Saturday, February 26, 2005
ROMARVILLE
With Washington's 93-85 victory over Arizona today in Seattle, the Huskies go undefeated at home for the first time since 1984. Tre Simmons led the way for the Huskies with 24 points, including 5 3-pointers, in his final home game.
The Huskies are now 23-4, 13-3 in the conference. If they defeat Cal and Stanford in the Bay Area next week, the Huskies will win the Pac-10 regular season championship. Even if Arizona and Washington were to tie at 15-3, the Huskies will earn the tiebreaker because of their 2-0 record against Stanford (Arizona was 1-1 against the Cardinal).
Three years ago, Lorenzo Romar took over a Husky basketball program that was one of the worst programs in the Pac-10. Three years later, the Huskies are a Top 15 program. Romar has made Husky basketball exciting to watch. Of course, it's the players that make the excitement happen. But it is Romar who has brought the players to Montlake.
And in the "dammit, we should have known about this site a long time ago" department, check out The Dawg Pack Blog. The Dawg Pack Blog features insight from members of "The DawgPack", or in other words, the students who have made Hec Ed/Bank of America Arena one of the best venues in all of college basketball today. Certainly today's crowd didn't disappoint.
Now go have some fun tonight, Husky fans. But stay safe.
The Huskies are now 23-4, 13-3 in the conference. If they defeat Cal and Stanford in the Bay Area next week, the Huskies will win the Pac-10 regular season championship. Even if Arizona and Washington were to tie at 15-3, the Huskies will earn the tiebreaker because of their 2-0 record against Stanford (Arizona was 1-1 against the Cardinal).
Three years ago, Lorenzo Romar took over a Husky basketball program that was one of the worst programs in the Pac-10. Three years later, the Huskies are a Top 15 program. Romar has made Husky basketball exciting to watch. Of course, it's the players that make the excitement happen. But it is Romar who has brought the players to Montlake.
And in the "dammit, we should have known about this site a long time ago" department, check out The Dawg Pack Blog. The Dawg Pack Blog features insight from members of "The DawgPack", or in other words, the students who have made Hec Ed/Bank of America Arena one of the best venues in all of college basketball today. Certainly today's crowd didn't disappoint.
Now go have some fun tonight, Husky fans. But stay safe.
/ Click for main page
THE PAC-10 TV DEAL SUCKS
One of these days, I'm really going to get in-depth on why the Pac-10 television deal with Fox Sports Net sucks. Yes, the word "sucks" fits here.
Case in point:
Today's Arizona-Washington game is televised on Fox Sports Net throughout the country. However, on my FSN channel (Fox Sports Southwest), it's SEC gymnastics with LSU and Kentucky.
That's right...
SEC GYMNASTICS
Thank God I have Fox College Sports on my digital cable system, because at least I get to watch the game (FCS Pacific). How about those people who can't afford digital cable or satellite television? They are getting shafted here.
Once again, I hate the Pac-10 television deal. Yes, I get to watch the game anyway. But most of the Southeastern U.S. doesn't. That's not fair. A game between two Top 15 teams deserves to be watched by the ENTIRE country. However, this is what happens when your television partner is Fox Sports Net.
No wonder nobody east of the Mississippi knows about Salim Stoudamire.
Or Tre Simmons. Or Will Conroy. Or Bobby Jones.
Case in point:
Today's Arizona-Washington game is televised on Fox Sports Net throughout the country. However, on my FSN channel (Fox Sports Southwest), it's SEC gymnastics with LSU and Kentucky.
That's right...
SEC GYMNASTICS
Thank God I have Fox College Sports on my digital cable system, because at least I get to watch the game (FCS Pacific). How about those people who can't afford digital cable or satellite television? They are getting shafted here.
Once again, I hate the Pac-10 television deal. Yes, I get to watch the game anyway. But most of the Southeastern U.S. doesn't. That's not fair. A game between two Top 15 teams deserves to be watched by the ENTIRE country. However, this is what happens when your television partner is Fox Sports Net.
No wonder nobody east of the Mississippi knows about Salim Stoudamire.
Or Tre Simmons. Or Will Conroy. Or Bobby Jones.
/ Click for main page
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.
/ Click for main page
GAME 53: SUPERSONICS 98, TIMBERWOLVES 88
SuperSonics 98, Timberwolves 88
Okay, I didn't see the game. The following is heavily KJR-aided, namely through the likes of David Locke, Dick Fain, and Elise Woodward.
The Sonics' defense kept them in this one, and the defense really has been solid since the break -- they've allowed 85, 85, and 88 points in their three games since the All-Star break. From the beginning of 2005 to the break, the Sonics had allowed 100 points in 12 of their 22 games. The crazy quarters where opponents score 28 points and higher appear to have gone away for now. The Timberwolves managed quarters of 21, 23, 25, and 19 in this game. The 19 points in the fourth quarter was especially important.
The Sonics started out in this one shooting a horrible 19-for-65. The Sonics blew 10 of 11 layups in the first half. To heck with not being able to shoot, not being able to hit layups is brutal. The Sonics were down by 14 haflway through the third quarter, and were down 65-54 with under two minutes remaining in the third. From there, they closed the quarter on a 10-4 run to get within five at 69-64. Rashard Lewis was the hot hand, scoring 12 in the third quarter.
Then came the fourth quarter. The Sonics were finally able to take the lead about halfway through when Ray Allen stuck the go-ahead three to put the Sonics up 80-77. In the log, there's a whole lot of Allen and Vladimir Radmanovic in bold type. It appears that Vladimir's wrist is getting better, and Ray Allen is Ray Allen. He had 18 in the fourth quarter.
Still, this win and the Houston wins are great wins after the break. Granted, they had some trouble, and dug themselves some holes, but they came out on top in the end. Somehow. Some way.
PEEK AT THE BOXSCORE
starters
Ray Allen 32 pts/4 reb/6 ast/3 stl (10-22 FG, 4-6 3pt, 8-9 free throws), Rashard Lewis 16 pts/7 reb (4-11 FG, 1-4 3pt, 7-10 free throws), Luke Ridnour 1 pt/1 reb/5 ast/2 stl (0-7 FG, 25 min), Reggie Evans 0 pts/5 reb (0-2 FG, 15 min)
bench
Vladimir Radmanovic 17 pts/7 reb/3 ast (6-12 FG, 3-6 3pt, 2-2 free throws), Vitaly Potapenko 10 pts/8 reb (4-6 FG, 2-2 free throws, 24 min), Antonio Daniels 6 pts/3 reb/4 ast (2-8 FG, 24 min), Nick Collison 4 pts/1 reb (2-4 FG, 10 min), Ron Murray 4 pts (1-5 FG, 0-2 3pt, 8 min)
Jerome James Watch
8 pts/4 reb (4-7 FG, 4 fouls, 12 min)
team
shot 33-for-84 (39.3%) from the field, shot 9-for-21 (42.9%) from downtown, shot 23-for-28 (82.1%) from the line, were outrebounded 41-40, forced 19 turnovers (had only 7 themselves), bench outscored Minnesota bench 41-32 (outrebounded them 19-11)
First off, it was a brutal shooting night for the point guards, though more so for Luke Ridnour. Of course, with that layup stat from earlier in the post, I'm guessing at least a couple of those were from Antonio Daniels driving to the basket.
Combine the off-shooting night with the fact that Reggie Evans only had 5 boards, and the fact that Danny Fortson wasn't available -- by conventional wisdom, the Sonics really shouldn't have won this game. A 19-for-65 start? That's just beyond horrid; however, going on a 14-for-19 tear to end the game is beyond insane/crazy.
Before the deadline, David Locke was arguing the point of keeping players like Ron Murray and Vladimir Radmanovic. Specifically, he did this after the game at Golden State where Ron Murray put the clamps down on Jason Richardson in the fourth quarter, helping the Sonics pull out that game. Tonight, Vitaly Potapenko stepped up and scored 10 and pulled down 8 boards. No Fortson? Only five boards from Evans? Just plug and play, apparently. Locke would argue that it's nights like this -- where the 10th or 11th guy off the bench can help you win a game -- that are the reason why you don't trade guys like Murray and Potapenko. You have a couple guys faltering or out, and you just plug these guys in and they produce. It's beautiful, dammit.
I have something sad to report. After using his guidance in 22 games, it appears that Jinkies has run out of fresh replies. I'd first sought Jinkies' wisdom after the game against the Wizards on the 4th of January, which was two games after the big road win in Miami (one game after the Orlando loss). Rather than try to replace Jinkies, let's just mark this on the calendar and keep using the replies. I'll just make sure the reply is never a repeat of the game immediately before it.
