Sunday, October 31, 2004
CLOCKED
I hope you all remembered to set your clocks back. Yes, this will make the sun rise an hour earlier on our clocks, but it also means that daylight will end freakin' early. I remember that horrible feeling in elementary school when I'd get out about 3:20 or so, board the bus, walk home, and there wouldn't be a lick of daylight left. Rain just made it worse.
First, a welcome to our sidebar for SuperSonicSoul, Sonics Nation, and Big Lo, who I know every one of you in the Seattle area has seen on television. There's no way you haven't. Also, From Basketball to Baseball.... has been active for the past two weeks, as Kris is getting juiced up for the Gonzaga hoops season.
Aaaaaaaaand, I finally got around to shoring up the weekly descriptions post. Think of it as a more descriptive archive, hence its place on the sidebar at the top of the week-by-week archives. Five months' worth of descriptions were a lot to catch up on, but alas, it has been done.
Now, the daily dose...
MARINERS
You mean Bob Finnigan couldn't pull more stuff out of the blue for a second day in a row? Aw, shucks!
FOOTBALL
I normally don't say much about college football here, mostly because I haven't been paying much attention and I really don't consider it a strong suit of mine. But man, it's a bad time for the Huskies and Cougars. Not only did the Huskies turn the ball over seven times, but the Ducks beat them 31-6 while wearing those awful yellow-with-green-trim (that's the polite way to say it, in case anyone out there is eating) uniforms. Sure, no one expected the Cougars to beat USC, but they were down 14-0 before their offense took a single snap, and State's leading rusher was punter Kyle Basler, who went 17 yards on a fake. Count me as one of the people who thought the Cougars would be good this year.
But it's always a good day when Central beats Western, this time by a score of 31-17 in Ellensburg. Western won the Battle of Seattle earlier in the year, but Central came away with the Cascade Cup thanks to 28 unanswered second-half points en route to their fifth straight win overall. The 'Cats are 6-4 overall and 4-1 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC). For me, that would have constituted a trip to Campus U-Tote-Em after the game for a chicken strip basket with fries. Lastly about the game, props to our old high school classmate JR Ross, senior linebacker for the Wildcats, who according to the Sun was fifth on the team in tackles (38) going into the game. He also had racked up 22 solo tackles, and 3.5 tackles for minus yardage. Really lastly, if they threw in the words "Colleges" and maybe "of" or an applicable word beginning with the letter "o," they could have something like the Colleges of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (COGNAC). I'm sure the administrations of the respective schools would hate it, though, and it'd turn into a big drinking game, though I'm sure mid-'80s Ozzy Osbourne would like the idea.
On to the Seahawks, Steve Kelley's got somewhat of an open letter to Mike Holmgren, and it's got pretty much everything that one would expect from someone pinning a lot of the blame for the Seahawks' recent crapporifficness on the coach.
Greg Bishop points out that this Panthers/Seahawks matchup tomorrow has definitely lost its luster compared to the fact that both teams were 5-1 after six games last year. He also points out that no team has won its division with more than two division losses since the realignment in 2002. The Seahawks currently have a division record of 1-2.
Depending on how early you read this post, be ready for all the logos of the NFL, CBS, ESPN, and a bunch of different teams to be carved into pumpkins on all the NFL telecasts. It's inevitable, really.
SONICS
Not only will you find out what Percy Allen looks like (I didn't know beforehand), but you'll be a little more ready for the NBA season after you read his NBA primer article. For me, the best line of the article was, "[d]epending on your point of view, Mike Montgomery took a demotion from Stanford to Golden State."
Conversely, the Sonics will be a little less ready for the season because Vitaly Potapenko is out 5-6 weeks with a broken finger after a collision with Ruben Patterson (insert nanny-related joke here). The positive news is that Ron Murray practiced for the first time since the first day of camp. But the Potapenko injury leads to the stark reality that not only are the Sonics paying for Vitaly's insane contract (remember, Vin Baker went the other way in the deal), Jerome James will be the starting center on Wednesday against the Clippers. The lineup overall: 1) Luke Ridnour, 2) Ray Allen, 3) Vlad Radmanovic, 4) Reggie Evans, 5) Jerome James. I'm telling you, .500 would be an accomplishment for this team.
HOCKEY
Everett doubled up Portland, 4-2. Torrie Wheat scored the third and fourth goals of the night for the 'Tips, the last of which was an empty-netter with 15 seconds left to seal the deal. Everett went 3-for-7 on the power play. Mike Wall stopped 27 of 29 for the Silvertips.
Kamloops beat Seattle, 3-2. The five-game winning streak has been snapped. The Thunderbirds did improve on the power play, going 2-for-7 with the WHL's 19th-ranked power play (out of 20 teams). Out of the two links I posted for the game, the Times link is decidedly more impartial. The T-Birds came out slow, and it cost them the game. The first goal by the Blazers was aided by Aaron Gagnon losing his stick, and Kamloops' second goal was aided by a defensive lapse. Gagnon and Zack FitzGerald scored for Seattle. Devan Dubnyk stopped 28 of 30 for the Blazers, while Josh Lepp stopped 12 of 15 for Seattle. Yes, Seattle outshot Kamloops 30-15.
