Saturday, February 26, 2005
RABBITS N' HATS
Welcome to Saturday. Hope your weekend has started off well.
For today's random note...I chatted with a past high school teacher of mine probably over a year ago, and apparently the big distraction nowadays for the young whippersnappers in high school is text messaging. It's new, fun, and dandy. Meanwhile, I don't have a cell phone, and never have had one. Nonetheless, one distraction among the high school kids in my day (i.e., just a mere 5-8 years ago) was Tetris for the TI-83 graphing calculator. Though word got around fast about it, it was totally worth it if by chance your teacher didn't know about it while you were playing it. Still, a teacher would have to wonder when you're holding a calculator like a standard video game controller. It was kind of weird because the controls were reversed from Nintendo's version of Tetris -- the right thumb did the control pad's work because that's where the arrow keys were, and the variable key (x, t, theta, or r) was the automatic drop key (left thumb), though you could gradually drop down with the down arrow key, but that's no fun. The left thumb also handled the rotation of the pieces, which I think was done with the alpha key. I seem to remember jubilation when I smashed the 50000 barrier in calculator Tetris. That was hard. Of course, the only way to ensure a high score was to start out on level 9 right away and only set up Tetrises, and never cash in three lines. Only singles and doubles, but no triples. You don't want triples ramping up the speed, and you don't get Tetris bonus points for those.
Yesterday at the Pac-10 swimming championships in Federal Way, Dana Kirk of Bremerton was on Stanford's winning 400 medley relay team, holding down the butterfly leg. She also was second in the prelims (53.59, 0.38 seconds back of first) and the final (52.64, 0.26 back) of the 100 butterfly. Dana will swim in the 200 fly today.
On TV today -- Arizona at Washington (1p, FSNNW)
To the rest of the post...
MARINERS
Okay, so Felix Hernandez done caught the eye of Mike Hargrove. At this point, everyone seems to be preferring that Felix go to Tacoma for at least a couple months, though no one is ruling out the possibility of him cracking the rotation and going north with the big club. Until then, people at camp will continue to marvel at the blazing fastball and the changeup that Adam Jones (ballplayer, not Tool bassist) calls "real heavy."
From the prospect of today to the prospect of yesteryear, Ryan Anderson is still working to try to get to the big leagues. He's going to be 26 years old in July. Simply unbelievable. Where has all the time gone? Anyway, good luck to him.
Other tidbits were passed along in the notes sections. Chris Snelling's MRI results won't be fully known until Monday after Larry Pedegana gets a hold of the images. Also, the infield popup drills got a bit dicey, and not just when Hargrove laid down some more law. Adrian Beltre and Richie Sexson nearly collided during one of the drills. It was all part of a twisted (but luckily futile) Bill Bavasi plot to have the two players morph together into an uber-player that would make $114M over nine years.
SEAHAWKS
It's kind of true; the franchise tag is kind of an oxymoron in a way. Sure, the player that gets it is obviously going to be good, but it's definitely a one-way thing, and it more than likely irks the player in some way because he won't be seeing free agency for another year. We know that Walter Jones didn't really need training camp to come in and dominate and be a Pro Bowl lineman. But if Shaun Alexander and/or his agent Jim Steiner have the cojones to hold out of Cheney next summer, hoo boy. That's not going to be pretty. Hopefully things like this don't happen to a team run by Tim Ruskell.
As Jeremy said earlier, Jerry Rice was let go by the Seahawks. If you want a Jerry Rice memory with him wearing a Seahawk uniform, just look back toward the Dallas game on Monday night, as badly as that ended up for the home team. But Jerry showed up that night.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
The Tar Heels travel to face Maryland tomorrow (2:30p, FSNNW) before hosting Florida State on Thursday (6p, local only)
Huskies
You think the game against Arizona today is a big one? There are three articles building it up as such.
The Huskies host Arizona today (1p, FSNNW) and travel to Berkeley to face the Cal Bears on Thursday (7p, not televised)
Bulldogs
The Zags host Northern Colorado on Monday (FSNNW Seattle, Q6 NBC Spokane) before starting WCC Tournament play, where they have a first-round bye. The tournament itself starts Friday.
Sonics
For my take on last night's game, scroll down a post or click here if this post is the only one on the page.
What a last 16 or so minutes of the game it was last night. The underrated contributions are probably going to be for Vitaly Potapenko, who scored in double figures despite having minutes scattered throughout the season. He didn't even get garbage time in the blowout at New Orleans. However, his contribution and defense on Kevin Garnett was incredibly key on a night when Reggie Evans only grabbed five rebounds and didn't play much. Ron Murray also had some meaningful minutes, enabling Ray Allen to get a bit of a spell on the bench. It enabled Ray Allen to be a little bit rested, which may have nurtured Allen's roll in the fourth quarter.
Upcoming...
