Wednesday, December 08, 2004
LOW-ARB DIET
Well, it's Wednesday. The Mariners made a couple of moves involving familiar names, the Seahawks are still sifting through the wreckage, the Sonics have their biggest test of the year so far coming tonight, and there's a big long hockey streak that could be matched tonight.
Here we go...
MARINERS
Somewhat in alignment with the title here, I wish I could bring us news of a no-arb diet, but I can't because the Mariners have an unhealthy fascination for a certain overrated lefthanded pitcher.
Know your role. Dan Wilson is on the 2005 team with a one-year deal for $1.75M. He knows Miguel Olivo has more upside and more talent. In the end, if Olivo just hangs out with Wilson throughout spring training, and if Olivo can eventually become even half as good as Wilson is in terms of blocking baseballs and calling a game, then Olivo's arm and occasional offensive pop can probably make up for the rest.
Also, Ron Villone was offered arbitration. Boo. Hey, didn't Colorado just cut Denny Neagle for soliciting a hooker? Bring us a sandwich pick!!
And yeah, Carlpalooza is underway. Zzzzzzzzzzzz.
SEAHAWKS
The Seahawks can't stop the run anymore. Of course, Anthony Simmons and Chad Brown are out. But even Marcus Tubbs (high ankle sprain, out three weeks), Ced Woodard (bruised knee), and Rashad Moore (torn rotator cuff) are banged up. As Clare Farnsworth says in the article, and as I heard countless times with Dick Fain and Ray Roberts on the KJR postgame, Julius Jones got into the end zone three times with the same damn draw play. What makes this whole ineptitude toward stopping the run such a great thing? Well, it turns out Daunte Culpepper, Curtis Martin, Michael Vick, and even Emmitt Smith at his age all have running capabilities.
My goodness, does anyone realize that Emmitt Smith is 321 yards away from a 1000-yard season with four games left? His last 1000-yard season was 2001, his last of the streak of 11 straight seasons with 1000 ground yards. Emmitt also stands at 8 touchdowns with four games left. He last had double digits in touchdowns in 1999, with 11.
You know, it's a shame that Matt Hasselbeck picked Monday's game to have his best game of the season. Yes, all 414 yards of it, down the drain.
Meet Nate Burleson. Of O'Dea. I'm predicting about 120 yards of receiving with a touchdown on Sunday. How about you?
Your eyes weren't kidding you. The Safeco Field staff did indeed put one extra L in Michele Tafoya's first name on the basepaths as the blimp flew over the first time.
BASKETBALL
Huskies
They haven't trailed since the Gonzaga game. Last night, they put a 98-69 hurtin' on the Aztecs, who are coached by ex-Michigan coach Steve Fisher. Nate Robinson had 24, Tre Simmons 23, and Bobby Jones 10 with nine boards. Fisher compared Robinson to Jalen Rose.
Sonics
The Sonics are on the road tonight to face the Spurs, which means it'd be a really good time for Ray Allen to find his jumper again.
Here's a bunch of stuff you probably didn't know about Danny Fortson. To say his life was tough growing up is probably the understatement of the century. I guess his a big facet of his game kind of echoes the upswing of his life up to this point: rebound, putback, score.
Back to on-the-court happenings, Reggie Evans and Danny Fortson have anchored the front line this year, and with smashing results so far. A special note is that Fortson is sort of short for a rebounder, but Scot Pollard has a great assessment of why Fortson gets the amount of rebounds that he does. Also, Vlad Radmanovic called this year's training camp "the best training camp ever" since it was Fortson (and not him) that was matched up against Evans on the court.
HOCKEY
I actually remembered to watch Making the Cut on the CBC last night. Jeff Brown got cut. Ouch. Next Tuesday, they're having the final episode, a two-hour finale where the GMs of the six Canadian teams will pick one player each out of the final 18 players who made the last cut at the training facility in Vernon, BC. The Rambling Hockey Fangirl will be part of the live viewing audience.
