Now it's Lincoln on the hot seat

Now it's Lincoln on the hot seat

As I've said more than once in the past, Art Thiel is a sportswriter that I don't often agree with. That said, I find this piece of sufficient interest to hope that Mr. Lincoln has finally gotten the message, at least a little bit, that he SHOULD be concerned about his position as the Mariners' CEO.

It is barely the first two days of the post-season and already five field managers have lost their jobs. Not among them was Mike Hargrove, nor was GM Bill Bavasi, as Mr. Lincoln notified the season ticket holders last week by mail that they would be retained for the 2007 season. He later clarified that to say that, while they would be returning to manage the team,, they would be "on the hot seat" from the beginning of the season.

Frankly, this did little to placate the more verbal members of the Mariners' fan constituency, not happy with paying anywhere from $2,500.00 to $25,000.00 per season for their tickets and not having any post-season tickets to show for it. Some of the more vocal were literally calling for Mr. Lincoln's head on a platter; most just grumbling even more than usual--especially since the football season in Seattle has gotten off to a worse start than hoped for, giving them less to focus on away from the baseball season.

I'm glad to see that Mr. Lincoln finally acknowledges in a public manner that he might just be, at least a little bit, accountable for what has, and has not, come to pass since the 116 win season in 2001. It is a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, though, I am a skeptic, in a family of skeptics. I'm not going to lay out any money for season tickets until I see something positive happen before or during the winter meetings/GM's meetings; and I might even have a hard time pulling money for single game tickets out of my wallet when they go on sale early in 2007. I can sit at home and watch the same old losing ways at home for free and spend the $250+ per game on something more constructive, shall we say.

Here's hoping Messrs. Yamauchi and Kimishima, as well as Mr. Suzuki (he of the annual report to the majority owner) hold Mr. Lincoln's feet to the fire and make him live up to these latest comments. Until then, I'm outta here....WHL season started this past Saturday, and the (probably last)Sonics' season starts any day now. As for the Hawks...well, they had better get their act together during the bye week, too.