OK, so I'm coming off a cold, with a monster headache, which makes me grumpy anyway, but this week in sports has not made it any better, believe me.
My bracket for the NCAA's totally blew up in my face. "nuff said.
Baseball: Stud closer JJ Putz down with a muscle strain that caused him to blow his first save of the year. On the DL for at least two weeks. Along with the other weaknesses in the bullpen, this can bode nothing but ill (witness four losses in a row to the O's, of all people).
Then came the hip discomfort of newly acquired ace pitcher Erik Bedard, causing him to be scratched from his scheduled second outing in Baltimore (his former team home). Thankfully, that turned out to be nothing, at least THIS time. But his history of injuries the past few years is not terribly promising.
Basketball: See the above regarding the NCAA's.
NBA: "NBA? Who are they?" The NBA is dead to me now, and I think that everyone knows why. I will never watch another NBA game on TV after the regular season is over this year, nor buy tickets to any game, nor buy any of their merchandise, and will purposely boycott any and all companies that sponsor the NBA with my personal dollars. (I will, however, continue to support our local WNBA team).
My major entertainment for this summer is going to be watching and listening to how the Commish and others in the NBA hierarchy try to weasel their way out of the coming embarrassment (during the NBA finals in June) that will be the City of Seattle vs Seattle Supersonics Basketball Club, NBA, et al. It could get very interesting.
The weather: I know, I know, I live in Seattle, OK. But even I would like to see the sun at least one day a week. They tell me it is coming tomorrow or Friday. I hope so.
Football: The 'Hawks just might be going to really suck this year. Since it is Holmy's last year, they should strive to do just the opposite.
And, finally, they have come up with a name for Seattle's new MLS team and it is.......drum roll,please. Almost exactly the same as the old minor league team..Seattle Sounders FC (the FC is all that is new).
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.
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.
Now, first of all, let me clarify that, since Adam Viniateri is not available, I have absolutely nothing against the fact that the Seahawks did whatever they felt necessary to keep Josh Brown in the fold for at least another year.
Sporting News, in an article last week, indicated that Brown was a "bad kicker" and should not be retained. Ironically, Sporting News is owned by Paul Allen, who also owns the Seahawks. I don't quite get where they came up with the "bad kicker" label, though...
Consider his record of last minute, game winning field goals during the 2006 season (four, to be exact), which might just make him the best player on the team during the rash of injuries which plagued the post-SB XL year, if not the team MVP.
Consider also that tagging him will only cost the team about $2MM for the next year--basically a drop in the salary cap budget with all of the room that they will have this upcoming season.
What it also means is that the tag can't be applied to the player that most thought it might go to, tight end Jerramy Stevens. This will effectively allow Stevens to test the free agent market in the upcoming couple of months. They could apply the transitional tag, but that didn't work out so well last year with Steven Hutchinson, so the team might be a little gunshy about using it again this year,, although it should be noted that the team has advised that they intend to make every effort to sign Stevens as well.
Stevens is well known for his episodes of dropsy (the ball that is) during the 2005 season and the Super Bowl, and for taking on Joey Porter in a smack talking debate prior to that event. He had surgery prior to this past season, and was out for a period of time. He was, however, very effective in the games in which he appeared toward the end of the season.
Since the franchise tag can only be applied to one player, which one would you have chosen? Personally, I think they used it properly. Good kickers are a little harder to find than good tight ends.
I tried not to share this, I really did, but I just can't help myself....youtube.com isn't the only place with funny content on the web, truly. See whom the (failure) #### has befriended now. Make sure that you watch it all the way through, or it will fool you into thinking that it is all over when it really isn't. Just a little light entertainment for a Monday morning, but also the first shot across Nooch's bow for the Rev's pre-March Madness (just kidding, Nooch).
In addition to the publicly disseminated injuries of the bruised ribs, severely sprained MCL and broken offside hand that kept him totally out of four games, and interfered with his play in quite a few more than that, Hass has also been playing with a torn labrum on his non-throwing arm the entire season.
Whether he chooses to go with the "curative" option of a surgical labral repair, or to attempt the less definitive rehab fix, this will be a setback for the 'Hawks at the QB position at least into training camp, if not the beginning of the 2007 season.
Seneca Wallace, who stepped into the position while Hass was down during the 2006 season, did sign a one year extension before season's end, and would likely be tapped to step in again if needed. But, Hasselbeck's non-availability during mini-camps and regular preseason training could interfere with offensive line cohesion again next year, as he won't have the chance to work intensively with Deion Branch and Nate Burleson on their wide receiver/quarterback sets before the regular season begins; especially as the 'Hawks are scheduled to travel to China for an exhibition game against the Pats during time that would normally be spent getting ready for the season.
Non-surgical intervention is iffy at best and, if surgery is needed, the sooner it is done the more quickly the rehab will progress. As with MLB pitchers, it normally takes a full year (at least) to come back from this particular procedure. Even though the tear affects his non-throwing arm, the entire upper body is used in balance and assistance to throwing, so he will not be able to come back until completely rehabbed.
Bad news for 'Hawks fans, to be sure. Hopefully, he will heal quickly and be back before this time next year.
I am a 50 something health care professional transplanted to Seattle from SoCal in 2001 (and, before you ask, no, I don't want to go back). My tastes in sports are pretty eclectic, but in order of preference, I guess they would be baseball, hockey, basketball, football--col lege and pro/men and women alike. Teams I "HATE": USC (I went to UCLA); University of Michigan (born and raised in Columbus OH to a large family of OSU alumni/alumna e), and--probably most of all--the d***ed Yankees. I have worked in a variety of capacities at the MLB, NBA and NFL venues here in Seattle and at UW (hey, what true sports fan could pass up the possibility of getting paid to do something you would have done anyway (and had to pay for it)?)
