Wednesday, December 01, 2004
HOLA, DICIEMBRE
December is upon us. It seems like November just started yesterday. Look at it this way, I guess: the Seahawks have a new page to look at on the calendar. Four Seahawk wins in December would be extremely preferred.
Rather than try to think of something witty, I'll just dive right in...
MARINERS
Achtung! Finnigan! How can something so Wright be so wrong? A three-year offer for $15M to Jaret Wright? Sketchy. Finnigan calls Wright "a big man near the top of the rotation," and places Jon Lieber's name in the paragraph. I'd gladly have the four- or five-years-ago version of Jon Lieber on this team. He would eat up 200 innings, no problem. Of course, the current Mariner brass would grossly overpay for either version of Lieber. Everything else in the article isn't really anything that hasn't been revealed already in terms of the hot stove speculation, other than the quote of a source saying that the offers to Carlos Delgado and Richie Sexson are indeed "legit offers." The other nugget is that apparently the free-agent money the Mariners are playing with this year is now $15-16M. Finnigan's last article had a figure that wasn't blasted as aggressively in the blogosphere as I thought it would be, but our good friend Jeff Shaw took a couple of hacks at it. [Add ~1:02p -- Zumsteg noted today's article.]
SEAHAWKS
It's Fact or Fiction with Clare Farnsworth. This version isn't blatantly speculative like the version on SportsCenter where they throw crap against a wall, see what sticks, and then yell and scream about it. Andy Reid and Mike Holmgren got their head coaching jobs in Philadelphia and Seattle the same year. Holmgren is 47-46, Reid is 66-34, and is in a tie for winningest coach in Eagle history (yes, even ahead of Rich Kotite). Also, the Seahawks even in this brutal state they're in might make the playoffs and even host a playoff game because the Rams have a brutal schedule, the entire division sucks, and because the division winner of this crappy division gets an automatic playoff berth and a home playoff game. Amazing. Reminds me of past versions of the pathetic NHL Southeast Division, usually home to some of the worst 3-seeds in sports (except for the awesome Tampa Bay team of last year).
In other news, I knew something else was a bit wrong about the secondary. The Seahawks were giving up too many deep balls early in the season, and now Coach Holmgren says that Marcus Trufant is allowing too much space and too many catches in front of him. Also, Shaun Alexander doesn't like the booing. You're a great runner Shaun, but get used to it as long as this team keeps sucking.
Who wouldn't want to read a Q&A with the new punter Ken Walter? I know everyone out there right now is just brimming with anticipation. In a related story, do you think The Waterboy would have been a lot more entertaining if Adam Sandler's Bobby Boucher character was a punter instead? Well, I guess Sandler did write a song about "The Lonesome Kicker."
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
Bremerton 2004 grad Marvin Williams and the North Carolina Tar Heels are in Bloomington tonight to face Indiana at Assembly Hall as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
Huskies
You know, the tables turned pretty quickly. If it weren't for the Huskies' absolutely crazy run to make it into the tournament last year, is there any way we'd be saying that the Huskies would be favored against Gonzaga tonight? I would doubt it, even though the Huskies would be a year more experienced and the Bulldogs would still have lost a ton of players to graduation. In a secondary note, people in this region will get to see Gonzaga on TV more this year. A lot more.
Sonics
For my take on the game, scroll to the post below this one or click here.
Let me note that everything before this point in the Sonic part of the post (and usually all of them) is written before I look at the Times and P-I articles.
Fortson didn't cost them the game. But his ejection sure didn't help. A few lines ago I asked how a team could score 38 points in the fourth quarter. I didn't put one and one together -- they sent Portland to the line 21 times. I also didn't know 29 was a season-high for Rashard Lewis. Fittingly, Shareefer Madness led the Blazers with 25 points. Damon Stoudamire approves, and Rasheed Wallace would too if he were still a Blazer.
Another sick thing: the Sonics had pretty much held Zach Randolph in check up until that last clutch shot in the fourth quarter. He had four points in the first half, but had 15 in the second half.
