Monday, November 15, 2004
MOROSE MONDAY
Well, one supposedly good team is left picking up the pieces while the other supposedly bad one wins. I tried to do some ridiculous research in the infancy of Sports and B's where I took some past schedules (Sonics and Mariners, I believe) and tried to crunch numbers and try to prove my inference that no two Seattle teams win on the same day. I used to notice this in the '90s when the Sonics were good and they'd lose big games or playoff games and the Mariners would be sucking that year, but they'd win. I think my findings were feeble at best, but today the Seahawks blew a must-win game, and the Sonics won.
It's soul-searching time!! Worse yet, it's Monday!! I challenge any of you with water coolers at work to refrain from talking about the Seahawks as long as possible. I'm not sure if this will help you deal with it easier, or if it will just bottle up your anger. If it's the latter, please talk about the Seahawks at work, because I wouldn't want you bringing that anger back home.
BASEBALL
Say you're a fan of the San Francisco Giants. You had Deivi Cruz play shortstop last year, and now you also have Omar Vizquel. I can't say I'd know how to react. I think I'd be bewildered.
FOOTBALL
Hey, guess what? There's some happy football news after all!!
Duncan O'Mahony kicked a 40-yard field goal in overtime to catapult the BC Lions past the Saskatchewan Rough Riders by a score of 27-25, advancing them to the Grey Cup game against the Toronto Argonauts next Sunday. The Riders had a 24-21 lead with 1:05 left in regulation. On the only Saskatchewan possession of overtime, kicker Paul McCallum missed an 18-yard field goal. Now I know the hash marks are a lot further apart in the CFL and that could have been a sharp angle attempt, but 18 yards?!!?! Congrats to the BC Lions. I've drank out of their water coolers before at baseball camp, so there's somewhat of a personal tie to this.
Now to that other team...
I put in my game post that I was ticked at Hasselbeck for that interception, when in fact Jerramy Stevens had stopped on his route.
Basically, the Rams threw the ball at will on their first two possessions and the game was over. The Rams won this game in the first quarter. I can't believe that in all of the media focus that Shaun Alexander would be able to run roughshod on the Rams' 28th-ranked run defense that a lot of people forgot that the Rams' strength is their passing game and that the Seahawk pass defense sucks!! That was a much more deadly combination yesterday than the Rams' pathetic run defense combined with Shaun Alexander.
Here comes the carnage...
The Seahawks are still waiting for that big turning point. Mike Holmgren is blaming a missed block on the 4th-and-1 play. I'm blaming Holmgren for not even having Shaun Alexander on the field on that play. He can take a breather later because the defense would have been on the field forever anyway.
At first glance, one would look at Shaun Alexander's line of 22 carries for 176 yards (8 yds/carry) and probably presume that the Seahawks won the game. Nope. Too bad he didn't have any touchdowns. Small solace, but Shaun is now the NFL's rushing leader thanks to Priest Holmes not playing yesterday.
I've only read three articles (this Clare Farnsworth article is the third), and if I hear about a charley horse on the first offensive play one more time, I might just paint my room the color of vomit. Look at Farnsworth's article to see where the Seahawks had the ball on all those red-zone drives that didn't find the end zone.
Yes, the Seahawks lost even after Terreal Bierria knocked Torry Holt out of the game after what was the best defensive play of the game. They even lost despite Orlando Pace getting ejected in the third quarter after shoving an official out of the way. During the speculation of whether Grant Wistrom was going to play this week, I thought it wouldn't have mattered because Pace handled Wistrom in the last game up in Seattle, and with Wistrom having a bum knee, he'd probably do it again. But when the Seahawks couldn't muster up any sense of a pass rush all freakin' day, well, it didn't matter much.
"Just another manic Sunday." Well put, Steve Kelley. By the way, Matt Hasselbeck was 15-for-36 with 172 yards. Ick. I guess what makes these two losses to the Rams hurt is that (as Kelley says) the better team didn't win and didn't meet expectations. That is what sucks about all this.
Mike Holmgren is Mike Martz' bitch. That's pretty much what Les Carpenter is getting at. Outcoached by Mike freakin' Martz in a must-win game. I did mention at the end of my game post that I think Mike Holmgren punched his ticket out of Seattle with this loss.
Cliff Brunt has a look at how a decomposing Marshall Faulk ran up and down the field behind a Saint Louis offensive line held together by pipe cleaners, staples, and a pound of human hair.
More is never enough when you're talking about the Seahawks' red zone ineptitude yesterday.
A look ahead at the schedule. One of Farnsworth's sentences is "[t]ake care of business at Qwest Field and the Seahawks will have nine wins." The problem? One, I'm not comfortable with nine wins (remember, they barely got into the playoffs with ten wins last year) and two, the Seahawks actually taking care of business is by no means a given. They'd be at least 7-3 right now if they took just a little bit more care of business.
SONICS
For my take on the game, scroll down or click here.