Sunday at Milwaukee (12p, FSNNW)
Tuesday at Indiana (4p, FSNNW)
Wednesday at Cleveland (4p, FSNNW)
Friday vs. Detroit (7:30p, FSNNW)
HOCKEY
Seattle beat Kamloops 4-2. The Thunderbirds scored three times in the second period to take the lead and win. Three of Seattle's four goals came on special teams. The one that didn't ended up being the winner, which was Denis Tolpeko's late goal inside the final minute of the second period. Ladislav Scurko and Ryan Gibbons scored the first and last goals on the power play, and Aaron Gagnon scored shorthanded for Seattle's second goal. Seattle outshot Kamloops 29-24, and Bryan Bridges stopped 22.
Tri-City shut out Everett 2-0. Carey Price is good, more than good enough to shut out the Silvertips. The goalie extraordinaire stopped all 26 shots he faced. Everett outshot the Americans 26-22, and Mike Wall stopped 21.
Portland shut out Spokane 4-0. The Winter Hawks scored three times in the second period, and that was more than enough as Blake Grenier tossed a shutout in net. Dan Da Silva, Kyle Bailey, Garrett Festerling, and Cody McLeod scored for Portland. Captain Braydon Coburn was a plus-3. Portland was outshot 30-26, and Blake Grenier stopped all 30 shots.
Kelowna beat Vancouver 4-3. The Rockets turned a 2-2 tie into a much more comfortable 4-2 game after two goals 90 seconds apart early in the second period. Paul Albers scored late in the period, but the Giants never got the equalizer in the final period. Gilbert Brule and Brett Festerling scored the first two Vancouver goals. The Giants were badly outshot 41-27. Marek Schwarz stopped 37 in net.
Puget Sound beat Tri-City 5-2. I'm doubting the rest of the series will be as easy as this one., though that'd be nice for Tomahawk fans. The Tomahawks scored right out of the gate (44 seconds in), and ended up scoring three times in the first period on the way to a relatively easy victory. As is usual fare for Puget Sound, they peppered the opposing goalie with pucks, but the fact that they scored thrice in the first period set the tone for the rest of the game. After the Titans' second goal, the Tomahawks got it right back in quick fashion, 27 seconds later. Puget Sound outshot Tri-City 58-17, and Iggy Slepokourev stopped 15.
Upcoming...
Tonight: Portland at Seattle, Vancouver at Everett, Manitoba at Hamilton, Tri-City at Puget Sound (Cascade Cup semifinal -- Game 2 of best-of-5)
Tomorrow: Spokane at Seattle, Tri-City at Everett
Wednesday: Vancouver at Seattle
Friday: Portland at Vancouver, Puget Sound at Tri-City (Cascade Cup semifinal -- Game 3 of best-of-5)
---
Have a great Saturday, everyone.
For today's random note...I chatted with a past high school teacher of mine probably over a year ago, and apparently the big distraction nowadays for the young whippersnappers in high school is text messaging. It's new, fun, and dandy. Meanwhile, I don't have a cell phone, and never have had one. Nonetheless, one distraction among the high school kids in my day (i.e., just a mere 5-8 years ago) was Tetris for the TI-83 graphing calculator. Though word got around fast about it, it was totally worth it if by chance your teacher didn't know about it while you were playing it. Still, a teacher would have to wonder when you're holding a calculator like a standard video game controller. It was kind of weird because the controls were reversed from Nintendo's version of Tetris -- the right thumb did the control pad's work because that's where the arrow keys were, and the variable key (x, t, theta, or r) was the automatic drop key (left thumb), though you could gradually drop down with the down arrow key, but that's no fun. The left thumb also handled the rotation of the pieces, which I think was done with the alpha key. I seem to remember jubilation when I smashed the 50000 barrier in calculator Tetris. That was hard. Of course, the only way to ensure a high score was to start out on level 9 right away and only set up Tetrises, and never cash in three lines. Only singles and doubles, but no triples. You don't want triples ramping up the speed, and you don't get Tetris bonus points for those.
Yesterday at the Pac-10 swimming championships in Federal Way, Dana Kirk of Bremerton was on Stanford's winning 400 medley relay team, holding down the butterfly leg. She also was second in the prelims (53.59, 0.38 seconds back of first) and the final (52.64, 0.26 back) of the 100 butterfly. Dana will swim in the 200 fly today.
On TV today -- Arizona at Washington (1p, FSNNW)
To the rest of the post...
MARINERS
Okay, so Felix Hernandez done caught the eye of Mike Hargrove. At this point, everyone seems to be preferring that Felix go to Tacoma for at least a couple months, though no one is ruling out the possibility of him cracking the rotation and going north with the big club. Until then, people at camp will continue to marvel at the blazing fastball and the changeup that Adam Jones (ballplayer, not Tool bassist) calls "real heavy."
From the prospect of today to the prospect of yesteryear, Ryan Anderson is still working to try to get to the big leagues. He's going to be 26 years old in July. Simply unbelievable. Where has all the time gone? Anyway, good luck to him.
