Ah, yes, here we are again.  The time of year when three or more sports overlap and it seems that all of the games that I am interested in are on the tube at the same time.  The TiVO can record one and I can watch another, but the problem is that today there are five on at the same time, and we only have two TV's in the apartment and I'm not swift enough to run from room to room to keep up on all of them at the same time.

There is the replay of last night's WNBA playoff game between the Storm and the Phoenix Mercury that I didn't get to see when it was on live. I already knew the outcome, but just hadn't seen the game, so it is kind of down around number five on my priority list for channel hopping.

But the Mariners/Rangers game started at 5:30 our time,, followed at 6:00 by both the Seahawks/Vikings game and the Angels/Jays game, and the Yankees/Tigers game was in the mix in that time frame as well.

The problem with all of this is that just when it is time to change channels for the next 10 minute stretch of catching up, something important and/or exciting happens in the game of the moment.  But, if I don't change the channel, I miss something equally important and/or exciting in the next game on the surfing schedule.  And, to make things worse, college football is about to toss itself into the mix any day now.  What's a body to do?  I can't, unfortunately, clone myself.  My daughter likes baseball and football, but not enough to watch the games and report on them for me (now, if hockey were on right now, I wouldn't have any problems, because she loves to watch hockey--just against the possibility that some colossal fight will occur sometime during the game (I think she is a closet Canadian)).

So, on I continue to go with my schizophrenic television watching schedule, never really knowing everything that happens in any particular game of a Saturday or Sunday.  If this were the last three years, I would say that it would be over in about another three weeks, and all I would have to worry about would be college football mostly on Saturdays, and pro football mostly on Sundays.  But this year, it is beginning to look like there might just be Mariners baseball into at least the first week or two of October, if not farther (please Lord????????), so I might just have to figure out some other means of keeping current with all of the important games.

Meanwhile, in other more amusing news, I could not help but ROTF and LMAO when I read this and this .  It looks like Clay "not quite a truth teller" Bennett and his cronies might finally be looking down the barrel of what they have coming to them,. After all, it's not like those of us who really pay attention didn't know that he never really meant to keep the Sonics in Seattle from the get-go, but now Commissioner Stern has spoken with the $250K fine for Aubrey McClendon and could very well put the proverbial bug into the board of governors of the NBA that Oklahoma City will just have to wait a while longer for an NBA team, and it could very well not be the Sonics that they end up with.

Oh well, my friends, the Hawks just scored another TD and it is time to check in on the M's,  who were down two runs the last time I peeked in on them in the seventh inning, then on to the Angels and Jays who were tied 2-2 the last time I looked in about the fifth inning.  Here's to productive sports viewing for you all this fine Saturday evening.

In his column in this morning's Boston Globe, Nick Cafardo says that he has been told by baseball insiders that the Mariners are on the block, with the likely purchaser a group headed by (former Mariners and current Phillies) GM Pat Gillick, seen below.

Mariners Chairman Howard Lincoln immediately responded that this was "nonsense," according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

In a way, this sounds to me kind of like the pronouncement of public support that GM's make with regard to field  managers just before they fire them.  "Yeah, John Doe is absolutely our manager of the present and future."  Within a week of that being printed and filmed by the media, Mr. Doe is out and looking for work. (That's certainly how it worked for Bob Melvin, who even had his contract extended just before being shown the door after his second season as M's manager).

There was also some mild speculation of this nature in the local papers abuot a month ago when Nintendo America announced that it was moving part of its sales force out of its Seattle headquarters--wondering if they were going to move more (or all) of their operations out of the area and, if they did so, would they want to continue to own a baseball team in a city in which they were no longer headquartered.

Hmmmm.  Another case of "methinks he doth protest too much?"  Connections to the Sonics fleeing the city because of no public support for their new arena plan?  Lincoln, Armstrong and their partners tired of being the target of public ire for the teams three plus losing seasons?  Mr. Yamauchi no longer interested in owning the team if Ichiro walks at the end of the season?  All of the above, some of the above, or none of the above?

GM Bill Bavasi was soundly (and loudly, and for quite some time) booed when introduced at Edgar Martinez' Mariners' HOF induction yesterday evening.  There are more and more fans coming to the ballpark dressed as empty seats as the team's losing ways continue.  The bottom line, while certainly not in dire straits as of yet, is not as rosy as it was in 2001-2003, and the bottom line has been Lincoln and company's announced primary concern.

If, indeed, this is less nonsense than Mr. Lincoln pronounces it to be, why on earth Pat Gillick?  Did he not make enough of a mess of the team and its farm system when he was here before?  Whyever would he want to come back here when he is busily doing the same thing to the Phillies right now that he did to the Jays, the O's and the M's before?

I doubt that Paul Allen wants a baseball team, since he already has a football team and an NBA team to occupy his time and money.  Mark Cuban did want a baseball team, but he wanted the Cubbies and was shot down on that deal, and now he wants to join in a new NFL challenging football league. But there are a lot of Microsoft and dot com millionaires in this area.  Surely some of them are baseball fans and probably know the game better than some (or most) of the present ownership group. (Is Bill Gates a baseball fan, does anyone know???)

If Mr. Lincoln's "nonsene" pronouncement is just a delaying tactic until a sale is announced, I hope that the current group has better sense than Howard Schultz does, and sells to a local group that is committed to keeping the team in town; committed to IMPROVING the team; and who understands that Safeco Field is state of the art, and in just fine shape, thank you very much, not to mention well on the way to being paid for.

This is NOT a sign I want to see hanging on the doors of Safeco Field, either in regard to the team or the vast majority of the players (now, I am more than perfectly willing to see it applied to Jeff Weaver, and maybe even Horacio Ramirez--unless they switch him to just a sixth pitcher to pitch at home only (where he excels) and not on the road (where he does NOT).