I asked Jinkies whether he likes the Isaiah Rider-era T-Wolves logo with the tame wolf or the decidedly angry wolf in the current logo. His reply: "Was that supposed to be funny to me? It was not. Take the hike."
Okay, I didn't see the game. The following is heavily KJR-aided, namely through the likes of David Locke, Dick Fain, and Elise Woodward.
The Sonics' defense kept them in this one, and the defense really has been solid since the break -- they've allowed 85, 85, and 88 points in their three games since the All-Star break. From the beginning of 2005 to the break, the Sonics had allowed 100 points in 12 of their 22 games. The crazy quarters where opponents score 28 points and higher appear to have gone away for now. The Timberwolves managed quarters of 21, 23, 25, and 19 in this game. The 19 points in the fourth quarter was especially important.
The Sonics started out in this one shooting a horrible 19-for-65. The Sonics blew 10 of 11 layups in the first half. To heck with not being able to shoot, not being able to hit layups is brutal. The Sonics were down by 14 haflway through the third quarter, and were down 65-54 with under two minutes remaining in the third. From there, they closed the quarter on a 10-4 run to get within five at 69-64. Rashard Lewis was the hot hand, scoring 12 in the third quarter.
Then came the fourth quarter. The Sonics were finally able to take the lead about halfway through when Ray Allen stuck the go-ahead three to put the Sonics up 80-77. In the log, there's a whole lot of Allen and Vladimir Radmanovic in bold type. It appears that Vladimir's wrist is getting better, and Ray Allen is Ray Allen. He had 18 in the fourth quarter.
Still, this win and the Houston wins are great wins after the break. Granted, they had some trouble, and dug themselves some holes, but they came out on top in the end. Somehow. Some way.
PEEK AT THE BOXSCORE
starters
Ray Allen 32 pts/4 reb/6 ast/3 stl (10-22 FG, 4-6 3pt, 8-9 free throws), Rashard Lewis 16 pts/7 reb (4-11 FG, 1-4 3pt, 7-10 free throws), Luke Ridnour 1 pt/1 reb/5 ast/2 stl (0-7 FG, 25 min), Reggie Evans 0 pts/5 reb (0-2 FG, 15 min)
bench
Vladimir Radmanovic 17 pts/7 reb/3 ast (6-12 FG, 3-6 3pt, 2-2 free throws), Vitaly Potapenko 10 pts/8 reb (4-6 FG, 2-2 free throws, 24 min), Antonio Daniels 6 pts/3 reb/4 ast (2-8 FG, 24 min), Nick Collison 4 pts/1 reb (2-4 FG, 10 min), Ron Murray 4 pts (1-5 FG, 0-2 3pt, 8 min)
Jerome James Watch
8 pts/4 reb (4-7 FG, 4 fouls, 12 min)
team
shot 33-for-84 (39.3%) from the field, shot 9-for-21 (42.9%) from downtown, shot 23-for-28 (82.1%) from the line, were outrebounded 41-40, forced 19 turnovers (had only 7 themselves), bench outscored Minnesota bench 41-32 (outrebounded them 19-11)
First off, it was a brutal shooting night for the point guards, though more so for Luke Ridnour. Of course, with that layup stat from earlier in the post, I'm guessing at least a couple of those were from Antonio Daniels driving to the basket.
Combine the off-shooting night with the fact that Reggie Evans only had 5 boards, and the fact that Danny Fortson wasn't available -- by conventional wisdom, the Sonics really shouldn't have won this game. A 19-for-65 start? That's just beyond horrid; however, going on a 14-for-19 tear to end the game is beyond insane/crazy.
Before the deadline, David Locke was arguing the point of keeping players like Ron Murray and Vladimir Radmanovic. Specifically, he did this after the game at Golden State where Ron Murray put the clamps down on Jason Richardson in the fourth quarter, helping the Sonics pull out that game. Tonight, Vitaly Potapenko stepped up and scored 10 and pulled down 8 boards. No Fortson? Only five boards from Evans? Just plug and play, apparently. Locke would argue that it's nights like this -- where the 10th or 11th guy off the bench can help you win a game -- that are the reason why you don't trade guys like Murray and Potapenko. You have a couple guys faltering or out, and you just plug these guys in and they produce. It's beautiful, dammit.
I have something sad to report. After using his guidance in 22 games, it appears that Jinkies has run out of fresh replies. I'd first sought Jinkies' wisdom after the game against the Wizards on the 4th of January, which was two games after the big road win in Miami (one game after the Orlando loss). Rather than try to replace Jinkies, let's just mark this on the calendar and keep using the replies. I'll just make sure the reply is never a repeat of the game immediately before it.
I asked Jinkies whether he likes the Isaiah Rider-era T-Wolves logo with the tame wolf or the decidedly angry wolf in the current logo. His reply: "Was that supposed to be funny to me? It was not. Take the hike."
/ Click for main page
Friday, February 25, 2005
FREE RAMBLE, THE DAY AFTER VERSION
"I've got no patience now
So sick of complacence now
I've got no patience now
So sick of complacence now
Sick of sick of sick of sick of you
Time has come to pay!"
---Rage Against The Machine "Know Your Enemy"
David has instituted random notes in his daily posts recently. And since I haven't done a Free Ramble-style post in a few weeks, it's time for me to go random as well.
---I've finally seen "Napoleon Dynamite" (hey Corco!). It's everything that it's cracked up to be. Growing up on the West Coast, I remember tetherball very well. Down here in Arkansas, I haven't seen a tetherball pole at the local schools. Maybe I'm not looking hard, I don't know. As for tetherball, I played it a few times, horribly I might add. I was a dodgeball guy. Wasn't everyone?
I'm waiting to see a movie that features pickleball. Pickleball would be a great sport to be televised on The Ocho. Hey, if it's almost a sport, they'll televise it!
---I don't know what to say about Hootie and the Blowfish lead singer Darius Rucker appearing in the new Burger King commercial. I wish somebody would mock Hootie's songs in next year's "American Idol" auditions.
---Speaking of "American Idol", David said his favorite is Lindsey Cardinale. She's good, but I have to go with Carrie Underwood. Underwood is from Oklahoma, while Cardinale is from Louisiana. I love Southern girls, dammit. From the first day I stepped foot in Arkansas, I told myself I have to find a Southern girl. I'm still waiting, but I'm not desperate.
Oh, back to "Idol". I have to say, Kelly Clarkson is actually pretty good. Who knew?
---Motley Crue is coming to Arkansas on September 23. Will Mick Mars live to see the Natural State? I like the Crue. But I'm not going to shell out 70 bucks to go see a band that hasn't had a big hit since 1989. No, "Afraid" doesn't count.
Besides, if I didn't go see the Van Halen show last fall, why would I go see the Crue? You tell me. Oh, and do yourself a favor, crank up the "Shout At The Devil" album. Or the "Too Fast For Love" album. You can't go wrong with either one.
---THIS IS MY HAPPY FACE!
---"Man Of The House". The only thing that movie has going for itself is the women. Unfortunately, they aren't wearing chaps like the real Texas pom-pom girls do.
---The Fleet Center may be renamed "The Derek Jeter Center" for a day, if a New York lawyer has his way. Why don't they just rename the building "The Bucky Dent Place"? Or "Pat Riley Forum"? I got a better one. How about the "Mookie Wilson Convocation Center"?
---No, here's the best name for the Fleet Center:
"No Championships Allowed Center"
The Celtics and Bruins haven't won a championship since calling the Fleet Center home.
---Of course, I can call the Key Arena "Tall People Not Welcome Arena".
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
To end this little post here...
Here's the "Napoleon Dynamite" soundboard.
What are you going to do today, Napoleon?
WHATEVER I FEEL LIKE I'M GOING TO DO, GOSH!
So sick of complacence now
I've got no patience now
So sick of complacence now
Sick of sick of sick of sick of you
Time has come to pay!"
---Rage Against The Machine "Know Your Enemy"
David has instituted random notes in his daily posts recently. And since I haven't done a Free Ramble-style post in a few weeks, it's time for me to go random as well.
---I've finally seen "Napoleon Dynamite" (hey Corco!). It's everything that it's cracked up to be. Growing up on the West Coast, I remember tetherball very well. Down here in Arkansas, I haven't seen a tetherball pole at the local schools. Maybe I'm not looking hard, I don't know. As for tetherball, I played it a few times, horribly I might add. I was a dodgeball guy. Wasn't everyone?
I'm waiting to see a movie that features pickleball. Pickleball would be a great sport to be televised on The Ocho. Hey, if it's almost a sport, they'll televise it!
---I don't know what to say about Hootie and the Blowfish lead singer Darius Rucker appearing in the new Burger King commercial. I wish somebody would mock Hootie's songs in next year's "American Idol" auditions.
