Wednesday, March 23, 2005
CHIPPERY
Welcome to Wednesday.
The random note today...I swear to you, I turned on The Price is Right two days ago and some guy threw two straight Plinko chips into the $10000 slot. That's beyond amazing. Though less of a rarity, both guys in the Showcase Showdown overbid on their showcases, so nobody won. Of course, that didn't hold Bob Barker back from saying "help control the pet population..." By the way, topics such as "favorite pricing game" are the type that the writers of this blog address for spans of 20-30 minutes or more apiece. Plinko rules!
To the post!
MARINERS
Raul Ibanez is having a good spring hitting the ball, so says the Hickey article. Unfortunately, this pegs the I-don't-care-ometer, right up there with the .381 average from Ramon Santiago. Stretching out Hasegawa, I can dig that a little bit. Pitchers getting in their work is important. Hitters getting in their work is important. Hitters' averages...not so much.
Bobby Madritsch fought through his less-than-sharpness yesterday. He can't possibly be as good as he was last year over the course of an entire season, but his outings were really one of the few things I looked forward to while watching this team last year.
Nate Bland does what he likes and likes what he does, lasting this long into camp having gone through two Tommy John surgeries. One is enough, I would think, but man, two...if you combined all that rehab time you'd need from one, and then have to double it...that's a lot of time not throwing a ball. Still, I find it somewhat curious that Bland's age was never revealed by Steve Kelley in the piece.
Very lastly, Joel Pineiro and Eddie Guardado threw without pain. Thar's some good news.
SEAHAWKS
Former Denver cornerback Kelly Herndon will now be a present Seahawk cornerback. Herndon was an undrafted free agent, so it's easy to think he's had to work his Krivokrasov to get to where he's been, and now it's turned into five years and $15M. He wants to be in Seattle, and someone even convinced him that the Seattle defense "gets after it." Well, maybe he plans to be a big part of that. Can we have a little more healthiness out of the Seahawk defense next year? Could we just have a little more of that? How about 13 games out of Grant Wistrom?
As reader Morgan brought to my attention yesterday in the comment boxes, and as Mike Sando reported in the Tribune the other day, Mike Reinfeldt has finally been given a spot in the organization. I was hoping they'd keep him in the organization, but I'm not sure I saw them giving him the VP of football operations post. Great deal for Reinfeldt. I'm happy for him, and I'm happy we get to see the big three free-agents back. Other than Paul Allen, I'd say that the only other guy I could credit to saving this offseason from complete disaster was Reinfeldt. He did great under pressure. I'm still amazed he got that much done.
Unfortunately, my Krivokrasov reference isn't unique. Keith Olbermann pulled that one off in a SportsCenter episode. Amazing stuff.
BASKETBALL
The Miah Davis Update
In last night's double-overtime thriller of a 128-126 loss by the Roanoke Dazzle to the Asheville Altitude, Miah Davis had 18 points on 7-for-10 shooting (he also nailed the only three-pointer he took). He was 3-for-4 from the line. He also pulled down 5 boards and had 8 assists and 3 steals in 41 minutes of play.
But what really makes me sick about that game? If you go through the "points" column for the Asheville team and find the guy on the bench that has a 30 next to his name, it's freakin' Joe Forte. I wish I was making this up.
By the way, the NBDL is expanding past Tobacco Road and the southeast. Really. Albuquerque, Fort Worth, Tulsa, and Austin.
Roanoke plays at Fayetteville tomorrow night and hosts Huntsville on Saturday night.
The Marvin Williams Watch
The Fan sent a link our way of Mark Heisler doing NBA Draft prospect rankings. Heisler just made sure everyone was 18 before he'd put them in the list, so some of it depends on whether certain underclassmen jump for the draft or not. Marvin was #2 on that list behind only Andrew Bogut. That's high. I'm hoping Marvin stays at least one more year at UNC so that he can have more of the offense flow through him and so that he and Sean May can wreak havoc on the boards for the Heels. Of course, what surprised me in the article was the "right there" section, the prospects after #30. I know college players don't necessarily translate to the NBA, but that last section is stacked.
