Hot on the heels of Daniel Stern's latest anti-Seattle diatribe comes this little piece of information.

Major League Soccer is on the verge of announcing an expansion team into Seattle in time for the 2009 season.  Now, I am not a soccer fan per se, though I find it interesting to watch as a change of pace when the other local sports are not going well, and worked the Sounders games at the Q when it was first opened.  This team will also share playing space at the Q with the Seahawks and the concerts and other events that take place there.

Seahawks owner Paul Allen will also own part of the MLS team, as well, garnering more income (does he really need it??) for both the venue and himself; making him a three sport owner (NBA, NFL and MLS).

This cannot be BAD for Seattle, as there is quite a lively soccer community here, what with our very diverse population.

There is also talk of trying to lure an NHL team into town to become natural rivals with the Canucks a few hours north, be it an expansion team or one that already exists and is struggling in its current venue.  Few people know that the Seattle Metropolitans won the Stanley Cup some seventy-ish years ago, and that we have two good WHL hockey teams within 30 miles of each other in the Seattle Metro area now, both of which enjoy good fan support, and both of which usually  make it into the playoffs at season's end. The T-Birds will be playing in their new arena next season, as well, down in Kent (south of Seattle).

In short, will we miss the Sonics when "Cash Us Clay" (copyright Jim Caple of ESPN's Second Page....) and the commish drag them off to Oklahoma City?  Well, yes, at least I and some of my friends will, but.......don't write Seattle off as a sports town just because they go to a smaller venue where Herr Bennett already says that the Ford Center needs to be refurbished and/or another new arena built Sooner than later (pun intended.

In the immortal words of Gloria ####nor from the disco era "I (We) Will Survive.  And quite nicely, too.

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.