Opening Day!

I am still convinced that this should be a national holiday.

I'm also still a bit angry that the Reds no longer get what used to be the traditional midday opening game of the season on the first Monday in April, but I guess it's OK watching the defending World Series champ battle it out with the powerful Mets team on Opening Day-eve.

But if you're gonna schedule things that way, is there ANY chance that we could wrap up the exhibition schedule BEFORE the fake-pre-Opening Day-eve-thingy? That Bay Bridge Cactus League finale irritated me.

Well, I'm still pretty morose regarding the M's. Some bold forecasters have them as high as 3rd, and others are so optimistic to note that the entire division blows, so...who knows? Maybe Seattle could luck into a completely unforeseeable string of timely run scoring and squeeze past the other limp teams in the division to win it.

And I could suddenly gain 40 MPH on my fastball.

(That still, by the way, wouldn't qualify me for a shot in the majors. Just sayin'.)

Well, happily, we have Mariners past to remember. Beginning tomorrow, and every couple of days after that until we're tired of doing it, Tatonka will introduce our favorite Mariners. We'll start with those whom we collectively love the most, and work our way down.

As you peruse these, keep in mind that we're NOT selecting the "best" Mariners ever. Not by any stretch. Oh, sure, some of the names are familiar, and would also belong on a franchise best list. But since the current organization causes me to retch violently just thinking about it, I'd rather talk about those members of the org, past and present, that I have loved to watch. We'll probably throw out some stats in most of these, but the heart of each short piece will be our own, collective, visual memories of those who've inspired our loyalty enough to be called Tatonka's Favorite Mariners.

I'm sure that by May, the bile will come.