The Tar Heels will face East 5th-seeded Villanova on Friday (6:57p, CBS)
Huskies
Bobby Jones, altitude, Romar/Pitino, and could this team be the Huskies all-time best?
The Huskies will face West 4th-seeded Louisville tomorrow (4:10p, CBS)
Sonics
For my thoughts on last night's game, scroll down a post or click here if this post is the only one on the page.
Ray and Rashard carrying this team is something to which we've grown accustomed. Ridnour and Rashard, however, would need a breaking-in period for consumption. Ridnour got himself a career high with 21 points, and served as the other option opening up the floor for Rashard Lewis to start popping threes (he made 7) or posting up (less often in this game).
Upcoming...
Tomorrow at Portland (7p, FSNNW)
Friday vs. New York (7:30p, ESPN)
Sunday vs. Washington (5p, FSNNW)
Tuesday at Memphis (5p, FSNNW)
HOCKEY
It's Everett at Portland in the first round of the WHL playoffs tomorrow night. Portland comes in having won 7 of 10. Everett tried to rest its players down the stretch. Torrie Wheat was named Everett's MVP, and Zach Hamill was the team's rookie of the year.
Upcoming...
Tomorrow: Saint John's at Manitoba
Friday: Everett at Portland (Game 1), Vancouver at Kelowna (Game 1)
Saturday: Tri-City at Seattle (Game 1), Vancouver at Kelowna (Game 2), Saint John's at Manitoba
Sunday: Everett at Portland (Game 2)
Monday: Tri-City at Seattle (Game 2)
Tuesday: Portland at Everett (Game 3), Kelowna at Vancouver (Game 3)
---
Have a great Wednesday, everyone.
[Edits ~10:02a -- cleaning up some links, adding a couple things I'd forgotten. NBDL, the Krivokrasov link, the WHL playoff link, and the Marvin thing.]
The random note today...I swear to you, I turned on The Price is Right two days ago and some guy threw two straight Plinko chips into the $10000 slot. That's beyond amazing. Though less of a rarity, both guys in the Showcase Showdown overbid on their showcases, so nobody won. Of course, that didn't hold Bob Barker back from saying "help control the pet population..." By the way, topics such as "favorite pricing game" are the type that the writers of this blog address for spans of 20-30 minutes or more apiece. Plinko rules!
To the post!
MARINERS
Raul Ibanez is having a good spring hitting the ball, so says the Hickey article. Unfortunately, this pegs the I-don't-care-ometer, right up there with the .381 average from Ramon Santiago. Stretching out Hasegawa, I can dig that a little bit. Pitchers getting in their work is important. Hitters getting in their work is important. Hitters' averages...not so much.
Bobby Madritsch fought through his less-than-sharpness yesterday. He can't possibly be as good as he was last year over the course of an entire season, but his outings were really one of the few things I looked forward to while watching this team last year.
Nate Bland does what he likes and likes what he does, lasting this long into camp having gone through two Tommy John surgeries. One is enough, I would think, but man, two...if you combined all that rehab time you'd need from one, and then have to double it...that's a lot of time not throwing a ball. Still, I find it somewhat curious that Bland's age was never revealed by Steve Kelley in the piece.
Very lastly, Joel Pineiro and Eddie Guardado threw without pain. Thar's some good news.
SEAHAWKS
Former Denver cornerback Kelly Herndon will now be a present Seahawk cornerback. Herndon was an undrafted free agent, so it's easy to think he's had to work his Krivokrasov to get to where he's been, and now it's turned into five years and $15M. He wants to be in Seattle, and someone even convinced him that the Seattle defense "gets after it." Well, maybe he plans to be a big part of that. Can we have a little more healthiness out of the Seahawk defense next year? Could we just have a little more of that? How about 13 games out of Grant Wistrom?