---Speaking of "American Idol", David said his favorite is Lindsey Cardinale. She's good, but I have to go with Carrie Underwood. Underwood is from Oklahoma, while Cardinale is from Louisiana. I love Southern girls, dammit. From the first day I stepped foot in Arkansas, I told myself I have to find a Southern girl. I'm still waiting, but I'm not desperate.
Oh, back to "Idol". I have to say, Kelly Clarkson is actually pretty good. Who knew?
---Motley Crue is coming to Arkansas on September 23. Will Mick Mars live to see the Natural State? I like the Crue. But I'm not going to shell out 70 bucks to go see a band that hasn't had a big hit since 1989. No, "Afraid" doesn't count.
Besides, if I didn't go see the Van Halen show last fall, why would I go see the Crue? You tell me. Oh, and do yourself a favor, crank up the "Shout At The Devil" album. Or the "Too Fast For Love" album. You can't go wrong with either one.
---THIS IS MY HAPPY FACE!
---"Man Of The House". The only thing that movie has going for itself is the women. Unfortunately, they aren't wearing chaps like the real Texas pom-pom girls do.
---The Fleet Center may be renamed "The Derek Jeter Center" for a day, if a New York lawyer has his way. Why don't they just rename the building "The Bucky Dent Place"? Or "Pat Riley Forum"? I got a better one. How about the "Mookie Wilson Convocation Center"?
---No, here's the best name for the Fleet Center:
"No Championships Allowed Center"
The Celtics and Bruins haven't won a championship since calling the Fleet Center home.
---Of course, I can call the Key Arena "Tall People Not Welcome Arena".
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
To end this little post here...
Here's the "Napoleon Dynamite" soundboard.
What are you going to do today, Napoleon?
WHATEVER I FEEL LIKE I'M GOING TO DO, GOSH!
/ Click for main page
JERRY RICE RELEASED
The Tim Ruskell Era has begun.
Wide receiver Jerry Rice has been released by the Seahawks today. In 11 games with the Seahawks (including the playoff game against St. Louis), Rice had 25 receptions for 362 yards and 3 touchdowns.
The free agency period begins Tuesday, March 2.
Wide receiver Jerry Rice has been released by the Seahawks today. In 11 games with the Seahawks (including the playoff game against St. Louis), Rice had 25 receptions for 362 yards and 3 touchdowns.
The free agency period begins Tuesday, March 2.
/ Click for main page
CALM
Welcome to Friday. Your work week is about over. If you attend school or college, that week's about done too, unless you have to study for some huge project over the weekend.
For today's random note...toilet paper has got to unroll toward the seat. That's how it has to be. For me, it's more aesthetically pleasing, and it's closer to the user. Also, if you're trying to find the loose end of the toilet paper, and none of the paper is immediately hanging, it's much easier to see and feel for if it's closer to you and not on the back side of the roll. Of course, when I wrestled back in high school, there were some very evil locker rooms that dispensed single squares of toilet paper in their stalls. I wish I was lying about this.
If anyone is in Kitsap County tonight, you've got a chance to see playoff junior hockey as the Puget Sound Tomahawks take on the Tri-City Titans in Game 1 of the Cascade Cup semifinals at the rink in Bremerton. Game 2 is tomorrow night.
In Federal Way, Dana Kirk of Bremerton will be swimming at least twice today for Stanford at the Pac-10 swimming championships. She will swim in the 100 butterfly prelims as well as the butterfly leg of the 400 medley relay. She will swim in the 100 fly finals if she attains a qualifying preliminary time.
To the rest of the post...
MARINERS
Let it be said once again that although Cha Seung Baek did have the one good start against Texas last September, he really didn't do much in his other appearances with the big club to impress me. I seem to remember doing game recap posts with Beck lyrics as the titles until he finally won a second time. It turns out he did lose four straight starts. Though it's all Small Sample Size Mania (ask for it by name), there's nonetheless a larger sample size of Baek getting hit at the Major League level (three of his five starts were for 8, 5, and 5 earned runs) than the one good start. Of course, there's also the start where he gave up another five runs (one earned, thanks to a Bret Boone error in a game against Cleveland). But the other thing with Baek for me is that I don't think he showed the control necessary to make up for his lack of speed. Basically, and more so than others, he really can't get away with missing his spots when he's topping out at low 90s (correct me on the speed if I'm wrong), and I don't remember seeing any devastating breaking pitches from him that often. I guess it all boils down to this -- if Baek makes the rotation over Madritsch, Baek better have had a freakin' good spring.
But hey, the thought of having Baek in the rotation is a lot better to me than the thought of having Aaron Sele, who is 0-6 lifetime in the postseason, in the rotation. I'm still operating under the belief that if he doesn't get injured in the 2002 season, the Angels don't go on to win the World Series. Don't laugh, I'm serious here. Of course, this is coming from someone who knew the 2001 ALCS was over as soon as the ball went over the wall to end Game 4. Game 5 still had to be played, but that one was started by Aaron Sele, who after the game would be 0-6 lifetime in the postseason. So if he somehow cracks the rotation (sadly, I'm guessing that Price, Wilson, and Bavasi are all on his side), I just hope it's the very back end of the rotation, so we never have to see him start in the postseason. Luckily, I don't expect this team to make the postseason this year, so I'm not feeling so bad as of yet.
I just might make it a self imposed rule that I won't mention Aaron Sele's name in one of these posts without mentioning his postseason record, which by the way is 0-6.
Eddie Guardado's pitches were apparently flying all over the place, and it turns out he used his legs more with the bum knee than he was in camp, post surgery. They're opting to have Guardado come set a little lower and use more leg, with both factors apparently being better for his shoulder. In other news, Pokey's ankle turn is still believed to be minor, Chris Snelling's MRI results are still being anticipated, and Joel Pineiro threw gas at "90 percent" throttle with his last five pitches in his bullpen session. He says it "felt fine."
SEAHAWKS
A happy Mike Holmgren is at the combine in Indianapolis. He hasn't talked to new president/GM Tim Ruskell yet, though that will happen today. He's happy that the three main free agents are out of the way, though he would like most of the remaining ones to get signed as well. Holmgren also hints at drafting defense, which I think should be a full-speed-ahead proposition.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
The Tar Heels travel to face Maryland on Sunday (2:30p, FSNNW) before hosting Florida State on Thursday (6p, local only)
Huskies
Tre Simmons was the hot hand with 29 points (6-for-7 from beyond the arc) in 14th-ranked Washington's 90-82 win over Arizona State. Ike Diogu had a monster night for ASU, but the Sun Devils shot 39% from the field, with their bench shooting 6-for-29 (note: two of the bench guys got starter-type minutes, not that it makes the shooting numbers any better). The Huskies are now 14-0 at home, but it's a 15th win, against Arizona, that would really put the icing on the cake.
The Huskies host Arizona tomorrow (1p, FSNNW) and travel to Berkeley to face the Cal Bears on Thursday (7p, not televised)
Bulldogs
The 12th-ranked Zags went on a 16-0 tear in the first half to put away the Pilots of Portland by a score of 84-68. Adam Morrison had 22 points, JP Batista had 13, and Derek Raivio scored 12. Ronny Turiaf is gaining steam at the right time, once again tallying another double-double with 14 points and 11 boards. It was his 10th double-double of the season and 24th as a Zag. Gonzaga clinched the WCC regular-season title, therefore earning a first-round bye in the conference tournament.
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 next Friday the 4th.
Sonics
The deadline was a very active one this year for the NBA, but the Sonics stepped aside. Nothing really new, just that the Sonics didn't feel the need to mess with the chemistry, which does seem like a key component of their success this year.
Also in the notebook portions of those articles were the revelation that Luke Ridnour has plantar fasciitis (Rashard Lewis came back nicely from it), they're still awaiting Vladimir Radmanovic's wrist exam results, and Danny Fortson missed practice, flying back home a second time to be with his ailing grandmother.
Art Thiel is content with the Sonics throwing what they have against a wall and seeing if it sticks. Why not? They've gone 37-15 with what they have, so let's see how far it can possibly go. They've had some amazing wins this year, and I think their style of way is infinitely more playoff-friendly than that of Phoenix. If they get into a boring defensive game on the road, they just proved in Houston that they could win that type of game as well.
I'm just hoping the Sonics erase the bad taste in my mouth from that last game against Minnesota at the Key. I want Wally Szczerbiak on lockdown.
Upcoming...