Danny O'Neil has the damning stat of the day. The Blazers scored on 13 straight possessions in the fourth quarter, nine of which came after Danny Fortson was ousted. So that's why the roof fell in so quickly. Shareef had 10 points at the free throw line in the 4th quarter? Hell. Percy Allen also noted the call, and O'Neil references the scramble for a ball that went out of bounds with 36 seconds left. Video replay showed that Ruben Patterson had last touched the ball. Nick Collison was signaling that the ball went off Patterson's knee, and Kevin Calabro and Craig Ehlo sure thought it was going to be Seattle ball. The Blazers got the ball back with the Sonics down 96-94 (I think Vlad Radmanovic had just hit a three on the other end of the floor), and Randolph sealed the deal with a jumper. Ray Allen says that Fortson hurt the entire team. Fortson has a hilarious quote at the end of the article when he was reviewing the tapes of what he thought wasn't a flagrant foul. "If you want to see an elbow, I'll show you a (bleep) real elbow."
Also, Fortson has four flagrant foul points, one away from an automatic suspension. That's rarefied Ron Artest territory right there.
David Locke introduces us to the hybrid Reggie Fortson. Luckily Locke does eventually separate the two components in the article, but as a whole, they're scoring 14.6 points and grabbing 15.5 boards a game, and as Locke says, they're the perfect complements to one another. Reggie brings the energy, and Fortson uses a more tactical approach. Either way, the Sonics haven't been this good on the boards in a looooong time, and the fact that it's returned has been a huge part of this start they're having. The article does mention how Fortson is a better free-throw shooter, which is why he always plays the fourth quarter. When Fortson gets ejected, that leaves Reggie Evans to shoot free throws. Not good.
Upcoming...
Tonight vs. Utah
Saturday vs. Portland
HOCKEY
Jim Riley's got an article on the Everett Silvertips, who have upped the scoring this season while still maintaining their defensive prowess despite having 13 rookies.
Vancouver beat Calgary, 3-0. The Giants have now won five straight thanks to tonight's shutout effort from Marek Schwarz, who stopped all 20 shots he saw for his first WHL shutout. The Giants scored one goal in every period. JD Watt scored right out of the gate just 1:52 into the game, Andrej Meszaros scored near the midway point of the second period, and Tim Kraus put the game away on a shorthanded empty-netter with 53 seconds left in the game. The three goals were aided by some hard work by the third and fourth lines of Vancouver. The Giants outshot the Hitmen 28-20.
Tri-City beat Portland, 5-4 in overtime. Portland lost to Tri-City in overtime for the second time in five days. The Winter Hawks have been going with backup goalie Dustin Butler in net (and only him) since starter Blake Grenier was injured in their win at Vancouver on the 12th. Since then, Butler has been thrown to the fire, finishing out the game where Grenier was injured, and starting the last seven straight games, a stretch during which the backup goalie has been "a local goalie," which I know on at least one occasion has been some guy from a local rink with a set of pads that they called up. Anyway, Marcus Jonasen scored the winner for the Americans just 37 seconds into the extra period to down the Winter Hawks. Portland had an early 2-1 lead in the first period on goals by Shane Halifax and Dan Da Silva. Darrell May later tied the game at 3-3 with his goal in the second period, and a second goal by Da Silva got the Winter Hawks into the dressing room after 40 minutes with the 4-3 lead. Clayton Stoner came right out of the dressing room and got the equalizer just 37 seconds in, and the tie held up until Jonasen's goal in overtime. Portland was outshot 37-30, and Butler stopped 32.
Manitoba beat Cincinnati, 4-2. The Moose scored a goal on their first shot of the game thanks to a backhander by Jesse Schultz about halfway through the first period. Curtis Glencross put in a rebound for the Mighty Ducks to tie the game, but Lee Goren made good on the power play just 52 seconds after to give the Moose a 2-1 lead after one period. The two teams traded goals in the second period, as Joe DiPenta put the Moose ahead 3-1 with a point shot, and Glencross scored his second of the game. Brandon Nolan scored the Moose's final goal. Alexandre Burrows had three assists and was plus-3 for the Moose. The game featured Canuck goalie of the future Alex Auld, and Anaheim Mighty Duck goalie of the future (you'll definitely see him if J-S Giguere ever sucks) Ilya Bryzgalov. Bryzgalov was credited with some masterful saves in the recap at the Manitoba site. The Moose outshot the Ducks 33-21. Auld stopped 19.
Upcoming...
Tonight: Kelowna at Portland, Kootenay at Everett
Thursday: Cincinnati at Manitoba
Friday: Everett at Portland, Kootenay at Seattle, Kamloops at Vancouver, Kootenai at Puget Sound
Saturday: 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
---
Enjoy your wonderful Wednesday and the first day of December. We're creeping up on 2005. Crazy. You all realize we're only about 2.5 months away from pitchers and catchers reporting, right?