Now, the dailies...
Jayda Evans has more on the Danny Fortson suspension, given after Fortson elbowed Chris Bosh of the Raptors in the head (you won't find the head part in the article) on Friday. The foul was upgraded to a flagrant foul, so there's some points on Fortson's flagrant foul record. I think it's five flagrant foul points and you get suspended for a few games. I'd check the rule right now, but it's late (the post time at the bottom of all this will show that)
Another stat in the Sonics' crazy 4th quarter -- they scored on their first five possessions. The two shots that Collison blocked were Pau Gasol's shots. Memphis center Lorenzen Wright has the quote of the season so far: "Ridnour -- or whatever the hell his name is -- he knocked down a lot of shots, too." I guess this is funny because Luke Ridnour was a much bigger star at Oregon than Wright was at Memphis, but that's just my take.
It was the Sonics' nutty shooting combined with the fourth-quarter defense that ultimately gave them a fighting chance to win this game. Jayda also brings up the behind-the-back pass by Collison for a Lewis dunk, which was quite unexpected when I was watching the game. This article disagrees with the last article, saying that one of the Collison blocks was on Shane Battier.
HOCKEY
Before the one game tonight gets mention, Team Canada's women won the Four Nations Cup over the USA. The blip says that the Canadians won the gold-medal game, but I don't see why you'd need to hand out gold medals when the tournament is the Four Nations Cup. Give those ladies a Cup, come on.
Kootenay beat Vancouver, 4-3. The Vancouver Giants have lost five straight and are in a tailspin. It's not just that they're losing, it's the way they're doing it. They've led after two periods of play in six of the last eight games and have won only two of those games. Kyle Lamb, Gilbert Brule, and Triston Grant scored the Giants' goals, as they had a 3-1 lead after 40 minutes. The Giants were outshot 28-22. Marek Schwarz stopped 24 shots. The Giants' schedule eases up, as they play six games (all at home) between now and the 3rd of December, compared to nine games in the first 14 days of November.
Next week in hockey (it's a light one)...
Wednesday: Everett at Spokane, Saint John's at Manitoba (first game at new MTS Centre)
Friday: Portland at Everett, Spokane at Seattle, Prince George at Vancouver, Saint John's at Manitoba, River City at Puget Sound
Saturday: Tri-City at Everett, Portland at Seattle, Kamloops at Vancouver, River City at Puget Sound
---
Try to have a decent Monday, everyone. Just because the Seahawks lost yesterday doesn't mean anyone should snap at anyone else if they're even getting slightly agitated by some unwelcome person. If it's for wholly other reasons, fine, but don't let the Seahawks mess with your mind -- it's not worth it. This ends the fake public service announcement by your local insane blogger, David.
It's soul-searching time!! Worse yet, it's Monday!! I challenge any of you with water coolers at work to refrain from talking about the Seahawks as long as possible. I'm not sure if this will help you deal with it easier, or if it will just bottle up your anger. If it's the latter, please talk about the Seahawks at work, because I wouldn't want you bringing that anger back home.
BASEBALL
Say you're a fan of the San Francisco Giants. You had Deivi Cruz play shortstop last year, and now you also have Omar Vizquel. I can't say I'd know how to react. I think I'd be bewildered.
FOOTBALL
Hey, guess what? There's some happy football news after all!!
Duncan O'Mahony kicked a 40-yard field goal in overtime to catapult the BC Lions past the Saskatchewan Rough Riders by a score of 27-25, advancing them to the Grey Cup game against the Toronto Argonauts next Sunday. The Riders had a 24-21 lead with 1:05 left in regulation. On the only Saskatchewan possession of overtime, kicker Paul McCallum missed an 18-yard field goal. Now I know the hash marks are a lot further apart in the CFL and that could have been a sharp angle attempt, but 18 yards?!!?! Congrats to the BC Lions. I've drank out of their water coolers before at baseball camp, so there's somewhat of a personal tie to this.
Now to that other team...
I put in my game post that I was ticked at Hasselbeck for that interception, when in fact Jerramy Stevens had stopped on his route.
Basically, the Rams threw the ball at will on their first two possessions and the game was over. The Rams won this game in the first quarter. I can't believe that in all of the media focus that Shaun Alexander would be able to run roughshod on the Rams' 28th-ranked run defense that a lot of people forgot that the Rams' strength is their passing game and that the Seahawk pass defense sucks!! That was a much more deadly combination yesterday than the Rams' pathetic run defense combined with Shaun Alexander.
Here comes the carnage...
The Seahawks are still waiting for that big turning point. Mike Holmgren is blaming a missed block on the 4th-and-1 play. I'm blaming Holmgren for not even having Shaun Alexander on the field on that play. He can take a breather later because the defense would have been on the field forever anyway.
