Okay BlazerManiacs, this one's not one of my finest moments but I think it should be brought to light before the season (and game-day emotion) start to become the norm around here.

So here we go. It was Monday, July 7, and I wanted to call "The Jim Rome Show" to "have a take" about the Sonics. Little did I know I would be taken on an hour-long ride of depraved humor by a gut-less comic and eventually slammed against the wall.

Things to point out:

--The first two voices you hear are local Sports Talk Radio show hosts
--The photo illustrations were done by me in an attempt to get some frustrations out
--The letter read at the end was written by me on that day and stands as one of my finest pieces of sports literature ever written
--Bob's Burgers and Brew is a restaurant up here in Whatcom County that sells Burgers and beer. Sadly, nobody showed up for me that night.

Anyway, it's just one YouTube away... Right here, for your enjoyment! (pops)

--Keith, one sad Sonics fan

Today... well, let's see if I can do this without violating one of your policies about no profanity or masked profanity.

Today is awful. The NBA franchise that called Seattle home for 41 years has been allowed to move to Oklahoma City in a "settlement" between the city and the NBA. Fans will not be settled. I am not settled. The green and gold is put on a shelf and may never see the light of day again.

So I'm asking you, a community filled with passionate fans, to legitimately convert this lifelong Seattle Supersonics fan over to Blazer-Mania. Who should I love? How much should I love them? Who's getting passed over as far as the Hall of Fame? Are you excited to have a line-up of Roy, Bayless, Oden, Fernandez, and Aldridge? (If my names are wrong I apologize...)

I never thought I'd say this with conviction, but let's go. Blazers.

--GoodKeith

As some of you who contributed to the softball post had seen, the great RED will be gracing softball'ers with his presence. However, he announced he would have to leave as he was being treated to a birthday dinner at Ipanema, a fantastic place for lunch and dinner (and do enjoy a caiparinha for me, dude).

With that I would like to be the first from this community to wish Red an extremely happy birthday! Here's to you and all the joy you have provided us, from the entertaining signs to the dances to the bobblehead that is larger than life to showing up to our last softball game in a Jose Canseco jersey.

--GoodKeith

So it was great to see everyone at the meeting and the event (except for you, Graham...). A couple highlights in case you missed it:

Saturday after the official meeting a few of the LL'ers were talking outside of the Seattle Library. Jeff (our fearless leader) starts getting into it with Brett about softball the next day, and then acts out what's going to happen when Brett pitches to Jeff (homerun, combined with Sammy Sosa's theatrics and some extracurriculars). That is generally forgotten until...

Sunday! Softball day. Jeff's having a rough go at the softball thing when all of a sudden he steps up to the plate and Brett's pitching. What happens? Boom, homerun, and myself, Red, tworsandtwols and the baserunners all turn home plate into a walk-off jump station.

Lookout Landing softball... where calling your shot, realizing your potential, and ignoring the local sports team all make for an amazing day. Can't wait for the next one.

--GoodKeith

Just a question for those intending on going to the meet-up in about two weeks... I'll be heading in, most likely from a Greyhound bus (stops over on 9th Avenue, two miles from the stadium...) and probably coming in a little bit early. In that case I was wondering if anyone'd be down to do a quick meet-up for lunch that day near the site. If this has already been planned out, forgive my cluelessness, it's the only thing that keeps me going these days.

Also I'm taking suggestions for a custom T-Shirt, if you want to throw any my way it will be done... if it's better than my idea. What's my idea? I can't tell you.

Here's to the good life -- GoodKeith

So myself and a friend (who are both wildly addicted to soccer... also I'm looking to go to a sporting event in which I don't have to work) are going to head to today's Sounders game (5-18-08)... anyone have any advice for pre-game festivities, avoiding Safeco traffic, or what to scream and yell during the game? (Something like Save Our Sonics, MLS, or Brazil Sucks... three more words. That's good.)

--GoodKeith

But any LL'ers up near Bellingham who plan to go down to the softball game? I know this is a super longshot but I thought it was worth asking. Once.

And AK1984, you will be alright. Take a little time and get another job, and everything will take care of itself.

300 write-up: I was watching the game 8/23 @ TEX with family, and my aunt predicted a score of either 6-4 or 7-5. I made the remark that "Well, 9-4 would be nice."

Adam Jones made that dream a reality.

So I was going through my FaceBook friends and came across a picture of the "True Grits" steak house and decided, well, what better time than now to put the Willie Bloomquist seal of approval on it?

To make 300: Bowl a strike, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another (you're halfway there!) then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then finally one more.

From espn.com's David Schoenfield:

"The Mariners are in search of a setup guy, in part because J.J. Putz has apparently had too many four- and five-out saves this season (he's had nine).

Here's the deal: That's a good thing. It's good to have the best reliever in baseball coming in with a one-run lead in the eighth inning and two runners on rather than saving him for the ninth inning.

Plus, Putz has hardly been overused; he's on pace for 71 innings, a typical total for a closer. Also, because nobody gets on base against him, he's remarkably efficient with his pitch counts. In 28 of his 46 games, he's thrown 15 or fewer pitches. He's thrown more than 25 pitches just once.

So, Bill Bavasi, the point is managers Mike Hargrove and John McLaren should be applauded for how they've used Putz. In fact, a trade for some mediocre reliever like Octavio Dotel or Al Reyes is likely to result in a couple of extra blown saves in the eighth inning. If you're worried about the seventh and eighth innings, how about simply telling your manager that George Sherrill (.222 against righties this season, but just 31 innings pitched) is not just a lefty specialist."

If y'all have seen this, my bad.

Today's 4:07 PM PST start will be broadcast live on the CW network so FSN can televise poker until the cows come home. That's right: The same people playing the same game for five hours.

In other news, still no new microwave but I am not attempting any popcorn cookery by means of the oven. Not that desperate.

In more news: 300 characters!