Friday, November 19, 2004
THE WEEK WILL CRUMBLE
Hey, everyone, it's Friday. That's a good thing. We've got two Sonic games ahead of us this weekend, the Seahawks facing a terrible team, and the start of college basketball, with Washington, Gonzaga, and North Carolina (Marvin Williams) as the teams I'll be watching somewhat closely.
Also, if anyone near the Kitsap County area has no plans tonight (other than being bored), I encourage you to go see the 18-2 Puget Sound Tomahawks play the River City Jaguars from Beaverton. Gametime is 7:30 tonight and tomorrow night at the Bremerton Ice Arena, just across from the YMCA in East Bremerton. I believe admission is $7.50. Concessions are well below Safeco Field prices.
[Add ~10:58a -- Annette Griffus wrote a Sun piece on the Tomahawks that ran today.]
It doesn't usually fit the four-sport format I've been going with, so I have to bring it up now. It's mildly sad to see the city of Vancouver lose their annual Indycar race. On the other hand, they are preparing for those Winter Olympics that are inching closer and closer.
Now to the rest of the headlines...
BASEBALL
It appears the Mariners will be making an offer to Corey Koskie in the very near future. Would a Koskie signing surprise me? Not really. To me, it seems like their type of near risk-free move in terms of money, and they'll be able to bait some of the fans into thinking he's a cheaper choice with a decent bat and glove. This move wouldn't surprise me one bit. Though I'd have a fairly lukewarm reaction if I saw Koskie introduced as the newest Mariner at a press conference, lukewarm would be a much better reaction than the one I had when Scott Spiezio signed with the Mariners last offseason. It'd be better than when I heard Bill Bavasi tell Mitch Levy that he expected Spiezio to be able to play 150 games at third last year, though he'd played only 144 games there his entire Major League career.
In a somewhat unfair note, Corey Koskie immediately reminds me of Shawn Boskie, but only by name. Shawn Boskie was on much worse teams than Koskie was, and he also pitched for the Mariners in 1994. Does anyone else believe that a sub-.500 team could have won the AL West in 1994 if the season had been played out? I sure do.
So baseball's owners didn't approve the Expos' move right away yesterday as was expected. The vote has been moved back to the 6th of next month. There's little doubt that the move will actually happen. However, I'm just hoping for some reason that Bud Selig somehow gets egg on his face from this whole deal.
FOOTBALL
One tiny other note here before the bulk of the Seahawks' stuff, and that is that BC Lions quarterback Casey Printers has won the CFL's MVP award. The Lions are in the Grey Cup game for the CFL title on Sunday, with gametime at 1pm against the Toronto Argonauts. I also saw a story on the CBC a few days ago regarding Saskatchewan kicker Paul McCallum, who missed an 18-yard field goal that may have won the game for the Riders. It turns out that ne'er-do-wells had egged his house and his wife has answered the phone to death threats on him. Needless to say, the family was scared, and I think the report might have said that they had fled the house. Be civil, people.
The Rams had a crappy run defense going into last Sunday, and Shaun Alexander exploited that weakness. This Sunday, we'll see if a Seahawk team can run the ball enough against a 29th-ranked run defense and win the game this time.
As crappy as it's going for Seahawk Nation right now, at least the Seahawks and their fans aren't still feeling the aftereffects from Ricky Williams' pre-camp decision to roll up doobies instead of yardage.
By one Romero on another, here's Jose Miguel (and/or Greg Bishop) on Dario, an ex-Eastern Washington Eagle, ex-Edmonton Eskimo, and current Miami Dolphin, who's come a very long way from doing security at Seahawk training camps.
BASKETBALL
It's the Huskies' preview article. First off, you read the reason why it's called Hec Edmundson Pavilion (not using the corporate name in this instance) and how long ago the Edmundson era was. Then the article has some bits on recruiting, and on keeping the local kids at home. Coach Lorenzo Romar has said on occasion that losing Marvin Williams to North Carolina hurts, but I think Romar and the Huskies will get by. It should be a fun season for Husky basketball, one whose anticipation is providing hope for some of the football fans to wipe away the abhorrent action on they've been seeing on the gridiron.
Also, as a Bremertonian and former competitive opponent, I can't let Curtis Allen, who was the only notable Husky lost to graduation, be forgotten. Allen came out of Wilson High in Tacoma and tore up the Kitsap County Pee Wees up until I was in 5th grade (1992-93). I had to face him once and he was throwing from 45 feet (no mound, it's all flat ground at that age). He could pitch at the time, and I couldn't with for beans at the time, I just walked or struck out. I took three balls, then two strikes, then whiffed on the third pitch. On the flipside, this was a time when I was told I could cover a lot of ground in the outfield. This just about flipped in high school. The hitting for me came along better when Babe Ruth ball came along when I was 13 and the mound was moved back to Major League distance (waaaay more time to see the ball).