At first glance, one would look at Shaun Alexander's line of 22 carries for 176 yards (8 yds/carry) and probably presume that the Seahawks won the game. Nope. Too bad he didn't have any touchdowns. Small solace, but Shaun is now the NFL's rushing leader thanks to Priest Holmes not playing yesterday.
I've only read three articles (this Clare Farnsworth article is the third), and if I hear about a charley horse on the first offensive play one more time, I might just paint my room the color of vomit. Look at Farnsworth's article to see where the Seahawks had the ball on all those red-zone drives that didn't find the end zone.
Yes, the Seahawks lost even after Terreal Bierria knocked Torry Holt out of the game after what was the best defensive play of the game. They even lost despite Orlando Pace getting ejected in the third quarter after shoving an official out of the way. During the speculation of whether Grant Wistrom was going to play this week, I thought it wouldn't have mattered because Pace handled Wistrom in the last game up in Seattle, and with Wistrom having a bum knee, he'd probably do it again. But when the Seahawks couldn't muster up any sense of a pass rush all freakin' day, well, it didn't matter much.
"Just another manic Sunday." Well put, Steve Kelley. By the way, Matt Hasselbeck was 15-for-36 with 172 yards. Ick. I guess what makes these two losses to the Rams hurt is that (as Kelley says) the better team didn't win and didn't meet expectations. That is what sucks about all this.
Mike Holmgren is Mike Martz' bitch. That's pretty much what Les Carpenter is getting at. Outcoached by Mike freakin' Martz in a must-win game. I did mention at the end of my game post that I think Mike Holmgren punched his ticket out of Seattle with this loss.
Cliff Brunt has a look at how a decomposing Marshall Faulk ran up and down the field behind a Saint Louis offensive line held together by pipe cleaners, staples, and a pound of human hair.
More is never enough when you're talking about the Seahawks' red zone ineptitude yesterday.
A look ahead at the schedule. One of Farnsworth's sentences is "[t]ake care of business at Qwest Field and the Seahawks will have nine wins." The problem? One, I'm not comfortable with nine wins (remember, they barely got into the playoffs with ten wins last year) and two, the Seahawks actually taking care of business is by no means a given. They'd be at least 7-3 right now if they took just a little bit more care of business.
SONICS
For my take on the game, scroll down or click here.
Now, the dailies...
Jayda Evans has more on the Danny Fortson suspension, given after Fortson elbowed Chris Bosh of the Raptors in the head (you won't find the head part in the article) on Friday. The foul was upgraded to a flagrant foul, so there's some points on Fortson's flagrant foul record. I think it's five flagrant foul points and you get suspended for a few games. I'd check the rule right now, but it's late (the post time at the bottom of all this will show that)
Another stat in the Sonics' crazy 4th quarter -- they scored on their first five possessions. The two shots that Collison blocked were Pau Gasol's shots. Memphis center Lorenzen Wright has the quote of the season so far: "Ridnour -- or whatever the hell his name is -- he knocked down a lot of shots, too." I guess this is funny because Luke Ridnour was a much bigger star at Oregon than Wright was at Memphis, but that's just my take.
It was the Sonics' nutty shooting combined with the fourth-quarter defense that ultimately gave them a fighting chance to win this game. Jayda also brings up the behind-the-back pass by Collison for a Lewis dunk, which was quite unexpected when I was watching the game. This article disagrees with the last article, saying that one of the Collison blocks was on Shane Battier.
HOCKEY
Before the one game tonight gets mention, Team Canada's women won the Four Nations Cup over the USA. The blip says that the Canadians won the gold-medal game, but I don't see why you'd need to hand out gold medals when the tournament is the Four Nations Cup. Give those ladies a Cup, come on.
Kootenay beat Vancouver, 4-3. The Vancouver Giants have lost five straight and are in a tailspin. It's not just that they're losing, it's the way they're doing it. They've led after two periods of play in six of the last eight games and have won only two of those games. Kyle Lamb, Gilbert Brule, and Triston Grant scored the Giants' goals, as they had a 3-1 lead after 40 minutes. The Giants were outshot 28-22. Marek Schwarz stopped 24 shots. The Giants' schedule eases up, as they play six games (all at home) between now and the 3rd of December, compared to nine games in the first 14 days of November.
Next week in hockey (it's a light one)...
Wednesday: Everett at Spokane, Saint John's at Manitoba (first game at new MTS Centre)
Friday: Portland at Everett, Spokane at Seattle, Prince George at Vancouver, Saint John's at Manitoba, River City at Puget Sound
Saturday: Tri-City at Everett, Portland at Seattle, Kamloops at Vancouver, River City at Puget Sound
---
Try to have a decent Monday, everyone. Just because the Seahawks lost yesterday doesn't mean anyone should snap at anyone else if they're even getting slightly agitated by some unwelcome person. If it's for wholly other reasons, fine, but don't let the Seahawks mess with your mind -- it's not worth it. This ends the fake public service announcement by your local insane blogger, David.
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