Manitoba beat Binghamton, 5-3. This one was wild, as Alex Auld deservedly got the first star at Binghamton by stopping 43 of 46 (!) shots. The latter half of the second period proved to be the turning point in the game. Down 2-1, Jason King made good on a Peter Sarno rebound to tie the game, and Greg Watson of the B-Sens was whistled for holding 20 seconds later. Twenty-four seconds into the penalty, King fed Sarno, who went glove side on Billy Thompson to get the Moose a 3-2 lead. Another power play early in the third ended with a goal by Ryan Kesler goal to make it 4-2. The last two goals of the game weren't bright spots for the goalies. Neil Komadski fired one from just inside the blue line that Auld failed to come up with, and Josh Green's final goal came when he lost the handle on a puck while trying to go from forehand to backhand. The puck still went through, and it put the game away for Manitoba.
Puget Sound whooped River City, 8-4. The Tomahawks are now an insane 14-2. No true recap of this game was posted, but the Tomahawks apparently didn't have this one in doubt and definitely didn't need overtime to pull it out, and rightfully so -- the Jaguars are now 2-11 for a reason. But the little blurb on the webpage is astounding. Before this weekend, the T-Hawks had the league's top three scorers and five of the top ten. The team is averaging 5.75 goals per game. They are 7-1 at home and have the same record on the road. The next two weekends of games are at Tri-City, and the team returns home on November 19th/20th to face River City at the Bremerton Ice Arena. That's across the street from the YMCA on the east side, for any locals out there.
And now, the next week in hockey...
Tuesday: Prince George at Everett, Vancouver at Medicine Hat
Wednesday: Seattle at Tri-City, Prince George at Portland, Vancouver at Swift Current
Thursday: Utah at Manitoba
Friday: Everett at Prince Albert, Portland at Tri-City, Vancouver at Red Deer, Puget Sound at Tri-City
Saturday: Everett at Saskatoon, Seattle at Portland, Vancouver at Lethbridge, Utah at Manitoba (final game at Winnipeg Arena), Puget Sound at Tri-City
Sunday: Vancouver at Calgary
---
Enjoy your Sunday and enjoy your Halloween, everyone. I know a Seahawk win would make my day, but at this stage, I'm really afraid that a 1-5 Carolina team is really due for a win. Call me paranoid, but I'm a sports fan who's been following these teams all my life. Nothing bad surprises me anymore; I'm numb to misfortune. The only surprise for me would be when one of these teams (sans the Storm) wins it all.
Really, though, enjoy your Halloween Sunday.
[Edit ~4:06a -- Added the first link paragraph.]
First, a welcome to our sidebar for SuperSonicSoul, Sonics Nation, and Big Lo, who I know every one of you in the Seattle area has seen on television. There's no way you haven't. Also, From Basketball to Baseball.... has been active for the past two weeks, as Kris is getting juiced up for the Gonzaga hoops season.
Aaaaaaaaand, I finally got around to shoring up the weekly descriptions post. Think of it as a more descriptive archive, hence its place on the sidebar at the top of the week-by-week archives. Five months' worth of descriptions were a lot to catch up on, but alas, it has been done.
Now, the daily dose...
MARINERS
You mean Bob Finnigan couldn't pull more stuff out of the blue for a second day in a row? Aw, shucks!
FOOTBALL
I normally don't say much about college football here, mostly because I haven't been paying much attention and I really don't consider it a strong suit of mine. But man, it's a bad time for the Huskies and Cougars. Not only did the Huskies turn the ball over seven times, but the Ducks beat them 31-6 while wearing those awful yellow-with-green-trim (that's the polite way to say it, in case anyone out there is eating) uniforms. Sure, no one expected the Cougars to beat USC, but they were down 14-0 before their offense took a single snap, and State's leading rusher was punter Kyle Basler, who went 17 yards on a fake. Count me as one of the people who thought the Cougars would be good this year.
But it's always a good day when Central beats Western, this time by a score of 31-17 in Ellensburg. Western won the Battle of Seattle earlier in the year, but Central came away with the Cascade Cup thanks to 28 unanswered second-half points en route to their fifth straight win overall. The 'Cats are 6-4 overall and 4-1 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC). For me, that would have constituted a trip to Campus U-Tote-Em after the game for a chicken strip basket with fries. Lastly about the game, props to our old high school classmate JR Ross, senior linebacker for the Wildcats, who according to the Sun was fifth on the team in tackles (38) going into the game. He also had racked up 22 solo tackles, and 3.5 tackles for minus yardage. Really lastly, if they threw in the words "Colleges" and maybe "of" or an applicable word beginning with the letter "o," they could have something like the Colleges of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (COGNAC). I'm sure the administrations of the respective schools would hate it, though, and it'd turn into a big drinking game, though I'm sure mid-'80s Ozzy Osbourne would like the idea.