Tonight vs. Minnesota (7:30p, FSNNW)
Sunday at Milwaukee (12p, FSNNW)
Tuesday at Indiana (4p, FSNNW)
Wednesday at Cleveland (4p, FSNNW)
HOCKEY
Syracuse beat Manitoba 5-3. The Moose lost two straight in regulation for the first time since the 23rd of October. The Moose had an early lead on a Josh Green goal before blowing the lead. They tied the game at 2-2 on a Ryan Kesler goal. Two Syracuse goals in 54 seconds brought an end to Alex Auld's night in the net, and it was over from there. Tim Smith got the Moose within a goal inside four minutes remaining, but that was countered by another Syracuse goal. Shots were 42-24 for Manitoba. Alex Auld stopped 10 of 14, and Wade Flaherty came in and stopped 9 of 10 for the Moose.
Upcoming...
Tonight: Seattle at Kamloops, Everett at Tri-City, Portland at Spokane, Kelowna at Vancouver, Tri-City at Puget Sound (Cascade Cup semifinal -- Game 1 of best-of-5)
Tomorrow: Portland at Seattle, Vancouver at Everett, Manitoba at Hamilton, Tri-City at Puget Sound (Cascade Cup semifinal -- Game 2 of best-of-5)
Sunday: Spokane at Seattle, Tri-City at Everett
Wednesday: Vancouver at Seattle
---
Have a great Friday. Have a great weekend for all those that can't stick with us for the weekend. For those who return, same bad channel, y'all.
For today's random note...toilet paper has got to unroll toward the seat. That's how it has to be. For me, it's more aesthetically pleasing, and it's closer to the user. Also, if you're trying to find the loose end of the toilet paper, and none of the paper is immediately hanging, it's much easier to see and feel for if it's closer to you and not on the back side of the roll. Of course, when I wrestled back in high school, there were some very evil locker rooms that dispensed single squares of toilet paper in their stalls. I wish I was lying about this.
If anyone is in Kitsap County tonight, you've got a chance to see playoff junior hockey as the Puget Sound Tomahawks take on the Tri-City Titans in Game 1 of the Cascade Cup semifinals at the rink in Bremerton. Game 2 is tomorrow night.
In Federal Way, Dana Kirk of Bremerton will be swimming at least twice today for Stanford at the Pac-10 swimming championships. She will swim in the 100 butterfly prelims as well as the butterfly leg of the 400 medley relay. She will swim in the 100 fly finals if she attains a qualifying preliminary time.
To the rest of the post...
MARINERS
Let it be said once again that although Cha Seung Baek did have the one good start against Texas last September, he really didn't do much in his other appearances with the big club to impress me. I seem to remember doing game recap posts with Beck lyrics as the titles until he finally won a second time. It turns out he did lose four straight starts. Though it's all Small Sample Size Mania (ask for it by name), there's nonetheless a larger sample size of Baek getting hit at the Major League level (three of his five starts were for 8, 5, and 5 earned runs) than the one good start. Of course, there's also the start where he gave up another five runs (one earned, thanks to a Bret Boone error in a game against Cleveland). But the other thing with Baek for me is that I don't think he showed the control necessary to make up for his lack of speed. Basically, and more so than others, he really can't get away with missing his spots when he's topping out at low 90s (correct me on the speed if I'm wrong), and I don't remember seeing any devastating breaking pitches from him that often. I guess it all boils down to this -- if Baek makes the rotation over Madritsch, Baek better have had a freakin' good spring.
But hey, the thought of having Baek in the rotation is a lot better to me than the thought of having Aaron Sele, who is 0-6 lifetime in the postseason, in the rotation. I'm still operating under the belief that if he doesn't get injured in the 2002 season, the Angels don't go on to win the World Series. Don't laugh, I'm serious here. Of course, this is coming from someone who knew the 2001 ALCS was over as soon as the ball went over the wall to end Game 4. Game 5 still had to be played, but that one was started by Aaron Sele, who after the game would be 0-6 lifetime in the postseason. So if he somehow cracks the rotation (sadly, I'm guessing that Price, Wilson, and Bavasi are all on his side), I just hope it's the very back end of the rotation, so we never have to see him start in the postseason. Luckily, I don't expect this team to make the postseason this year, so I'm not feeling so bad as of yet.
I just might make it a self imposed rule that I won't mention Aaron Sele's name in one of these posts without mentioning his postseason record, which by the way is 0-6.
Eddie Guardado's pitches were apparently flying all over the place, and it turns out he used his legs more with the bum knee than he was in camp, post surgery. They're opting to have Guardado come set a little lower and use more leg, with both factors apparently being better for his shoulder. In other news, Pokey's ankle turn is still believed to be minor, Chris Snelling's MRI results are still being anticipated, and Joel Pineiro threw gas at "90 percent" throttle with his last five pitches in his bullpen session. He says it "felt fine."
SEAHAWKS
A happy Mike Holmgren is at the combine in Indianapolis. He hasn't talked to new president/GM Tim Ruskell yet, though that will happen today. He's happy that the three main free agents are out of the way, though he would like most of the remaining ones to get signed as well. Holmgren also hints at drafting defense, which I think should be a full-speed-ahead proposition.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
The Tar Heels travel to face Maryland on Sunday (2:30p, FSNNW) before hosting Florida State on Thursday (6p, local only)
Huskies
Tre Simmons was the hot hand with 29 points (6-for-7 from beyond the arc) in 14th-ranked Washington's 90-82 win over Arizona State. Ike Diogu had a monster night for ASU, but the Sun Devils shot 39% from the field, with their bench shooting 6-for-29 (note: two of the bench guys got starter-type minutes, not that it makes the shooting numbers any better). The Huskies are now 14-0 at home, but it's a 15th win, against Arizona, that would really put the icing on the cake.
The Huskies host Arizona tomorrow (1p, FSNNW) and travel to Berkeley to face the Cal Bears on Thursday (7p, not televised)
Bulldogs
The 12th-ranked Zags went on a 16-0 tear in the first half to put away the Pilots of Portland by a score of 84-68. Adam Morrison had 22 points, JP Batista had 13, and Derek Raivio scored 12. Ronny Turiaf is gaining steam at the right time, once again tallying another double-double with 14 points and 11 boards. It was his 10th double-double of the season and 24th as a Zag. Gonzaga clinched the WCC regular-season title, therefore earning a first-round bye in the conference tournament.
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 next Friday the 4th.
Sonics
The deadline was a very active one this year for the NBA, but the Sonics stepped aside. Nothing really new, just that the Sonics didn't feel the need to mess with the chemistry, which does seem like a key component of their success this year.
Also in the notebook portions of those articles were the revelation that Luke Ridnour has plantar fasciitis (Rashard Lewis came back nicely from it), they're still awaiting Vladimir Radmanovic's wrist exam results, and Danny Fortson missed practice, flying back home a second time to be with his ailing grandmother.
Art Thiel is content with the Sonics throwing what they have against a wall and seeing if it sticks. Why not? They've gone 37-15 with what they have, so let's see how far it can possibly go. They've had some amazing wins this year, and I think their style of way is infinitely more playoff-friendly than that of Phoenix. If they get into a boring defensive game on the road, they just proved in Houston that they could win that type of game as well.
I'm just hoping the Sonics erase the bad taste in my mouth from that last game against Minnesota at the Key. I want Wally Szczerbiak on lockdown.
Upcoming...
Tonight vs. Minnesota (7:30p, FSNNW)
Sunday at Milwaukee (12p, FSNNW)
Tuesday at Indiana (4p, FSNNW)
Wednesday at Cleveland (4p, FSNNW)
HOCKEY
Syracuse beat Manitoba 5-3. The Moose lost two straight in regulation for the first time since the 23rd of October. The Moose had an early lead on a Josh Green goal before blowing the lead. They tied the game at 2-2 on a Ryan Kesler goal. Two Syracuse goals in 54 seconds brought an end to Alex Auld's night in the net, and it was over from there. Tim Smith got the Moose within a goal inside four minutes remaining, but that was countered by another Syracuse goal. Shots were 42-24 for Manitoba. Alex Auld stopped 10 of 14, and Wade Flaherty came in and stopped 9 of 10 for the Moose.
Upcoming...
Tonight: Seattle at Kamloops, Everett at Tri-City, Portland at Spokane, Kelowna at Vancouver, Tri-City at Puget Sound (Cascade Cup semifinal -- Game 1 of best-of-5)
Tomorrow: Portland at Seattle, Vancouver at Everett, Manitoba at Hamilton, Tri-City at Puget Sound (Cascade Cup semifinal -- Game 2 of best-of-5)
Sunday: Spokane at Seattle, Tri-City at Everett
Wednesday: Vancouver at Seattle
---
Have a great Friday. Have a great weekend for all those that can't stick with us for the weekend. For those who return, same bad channel, y'all.
/ Click for main page
Thursday, February 24, 2005
RATED R
Welcome to Thursday. I don't take too long with the post titles, but this one just might be the most cryptic one yet.