As reader Morgan brought to my attention yesterday in the comment boxes, and as Mike Sando reported in the Tribune the other day, Mike Reinfeldt has finally been given a spot in the organization. I was hoping they'd keep him in the organization, but I'm not sure I saw them giving him the VP of football operations post. Great deal for Reinfeldt. I'm happy for him, and I'm happy we get to see the big three free-agents back. Other than Paul Allen, I'd say that the only other guy I could credit to saving this offseason from complete disaster was Reinfeldt. He did great under pressure. I'm still amazed he got that much done.
Unfortunately, my Krivokrasov reference isn't unique. Keith Olbermann pulled that one off in a SportsCenter episode. Amazing stuff.
BASKETBALL
The Miah Davis Update
In last night's double-overtime thriller of a 128-126 loss by the Roanoke Dazzle to the Asheville Altitude, Miah Davis had 18 points on 7-for-10 shooting (he also nailed the only three-pointer he took). He was 3-for-4 from the line. He also pulled down 5 boards and had 8 assists and 3 steals in 41 minutes of play.
But what really makes me sick about that game? If you go through the "points" column for the Asheville team and find the guy on the bench that has a 30 next to his name, it's freakin' Joe Forte. I wish I was making this up.
By the way, the NBDL is expanding past Tobacco Road and the southeast. Really. Albuquerque, Fort Worth, Tulsa, and Austin.
Roanoke plays at Fayetteville tomorrow night and hosts Huntsville on Saturday night.
The Marvin Williams Watch
The Fan sent a link our way of Mark Heisler doing NBA Draft prospect rankings. Heisler just made sure everyone was 18 before he'd put them in the list, so some of it depends on whether certain underclassmen jump for the draft or not. Marvin was #2 on that list behind only Andrew Bogut. That's high. I'm hoping Marvin stays at least one more year at UNC so that he can have more of the offense flow through him and so that he and Sean May can wreak havoc on the boards for the Heels. Of course, what surprised me in the article was the "right there" section, the prospects after #30. I know college players don't necessarily translate to the NBA, but that last section is stacked.
The Tar Heels will face East 5th-seeded Villanova on Friday (6:57p, CBS)
Huskies
Bobby Jones, altitude, Romar/Pitino, and could this team be the Huskies all-time best?
The Huskies will face West 4th-seeded Louisville tomorrow (4:10p, CBS)
Sonics
For my thoughts on last night's game, scroll down a post or click here if this post is the only one on the page.
Ray and Rashard carrying this team is something to which we've grown accustomed. Ridnour and Rashard, however, would need a breaking-in period for consumption. Ridnour got himself a career high with 21 points, and served as the other option opening up the floor for Rashard Lewis to start popping threes (he made 7) or posting up (less often in this game).
Upcoming...
Tomorrow at Portland (7p, FSNNW)
Friday vs. New York (7:30p, ESPN)
Sunday vs. Washington (5p, FSNNW)
Tuesday at Memphis (5p, FSNNW)
HOCKEY
It's Everett at Portland in the first round of the WHL playoffs tomorrow night. Portland comes in having won 7 of 10. Everett tried to rest its players down the stretch. Torrie Wheat was named Everett's MVP, and Zach Hamill was the team's rookie of the year.
Upcoming...
Tomorrow: Saint John's at Manitoba
Friday: Everett at Portland (Game 1), Vancouver at Kelowna (Game 1)
Saturday: Tri-City at Seattle (Game 1), Vancouver at Kelowna (Game 2), Saint John's at Manitoba
Sunday: Everett at Portland (Game 2)
Monday: Tri-City at Seattle (Game 2)
Tuesday: Portland at Everett (Game 3), Kelowna at Vancouver (Game 3)
---
Have a great Wednesday, everyone.
[Edits ~10:02a -- cleaning up some links, adding a couple things I'd forgotten. NBDL, the Krivokrasov link, the WHL playoff link, and the Marvin thing.]
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