Saturday, December 04, 2004
HEADS ARE FOR SHAKING
Well, looks like the big things today are the Mariner article (which has me both laughing and shaking my head), a good Percy Allen article on Luke Ridnour, and the Tomahawks winning last night to bump their record to 21-2.
Sadly, I'll be missing Blazers/Sonics tonight because the Tomahawks will be trying to take their record to 22-2, and I'll be there. This of course means one thing: the Sonics need to have their games replayed on FSNNW like the Mariners do. Of course, I'm sure that probably would never happen, since college sports are a billion times more active this time of year than in the dead of summer. But hey, I'm up late at night, and I wouldn't mind seeing replay of the Sonics. Of course, if this is actually going on, slap me.
BASEBALL
Who doesn't love being a Seattle sports fan? It just continues!! My oh my!!! It's so bad, the Mariners can't get their way with less attractive options, let alone those considered by the fans that want Beltran/Beltre (which is not going to happen, by the way).
Wally Backman has gone from being hired to managing the Diamondbacks to being fired by the same team four days later to getting 10 days in jail for violating his proby. He could have gotten 364 days in the graybar hotel. He was ordered by the judge to stay dry until January of 2008, and that's not referring to keeping a roof over one's head.
SEAHAWKS
Clare Farnsworth has a warm piece on 1974 NFC receiving leader Charle Young, tight end and former Seahawk GM.
For the statistical standpoint on how crappy the special teams unit has been, look no further than Jose Miguel Romero. The average field position after the Seahawks kick off is the 31-yard line. Brutal.
Farnsworth also brings us the news that offensive coordinator Gil Haskell and receivers coach Nolan Cromwell, former special teams coaches both, were enlisted to assist current special teams coach Mark Michaels. I know I wasn't a big Pete Rodriguez fan last year and I thought his firing was about two years overdue. But have the special teams improved since last year? Were opposing returners getting bowled over on punts when they called for a fair catch last year? No. It was bad last year, it just wasn't this bad.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
Marvin Williams and the Tar Heels will be at home in the Dean dome in just a couple hours (9am...damn) to take on the Kentucky Wildcats. Their next game will be on the 12th against Loyola of Chicago.
[Edit ~1:09p -- North Carolina won 91-78. Marvin Williams hit a three and made another shot for 5 points. He also grabbed 4 rebounds, along with a steal in 18 minutes of play off the bench.]
Huskies
Allow Dan Raley to build up your anticipation for the Huskies' home game against Eastern tomorrow afternoon. The Huskies have seven of their next eight at home, a stretch in which they should gather up a head of steam, fix some of their weaknesses, and be able to tackle the conference schedule.
Sonics
The Force hath been used. Luke Ridnour brings a certain quickness to the court, either when pushing the ball up the court on offense and running around a maze of screens and picks, or when harrassing opposing point guards with his defensive ability. His defensive ability now is far beyond Jay Bilas' assertion on draft night: "Ridnour can't guard the chair I'm sitting in." Of course, it's those sorts of remarks out of the hacked ESPN NBA staff that make me wish TNT had the draft coverage every year. If I heard a remark like that, I want to hear it from Charles Barkley. As for the article, it touched on Ridnour's faith, his bond with Nick Collison, his gradual approach to running the team from the point, and his coexistence with Antonio Daniels. And I'm sure the cost overruns at Ridnour's house aren't anywhere close to those on Safeco Field.
I saw the headline to this article and thought it was going to be about the Sonics ability to move the basketball and find the open shooter. Nope. It turns out even the Sonics have a secret Santa thing going. I ran across one instance of a similar program in my youth that went under the name of "white elephant gift exchange." I've never heard it used again. I think secret Santa is a better name anyway.
Also, the Sonics will be a tad bit revenge-minded against the Blazers tonight. Someone remind Danny Fortson to keep his cool.
Upcoming...