Other tidbits were passed along in the notes sections. Chris Snelling's MRI results won't be fully known until Monday after Larry Pedegana gets a hold of the images. Also, the infield popup drills got a bit dicey, and not just when Hargrove laid down some more law. Adrian Beltre and Richie Sexson nearly collided during one of the drills. It was all part of a twisted (but luckily futile) Bill Bavasi plot to have the two players morph together into an uber-player that would make $114M over nine years.
SEAHAWKS
It's kind of true; the franchise tag is kind of an oxymoron in a way. Sure, the player that gets it is obviously going to be good, but it's definitely a one-way thing, and it more than likely irks the player in some way because he won't be seeing free agency for another year. We know that Walter Jones didn't really need training camp to come in and dominate and be a Pro Bowl lineman. But if Shaun Alexander and/or his agent Jim Steiner have the cojones to hold out of Cheney next summer, hoo boy. That's not going to be pretty. Hopefully things like this don't happen to a team run by Tim Ruskell.
As Jeremy said earlier, Jerry Rice was let go by the Seahawks. If you want a Jerry Rice memory with him wearing a Seahawk uniform, just look back toward the Dallas game on Monday night, as badly as that ended up for the home team. But Jerry showed up that night.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
The Tar Heels travel to face Maryland tomorrow (2:30p, FSNNW) before hosting Florida State on Thursday (6p, local only)
Huskies
You think the game against Arizona today is a big one? There are three articles building it up as such.
The Huskies host Arizona today (1p, FSNNW) and travel to Berkeley to face the Cal Bears on Thursday (7p, not televised)
Bulldogs
The Zags host Northern Colorado on Monday (FSNNW Seattle, Q6 NBC Spokane) before starting WCC Tournament play, where they have a first-round bye. The tournament itself starts Friday.
Sonics
For my take on last night's game, scroll down a post or click here if this post is the only one on the page.
What a last 16 or so minutes of the game it was last night. The underrated contributions are probably going to be for Vitaly Potapenko, who scored in double figures despite having minutes scattered throughout the season. He didn't even get garbage time in the blowout at New Orleans. However, his contribution and defense on Kevin Garnett was incredibly key on a night when Reggie Evans only grabbed five rebounds and didn't play much. Ron Murray also had some meaningful minutes, enabling Ray Allen to get a bit of a spell on the bench. It enabled Ray Allen to be a little bit rested, which may have nurtured Allen's roll in the fourth quarter.
Upcoming...
Sunday at Milwaukee (12p, FSNNW)
Tuesday at Indiana (4p, FSNNW)
Wednesday at Cleveland (4p, FSNNW)
Friday vs. Detroit (7:30p, FSNNW)
HOCKEY
Seattle beat Kamloops 4-2. The Thunderbirds scored three times in the second period to take the lead and win. Three of Seattle's four goals came on special teams. The one that didn't ended up being the winner, which was Denis Tolpeko's late goal inside the final minute of the second period. Ladislav Scurko and Ryan Gibbons scored the first and last goals on the power play, and Aaron Gagnon scored shorthanded for Seattle's second goal. Seattle outshot Kamloops 29-24, and Bryan Bridges stopped 22.
Tri-City shut out Everett 2-0. Carey Price is good, more than good enough to shut out the Silvertips. The goalie extraordinaire stopped all 26 shots he faced. Everett outshot the Americans 26-22, and Mike Wall stopped 21.
Portland shut out Spokane 4-0. The Winter Hawks scored three times in the second period, and that was more than enough as Blake Grenier tossed a shutout in net. Dan Da Silva, Kyle Bailey, Garrett Festerling, and Cody McLeod scored for Portland. Captain Braydon Coburn was a plus-3. Portland was outshot 30-26, and Blake Grenier stopped all 30 shots.
Kelowna beat Vancouver 4-3. The Rockets turned a 2-2 tie into a much more comfortable 4-2 game after two goals 90 seconds apart early in the second period. Paul Albers scored late in the period, but the Giants never got the equalizer in the final period. Gilbert Brule and Brett Festerling scored the first two Vancouver goals. The Giants were badly outshot 41-27. Marek Schwarz stopped 37 in net.
Puget Sound beat Tri-City 5-2. I'm doubting the rest of the series will be as easy as this one., though that'd be nice for Tomahawk fans. The Tomahawks scored right out of the gate (44 seconds in), and ended up scoring three times in the first period on the way to a relatively easy victory. As is usual fare for Puget Sound, they peppered the opposing goalie with pucks, but the fact that they scored thrice in the first period set the tone for the rest of the game. After the Titans' second goal, the Tomahawks got it right back in quick fashion, 27 seconds later. Puget Sound outshot Tri-City 58-17, and Iggy Slepokourev stopped 15.
Upcoming...
Tonight: Portland at Seattle, Vancouver at Everett, Manitoba at Hamilton, Tri-City at Puget Sound (Cascade Cup semifinal -- Game 2 of best-of-5)
Tomorrow: Spokane at Seattle, Tri-City at Everett
Wednesday: Vancouver at Seattle
Friday: Portland at Vancouver, Puget Sound at Tri-City (Cascade Cup semifinal -- Game 3 of best-of-5)
---
Have a great Saturday, everyone.
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