8, 2008
Though other moments were more memorable
I voted for K not just because it was an appropriate representation of this season but, quite appropriately, there’s a WaMu logo in the background, making it a multilayered illustration of fail.
Gomez - October 8, 2008
Also
After these multiple GIFs on one page tried to BSOD my computer, I was smart enough to hit ESC when reloading the page.
Gomez - October 8, 2008
I'm voting for H because it loaded
Corco - October 8, 2008
Sexson is such a bitch.
I mean seriously, who fights like that? What a fucking wimp.
brayden04 - October 8, 2008
Your mom...
Slurvey - October 8, 2008
Really?
brayden04 - October 9, 2008
You got Slurved!
Limerickx - October 9, 2008
We need to use that phrase more often.
.Taylor - October 10, 2008
J must be the choice..
Raul’s were hilarious, but I cant use a Raul gif to sum up the failures of this season cause Raul was a beast with the bat.
And the robbery of home runs and getting thrown out at the plate indicates metaphorically that we were close to success but have bad luck or were just an inch short of success. That obviously wasn the case.
The Vidro gif sums up the yr. Pathetic veteran hitting himself in the face chasing a bad pitch.
DarkLou - October 8, 2008
A vote for Option J here too.
Vidro was unable to hit anything but his own face. It’s so poetically apt. The Mariners season in a nutshell.
esoteric - October 8, 2008
I voted for G.
Because Yuni fails at everything and our team was as ridiculous as his slide.
Mariner John - October 8, 2008
I voted for Lawn Dart.
Early season hopes of being at least respectable being embarrassingly thrown into the ground. I’m pretty sure that was the exact point where I realized that this team was terrible and nothing could be done to salvage the season.
joof - October 8, 2008
Edgardo Perez face planting leaving the batters box is the winner of this thread
Robert - October 8, 2008
C
Because for every good thing that happened this season, it was immediately followed by garbage. That was 2008.
Matthew - October 8, 2008
I'm going with auto strike.
In encapsulates the inevitable futility of the year. From another angle, it suggests that at some point, even Gameday decided it didn’t give a shit.
Paytheline - October 8, 2008
Lawn Dart
And not just because it’s probably the funniest gif I’ve ever seen.
This season began in the heat of a long-running argument about the Bedard trade. With a record payroll and expectations as high as they’d been since 2002 or 2003.
The suddenness, the comprehensiveness and the…creativeness of the ineptitude this season was something I don’t think I’ve seen before. For those of us that don’t have to write about this shit every day, there really was something fascinating in this season, like the music of The Shaggs or other outsider art.
All of this is summed up in that magisterial “throw.” The argument about LF defense, the expectation of a close play, the can’t-turn-away beauty of a play so terribly NEW. Once this season was lost, and you can argue that happened in April, most of us were tuning in (if we did) simply to see how bad it was going to get. Raul Ibanez showed us that this question can never really be answered in his interpretive dance entitled “There is no floor.”
marc w - October 8, 2008
N
Because it everything seems to be looking positive…Raul actual plays the carom…but then it turns to major failure extremely fast.
SethGrandpa - October 8, 2008
Who wants to explain F to me?
staplemaniac - October 9, 2008
By 'F'
I meant ‘H’
staplemaniac - October 9, 2008
Me too.
Kirsten Schlewitz - October 9, 2008
I also need this explained.
darmok - October 9, 2008
I have no idea what happened there, either, but I voted for it.
Getting called out on an automatic strike generally involves failing utterly to play the game. Like refusing to step in the batters box.
I don’t know what happened this time, but regardless it’s the best way to sum up our season.
Llewdor - October 9, 2008
It was a Gameday glitch that couldn't possibly have been more appropriate
Jeff Sullivan - October 9, 2008
Voted D
The look on Beltre’s face sums everything up for me.
Smegmalicious - October 9, 2008
Has to be lawn dart
Seeing that IN PERSON was one of the greatest moments of my life. I knew ‘this is why I am a Ms fan.’
Then again, I also saw the Lowe wild pitch in person too……..
I should either NEVER go to another M’s game, or go to ALL of them.