Tonight, the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League will be trying to match a 26-year-old record in the Canadian Hockey League (a combo of the Western, Ontario, and Quebec Major Junior hockey leagues). They will try to extend their start to 28-0-1, a 29-game unbeaten streak whose length would equal that of the 1978-79 Brandon Wheat Kings, who started out 25-0-4 that year. The Knights will try to match the mark on the road against the Kitchener Rangers. If they match, they can break the record at home against the Guelph Storm on Friday, a game televised in Canada on Rogers Sportsnet (not sure if that would show in BC).
Portland shut out Swift Current, 4-0. In their two previous games, Swift Current shut out Everett and was shut out by Seattle. Last night, in his 11th straight start, Dustin Butler stopped all 17 shots he faced to hand the Broncos their second shutout loss in a row. The Winter Hawks got the first goal in the first period when Braydon Coburn's shot from the point went off Dan Da Silva's skate and in (by the way, Coburn has been named to the selection camp for Team Canada's 2005 team in the World Junior Championships). Swift Current goalie Kyle Moir stood on his head in the scoreless second period as his team was outshot 22-4 in the period. In related news, Brandon Dubinsky dropped the gloves with former Everett Silvertip Barry Horman, whose slash nearly severed the finger of the former on the eve of Halloween. The Winter Hawks scored goal number two on their first shot in the third period on a Dubinsky goal. Darrell May and Da Silva (this time on a rebound) added the final two goals as Portland broke the game open in the third. As you might guess by the shot totals I'm about to reveal, much of this game was played in the Swift Current zone. Portland outshot the Broncos 53-17.
I linked to the Team Canada selection camp roster for the World Junior Championships, and I'd be remiss if I didn't link to Team USA's roster. The difference? Canada has a ton of WHL guys, and the USA has mostly college players.
Upcoming...
Tonight: Seattle at Kamloops, Vancouver at Kelowna, Spokane at Everett
Friday: Vancouver at Kamloops, Everett at Portland, Manitoba at Edmonton
Saturday: Portland at Kelowna, Seattle at Regina, Everett at Spokane, Kamloops at Vancouver
Sunday: Seattle at Brandon, Portland at Kamloops, Manitoba at Edmonton
---
Is anyone else glad that there's finally some movements with the Mariners? I know I am. My level of anticipation is slowly growing as we inch closer to the first day of Camp Hargrove at the sun-baked complex in Peoria. Just over two months...
Here we go...
MARINERS
Somewhat in alignment with the title here, I wish I could bring us news of a no-arb diet, but I can't because the Mariners have an unhealthy fascination for a certain overrated lefthanded pitcher.
Know your role. Dan Wilson is on the 2005 team with a one-year deal for $1.75M. He knows Miguel Olivo has more upside and more talent. In the end, if Olivo just hangs out with Wilson throughout spring training, and if Olivo can eventually become even half as good as Wilson is in terms of blocking baseballs and calling a game, then Olivo's arm and occasional offensive pop can probably make up for the rest.
Also, Ron Villone was offered arbitration. Boo. Hey, didn't Colorado just cut Denny Neagle for soliciting a hooker? Bring us a sandwich pick!!
And yeah, Carlpalooza is underway. Zzzzzzzzzzzz.
SEAHAWKS
The Seahawks can't stop the run anymore. Of course, Anthony Simmons and Chad Brown are out. But even Marcus Tubbs (high ankle sprain, out three weeks), Ced Woodard (bruised knee), and Rashad Moore (torn rotator cuff) are banged up. As Clare Farnsworth says in the article, and as I heard countless times with Dick Fain and Ray Roberts on the KJR postgame, Julius Jones got into the end zone three times with the same damn draw play. What makes this whole ineptitude toward stopping the run such a great thing? Well, it turns out Daunte Culpepper, Curtis Martin, Michael Vick, and even Emmitt Smith at his age all have running capabilities.
My goodness, does anyone realize that Emmitt Smith is 321 yards away from a 1000-yard season with four games left? His last 1000-yard season was 2001, his last of the streak of 11 straight seasons with 1000 ground yards. Emmitt also stands at 8 touchdowns with four games left. He last had double digits in touchdowns in 1999, with 11.
You know, it's a shame that Matt Hasselbeck picked Monday's game to have his best game of the season. Yes, all 414 yards of it, down the drain.