For today's random note...it's going to be short. Ready? Lindsey Cardinale's my pick. She's just gotta pick the right songs. Okay, maybe this will get longer. The oodles of new ways they're finding to put the contestants on the hot seat before they get ousted are just getting progressively crazy. Worse yet, pretty much everyone that got eliminated last night had chosen bad songs the night before. So what do they have the eliminated contestants do after getting voted out? They have them sing the same damn song that aided their demise. Absolutely brutal, yet incredibly watchable.
I'll throw in a bonus random sports-related note. I flipped to the CBC, as I often do, and I saw the introductory CBC Sports bumper (voiceover: "The following is a presentation of CBC Sports, Canada's Olympic Network"). Of course, I saw what was aired the night before, and I knew what was going to be shown. What was it? Tape-delayed women's curling. Still, I'm not sure why I'm having trouble flipping away from this really quickly. I'm waiting to see the Quebec team and hear them scream in French (always fun), but for now it appears that the Ontario team has the David Seal of Approval. I usually type these random notes last, and the Ontario/Saskatchewan match just ended. Though tape-delayed, it took three hours, and I typed up this post in about half that time. As for describing curling, I'd have to say it's a mix of shuffleboard and bocce.
Before we get started here, the Pac-10 swimming championships are underway, and last night Dana Kirk of Bremerton held down the butterfly leg of the winning 200 medley relay team for Stanford. They got a winning time of 1:39.69. The meet continues through Sunday. Dana will swim in the 400 medley relay final and the 100 fly preliminaries tomorrow before swimming the 200 fly prelims on Saturday. If she advances past prelims, the 100 fly final is later tomorrow and the 200 fly final is later on Saturday.
On TV tonight -- Arizona State at Washington (7:30p, FSNNW), Gonzaga at Portland (8p, ESPN2)
And the rest...
MARINERS
Pick your Yuniesky Betancourt article. Lots of similarities between the articles exist, though Bob Finnigan puts in the name of Ken Griffey, Jr (not trade speculation this time). He missed a year of baseball, which can't be easy to recover from. Of course, the guy did get through four days on a boat with only the clothes on his back, so I won't be one to doubt his resolve.
The rains that aren't falling in Washington are definitely falling in California and seem to have infiltrated the Cactus League camps. Ron Hassey says it hasn't been too bad, but Mike Hargrove says Hassey's probably not in too much of an admirable position trying to schedule drills and workouts around the rain. Also mentioned is the fact that the Peoria complex has six fields. Six fields sounds great to anyone, sure, but if I had six fields like the one Central Kitsap uses, my excitement would be greatly tempered. Why? The whole field slopes downward to one side, for goodness' sake. The short fence in right field is better for lefties, of which I am not, and Todd Linden probably hit a billion balls over that fence.
Also in that article is a mention of Bryan Price liking the progress of Rafael Soriano, the Mariners' shooting of the ad campaign is underway, and the Mariners signed Travis Blackley, JJ Putz, Justin Leone, and Chris Snelling. Eight players off the 40-man roster are yet to be signed.
Pokey sprained his ankle in a rundown drill yesterday. It's said to not be serious, though they'll really find out when the swelling goes down. From personal experience, I turned an ankle trying to stop a secondary lead before diving back to beat a pickoff throw. I did come back to play left field in the back end of the doubleheader, but I did miss a couple games after that due to the swelling, rehab, and stiffness. Still, it shouldn't take Pokey too long to get over it. Also mentioned was Mike Hargrove laying the hammer down on small talk during stretching. No word on whether he cursed. Yes, that's a jab at Melvin.
This week's Zumsteg article points out the possible underrating of pitching or hitting depending on one's park. The Kingdome was fifth in the AL at preventing runs, and that had to say something for the Mariners' pitching staff at the time. At the same time, the Mariners added some punch to their lineup, though it's right-handed and some people immediately were less keen to the idea. Frankly, I saw other teams at the Safe belting balls out all over the yard last year, no matter what side of the plate they came from. I may have been in the sticks of Oregon at the time with a static-receptive radio, but that doesn't mean I forgot what Victor Martinez did last summer. Two of his three homers that day were off of Blackley and Villone, and I'm assuming he was hitting righty against those two guys. Still, I remember seeing tons of balls hit by the opposition that landed in the bullpens. If you can hit a homer, you can hit a homer. This isn't Comerica Park pre-fences being moved.
SEAHAWKS
Look at the jewelry on his right hand (the ball hand).
It took about six weeks, but the Seahawks finally showed their new president/general manager to the media. Tim Ruskell seems to like what Mike Reinfeldt has done in his short time with the team, though Reinfeldt apparently has not been offered a permanent position (that needs to change quickly). Ruskell stresses unification within the organization. Some people would call it unity. Then they'd spell it out.
Les Carpenter puts some stock in the fact that Paul Allen was present at the press conference to introduce Ruskell, rather than just a Tod Leiweke. Apparently Holmgren threatened to quit, which got the ball rolling to have Bob Whitsitt canned. But Carpenter suggests that Allen took the guise of a confident owner who genuinely knew what he was doing, calling him the "new Paul Allen."
But whatever happens, these two things I know are true...Tod Leiweke and Mike Reinfeldt absolutely rule. They've saved the offseason. Well, Allen canning Whitsitt helped too.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
The Tar Heels travel to face Maryland on Sunday (2:30p, FSNNW) before hosting Florida State next Thursday (6p, local only)
Huskies
The Huskies host Arizona State tonight (7:30p, FSNNW) and Arizona on Saturday (1p, FSNNW)
Bulldogs
The Zags go to Portland tonight (8p, ESPN2) and host Northern Colorado on Monday (FSNNW Seattle, Q6 NBC Spokane) before starting WCC Tournament play.
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.
Nate McMillan likes blowouts. Last night's three-point barrage and utter demolition of the Hornets gave the Sonics their 37th win, equaling their win total from last year. They needed 30 less games this year to get those 37 wins.
Also, Danny Fortson is back with the team after tending to his ill grandmother. He didn't play last night, and more than likely needs to practice a bit to get himself back into playing shape. It doesn't take much to get out of it. He hasn't played in two weeks.
Also in that notebook article, Vlad Radmanovic will have his wrist reexamined, and most of the team slept in instead of working out in the morning after they got to the hotel at the wee hour of 4 in the morning. They're human.
Upcoming...
Tomorrow vs. Minnesota (7:30p, FSNNW)
Sunday at Milwaukee (12p, FSNNW)
Tuesday at Indiana (4p, FSNNW)
Wednesday at Cleveland (4p, FSNNW)
HOCKEY
Kelowna beat Seattle 4-3 in overtime. The Thunderbirds were down 3-0 in the third period on the road and managed to tie the game and send it to overtime, where they eventually lost. Still, rallying from three goals down against a top-notch Kelowna team is no small achievement. Nate Thompson, Zack FitzGerald, and Aaron Gagnon scored for Seattle. The T-Birds were outshot 34-31, and Bryan Bridges stopped 30.
Vancouver beat Tri-City 2-1. The Giants tightened up the defense but had to pepper Carey Price with pucks to get the desired outcome. Cam Cunning scored in the second period, and Mitch Bartley scored the winner in the final frame. The Giants outshot Tri-City 32-19. Marek Schwarz stopped 18.
Wilkes-Barre Scranton beat Manitoba 2-1. The Moose spoiled the shutout with under a minute to go thanks to a goal by Ryan Kesler, but that was about it as Dany Sabourin stopped everything else for the Penguins. Shots went 31-30 to Manitoba, and Wade Flaherty stopped 28.
Upcoming...
Tonight: Manitoba at Syracuse
Tomorrow: Seattle at Kamloops, Everett at Tri-City, Portland at Spokane, Kelowna at Vancouver, Tri-City at Puget Sound (Cascade Cup semifinal -- Game 1 of best-of-5)
Saturday: Portland at Seattle, Vancouver at Everett, Manitoba at Hamilton, Tri-City at Puget Sound (Cascade Cup semifinal -- Game 2 of best-of-5)
Sunday: Spokane at Seattle, Tri-City at Everett
Wednesday: Vancouver at Seattle
---
Have a wonderful Thursday, everybody.
For today's random note...it's going to be short. Ready? Lindsey Cardinale's my pick. She's just gotta pick the right songs. Okay, maybe this will get longer. The oodles of new ways they're finding to put the contestants on the hot seat before they get ousted are just getting progressively crazy. Worse yet, pretty much everyone that got eliminated last night had chosen bad songs the night before. So what do they have the eliminated contestants do after getting voted out? They have them sing the same damn song that aided their demise. Absolutely brutal, yet incredibly watchable.