Danny O'Neil says the Sonics are combatting their lack of having a dominant post scorer/rebounder with a platoon attack of Evans/Fortson. Also, Ridnour and Daniels are splitting time at the point. If you morph the two platoons into two players, Dangie Fortvans is averaging 15.3 points and 16.1 rebounds a game (the 8.2 fouls would be impossible though) and Lukonio Ridniels is averaging 22.4 points and 9.9 assists. If Coach McMillan can keep this platoon thing going and somehow go the whole year without anyone complaining about playing time, he's Coach of the Year.
The O'Neil article has a couple of references to plus-minus in the article. On is indirect, and one is direct. In the notes section, he points out that in the past two games, opposing teams have scored 18 more points than the Sonics when Jerome James is on the floor. In the big long table that has the Sonic players' plus-minus numbers (which I'm sure David Locke is loving right now because he loves this stat), Vlad Radmanovic is leading with a plus-122 rating.
So why the great start? Some of it can be explained. In short, it's defense, rebounding, and great shooting, especially from beyond the arc. Having those three thing is always a winning combination. That's the "duh" moment of the post, brought to you by the Naturium, our county's answer to the Discovery Channel store and the Channel 9 store. It'd be damn cool if the Naturium would put up that marble tower again.
HOCKEY
Three short hockey bits...
Canuck forward and NHLPA president Trevor Linden says that it's the owners' turn to come to the table, partly since the players provided the last proposal. In a related story, Movie Night in Canada is nowhere near as good as Hockey Night in Canada.
Speaking of Hockey Night in Canada, the composer of the theme, Dolores Claman, has filed a $2.5M lawsuit against the CBC for breach of copyright and damages, basically for using the theme too much, namely in other countries and programming. She claims that the theme was only supposed to be used on HNIC telecasts within Canada. I hope there's no way they can get Comcast to mute the HNIC theme in the States if it ever plays again, if it indeed came to that. In any event, thank goodness for Jeremy finding this link at the beginning of last season.
Also, the P-I has a little Q&A with Ryan Gibbons of the Seattle Thunderbirds. Add the fact that the WHL plays a 72-game season to the long list of things I didn't previously know.
Hockey weekend...
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
---
Enjoy your Friday, everyone.
[Edit ~9:43a -- The missing link for the HNIC paragraph was added when I finally realized it was missing.]
Also, if anyone near the Kitsap County area has no plans tonight (other than being bored), I encourage you to go see the 18-2 Puget Sound Tomahawks play the River City Jaguars from Beaverton. Gametime is 7:30 tonight and tomorrow night at the Bremerton Ice Arena, just across from the YMCA in East Bremerton. I believe admission is $7.50. Concessions are well below Safeco Field prices.
[Add ~10:58a -- Annette Griffus wrote a Sun piece on the Tomahawks that ran today.]
It doesn't usually fit the four-sport format I've been going with, so I have to bring it up now. It's mildly sad to see the city of Vancouver lose their annual Indycar race. On the other hand, they are preparing for those Winter Olympics that are inching closer and closer.
Now to the rest of the headlines...
BASEBALL
It appears the Mariners will be making an offer to Corey Koskie in the very near future. Would a Koskie signing surprise me? Not really. To me, it seems like their type of near risk-free move in terms of money, and they'll be able to bait some of the fans into thinking he's a cheaper choice with a decent bat and glove. This move wouldn't surprise me one bit. Though I'd have a fairly lukewarm reaction if I saw Koskie introduced as the newest Mariner at a press conference, lukewarm would be a much better reaction than the one I had when Scott Spiezio signed with the Mariners last offseason. It'd be better than when I heard Bill Bavasi tell Mitch Levy that he expected Spiezio to be able to play 150 games at third last year, though he'd played only 144 games there his entire Major League career.
In a somewhat unfair note, Corey Koskie immediately reminds me of Shawn Boskie, but only by name. Shawn Boskie was on much worse teams than Koskie was, and he also pitched for the Mariners in 1994. Does anyone else believe that a sub-.500 team could have won the AL West in 1994 if the season had been played out? I sure do.
So baseball's owners didn't approve the Expos' move right away yesterday as was expected. The vote has been moved back to the 6th of next month. There's little doubt that the move will actually happen. However, I'm just hoping for some reason that Bud Selig somehow gets egg on his face from this whole deal.
