Martin talks 'Game of Thrones' on Staten Island

Martin took over St. George Saturday for a night of fantasy, fandom and above all, baseball.

Martin was the guest of honor, and momentary leader of a record setting stadium crowd of 7,529 fans, Saturday night at the Richmond County Bank Ballpark. The ball game was full of "Game of Thrones" references, from a "dance of the dragons" to themed jerseys to an appearance from the man himself before fans.

 

"I would never run for wholesale nhl jerseys president," Martin quipped to the Advance. Martin including his thoughts on the War in Afghanistan, his upbringing in the '60s and other nuggets in the video above.

 

Martin was asked to appear at the themed night by Staten Island Yankees director of marketing Mike Holley. At the time, Martin said it sounded like a good idea, except for the part about the Yankees. Martin, who grew up in Bayonne New Jersey, is a Mets fan, he said.

 

"I said, I don't think I can do anything for the Yankees," Martin recalled. "And he said they would change the name of the team to the Staten Island Direwolves. Yankees franchise pulled out all the stops to make the game completely "Game of Thrones" ified, Martin doesn't make a whole lot of public appearances.

 

Part of the reason for his appearance here may have something to do with his earliest inspiration. Though he never traveled to Staten Island from his Bayonne housing project as a kid, he would often look across the waters in wonder.

 

"The lights of Port Richmond were like Shangri La for me," Martin said. Tolkien ("Lord of the Rings") of this generation, a title he admits is very flattering. But, there are some differences.

 

For instance, Martin said, Tolkien may write that Aragorn "ruled wisely and well for years," but what does that mean?

 

"What was his tax policy? How did the economy function? What about the class system?"

 

Also, Martin added, what happens after the book ends to the evil army of orcs?

 

"There are still tens and thousands of orcs at the end of Lord of the Rings," Martin said. "Did he pursue a policy of genocide toward them? Or did he reach out cheap nba jerseys and try to educate them? We never get answers to any of these questions. We just get 'he ruled wisely and well.'"

 

Martin has yet to conclude his series. But as he pens book after book and produces the HBO series based off the books he's keeping in mind what it really means to be a leader and what impacts that can have.

 

"That's what I try to do in showing rulers as diverse as Robert and Ned Stark and Cersei Lannister and Daenerys Targaryen show how people achieve a position of power and then what do they do with it, how do they deal with the divisions of their societies and violence and crime and economic matters."

 

Fictional leaders aside, Martin as honorary leader at the ballpark drew a record setting line of fans hoping to get a book signed by Martin stretched around the perimeter of the park, and early fans received a Dt5FW6a9x Game of Thrones themed hat.

 

The night included "Game of Thrones" trivia, a real life wolf from Martin's charity of choice, the Wild Wolf Sanctuary in New Mexico, a "Red Wedding" (of the team's mascot "Red") and a tradition that should really stick around for games to come chanting "shame" at a player (a la Cersei Lannister) anytime a bad play was made. http://www.l2info.lt/forumas/viewthread.php?forum_id=5&thread_id=4306
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