Rather than try to think of something witty, I'll just dive right in...
MARINERS
Achtung! Finnigan! How can something so Wright be so wrong? A three-year offer for $15M to Jaret Wright? Sketchy. Finnigan calls Wright "a big man near the top of the rotation," and places Jon Lieber's name in the paragraph. I'd gladly have the four- or five-years-ago version of Jon Lieber on this team. He would eat up 200 innings, no problem. Of course, the current Mariner brass would grossly overpay for either version of Lieber. Everything else in the article isn't really anything that hasn't been revealed already in terms of the hot stove speculation, other than the quote of a source saying that the offers to Carlos Delgado and Richie Sexson are indeed "legit offers." The other nugget is that apparently the free-agent money the Mariners are playing with this year is now $15-16M. Finnigan's last article had a figure that wasn't blasted as aggressively in the blogosphere as I thought it would be, but our good friend Jeff Shaw took a couple of hacks at it. [Add ~1:02p -- Zumsteg noted today's article.]
SEAHAWKS
It's Fact or Fiction with Clare Farnsworth. This version isn't blatantly speculative like the version on SportsCenter where they throw crap against a wall, see what sticks, and then yell and scream about it. Andy Reid and Mike Holmgren got their head coaching jobs in Philadelphia and Seattle the same year. Holmgren is 47-46, Reid is 66-34, and is in a tie for winningest coach in Eagle history (yes, even ahead of Rich Kotite). Also, the Seahawks even in this brutal state they're in might make the playoffs and even host a playoff game because the Rams have a brutal schedule, the entire division sucks, and because the division winner of this crappy division gets an automatic playoff berth and a home playoff game. Amazing. Reminds me of past versions of the pathetic NHL Southeast Division, usually home to some of the worst 3-seeds in sports (except for the awesome Tampa Bay team of last year).
In other news, I knew something else was a bit wrong about the secondary. The Seahawks were giving up too many deep balls early in the season, and now Coach Holmgren says that Marcus Trufant is allowing too much space and too many catches in front of him. Also, Shaun Alexander doesn't like the booing. You're a great runner Shaun, but get used to it as long as this team keeps sucking.
Who wouldn't want to read a Q&A with the new punter Ken Walter? I know everyone out there right now is just brimming with anticipation. In a related story, do you think The Waterboy would have been a lot more entertaining if Adam Sandler's Bobby Boucher character was a punter instead? Well, I guess Sandler did write a song about "The Lonesome Kicker."
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
Bremerton 2004 grad Marvin Williams and the North Carolina Tar Heels are in Bloomington tonight to face Indiana at Assembly Hall as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
Huskies
You know, the tables turned pretty quickly. If it weren't for the Huskies' absolutely crazy run to make it into the tournament last year, is there any way we'd be saying that the Huskies would be favored against Gonzaga tonight? I would doubt it, even though the Huskies would be a year more experienced and the Bulldogs would still have lost a ton of players to graduation. In a secondary note, people in this region will get to see Gonzaga on TV more this year. A lot more.
Sonics
For my take on the game, scroll to the post below this one or click here.
Let me note that everything before this point in the Sonic part of the post (and usually all of them) is written before I look at the Times and P-I articles.
Fortson didn't cost them the game. But his ejection sure didn't help. A few lines ago I asked how a team could score 38 points in the fourth quarter. I didn't put one and one together -- they sent Portland to the line 21 times. I also didn't know 29 was a season-high for Rashard Lewis. Fittingly, Shareefer Madness led the Blazers with 25 points. Damon Stoudamire approves, and Rasheed Wallace would too if he were still a Blazer.
Another sick thing: the Sonics had pretty much held Zach Randolph in check up until that last clutch shot in the fourth quarter. He had four points in the first half, but had 15 in the second half.
Danny O'Neil has the damning stat of the day. The Blazers scored on 13 straight possessions in the fourth quarter, nine of which came after Danny Fortson was ousted. So that's why the roof fell in so quickly. Shareef had 10 points at the free throw line in the 4th quarter? Hell. Percy Allen also noted the call, and O'Neil references the scramble for a ball that went out of bounds with 36 seconds left. Video replay showed that Ruben Patterson had last touched the ball. Nick Collison was signaling that the ball went off Patterson's knee, and Kevin Calabro and Craig Ehlo sure thought it was going to be Seattle ball. The Blazers got the ball back with the Sonics down 96-94 (I think Vlad Radmanovic had just hit a three on the other end of the floor), and Randolph sealed the deal with a jumper. Ray Allen says that Fortson hurt the entire team. Fortson has a hilarious quote at the end of the article when he was reviewing the tapes of what he thought wasn't a flagrant foul. "If you want to see an elbow, I'll show you a (bleep) real elbow."