FOOTBALL
One tiny other note here before the bulk of the Seahawks' stuff, and that is that BC Lions quarterback Casey Printers has won the CFL's MVP award. The Lions are in the Grey Cup game for the CFL title on Sunday, with gametime at 1pm against the Toronto Argonauts. I also saw a story on the CBC a few days ago regarding Saskatchewan kicker Paul McCallum, who missed an 18-yard field goal that may have won the game for the Riders. It turns out that ne'er-do-wells had egged his house and his wife has answered the phone to death threats on him. Needless to say, the family was scared, and I think the report might have said that they had fled the house. Be civil, people.
The Rams had a crappy run defense going into last Sunday, and Shaun Alexander exploited that weakness. This Sunday, we'll see if a Seahawk team can run the ball enough against a 29th-ranked run defense and win the game this time.
As crappy as it's going for Seahawk Nation right now, at least the Seahawks and their fans aren't still feeling the aftereffects from Ricky Williams' pre-camp decision to roll up doobies instead of yardage.
By one Romero on another, here's Jose Miguel (and/or Greg Bishop) on Dario, an ex-Eastern Washington Eagle, ex-Edmonton Eskimo, and current Miami Dolphin, who's come a very long way from doing security at Seahawk training camps.
BASKETBALL
It's the Huskies' preview article. First off, you read the reason why it's called Hec Edmundson Pavilion (not using the corporate name in this instance) and how long ago the Edmundson era was. Then the article has some bits on recruiting, and on keeping the local kids at home. Coach Lorenzo Romar has said on occasion that losing Marvin Williams to North Carolina hurts, but I think Romar and the Huskies will get by. It should be a fun season for Husky basketball, one whose anticipation is providing hope for some of the football fans to wipe away the abhorrent action on they've been seeing on the gridiron.
Also, as a Bremertonian and former competitive opponent, I can't let Curtis Allen, who was the only notable Husky lost to graduation, be forgotten. Allen came out of Wilson High in Tacoma and tore up the Kitsap County Pee Wees up until I was in 5th grade (1992-93). I had to face him once and he was throwing from 45 feet (no mound, it's all flat ground at that age). He could pitch at the time, and I couldn't with for beans at the time, I just walked or struck out. I took three balls, then two strikes, then whiffed on the third pitch. On the flipside, this was a time when I was told I could cover a lot of ground in the outfield. This just about flipped in high school. The hitting for me came along better when Babe Ruth ball came along when I was 13 and the mound was moved back to Major League distance (waaaay more time to see the ball).
Danny O'Neil says the Sonics are combatting their lack of having a dominant post scorer/rebounder with a platoon attack of Evans/Fortson. Also, Ridnour and Daniels are splitting time at the point. If you morph the two platoons into two players, Dangie Fortvans is averaging 15.3 points and 16.1 rebounds a game (the 8.2 fouls would be impossible though) and Lukonio Ridniels is averaging 22.4 points and 9.9 assists. If Coach McMillan can keep this platoon thing going and somehow go the whole year without anyone complaining about playing time, he's Coach of the Year.
The O'Neil article has a couple of references to plus-minus in the article. On is indirect, and one is direct. In the notes section, he points out that in the past two games, opposing teams have scored 18 more points than the Sonics when Jerome James is on the floor. In the big long table that has the Sonic players' plus-minus numbers (which I'm sure David Locke is loving right now because he loves this stat), Vlad Radmanovic is leading with a plus-122 rating.
So why the great start? Some of it can be explained. In short, it's defense, rebounding, and great shooting, especially from beyond the arc. Having those three thing is always a winning combination. That's the "duh" moment of the post, brought to you by the Naturium, our county's answer to the Discovery Channel store and the Channel 9 store. It'd be damn cool if the Naturium would put up that marble tower again.
HOCKEY
Three short hockey bits...
Canuck forward and NHLPA president Trevor Linden says that it's the owners' turn to come to the table, partly since the players provided the last proposal. In a related story, Movie Night in Canada is nowhere near as good as Hockey Night in Canada.
Speaking of Hockey Night in Canada, the composer of the theme, Dolores Claman, has filed a $2.5M lawsuit against the CBC for breach of copyright and damages, basically for using the theme too much, namely in other countries and programming. She claims that the theme was only supposed to be used on HNIC telecasts within Canada. I hope there's no way they can get Comcast to mute the HNIC theme in the States if it ever plays again, if it indeed came to that. In any event, thank goodness for Jeremy finding this link at the beginning of last season.
Also, the P-I has a little Q&A with Ryan Gibbons of the Seattle Thunderbirds. Add the fact that the WHL plays a 72-game season to the long list of things I didn't previously know.
Hockey weekend...
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
---
Enjoy your Friday, everyone.
[Edit ~9:43a -- The missing link for the HNIC paragraph was added when I finally realized it was missing.]
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