Sunday was a busy day for me, as I headed over to the Peninsula for a hike up Mt. Ellinor (short, but very steep!) as seen on POD. Also, as seen on POD, I headed out to catch the Sounders game at new Seahawks stadium, the first official event in the controversial $400 million football palace.

First off, I need to say my piece about the Kingdome. Sure, it was neat. Sure, it was an "engineering marvel." Sure, it gave Seattle the sort of architectual prestige (along with the Space Needle) that wanna-be "big" cities need to be "put on the map" (keeping in mind this is when seattle was a one-horse town, before Microsoft, grunge music and coffee).

But it was also a dump, in that it lacked style. I'm not naive, and I realize it was More than a sound building. At 25 years old, it was a fraction into its life expectancy, and it got a bad rap as being unsafe in an earthquake. Look, an earthquake wasn't going to bring that thing down. Those ceiling tiles that fell were not structural. Once that problem was fixed, it was perfectly safe, despite various exagerations from the Seahawks, Mariners, and stupid fans. But it was still a "cheap" building. It was a no-frills place, and it completely lacked atmosphere. Some would say that "atmosphere" was created during the heyday of the 'Hawks and the '95 Mariners, but that was a case of passionate, vocal fans getting behind their team's unprecedented success.

I don't want to turn this rant into a debate about whether teams really need these extravagant stadiums to be succesful. The Mariners got Safeco field, and have had their two most succesful years in franchise history. That is a simple fact.

It is also a fact that the Mariners weren't going to survive in Seattle playing in the Kingdome. There isn't really an argument to that statement, because those that are presented are really about problems with Major League Baseball and professional sports in general. Beyond all that, with the nicest summers in the nation around here, who the fuck wants to go Inside to watch a baseball game? Ultimately, a new baseball stadium had to be built to keep the Mariners.

As we all know, it went to a public vote, which narrowly failed. If this vote had been taken 2 months later, I'm sure it would've passed, but the vote coincided with the end of the regular season in 1995, before the effect of the Mariner's amazing run that year could sink in.

And, despite what some people will try to tell you, Safeco Field was built as part of the democratic process. Sure, the public vote failed, but the state legislature then decide to take the ball and run with it. It is the Job of our elected representatives to do this type of thing. They listened to what the people had to say, mainly that even though the stadium initiative failed, they wanted the Mariners to stay. What do the Mariners need to stay? A new stadium, and they came up with a plan to build it. I wish people would realzie that the state legislature decides what to do with billions of dollars of our money every year, and if every major road project, for example, were put up to public vote, nothing would ever get done.

So the Mariners got their's. Ken Bering, then owner of the 'Hawks, called the Kingdome inadequate, and he too demanded satisfation, or he would move te team. And, frankly, who can blame him. I hated Bering as much as the next guy, mainly for driving the franchise into the ground, but did you expect this guy to listen to months of Kingdome bashing by elected officials, Mariner's officials, and countless third parties in an effort to build a new baseball stadium, then turn around a be happy with the Kingdome? Yeah, I know Bering had his own selfish interests at heart, but we, the public, Gave him his position by invalidating the Kingdome.

When Kingdome improvments, or a new stadium, weren't forthcoming, Bering moved the team to Anaheim. A 12th hour agreement, after the team had started moving their shit, gave Paul Allen an option to buy the team. Paul Allen, in turn, agreed to buy the team if a new stadium was approved.

What we got, as fans, was a great deal. Allen's sole motivation was to keep the team in town. He put up what ammounted to ernest money, or a non-refundable deposit, of million of dollars to Bering to keep open his option of buying the team. Then he proceeded to "own" the team in a weird state of flux for a year, during which the 'Hawks became major free-agent players. Although on-the-field improvements remained limited, Bering was putting serious money into a team he didn't own. Furthermore, he agreed to pay for the cost of the statewide election, as well as a signifigant amount of the building costs.

I remember thinking that this was a deal we, as the voting public, just Couldn't turn down. It was too good. The problem was, Safeco field hadn't even opened yet and it's construction was mired in delays and cost over-runs, and in That context, building another brand-apanking-new stadium just seemed... stupid, foolish, and worse.

But there was more to it than that for me. Ever since I was about 9, I had dreamed of having a top-level professional soccer team play in Seattle, in an open-air football-type stadium, before roaring cowds. Of course, I knew we had the Kingdome, but even then I knew you couldn't play soccer indoors on astroturf (the first thing I'd ban if I were made commissioner of all sports!). I remeber thinking to myself once that we could even build a retractable-roof stadium, so we could have a grass field but still have the roof if the weather was bad. You probably think I'm full of shit, but I started dreaming of this scenario 18 years ago!

So I voted for the stadium, and as I like to call it, I was one of the "soccer voters." I still believe it was Us, the soccer people who jumped on board the project woth the promise of it delivering a first-class soccer venue, that pushed the vote over the top and allowed the initiative to (barely) pass.

So now its here. There may be issues with the "plastic grass," (the Fieldturf) but it is so much better than astroturf it isn't even funny, and I'm just glad the stadium is Here.