WAKE-UP MUSIC
"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell

Nice, mellow, smooth and romantic -- yeah, I'm in a good mood this morning.

I'm happy even though it's only Tuesday, but my mind wants it to be Wednesday. Oh, well. I need the extra day. Lots of Mariners' reporting to get done before I return to Seattle next week. The Mariners take the field for a morning workout in less than an hour.

I have a big Eric Wedge interview this afternoon, so I'm getting prepared for that. It should be interesting. And loud.

So I Woke Up Thinking About ...

This busy day.

OK, to be perfectly honest, I couldn't ignore the talk of Carmelo Anthony (finally) being traded to the New York Knicks this morning. It's an interesting deal, but whatever, we don't have the NBA anymore, so we won't harp on it like the East Coast is. I am curious to see if 'Melo and Amare Stoudemire can thrive while playing together, though.

Anyway, I have a lot going on today, especially in this blog. I've arrived at the point where I'm writing two consistent posts a day. Today, we'll have four.

In addition to this post, I'm writing State Of The Team columns on both Washington and Seattle U. in anticipation of tonight's game at KeyArena.

But first, in a couple of hours, I'll post the weekly feature called N.I.N.E., which stands for Not Important, Nevertheless Entertaining. It's a list of nine goofy things about a certain subject. Today's topic: the most annoying excuses that athletes give in reflecting upon poor seasons.

Naturally, I'm hearing a lot of those this week as the Mariners try to explain why they were so bad, individually and collectively, last season. But it's not just the Mariners. Everyone makes the same tired excuses. It's time to expose them.

I'm working on a column about the Mariners, watching practice and writing these blog posts at the same time, so bear with me. If I can get finished with everything in time, I might even add a fifth post with some of my observations about the M's thus far.

Because I don't want to overload people, we're going to move the sports book club panel announcement to Wednesday's Morning Brew.

Have a good day.

Reminder: Join our Facebook page

Yep, bugging you about this again. Be a part of this. It's a movement! It'll be good for you -- and me.

If there ain't no mountain high enough, we can do anything.

Jerry Brewer

Fed up with my long-winded ways? Follow me on Twitter: @Jerry_Brewer. Sometimes, I don't even use all 140 characters there.