Bedard Breaks His Silence

Short, not exactly "sweet", and more disappointing than waking up from your afternoon nap, only to realize that it was all a dream, and that in real life it was Tom Brady who married Giselle Bundchen last night, and not you. That's the best description of Erik Bedard's first radio interview since becoming a Mariner that I could come up with.

I just happened to be channel flipping in my car Wednesday, when I checked to see what was on Seattle's 950 KJR. Much to my amazement, Erik Bedard was doing an interview. Yes, the same Erik Bedard who did zero interviews his first year in Seattle. The same Bedard that from all accounts, had a vocabulary similar to that of Tarzan . The same Bedard who was on the receiving end of seemingly endless media criticism over his lack of availability, his short starts, and his rumored nonexistent tolerance for pain. Yet, here he was, about to push the restart button, and begin his new life as a media darling.

In case you didn't know, Bedard is Canadian. And I'm talking, like, full on Canadian...like, lives with bears and stuff. While attempting to get a seemingly cheerful Bedard to share a little bit of background, Bedard was asked what he had been up to in the off season. His reply, "Not much. I have a 4 wheeler, so I drove that around,". 3 seconds of silence - that seemed like 10 minutes - immediately followed. When asked how the pitching shoulder he had surgically repaired in October felt, Bedard said "It feels good. It doesn't hurt." Then, out of nowhere, Bedard spit out "I've had the same friends since 2nd grade, so, you know." Yeah, there wasn't much that show hosts Gas Man and Nellie could do to make that unsolicited admission fit into conversation.

This unfortunately concludes my recap of the "highlights" from this interview. In the 6 minutes Bedard spent with the Gas Man and Nellie on KJR, he managed to prove to Mariner fans all over Seattle that silence really is golden, and maybe by sneaking out of the clubhouse every day before the media had access, Bedard was just doing fans a solid. When the universe finally showed some sympathy and mercifully brought this mess to an end, I realized that I had gone from anxiously awaiting Bedard's responses, to wishing my iPod adapter actually worked in my car, so I could save this particular trip home by pumping some Kelly Clarkson.