The wonderful irony of the mushrooming Maple Grove cheering section for Mariners pitcher James Paxton is that it sprouted from gently anti-Canadian roots.
Daniel Carroll, a Seattle resident, is a season-ticketholder who chafed at the annual cross-border invasion of Toronto fans for the Blue Jays’ series in June at Safeco Field.
Carroll planned to heckle those fans and now admits: "I kind of just wanted bodyguards." The initial group included Hillary Kirby, a graphics designer from Ferndale. But with Paxton, a Canadian, scheduled to pitch, a idea blossomed.
"We wanted it to be like King’s Court but not King’s Court," Kirby said.