Tonight vs. Portland
Wednesday at San Antonio
Thursday at Dallas
HOCKEY
Everett beat Portland, 2-1. Karel Hromas shouldered the scoring load all by his lonesome with two power play goals en route to victory for the Silvertips. Dan Da Silva of Portland had tied the game with 14:39 remaining in the third period, but was called for elbowing 12 seconds later. Hromas scored the game-winner for Everett halfway into the ensuing power play. Portland controlled much of the territorial play and badly outshot the Silvertips 30-14. When I see that statistic, it just screams Minnesota Wild. Mike Wall stopped 29 shots for Everett while Dustin Butler -- starting his 9th game in a row -- stopped 12 shots.
Vancouver beat Kamloops, 3-2. Gilbert Brule potted the Giants' first goal and the overtime winner to catapult Vancouver to the win. WHL Player of the Week Adam Courchaine scored the tying goal just 1:39 into the third period for Vancouver. The Giants outshot the Blazers 28-21, and Marek Schwarz stopped 19 for Vancouver. Courchaine, Brule, Mitch Bartley, and Max Gordichuk were all plus-2 for the Giants. Read far enough into Vancouver's recap, and you can see Matt Barkoff refer to Gilbert Brule as a possible clone of Doug Gilmour. The Giants are three points behind Kelowna and Kootenay for the division lead as well as the best record in the WHL.
Kootenay beat Seattle, 3-1. Adam Cracknell scored the first goal of the game when he got to a rebound off a shot by Ice teammate Brent Sutter and the puck went off Seattle goalie Bryan Bridges and into the net with just five seconds left in the opening period. The T-Birds got off nine straight shots in the second period before Chris Durand finally got the equalizer off of a rebound. According to Jim Riley, the KeyArena boards are "unpredictable." Damn you, Barry Ackerley! A weird bounce off the boards led to the game-winning goal by Casey Lee at 6:30 of the final period. Dale Mahovsky iced the game later with 4:14 left. Seattle outshot Kootenay 29-22. Bridges stopped 19.
Puget Sound beat Kootenai, 9-2. (Note: the following is all from memory) Twenty-one wins, two losses. I believe it was 2-1 Tomahawks after the first period. It was nearly 2-2, except one goal was disallowed because the Colts were offside on the play, though I didn't hear a whistle, and if so, it was quite late. In a related story, I haven't seen the officials "deliberate" for such long periods of time after basic scrums and penalties, and I've seen about six or eight of these Junior B games. I'm not expecting NHL-quality officiating or anything, I'm not expecting Mick McGeough/Don Koharski/Don Van Massenhoven, but that was as sketchy as I've seen it in my eight or so games I've seen this year. The Tomahawks blew the game open with a handful or so of second-period goals. One of them (I think it was the fifth) came on a crazy sequence where the puck was in front of the goalie and the net most of the time, with Puget Sound having four or five chances to jab at it and poke it in. There wasn't really a good jab on the puck that final time, but it just sort of took a high-arc bounce and went in. Then the fight began. I think at least six players went at it in front of the crease and beside the net. I think two of Kootenai's skaters (and one Tomahawk) were tossed, along with the Colts' goalie. It was insane. It took what seemed like about 20 minutes to hash out those penalties and ejections, with the PA announcer (most likely at the behest of the officials) even instructing everyone except for Tomahawk goalie Iggy Slepokourev to clear the ice. Speaking of Iggy (who was solid), though the game was pretty much out of reach going into the third, he made a great handful or so of stops on a 5-on-3 to start the third.
Upcoming...
Tonight: Vancouver at Kelowna, Kootenay at Portland, Swift Current at Everett, Binghamton at Manitoba, Kootenai at Puget Sound
Sunday: Swift Current at Seattle, Binghamton at Manitoba
---
Are you enjoying your weekend? If not (and if you have money burning a hole in your pocket), I pass along my endorsement of both Home Movies (season 1) on DVD and volume three of Aqua Teen Hunger Force on DVD. A good portion of the humor I use in my daily life is probably somehow rooted in or influenced by those two shows. If it's not those, it's probably seasons 12 through 27 of Saturday Night Live. An SNL episode-by-episode DVD set would be the mother of all DVD sets, by the way, and it'd also be the least affordable. However, I could see a DVD set of the best-of shows from every season. Has Lorne Michaels thought of this? Should I be on NBC payroll?
