Stephen Curry Uses Perspective to Move On, the '01 Seattle Mariners Apparently Used It As an Excuse

Stephen Curry spoke with the media yesterday and relayed this story about Riley putting basketball into perspective.

This morning, Larry Stone of the Seattle Times published a column comparing this year’s Warriors to the 2001 Seattle Mariners, another record-setting team that did not win a title. The 2001 Mariners won an MLB record 116 games, but lost to the New York Yankees in the ALCS. (Breaking the record for regular season wins hasn’t worked out for the most recent teams to do that in any of America’s four major sports leagues.) Way down towards the bottom of Stone’s column, he suggested that there were people who thought perspective led to the Mariners’ collapse. Seattle Times:

"Yet virtually everyone I’ve talked to has come back to the same conclusion. The Mariners just weren’t the same after the 9-11 attacks. The season wasn’t the same. The feel wasn’t the same. Even though they finished the regular season by winning 10 of their final 12 games (right after the first four-game losing streak of the year), the spark was gone. Maybe, deep down, it just didn’t seem quite as important to win a title when the country was in shock and mourning."

What does that have to do with anything? This is essentially, perspective as excuse. The Mariners, a group of professional baseball players, witnessed a tragedy, won 10 of 12 games, and then apparently realized that baseball was not important.

Meanwhile, the Yankees, were motivated by the same event.

"The Warriors know what it’s like playing against an elite player like LeBron James deeply motivated to win for his city. The Mariners in 2001 played an entire Yankees team that was playing for its city in an even more profound way. And not just any team — the greatest of its generation, coming off three straight World Series titles and four in the previous five years."

So the Yankees, who lost the World Series to the Arizona Diamondbacks, were defending champions like the Warriors, who lost. They were also motivated profoundly to win for their city, like LeBron James, who won. But they didn’t, just like the Mariners. Let’s see if Stone can somehow bring this one home.

"No matter what the cause, the Mariners were just a shadow of themselves in that ALCS, scoring just eight runs and hitting .167 in their four losses."

"The magic had run out. Like the Warriors, all that was left was questions, pain, and everlasting regret."

Nope. Looks like we’re just going to hit the eject button after shoehorning in an anecdote about how some people in Seattle apparently blame the Mariners ALCS loss in 2001 on 9/11. If the Mariners had decided that baseball wasn’t that important, they would have no questions, pain or regret. At least towards sports.