I'll throw in a bonus random sports-related note. I flipped to the CBC, as I often do, and I saw the introductory CBC Sports bumper (voiceover: "The following is a presentation of CBC Sports, Canada's Olympic Network"). Of course, I saw what was aired the night before, and I knew what was going to be shown. What was it? Tape-delayed women's curling. Still, I'm not sure why I'm having trouble flipping away from this really quickly. I'm waiting to see the Quebec team and hear them scream in French (always fun), but for now it appears that the Ontario team has the David Seal of Approval. I usually type these random notes last, and the Ontario/Saskatchewan match just ended. Though tape-delayed, it took three hours, and I typed up this post in about half that time. As for describing curling, I'd have to say it's a mix of shuffleboard and bocce.
Before we get started here, the Pac-10 swimming championships are underway, and last night Dana Kirk of Bremerton held down the butterfly leg of the winning 200 medley relay team for Stanford. They got a winning time of 1:39.69. The meet continues through Sunday. Dana will swim in the 400 medley relay final and the 100 fly preliminaries tomorrow before swimming the 200 fly prelims on Saturday. If she advances past prelims, the 100 fly final is later tomorrow and the 200 fly final is later on Saturday.
On TV tonight -- Arizona State at Washington (7:30p, FSNNW), Gonzaga at Portland (8p, ESPN2)
And the rest...
MARINERS
Pick your Yuniesky Betancourt article. Lots of similarities between the articles exist, though Bob Finnigan puts in the name of Ken Griffey, Jr (not trade speculation this time). He missed a year of baseball, which can't be easy to recover from. Of course, the guy did get through four days on a boat with only the clothes on his back, so I won't be one to doubt his resolve.
The rains that aren't falling in Washington are definitely falling in California and seem to have infiltrated the Cactus League camps. Ron Hassey says it hasn't been too bad, but Mike Hargrove says Hassey's probably not in too much of an admirable position trying to schedule drills and workouts around the rain. Also mentioned is the fact that the Peoria complex has six fields. Six fields sounds great to anyone, sure, but if I had six fields like the one Central Kitsap uses, my excitement would be greatly tempered. Why? The whole field slopes downward to one side, for goodness' sake. The short fence in right field is better for lefties, of which I am not, and Todd Linden probably hit a billion balls over that fence.
Also in that article is a mention of Bryan Price liking the progress of Rafael Soriano, the Mariners' shooting of the ad campaign is underway, and the Mariners signed Travis Blackley, JJ Putz, Justin Leone, and Chris Snelling. Eight players off the 40-man roster are yet to be signed.
Pokey sprained his ankle in a rundown drill yesterday. It's said to not be serious, though they'll really find out when the swelling goes down. From personal experience, I turned an ankle trying to stop a secondary lead before diving back to beat a pickoff throw. I did come back to play left field in the back end of the doubleheader, but I did miss a couple games after that due to the swelling, rehab, and stiffness. Still, it shouldn't take Pokey too long to get over it. Also mentioned was Mike Hargrove laying the hammer down on small talk during stretching. No word on whether he cursed. Yes, that's a jab at Melvin.
This week's Zumsteg article points out the possible underrating of pitching or hitting depending on one's park. The Kingdome was fifth in the AL at preventing runs, and that had to say something for the Mariners' pitching staff at the time. At the same time, the Mariners added some punch to their lineup, though it's right-handed and some people immediately were less keen to the idea. Frankly, I saw other teams at the Safe belting balls out all over the yard last year, no matter what side of the plate they came from. I may have been in the sticks of Oregon at the time with a static-receptive radio, but that doesn't mean I forgot what Victor Martinez did last summer. Two of his three homers that day were off of Blackley and Villone, and I'm assuming he was hitting righty against those two guys. Still, I remember seeing tons of balls hit by the opposition that landed in the bullpens. If you can hit a homer, you can hit a homer. This isn't Comerica Park pre-fences being moved.
SEAHAWKS
Look at the jewelry on his right hand (the ball hand).
It took about six weeks, but the Seahawks finally showed their new president/general manager to the media. Tim Ruskell seems to like what Mike Reinfeldt has done in his short time with the team, though Reinfeldt apparently has not been offered a permanent position (that needs to change quickly). Ruskell stresses unification within the organization. Some people would call it unity. Then they'd spell it out.
Les Carpenter puts some stock in the fact that Paul Allen was present at the press conference to introduce Ruskell, rather than just a Tod Leiweke. Apparently Holmgren threatened to quit, which got the ball rolling to have Bob Whitsitt canned. But Carpenter suggests that Allen took the guise of a confident owner who genuinely knew what he was doing, calling him the "new Paul Allen."
But whatever happens, these two things I know are true...Tod Leiweke and Mike Reinfeldt absolutely rule. They've saved the offseason. Well, Allen canning Whitsitt helped too.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
The Tar Heels travel to face Maryland on Sunday (2:30p, FSNNW) before hosting Florida State next Thursday (6p, local only)
Huskies
The Huskies host Arizona State tonight (7:30p, FSNNW) and Arizona on Saturday (1p, FSNNW)
Bulldogs
The Zags go to Portland tonight (8p, ESPN2) and host Northern Colorado on Monday (FSNNW Seattle, Q6 NBC Spokane) before starting WCC Tournament play.
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.
Nate McMillan likes blowouts. Last night's three-point barrage and utter demolition of the Hornets gave the Sonics their 37th win, equaling their win total from last year. They needed 30 less games this year to get those 37 wins.
Also, Danny Fortson is back with the team after tending to his ill grandmother. He didn't play last night, and more than likely needs to practice a bit to get himself back into playing shape. It doesn't take much to get out of it. He hasn't played in two weeks.
Also in that notebook article, Vlad Radmanovic will have his wrist reexamined, and most of the team slept in instead of working out in the morning after they got to the hotel at the wee hour of 4 in the morning. They're human.
Upcoming...
Tomorrow vs. Minnesota (7:30p, FSNNW)
Sunday at Milwaukee (12p, FSNNW)
Tuesday at Indiana (4p, FSNNW)
Wednesday at Cleveland (4p, FSNNW)
HOCKEY
Kelowna beat Seattle 4-3 in overtime. The Thunderbirds were down 3-0 in the third period on the road and managed to tie the game and send it to overtime, where they eventually lost. Still, rallying from three goals down against a top-notch Kelowna team is no small achievement. Nate Thompson, Zack FitzGerald, and Aaron Gagnon scored for Seattle. The T-Birds were outshot 34-31, and Bryan Bridges stopped 30.
Vancouver beat Tri-City 2-1. The Giants tightened up the defense but had to pepper Carey Price with pucks to get the desired outcome. Cam Cunning scored in the second period, and Mitch Bartley scored the winner in the final frame. The Giants outshot Tri-City 32-19. Marek Schwarz stopped 18.
Wilkes-Barre Scranton beat Manitoba 2-1. The Moose spoiled the shutout with under a minute to go thanks to a goal by Ryan Kesler, but that was about it as Dany Sabourin stopped everything else for the Penguins. Shots went 31-30 to Manitoba, and Wade Flaherty stopped 28.
Upcoming...
Tonight: Manitoba at Syracuse
Tomorrow: Seattle at Kamloops, Everett at Tri-City, Portland at Spokane, Kelowna at Vancouver, Tri-City at Puget Sound (Cascade Cup semifinal -- Game 1 of best-of-5)
Saturday: Portland at Seattle, Vancouver at Everett, Manitoba at Hamilton, Tri-City at Puget Sound (Cascade Cup semifinal -- Game 2 of best-of-5)
Sunday: Spokane at Seattle, Tri-City at Everett
Wednesday: Vancouver at Seattle
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Have a wonderful Thursday, everybody.
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Wednesday, February 23, 2005
GAME 52: SUPERSONICS 103, HORNETS 85
SuperSonics 103, Hornets 85
The Sonics got their groove early, and the Hornets were left in the dust. The Sonics had many reasons to come out sluggish, since it was the talk end of a back-to-back set and they didn't get into New Orleans until about 4:30am after having their plane diverted to Baton Rouge due to blankets of fog in New Orleans. They took a bus from Baton Rouge to New Orleans after touching down.
Still, Rashard Lewis had 20 points at halftime and was 6-for-7 at that point. He wasn't missing much of anything. Ray Allen was also doing Ray Allen-type things. Luke Ridnour and Antonio Daniels had a great night distributing the ball.
The Sonics absolutely were on fire from beyond the arc, even with Vladimir Radmanovic still not appearing to shake off the wrist injury.
Thanks to the fact that the Hornets are terrible, and that the Sonics stepped on the gas and never let up, Ron Murray was able to get some prolonged minutes, and Robert Swift even got to play the last half of the fourth quarter.