Yes, I've gone nuts. Enjoy your Saturday.
Sadly, I'll be missing Blazers/Sonics tonight because the Tomahawks will be trying to take their record to 22-2, and I'll be there. This of course means one thing: the Sonics need to have their games replayed on FSNNW like the Mariners do. Of course, I'm sure that probably would never happen, since college sports are a billion times more active this time of year than in the dead of summer. But hey, I'm up late at night, and I wouldn't mind seeing replay of the Sonics. Of course, if this is actually going on, slap me.
BASEBALL
Who doesn't love being a Seattle sports fan? It just continues!! My oh my!!! It's so bad, the Mariners can't get their way with less attractive options, let alone those considered by the fans that want Beltran/Beltre (which is not going to happen, by the way).
Wally Backman has gone from being hired to managing the Diamondbacks to being fired by the same team four days later to getting 10 days in jail for violating his proby. He could have gotten 364 days in the graybar hotel. He was ordered by the judge to stay dry until January of 2008, and that's not referring to keeping a roof over one's head.
SEAHAWKS
Clare Farnsworth has a warm piece on 1974 NFC receiving leader Charle Young, tight end and former Seahawk GM.
For the statistical standpoint on how crappy the special teams unit has been, look no further than Jose Miguel Romero. The average field position after the Seahawks kick off is the 31-yard line. Brutal.
Farnsworth also brings us the news that offensive coordinator Gil Haskell and receivers coach Nolan Cromwell, former special teams coaches both, were enlisted to assist current special teams coach Mark Michaels. I know I wasn't a big Pete Rodriguez fan last year and I thought his firing was about two years overdue. But have the special teams improved since last year? Were opposing returners getting bowled over on punts when they called for a fair catch last year? No. It was bad last year, it just wasn't this bad.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
Marvin Williams and the Tar Heels will be at home in the Dean dome in just a couple hours (9am...damn) to take on the Kentucky Wildcats. Their next game will be on the 12th against Loyola of Chicago.
[Edit ~1:09p -- North Carolina won 91-78. Marvin Williams hit a three and made another shot for 5 points. He also grabbed 4 rebounds, along with a steal in 18 minutes of play off the bench.]
Huskies
Allow Dan Raley to build up your anticipation for the Huskies' home game against Eastern tomorrow afternoon. The Huskies have seven of their next eight at home, a stretch in which they should gather up a head of steam, fix some of their weaknesses, and be able to tackle the conference schedule.
Sonics
The Force hath been used. Luke Ridnour brings a certain quickness to the court, either when pushing the ball up the court on offense and running around a maze of screens and picks, or when harrassing opposing point guards with his defensive ability. His defensive ability now is far beyond Jay Bilas' assertion on draft night: "Ridnour can't guard the chair I'm sitting in." Of course, it's those sorts of remarks out of the hacked ESPN NBA staff that make me wish TNT had the draft coverage every year. If I heard a remark like that, I want to hear it from Charles Barkley. As for the article, it touched on Ridnour's faith, his bond with Nick Collison, his gradual approach to running the team from the point, and his coexistence with Antonio Daniels. And I'm sure the cost overruns at Ridnour's house aren't anywhere close to those on Safeco Field.
I saw the headline to this article and thought it was going to be about the Sonics ability to move the basketball and find the open shooter. Nope. It turns out even the Sonics have a secret Santa thing going. I ran across one instance of a similar program in my youth that went under the name of "white elephant gift exchange." I've never heard it used again. I think secret Santa is a better name anyway.
Also, the Sonics will be a tad bit revenge-minded against the Blazers tonight. Someone remind Danny Fortson to keep his cool.
Upcoming...
Tonight vs. Portland
Wednesday at San Antonio
Thursday at Dallas
HOCKEY
Everett beat Portland, 2-1. Karel Hromas shouldered the scoring load all by his lonesome with two power play goals en route to victory for the Silvertips. Dan Da Silva of Portland had tied the game with 14:39 remaining in the third period, but was called for elbowing 12 seconds later. Hromas scored the game-winner for Everett halfway into the ensuing power play. Portland controlled much of the territorial play and badly outshot the Silvertips 30-14. When I see that statistic, it just screams Minnesota Wild. Mike Wall stopped 29 shots for Everett while Dustin Butler -- starting his 9th game in a row -- stopped 12 shots.
