2007 has been thus far, and promises to continue to be, a year of the good, the bad and the colossally ugly in terms of Seattle sports.    And a little bit laughable, too.

This, for example, is just plain laughable.  Tony LaRussa to be the next manager of the Mariners, and bring Walt Jocketty with him as GM in a package deal?  Not gonna happen.

On the other hand, this is almost too painful to imagine, so maybe the previous paragraph is not so far fetched after all.

THE GOOD:

The Mariners when they were on their hot streak.  The starting rotation was going fairly deep into games and doing a good job of keeping opponents off balance; the bullpen was sterling; the hitters all seemed to be clicking at once; and the defense was superb.  For the first time in nearly six years, the team was in contention deep into August, hopes were high--if they couldn't catch the Angels for the division, surely they could take the wild card (which might have been preferable anyway, given the WS winning habits of wild card teams the past several years). Mariners games were popular again, people were talking about them on the streets and in the buses.

The Seattle Sounders have advanced to the USL Championship Round after convincing series victories in both the divisional round and the semi-finals. I'm not a soccer fan but, hey, it's a good thing for Seattle sports, no?

The Seahawks have started the season 2-1 (though they SHOULD have been 3-0 but for that stupid little mistake in the last minute of the Cardinals game two weeks ago).  While not looking as good as they could/should, they are looking better than a lot of people have given them credit for.

THE BAD:

The last two and a half weeks of the Mariners schedule.  What was humming along well has fallen into a shambles reminiscent of the past three years---losing, losing, losing.  Everything that was hot has grown terribly, terribly cold.  Playoff hopes over, and the inevitable round of "what if's" and "what will happen in the offseason" already beginning. 

Will there be a new field manager next year?  Probably not.  John McLaren has been in the organization too long for them to dump him after just a few months (mid-season next year if things don't get better, though, is another story).  Will there be a new GM next year?  If my (and a lot of other people's) prayers are answered with a yes, there will be, but I'm not holding my breath until I turn blue.  Will there be any constructive trades, FA signings and/or rebuilding in the off-season?  Not if the answer to question number two is "no".

Shaun Alexander's wrist fracture.  It was thought to be just a sprain, suffered in the season opener.  Turns out, the team announced yesterday, that he has a fracture.  He plans to continue to play with the game day cast he has been wearing for the past three weeks, but this cannot be a good sign.  Last year it was the foot fracture, now the wrist (has anyone checked this young man for osteoporosis or Vitamin D deficiency?  If not, why not?).  He HAS to keep playing for now, because his back up Maurice Morris was also injured in the opener and may not be back for a while.  All in all, though, this is worrisome.

UW football:  After beginning with two wins, they have now lost twice (though I won't complain much about one of them, because it came at the hands of my beloved Buckeyes).  This was to be the season that the Huskies returned to decent standings.  We'll see.

THE DOWNRIGHT UGLY:

This man and his friends,

and all that they have done to turn this city and the NBA/Sonics situation into a contentious battleground.  (If you think I'm joking, head on over to the story about the city's lawsuit against the Sonics on foxsports.com's NBA section and read some of the 17 (yes, I said SEVENTEEN) pages of comments, which consist mainly of Seattlites and Oklahomians calling each other everything but nice over this issue (and I admit that I got some licks of my own in, simply because the whole thing ticks me off royally for the way it has been (mis)handled).

I used to work at the Key Arena during Sonics and Storm seasons; I support both of the teams; and I'm going to miss the heck out of Kevin Calabro's commentary when the team is no longer here (crosses fingers and hopes that he will come in to either join or replace Dave Niehaus on Mariners commentary, because he is a pretty good baseball man, too).

As I have said on numerous occasions in the past, I am against taxpayer funding for a new arena for the Sonics.  If the new owners are astute enough businessmen that they could put together the $350MM to buy the teams, then they should be astute enough to be able to put together a private financing package to get the $500+MM arena that they want with no trouble whatsoever, and minimum burden to taxpayers that are already hurting.  I'd like both of the teams to stay here, but not at the expense of another 2-3+ percent in sales tax or whatever else it might take to finance another arena.