It also helped that the Sonics killed the Hornets on the boards. Reggie Evans had another double-digit night on the glass.
The Sonics were able to weather Jerome James tweaking his knee (or something) in the first quarter, as he sat out the rest of the half. Originally, the trainers were going to have him sit out the rest of the game, but he came back to play after halftime.
PEEK AT THE BOXSCORE
starters
Rashard Lewis 26 pts/2 reb (8-11 FG, 6-8 3pt, 4-4 free throws), Ray Allen 25 pts/5 reb/2 stl (9-20 FG, 5-11 3pt, 2-2 free throws), Luke Ridnour 14 pts/2 reb/9 ast (4-9 FG, 2-4 3pt, 4-5 free throws), Reggie Evans 2 pts/14 reb (0-2 FG, 2-2 free throws)
bench
Ron Murray 13 pts/2 reb/1 stl (5-8 FG, 2-3 3pt, 1-2 free throws, 24 min), Antonio Daniels 11 pts/5 reb/8 ast/3 stl (3-9 FG, 1-4 3pt, 4-6 free throws), Nick Collison 7 pts/5 reb/2 blk (1-1 FG, 5-5 free throws), Vladimir Radmanovic 5 pts/4 reb/3 ast (1-7 FG, 0-1 3pt, 3-4 free throws), Robert Swift 0 pts/0 reb/1 stl/1 blk (0-1 FG, 6 min)
Jerome James Watch
0 pts/3 reb/1 ast (0-2 FG, 1 foul, 2 turnovers, 13 min)
team
shot 31-for-70 (44.3%) from the field, shot 16-for-31 (51.6%) from downtown, shot 25-for-30 (83.3%) from the line, outrebounded New Orleans 42-30, got beat 18-12 on the break and 36-14 in the paint, had 17 second-chance points (Hornets 7), bench was outscored 38-36 (benches tied 18-18 in rebounds)
It was fun to see the Sonics shoot well and finally be able to run their offense with some consistency again. Though it was an all-out blowout, it was great to see the Sonics not kick this one away, because we saw that happen against a not-great Golden State team before the break.
You can sum this game up in a few ways, but I think it all boils down to two things. One, the Sonics weren't fazed by their travel difficulties the night before, which surely added up to more adversity, combining with this game being the tail end of a back-to-back. Two, the Hornets are terrrrrrible, as Bill Walton would say. You might need more than two hands to count the number of layups they blew tonight. JR Smith was the only Hornet that looked decent tonight. I guess Dan Dickau did too, to an extent. Dickau and George Lynch played the most minutes (29 each), but the rest of the minutes are scattered fairly evenly among the starting lineup and five guys off the bench. They played all twelve guys tonight. In a related story, Vitaly Potapenko wasn't even able to get into this game. That's gotta suck.
The Hornets actually drew 12771 to the game, though it sure didn't seem like there were that many in the building when I was watching the game on television. I know what'd bring more fans into the arena -- taking out yellow as a color in the uniform/logo scheme. I've said it before, but they shouldn't have added yellow after the move, and it has no place with the tealish and purple colors.
I asked Jinkies if he thinks the Utah Jazz should be renamed, enabling the New Orleans team to rightfully be named the Jazz. His reply: "Here's a quarter, call someone who cares. (I learned this phrase from a country music song performed by Travis Tritt. I am liking the honky tonk.)"
Another fresh reply. I'm crestfallen.
The Sonics got their groove early, and the Hornets were left in the dust. The Sonics had many reasons to come out sluggish, since it was the talk end of a back-to-back set and they didn't get into New Orleans until about 4:30am after having their plane diverted to Baton Rouge due to blankets of fog in New Orleans. They took a bus from Baton Rouge to New Orleans after touching down.
Still, Rashard Lewis had 20 points at halftime and was 6-for-7 at that point. He wasn't missing much of anything. Ray Allen was also doing Ray Allen-type things. Luke Ridnour and Antonio Daniels had a great night distributing the ball.
The Sonics absolutely were on fire from beyond the arc, even with Vladimir Radmanovic still not appearing to shake off the wrist injury.
Thanks to the fact that the Hornets are terrible, and that the Sonics stepped on the gas and never let up, Ron Murray was able to get some prolonged minutes, and Robert Swift even got to play the last half of the fourth quarter.
It also helped that the Sonics killed the Hornets on the boards. Reggie Evans had another double-digit night on the glass.
The Sonics were able to weather Jerome James tweaking his knee (or something) in the first quarter, as he sat out the rest of the half. Originally, the trainers were going to have him sit out the rest of the game, but he came back to play after halftime.
PEEK AT THE BOXSCORE
starters
Rashard Lewis 26 pts/2 reb (8-11 FG, 6-8 3pt, 4-4 free throws), Ray Allen 25 pts/5 reb/2 stl (9-20 FG, 5-11 3pt, 2-2 free throws), Luke Ridnour 14 pts/2 reb/9 ast (4-9 FG, 2-4 3pt, 4-5 free throws), Reggie Evans 2 pts/14 reb (0-2 FG, 2-2 free throws)
bench
Ron Murray 13 pts/2 reb/1 stl (5-8 FG, 2-3 3pt, 1-2 free throws, 24 min), Antonio Daniels 11 pts/5 reb/8 ast/3 stl (3-9 FG, 1-4 3pt, 4-6 free throws), Nick Collison 7 pts/5 reb/2 blk (1-1 FG, 5-5 free throws), Vladimir Radmanovic 5 pts/4 reb/3 ast (1-7 FG, 0-1 3pt, 3-4 free throws), Robert Swift 0 pts/0 reb/1 stl/1 blk (0-1 FG, 6 min)
Jerome James Watch
0 pts/3 reb/1 ast (0-2 FG, 1 foul, 2 turnovers, 13 min)
team
shot 31-for-70 (44.3%) from the field, shot 16-for-31 (51.6%) from downtown, shot 25-for-30 (83.3%) from the line, outrebounded New Orleans 42-30, got beat 18-12 on the break and 36-14 in the paint, had 17 second-chance points (Hornets 7), bench was outscored 38-36 (benches tied 18-18 in rebounds)
It was fun to see the Sonics shoot well and finally be able to run their offense with some consistency again. Though it was an all-out blowout, it was great to see the Sonics not kick this one away, because we saw that happen against a not-great Golden State team before the break.
You can sum this game up in a few ways, but I think it all boils down to two things. One, the Sonics weren't fazed by their travel difficulties the night before, which surely added up to more adversity, combining with this game being the tail end of a back-to-back. Two, the Hornets are terrrrrrible, as Bill Walton would say. You might need more than two hands to count the number of layups they blew tonight. JR Smith was the only Hornet that looked decent tonight. I guess Dan Dickau did too, to an extent. Dickau and George Lynch played the most minutes (29 each), but the rest of the minutes are scattered fairly evenly among the starting lineup and five guys off the bench. They played all twelve guys tonight. In a related story, Vitaly Potapenko wasn't even able to get into this game. That's gotta suck.
The Hornets actually drew 12771 to the game, though it sure didn't seem like there were that many in the building when I was watching the game on television. I know what'd bring more fans into the arena -- taking out yellow as a color in the uniform/logo scheme. I've said it before, but they shouldn't have added yellow after the move, and it has no place with the tealish and purple colors.
I asked Jinkies if he thinks the Utah Jazz should be renamed, enabling the New Orleans team to rightfully be named the Jazz. His reply: "Here's a quarter, call someone who cares. (I learned this phrase from a country music song performed by Travis Tritt. I am liking the honky tonk.)"
Another fresh reply. I'm crestfallen.
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RUSKELL OFFICIALLY NAMED 'HAWKS PRESIDENT
The Seattle Seahawks have officially named Tim Ruskell as their new team president. Ruskell will be the final decision maker on all player and personnel decisions, as well as overseeing the team's pro and college scouting departments.
In case you missed it yesterday, here is the Tim Ruskell file. He comes to Seattle with an impressive resume of work. Can he help lead the Seahawks to their first world championship? We'll soon find out. Hopefully Ruskell keeps Mike Reinfeldt in the organization as well. Head coach Mike Holmgren knows the value of Reinfeldt.
Finally, this offseason is starting to move along.
In case you missed it yesterday, here is the Tim Ruskell file. He comes to Seattle with an impressive resume of work. Can he help lead the Seahawks to their first world championship? We'll soon find out. Hopefully Ruskell keeps Mike Reinfeldt in the organization as well. Head coach Mike Holmgren knows the value of Reinfeldt.
Finally, this offseason is starting to move along.
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J-E-T-Z, JETZ, JETZ, JETZ
Mugatu: I present to you the Derek Zoolander Center For Kids Who Can't Read Good and Would Like To Do Other Things Good.
