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I could hardly sleep last night.  I am so excited.  I get to throw out the first pitch at the Mariners game today! 

I have been a Mariner fan since their inception.  My dad couldn't get tickets to the first two game they ever played (against the Angels), but we did manage to score tickets to the third game in Mariner history, which turned out to be the first Mariner win in history.  It was thrilling stuff, but nothing like this.  I wish my dad was here to see this.  I'm throwing out the first pitch at Safeco Field, and guess who the Mariners are playing? The Angels.  If my dad has any pull, I'm sure this will be another Mariner win.

I spent a ridiculous time going to sporting events as a kid.  My dad and I had season tickets to everything: Seahawks, Sonics, Mariners, and Huskies.  I spent so much time at the Kingdome, it became my special playground.  I knew every nook and cranny of that enormous wart with a parking lot. 

I was also a prolific autograph hound.  You should see my collection.  You wouldn't believe some of the signatures I scored as a kid by hounding (some might call it stalking) my favorite players.  After a few years at the Dome, I got to know the workers pretty well.  After the Mariner games, I would help the souvenir vendors tear down.  They appreciated the help, but that wasn't why I did it.  I waited until all of the ushers, security and police went home.  When the coast was clear, I would sneak onto the press elevator and then walk right into the clubhouses and get whatever autographs I wanted, while all the other autograph seekers were stuck behind the locked gates, hoping to catch a player as he walked onto the team bus. It was a beautiful system.

When I was in the locker rooms, I got to see my heroes close up, and got to know a few of them personally.  I also got to know a few of the reporters who covered the team.  I would look longingly at their media credentials, thinking those must have the greatest job in the world: covering sporting events, and then hanging out with the larger-than-life athletes that played them.  I decided at the age of 11 that was what I wanted to do.  I wanted to be a sports reporter.  And I went out and did it.  I've had the privilege of covering my favorite teams in my hometown for almost 12 years.  I have since moved into other areas of broadcasting, but sports will always be my first and deepest love.  I am incredibly blessed.  

I've been on the field at Safeco hundreds of times over the past decade, but today will be incredibly special.  I'll be out there, with my family, so humbled by this honor.  I really can't believe it.
 
I can't decide whether to go sidearm, submariner, overhand, or whether I just wing it as hard as I can into the backstop.  I'll see how the inspiration hits me in the moment.

Catch you later!