Also, Fortson has four flagrant foul points, one away from an automatic suspension. That's rarefied Ron Artest territory right there.
David Locke introduces us to the hybrid Reggie Fortson. Luckily Locke does eventually separate the two components in the article, but as a whole, they're scoring 14.6 points and grabbing 15.5 boards a game, and as Locke says, they're the perfect complements to one another. Reggie brings the energy, and Fortson uses a more tactical approach. Either way, the Sonics haven't been this good on the boards in a looooong time, and the fact that it's returned has been a huge part of this start they're having. The article does mention how Fortson is a better free-throw shooter, which is why he always plays the fourth quarter. When Fortson gets ejected, that leaves Reggie Evans to shoot free throws. Not good.
Upcoming...
Tonight vs. Utah
Saturday vs. Portland
HOCKEY
Jim Riley's got an article on the Everett Silvertips, who have upped the scoring this season while still maintaining their defensive prowess despite having 13 rookies.
Vancouver beat Calgary, 3-0. The Giants have now won five straight thanks to tonight's shutout effort from Marek Schwarz, who stopped all 20 shots he saw for his first WHL shutout. The Giants scored one goal in every period. JD Watt scored right out of the gate just 1:52 into the game, Andrej Meszaros scored near the midway point of the second period, and Tim Kraus put the game away on a shorthanded empty-netter with 53 seconds left in the game. The three goals were aided by some hard work by the third and fourth lines of Vancouver. The Giants outshot the Hitmen 28-20.
Tri-City beat Portland, 5-4 in overtime. Portland lost to Tri-City in overtime for the second time in five days. The Winter Hawks have been going with backup goalie Dustin Butler in net (and only him) since starter Blake Grenier was injured in their win at Vancouver on the 12th. Since then, Butler has been thrown to the fire, finishing out the game where Grenier was injured, and starting the last seven straight games, a stretch during which the backup goalie has been "a local goalie," which I know on at least one occasion has been some guy from a local rink with a set of pads that they called up. Anyway, Marcus Jonasen scored the winner for the Americans just 37 seconds into the extra period to down the Winter Hawks. Portland had an early 2-1 lead in the first period on goals by Shane Halifax and Dan Da Silva. Darrell May later tied the game at 3-3 with his goal in the second period, and a second goal by Da Silva got the Winter Hawks into the dressing room after 40 minutes with the 4-3 lead. Clayton Stoner came right out of the dressing room and got the equalizer just 37 seconds in, and the tie held up until Jonasen's goal in overtime. Portland was outshot 37-30, and Butler stopped 32.
Manitoba beat Cincinnati, 4-2. The Moose scored a goal on their first shot of the game thanks to a backhander by Jesse Schultz about halfway through the first period. Curtis Glencross put in a rebound for the Mighty Ducks to tie the game, but Lee Goren made good on the power play just 52 seconds after to give the Moose a 2-1 lead after one period. The two teams traded goals in the second period, as Joe DiPenta put the Moose ahead 3-1 with a point shot, and Glencross scored his second of the game. Brandon Nolan scored the Moose's final goal. Alexandre Burrows had three assists and was plus-3 for the Moose. The game featured Canuck goalie of the future Alex Auld, and Anaheim Mighty Duck goalie of the future (you'll definitely see him if J-S Giguere ever sucks) Ilya Bryzgalov. Bryzgalov was credited with some masterful saves in the recap at the Manitoba site. The Moose outshot the Ducks 33-21. Auld stopped 19.
Upcoming...
Tonight: Kelowna at Portland, Kootenay at Everett
Thursday: Cincinnati at Manitoba
Friday: Everett at Portland, Kootenay at Seattle, Kamloops at Vancouver, Kootenai at Puget Sound
Saturday: 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
---
Enjoy your wonderful Wednesday and the first day of December. We're creeping up on 2005. Crazy. You all realize we're only about 2.5 months away from pitchers and catchers reporting, right?
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