Roosevelt’s community of loyal Mariners fans that keep coming back
After a lengthy, low scoring, 18 inning playoff game, the Seattle Mariners’ season ended Oct. 15. Though the game remained scoreless until the 18th inning, many fans stayed to support their team to the end.
Two weeks prior, on Sept. 30, the Mariners made it to the playoffs for the first time in 21 years — clinching the No. 2 wild card spot 2-1 against the Oakland Athletics.
Despite the Mariners’ two-decade-long playoff drought, fans have continued to hold onto hope and show up for the games through the team’s losses.
Over the years, players came and went, but the fans have always been there, win or lose. After the game where the Mariners clinched their playoff spot, “The whole stadium was cheering for at least five minutes straight,” a student who was at the game told The Roosevelt News.
At the last playoff game against the Houston Astros, even up to the 18th inning, the fans would still stand up and cheer, Roosevelt High School language arts teacher Adam Karl said.
Karl has been a fan since the Mariners were founded in 1977. “Being a Mariner[s] fan is a history of pain,” he said.
While the Mariners may not have been at the top of the ranking, he added, he has continued to come back to T-Mobile Park (formerly playing at the Kingdome) throughout the decades.
If not because of the winning, because the experience “was just a lot of fun,” Karl reflected, mentioning having attended numerous Mariners’ games throughout high school.
“It’s part of our family to go to these Mariner games,” he said. Today, Karl goes to games with his wife and two children; his children have recently started becoming fans, too.
Whether they have been a fan for a few months or since the team’s founding over four decades ago, Mariners fans are here to stay, even after the season is over.
“Next year is ours,” one Roosevelt student told TRN.
Being a fan is “a roller coaster of emotions,” another student said.
Roosevelt students and teachers have come together through the Mariners, said Ian Malcolm, Roosevelt social studies teacher. “We had a teacher night where we booked 40 tickets.”
That night was the night Mariners made the playoffs, Malcolm added. It was “a nice way to pass the time and have fun with the staff members,” he said.
The fans are bonding over loyalty to the same team, and the excitement around the Mariners.
This season “connected students at Roosevelt who are fans,” one student stated.
Another student said, “It seems like in every class there are at least a few people who are supporters, and knowing that there are others around you feeling the same feelings and watching the same team as you are is quite special.”