What it could be like in OKC if the teams end up there:  Lauren Jackson has already said that she will NOT go to OKC if the Storm is moved there. The loss of a two time league MVP is never a good thing for a team.  Kevin Durant is about the only draw that the Sonics have right now, with Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis having departed for other pastures.  Sure, the NO/OKC Hornets played to frequently sold out houses during their tenure in OKC, but that was probably as much due to the novelty of having a pro franchise in town for the first time as anything else.  If this losing team goes there and continues to lose, will they continue to play to sold out houses on a consistent basis?  I hardly think so--why pay upwards of $200 per for tickets to watch a losing team in person when you can do it at home on television for free?  (Oh, wait, will the team have as good a media contract/coverage in the vastly smaller OKC media market as they do here in Seattle?  Again, one can't be too sure).  Oh, yes, by the way, if the team is relocated to OKC or anywhere else, the SuperSonics name should stay right here in Seattle where it has been for the past 40+ years--why should they be allowed to have the goodwill and history attached to that name--let them think up their own name for the new team.

There you have it, my friends, my version of the good, the bad and the ugly, early Seattle Tuesday morning style.

Drop on by any old time.

OK, so I've been agitating for Mike Hargrove's dismissal for about a year now, along with GM Bill Bavasi.  All for, I thought, good reasons--poor trade/acquisition decisions, poor bullpen management, and not so hot on the field performance.

But never, repeat NEVER, would I have begun to thought of or conjured up what happened here in Seattle today.  Today, at 11:30 local time, Mike Hargrove officially called it quits as manager of the Seattle Mariners.

At the "tender" age of 57 (just a bit older than myself), he says that he "no longer has the passion for the game of baseball" that he feels is needed to be the M's manager.  He claims that there are no "dark, sinister, or cloak and dagger reasons for his decision", but something just doesn't feel right about that.

He says that he was not fired or asked to resign, and I don't doubt that part of it, because he was very clearly on the hot seat as recently as last month's six game losing streak, but things have turned around rather dramatically since then and there would appear to have been no reason to let him go before the end of the season at this particular moment.

So why do you walk away from a team that currently owns the longest win streak in the Majors, arguably the best closer in the business (yes, Mariano Rivera fans, JJ Putz is better than Mariano right now), and is either 1/2 or 1 game out in the AL wild card race (depending on whether or not Detroit gets swept tonight by the Twinkies)?

He looks tired, but denies that it is a health issue; and his wife Sharon looks OK, even having brought a broom to the team's sweep of Toronto this afternoon.

And I'm not the only one scratching my head here.  So are all of the analysts on Baseball Tonight; not to mention Ernie Harwell, John Miller and Joe Morgan on Sunday Night Baseball; and all of the local media.  The fact that there was absolutely no leak of this information before about 10:00 this morning our time made the news all the more surprising or, as some put it, shocking.

John McLaren, long the bench coach for Lou Piniella at the Reds, Mariners, and Devil Rays, has been named manager of the team effective tomorrow.  Note that I said manager, not interim manager.  Bavasi made sure that everyone got the emphasis on that one.  I, for one, am happy that Johnny Mac will be the new manager, because he will be a good one.  He spent enough time around Lou to have learned some of his habits, though he has made it clear that he does not plan any Mt. St. Lou type of dirt kicking, base throwing eruptions.

The players, though admitting to confusion at the sudden decision, went out and did their jobs this afternoon, taking the third game of the series from the Jays 2-1, letting Hargrove go on a winning note.  Hopefully they will continue to do so, extending their winning streak incrementally.  Can they tie the A's 20 game post All Star Break streak from a few years back?  I doubt it, but stranger things have happened in the game of baseball, that much is sure.

Hopefully, tiredness and "lack of passion" are all that there is to it, and not something gone afoul on the home and/or family front, and Hargrove will enjoy his sudden retirement.

In the mean time, carry on gentlemen, and keep winning. Good luck to Johnny Mac, as well.