Meet Nate Burleson. Of O'Dea. I'm predicting about 120 yards of receiving with a touchdown on Sunday. How about you?
Your eyes weren't kidding you. The Safeco Field staff did indeed put one extra L in Michele Tafoya's first name on the basepaths as the blimp flew over the first time.
BASKETBALL
Huskies
They haven't trailed since the Gonzaga game. Last night, they put a 98-69 hurtin' on the Aztecs, who are coached by ex-Michigan coach Steve Fisher. Nate Robinson had 24, Tre Simmons 23, and Bobby Jones 10 with nine boards. Fisher compared Robinson to Jalen Rose.
Sonics
The Sonics are on the road tonight to face the Spurs, which means it'd be a really good time for Ray Allen to find his jumper again.
Here's a bunch of stuff you probably didn't know about Danny Fortson. To say his life was tough growing up is probably the understatement of the century. I guess his a big facet of his game kind of echoes the upswing of his life up to this point: rebound, putback, score.
Back to on-the-court happenings, Reggie Evans and Danny Fortson have anchored the front line this year, and with smashing results so far. A special note is that Fortson is sort of short for a rebounder, but Scot Pollard has a great assessment of why Fortson gets the amount of rebounds that he does. Also, Vlad Radmanovic called this year's training camp "the best training camp ever" since it was Fortson (and not him) that was matched up against Evans on the court.
HOCKEY
I actually remembered to watch Making the Cut on the CBC last night. Jeff Brown got cut. Ouch. Next Tuesday, they're having the final episode, a two-hour finale where the GMs of the six Canadian teams will pick one player each out of the final 18 players who made the last cut at the training facility in Vernon, BC. The Rambling Hockey Fangirl will be part of the live viewing audience.
Tonight, the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League will be trying to match a 26-year-old record in the Canadian Hockey League (a combo of the Western, Ontario, and Quebec Major Junior hockey leagues). They will try to extend their start to 28-0-1, a 29-game unbeaten streak whose length would equal that of the 1978-79 Brandon Wheat Kings, who started out 25-0-4 that year. The Knights will try to match the mark on the road against the Kitchener Rangers. If they match, they can break the record at home against the Guelph Storm on Friday, a game televised in Canada on Rogers Sportsnet (not sure if that would show in BC).
Portland shut out Swift Current, 4-0. In their two previous games, Swift Current shut out Everett and was shut out by Seattle. Last night, in his 11th straight start, Dustin Butler stopped all 17 shots he faced to hand the Broncos their second shutout loss in a row. The Winter Hawks got the first goal in the first period when Braydon Coburn's shot from the point went off Dan Da Silva's skate and in (by the way, Coburn has been named to the selection camp for Team Canada's 2005 team in the World Junior Championships). Swift Current goalie Kyle Moir stood on his head in the scoreless second period as his team was outshot 22-4 in the period. In related news, Brandon Dubinsky dropped the gloves with former Everett Silvertip Barry Horman, whose slash nearly severed the finger of the former on the eve of Halloween. The Winter Hawks scored goal number two on their first shot in the third period on a Dubinsky goal. Darrell May and Da Silva (this time on a rebound) added the final two goals as Portland broke the game open in the third. As you might guess by the shot totals I'm about to reveal, much of this game was played in the Swift Current zone. Portland outshot the Broncos 53-17.
I linked to the Team Canada selection camp roster for the World Junior Championships, and I'd be remiss if I didn't link to Team USA's roster. The difference? Canada has a ton of WHL guys, and the USA has mostly college players.
Upcoming...
Tonight: Seattle at Kamloops, Vancouver at Kelowna, Spokane at Everett
Friday: Vancouver at Kamloops, Everett at Portland, Manitoba at Edmonton
Saturday: Portland at Kelowna, Seattle at Regina, Everett at Spokane, Kamloops at Vancouver
Sunday: Seattle at Brandon, Portland at Kamloops, Manitoba at Edmonton
---
Is anyone else glad that there's finally some movements with the Mariners? I know I am. My level of anticipation is slowly growing as we inch closer to the first day of Camp Hargrove at the sun-baked complex in Peoria. Just over two months...
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