Vancouver beat Kamloops, 3-2. Gilbert Brule potted the Giants' first goal and the overtime winner to catapult Vancouver to the win. WHL Player of the Week Adam Courchaine scored the tying goal just 1:39 into the third period for Vancouver. The Giants outshot the Blazers 28-21, and Marek Schwarz stopped 19 for Vancouver. Courchaine, Brule, Mitch Bartley, and Max Gordichuk were all plus-2 for the Giants. Read far enough into Vancouver's recap, and you can see Matt Barkoff refer to Gilbert Brule as a possible clone of Doug Gilmour. The Giants are three points behind Kelowna and Kootenay for the division lead as well as the best record in the WHL.
Kootenay beat Seattle, 3-1. Adam Cracknell scored the first goal of the game when he got to a rebound off a shot by Ice teammate Brent Sutter and the puck went off Seattle goalie Bryan Bridges and into the net with just five seconds left in the opening period. The T-Birds got off nine straight shots in the second period before Chris Durand finally got the equalizer off of a rebound. According to Jim Riley, the KeyArena boards are "unpredictable." Damn you, Barry Ackerley! A weird bounce off the boards led to the game-winning goal by Casey Lee at 6:30 of the final period. Dale Mahovsky iced the game later with 4:14 left. Seattle outshot Kootenay 29-22. Bridges stopped 19.
Puget Sound beat Kootenai, 9-2. (Note: the following is all from memory) Twenty-one wins, two losses. I believe it was 2-1 Tomahawks after the first period. It was nearly 2-2, except one goal was disallowed because the Colts were offside on the play, though I didn't hear a whistle, and if so, it was quite late. In a related story, I haven't seen the officials "deliberate" for such long periods of time after basic scrums and penalties, and I've seen about six or eight of these Junior B games. I'm not expecting NHL-quality officiating or anything, I'm not expecting Mick McGeough/Don Koharski/Don Van Massenhoven, but that was as sketchy as I've seen it in my eight or so games I've seen this year. The Tomahawks blew the game open with a handful or so of second-period goals. One of them (I think it was the fifth) came on a crazy sequence where the puck was in front of the goalie and the net most of the time, with Puget Sound having four or five chances to jab at it and poke it in. There wasn't really a good jab on the puck that final time, but it just sort of took a high-arc bounce and went in. Then the fight began. I think at least six players went at it in front of the crease and beside the net. I think two of Kootenai's skaters (and one Tomahawk) were tossed, along with the Colts' goalie. It was insane. It took what seemed like about 20 minutes to hash out those penalties and ejections, with the PA announcer (most likely at the behest of the officials) even instructing everyone except for Tomahawk goalie Iggy Slepokourev to clear the ice. Speaking of Iggy (who was solid), though the game was pretty much out of reach going into the third, he made a great handful or so of stops on a 5-on-3 to start the third.
Upcoming...
Tonight: Vancouver at Kelowna, Kootenay at Portland, Swift Current at Everett, Binghamton at Manitoba, Kootenai at Puget Sound
Sunday: Swift Current at Seattle, Binghamton at Manitoba
---
Are you enjoying your weekend? If not (and if you have money burning a hole in your pocket), I pass along my endorsement of both Home Movies (season 1) on DVD and volume three of Aqua Teen Hunger Force on DVD. A good portion of the humor I use in my daily life is probably somehow rooted in or influenced by those two shows. If it's not those, it's probably seasons 12 through 27 of Saturday Night Live. An SNL episode-by-episode DVD set would be the mother of all DVD sets, by the way, and it'd also be the least affordable. However, I could see a DVD set of the best-of shows from every season. Has Lorne Michaels thought of this? Should I be on NBC payroll?
Yes, I've gone nuts. Enjoy your Saturday.
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