On to the Seahawks, Steve Kelley's got somewhat of an open letter to Mike Holmgren, and it's got pretty much everything that one would expect from someone pinning a lot of the blame for the Seahawks' recent crapporifficness on the coach.
Greg Bishop points out that this Panthers/Seahawks matchup tomorrow has definitely lost its luster compared to the fact that both teams were 5-1 after six games last year. He also points out that no team has won its division with more than two division losses since the realignment in 2002. The Seahawks currently have a division record of 1-2.
Depending on how early you read this post, be ready for all the logos of the NFL, CBS, ESPN, and a bunch of different teams to be carved into pumpkins on all the NFL telecasts. It's inevitable, really.
SONICS
Not only will you find out what Percy Allen looks like (I didn't know beforehand), but you'll be a little more ready for the NBA season after you read his NBA primer article. For me, the best line of the article was, "[d]epending on your point of view, Mike Montgomery took a demotion from Stanford to Golden State."
Conversely, the Sonics will be a little less ready for the season because Vitaly Potapenko is out 5-6 weeks with a broken finger after a collision with Ruben Patterson (insert nanny-related joke here). The positive news is that Ron Murray practiced for the first time since the first day of camp. But the Potapenko injury leads to the stark reality that not only are the Sonics paying for Vitaly's insane contract (remember, Vin Baker went the other way in the deal), Jerome James will be the starting center on Wednesday against the Clippers. The lineup overall: 1) Luke Ridnour, 2) Ray Allen, 3) Vlad Radmanovic, 4) Reggie Evans, 5) Jerome James. I'm telling you, .500 would be an accomplishment for this team.
HOCKEY
Everett doubled up Portland, 4-2. Torrie Wheat scored the third and fourth goals of the night for the 'Tips, the last of which was an empty-netter with 15 seconds left to seal the deal. Everett went 3-for-7 on the power play. Mike Wall stopped 27 of 29 for the Silvertips.
Kamloops beat Seattle, 3-2. The five-game winning streak has been snapped. The Thunderbirds did improve on the power play, going 2-for-7 with the WHL's 19th-ranked power play (out of 20 teams). Out of the two links I posted for the game, the Times link is decidedly more impartial. The T-Birds came out slow, and it cost them the game. The first goal by the Blazers was aided by Aaron Gagnon losing his stick, and Kamloops' second goal was aided by a defensive lapse. Gagnon and Zack FitzGerald scored for Seattle. Devan Dubnyk stopped 28 of 30 for the Blazers, while Josh Lepp stopped 12 of 15 for Seattle. Yes, Seattle outshot Kamloops 30-15.
Manitoba beat Binghamton, 5-3. This one was wild, as Alex Auld deservedly got the first star at Binghamton by stopping 43 of 46 (!) shots. The latter half of the second period proved to be the turning point in the game. Down 2-1, Jason King made good on a Peter Sarno rebound to tie the game, and Greg Watson of the B-Sens was whistled for holding 20 seconds later. Twenty-four seconds into the penalty, King fed Sarno, who went glove side on Billy Thompson to get the Moose a 3-2 lead. Another power play early in the third ended with a goal by Ryan Kesler goal to make it 4-2. The last two goals of the game weren't bright spots for the goalies. Neil Komadski fired one from just inside the blue line that Auld failed to come up with, and Josh Green's final goal came when he lost the handle on a puck while trying to go from forehand to backhand. The puck still went through, and it put the game away for Manitoba.
Puget Sound whooped River City, 8-4. The Tomahawks are now an insane 14-2. No true recap of this game was posted, but the Tomahawks apparently didn't have this one in doubt and definitely didn't need overtime to pull it out, and rightfully so -- the Jaguars are now 2-11 for a reason. But the little blurb on the webpage is astounding. Before this weekend, the T-Hawks had the league's top three scorers and five of the top ten. The team is averaging 5.75 goals per game. They are 7-1 at home and have the same record on the road. The next two weekends of games are at Tri-City, and the team returns home on November 19th/20th to face River City at the Bremerton Ice Arena. That's across the street from the YMCA on the east side, for any locals out there.
And now, the next week in hockey...
Tuesday: Prince George at Everett, Vancouver at Medicine Hat
Wednesday: Seattle at Tri-City, Prince George at Portland, Vancouver at Swift Current
Thursday: Utah at Manitoba
Friday: Everett at Prince Albert, Portland at Tri-City, Vancouver at Red Deer, Puget Sound at Tri-City
Saturday: Everett at Saskatoon, Seattle at Portland, Vancouver at Lethbridge, Utah at Manitoba (final game at Winnipeg Arena), Puget Sound at Tri-City
Sunday: Vancouver at Calgary
---
Enjoy your Sunday and enjoy your Halloween, everyone. I know a Seahawk win would make my day, but at this stage, I'm really afraid that a 1-5 Carolina team is really due for a win. Call me paranoid, but I'm a sports fan who's been following these teams all my life. Nothing bad surprises me anymore; I'm numb to misfortune. The only surprise for me would be when one of these teams (sans the Storm) wins it all.
Really, though, enjoy your Halloween Sunday.
[Edit ~4:06a -- Added the first link paragraph.]
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