For me, this season feels like a square root symbol. No really, think about it. I was excited and optimistic but was afraid it could go downhill quick. It did. After the initial nosedive, my optimism about the organization is on the upswing. I’ll be climbing until the end of September, after which my only interest in baseball will be rooting for Cliff Lee and Adrian Beltre in the playoffs, to be rekindled in December.

A lot of negativity has been running around here lately, so I’d like to take a moment and encourage people to look at the positives. Find something you want to root for in a lost season. Subplots often make or break a novel. They still make our season enjoyable too.

I’ll give you a few things I’m focusing on. Not a complete list by any means, just my top six. Bear in mind I have an irrational love of players who face an uphill climb.

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Yesterday's offtopic was probably good but I never read all the comments because I came in too late. Whatever. Because I'm lazy, I'd imagine it's time to start a new offtopic. I've become somewhat active lately after a year of lurking and another year of scattered postings, culminating in my recent name change. I'm now attempting my first offtopic, emboldened by the fact that it's 5am and I'll be asleep by the time everybody starts posting.

I thought I'd generate some topics for those with an appetite for distant lands.

1. Language- Which language would you prefer to learn, if given the choice? Which would you find most/least practical? What language is the funniest to speak or hear?

2. Place- Place in the world you'd love to go to? Place you loved? Place that sounds overrated? Place that IS overrated? Let's hear about the world.

3. Food- Favorite type of foreign food? Least favorite? Favorite foreign dish to cook? Recipes are always welcome.

4. Films- Favorite foreign film? Least favorite? Why the heck does anyone enjoy dubbed films?

5. Beer- Yeah yeah... You guys (and ladies) like your beer. Best beers from around the world!

Bonus- Your multinational(!) plane is going down and you can save 3 people from the various nations of the world. Which three nationalities would you like represented with you on a tropical island? Who might stereotypically be the most helpful? Least?

Thought I'd throw this up, paying particular attention to the Seahawks. This guy has been doing this for years and is pretty good at projecting the formula the NFL uses for comp picks. I'll paraphrase a bit for those of you who hate reading. He only projects a seventh rounder:

SEVENTH ROUND

Seattle (Floyd Womack, $950,000, 13/9)

As you know, our last offseason went something like this:

SEATTLE

Lost: Rocky Bernard, Maurice Morris, Leonard Weaver, Floyd Womack

Signed: T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Colin Cole, John Owens

Notice that some of these cancel each other out, although it might not play out exactly like this. The league could decide values a little differently. Later in the article:

If Bobby Engram qualifies, Seattle will receive a seventh-round comp pick for him immediately before its comp pick for Floyd Womack.

If John Owens does not qualify, Seattle will receive a seventh-round comp pick for Leonard Weaver, between Tennessee's comp picks for Eric King and Daniel Loper.

If Floyd Womack does not qualify, Seattle will not receive a comp pick for him.

Anyway, read through the whole article. AdamJT13 knows what he's talking about and I guarantee you'll learn something about the vague compensatory pick process.

The whole thing got me thinking about last year's free agent period. Looking at the acquisitions and with hindsight now available, do you think it was a good offseason? Bad offseason? Where could we have better spent our money?