Limerickx - October 9, 2008
I went with J.
This team kept screwing itself over again and again.
But for some reason, I can watch F continuously. Seriously, how the hell does one fall like that?
Kirsten Schlewitz - October 9, 2008
G had the most complete metaphor for the organization’s expectations and results: Yuni expects to score but instead runs face first into a shin guard.
I also liked K (Raul falls down) for the subtle irony of the giant WaMu sign in the background of the shot.
MrIncognito - October 9, 2008
I voted Lawn Dart because
it looks like the ball explodes when the Yes graphic comes up. That just typifies the season for me.
Jed MC - October 9, 2008
Notably absent from this list is Ichiro
“Ichiro hurts his team by not failing spectacularly thereby preventing us from landing Strasburg!”
PDXTai - October 9, 2008
Oh yeah the one where Ichiro did not come up with the catch with 2 on and 2 out and we lost the game
would have fit pretty well also.
Schuxu - October 9, 2008
K
Finding new and inventive ways to loose AND a giant WaMu banner in the background sums up the season for me.
The Felix getting injured clip was too painful.
DoesntCompute - October 9, 2008
E - Sexson getting robbed
Really represents the futility of the year. And damn it, we all wanted Richie to succeed. He hit it and it looked like it was out. They were going to beat the angels. Then start winning a bunch and take first place and make the playoffs and win their first world series and it was going to be an awesome season. Then Torii Hunter ruined my goddamned birthday.
darmok - October 9, 2008
This was my 2nd choice
Man, was that a punch in the stomach.
Gomez - October 9, 2008
Good God.
That game was the last instance of GTE up until Felix got injured, wasn’t it?
BrianL - October 9, 2008
Well is GTE only GTE when it's angry?
Because positive GTE counts then the Felix Slam would’ve been the next GTE by a matter of moments.
SethGrandpa - October 9, 2008
I voted "other"
The play that made me laugh the most was against Toronto in the Skydome. A Jay hit a stinger off the RF wall and Reed played it perfectly and made a pretty good throw to the cut-off man, Richie Sexson. Sexson seemed to be inspired and he did a little spin and threw the ball almost directly on the dirt towards the catcher. Dave Sims’ call was perfect: “Richie tries to use the turf to get the ball home!” I laughed for a good five minutes.
Patrick517 - October 9, 2008
Jeff Sullivan - October 9, 2008
Sexson is a good firstbaseman
Look how many error his frame saves.
JI - October 9, 2008
Like two!
seattlebruin - October 9, 2008
Thanks...
it’s funnier with Reed included.
Patrick517 - October 9, 2008
Jeff Sullivan - October 9, 2008
Nothing is showing up in your comments, Jeff.
.Taylor - October 10, 2008
It's there.
Kirsten Schlewitz - October 10, 2008
What is it? Is my internet not showing a gif?
.Taylor - October 10, 2008
Yes.
Kirsten Schlewitz - October 10, 2008
I have to go with K for one simple reason
The Mariners couldn’t even go backwards (1st overall pick) correctly, just like Raul
Robert Lintott - October 9, 2008
I like to think
that someone had to restrain Rick Rizzs from running onto the field and wrapping up Willie in his arms when “I” happened.
BrianL - October 9, 2008
This thread is incredibly cathartic
MORE PLEASE. My misery, I will truly wallow in it.
Lents Park Homer - October 9, 2008
Bedard MIA
I think the winner should be something involving him. Say what you will but he was a letdown.
has anyone sent this to failblog?
vj - October 9, 2008
Had to go with Perlozzo (which surprisingly has the least amount of votes).
That man summed up this team’s frustration when he flipped out. All he needed to do was knock the umpire on his ass and it would’ve been perfect.
Wilder. - October 9, 2008
Lawn dart for me
Vidro hitting himself is also an acceptable way to look at things. For too long this season, management allowed players to try to fill roles they had no business in based on reputation and history, not objective evaluation.
SkipT - October 9, 2008
Needs a Felix crying gif.
IcebreakerX - October 9, 2008
Weaver throwing the ball in the dugout from last year.
.Taylor - October 10, 2008
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