Derek: What is this? A center for ants? How are we expected to teach the kids to read good...if they can't even fit inside the building?
Mugatu: Derek, this is just a small...
Derek: I don't wanna hear your excuses!
Derek: The building has to be at least... 3 times...that size!
Question is, does Derek Zoolander play to win the game?
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LOAD UP AND STUN
Welcome to Wednesday. 'Twas a big day yesterday for all the pro teams in our neck of the woods.
For today's random note...I'll let you in on what used to be my LEGO habit. Apart from getting the individual figures out of the store that come with the manuals and everything, I had this other big bucket of LEGOs. What I would do is get the smallest pieces in there, which I guess were two-by-one, with the numbers being the little bumps, or whatever you want to call them. I'd stack two of those side by side, then I'd stack two more on top of those, except rotate the top pieces 90 degrees. Then I'd repeat until none of these pieces were left in the bucket. Then usually some method of quick destruction was involved, whether it was taking the elongated LEGO monstrosity and pounding it against the floor until the pieces broke loose, or whether it was throwing things at it until it fell, and then throwing the biggest and heaviest metal toy car at it so it'd topple.
Seriously, I've never had to dwell for more than about ten seconds when trying to come up with a random thought to post, and then the detail comes out pretty quick. I'm torn as to whether this is a gift or an affliction.
On to the post!
MARINERS
In camp yesterday, it rained, but one field was clear for bunt defense drills. Since I was an outfielder throughout my playing days, I was usually a runner (conditioning) or trying to lay down the bunt if they were really getting situational on us.
Thus spake Ichiro. He's not setting any numerical goals yet or anything like that. It's February, after all. He says he doesn't know if he will ever hit .400 in a season, or if anyone will ever do it again. Ichiro is more likely to score runs this year also, but he more than likely won't come close to the modern era record of 177 by Babe Ruth circa 1921. Ichiro also says last season was "awful" and that he wants to cut down on mistakes at the plate. What do I say? Doubles into the gap. That's what I want to see out of Ichiro more than the singles machine from last year, albeit the best singles machine I'll ever see.
Mike Hargrove had a talk of decent length with the players before starting workouts with the full roster. Apparently Hargrove's not as big as Willie Randolph's new rules for the Mets, which include bans on facial hair, loud clubhouse music, and crookedly worn caps. If the latter of the three triggered a Mike Cameron holdout, I wouldn't be surprised. Okay, maybe I would be. Also, Matt Tuiasosopo apparently got new personalized bats reading "Tuiasosopopopo," which makes me immediately think that Bret Boone had a hand in it. If he did, come on, Bret, you probably haven't even said a word to the guy. You've got all camp to mess with him.
In that last P-I notebook article, there was a little blurb about Jeff Smulyan putting down a deposit to possibly buy the Washington Nationals. If he actually buys the team, how can their organization spin that at the press conference? What do you put on the website? "Smulyan owned the Mariners in the '80s...and they later went on an incredible run in 1995." Can you attribute anything good to the Smulyan years? Why would the Nationals subject themselves to this? Wait, don't answer that.
SEAHAWKS
As was being reported as on the verge of happening last night, the Seahawks had the press conference yesterday to announce that Matt Hasselbeck was locked up long-term as the starting quarterback. Matt will be getting six years and as much as $49.4M (incentives) with a $16M signing bonus. Mike Reinfeldt rules -- I don't know what more there is to say. Hasselbeck's agent said that the contract talks were sometimes "contentious" between he and Reinfeldt, but ultimately, a deal got done. This was amidst 20-30 conversations between Reinfeldy and Dunn throughout the last weekend.
Though it could have been announced yesterday, the Seahawks decided to let Hasselbeck have his day and name Tim Ruskell president today instead. Sure, we brought up Randy Mueller's name more than a few times on this site, and he's local and everything, but I can't argue with Ruskell's credentials (as so nicely stated here or two posts below by Jeremy). He helped assemble some crazy-good defenses in Tampa Bay, and if some of that crazy-goodness can be brought to Seattle's defense, then that's absolutely great. I want the Seahawks to pound the daylights out of the Rams next year. Yes, it's officially a rivalry.
With the opinion column of the day, Steve Kelley gives much-justified props to Mike Reinfeldt. Kelley then presents the moves he would make on both sides of the ball. Understandably, it's mostly on defense, and equally understandably, finding a receiver is also involved. Of course, I hope Shaun Alexander doesn't get ticked off by all this. If nothing else, I hope Alexander has a chat with Casey Treat and they agree to more commercials were Treat gets leveled while playing football. I'm sure that could be a dealbreaker. Nonetheless, the non-exclusive tag they've put on Alexander does allow him to shop around to see if teams want to give up two first-round picks to get him, though I've heard that's unlikely.
Jose Miguel Romero puts forth the list of the Seahawks' remaining unrestricted free agents, with a little blurb on each of the players.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
In North Carolina's 81-71 win on the road against NC State, Marvin Williams scored 14 points, pulled down 2 boards, and recorded 3 steals off the bench in 20 minutes. He nailed two of three from the field and shot 10-for-12 from the free-throw line. Marvin is averaging 11.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. Per 30 minutes of play, Marvin is averaging 15.6 points and 9 rebounds.
The Tar Heels travel to face Maryland on Sunday (2:30p, FSNNW) before hosting Florida State next Thursday (6p, local only)
Huskies
The Huskies host Arizona State tomorrow (7:30p, FSNNW) and Arizona on Saturday (1p, FSNNW)
Bulldogs
The Zags go to Portland tomorrow (8p, ESPN2) and host Northern Colorado the following Monday (FSNNW Seattle, Q6 NBC Spokane) before starting WCC Tournament play.
Sonics
For my take on last night's game, scroll down a post or click here if this is the only post on the page.
Scrapping was what Nate McMillan said the Sonics needed to do again. Part of this was the Ray Allen loose-ball scramble into the bench after Dikembe Mutombo bricked the free throw that would have given the Rockets a one-point lead. Allen was helped into the bench by David Wesley, whose foul sent Allen to the line to break the tie and account for the final margin. Part of the scrapping was Rashard Lewis defending Tracy McGrady, with the key play coming late when Lewis swatted the ball away after McGrady drove past him. The ball ended up in Luke Ridnour's hands, and Ray Allen was almost to the basket on the other end, and packed it. The Sonics have ended three of the six longest winning streaks in the NBA this season.
Another measure of scrap that I forgot about was when Jerome James got great position near the baseline on Yao Ming, and Ming got whistled for the sixth and final time. Furthermore about Rashard Lewis' defense, on the final Houston possession, McGrady passed up the final shot (Lewis and Radmanovic were on him) so Scott Padgett could airball a wide-open three. Think about that for a second -- the Rockets had Tracy McGrady on the floor, and the ball was in Scott Padgett's hands for the final shot. I guess it's all hindsight if Padgett makes the shot, but sheesh...
Yippee! More Ray Allen trade speculation! Can the deadline just pass already so I don't have to hear any more of this? That said, I'm going to be absolutely blindsided if the Sonics deal Ray Allen by the deadline, given everything we've heard as well as the fact that there's been little to no rumblings or rumors about who the Sonics would get back in a possible deal.
David Locke says that the Sonics' unexpected non-suckitude has altered the plan a bit in terms of possible personnel moves. If the Sonics move Vitaly Potapenko and Ron Murray, it could deprive them of cap space that basically gives the Sonics leverage against a Ray Allen sign-and-trade. At the same time, Locke says the Sonics could use a big with decent perimeter defense, but is Vladimir Radmanovic too much of a price to pay, and how much would his subtraction hurt the offense? I just say they go with what got them here, personally. If no one out there is a must-have, then they should stay put.
Upcoming...
Tonight at New Orleans (5p, FSNNW)
Friday vs. Minnesota (7:30p, FSNNW)
Sunday at Milwaukee (12p, FSNNW)
Tuesday at Indiana (4p, FSNNW)
HOCKEY
The Times has a little blurb about blueliner Zack FitzGerald of the Thunderbirds, a Saint Louis draftee whose future is uncertain. Right now, however, he's tied with teammate Matt Hansen for fourth in the WHL in plus-minus with a plus-30.
Kamloops beat Everett 2-1. All the goals in this one were scored in the first period. The Blazers got the 2-0 lead and never looked back. Kyle Annesley scored the lone Everett goal on a power play with 26 ticks left in the period. Kamloops outshot Everett 26-19, and Mike Wall stopped 24 for Everett.
Kelowna beat Portland 2-1. The Winter Hawks lost in their final game at Memorial Coliseum for the season, and will play the rest of their home games at the Rose Garden. All the goals in this one were scored in the second period, and Portland had the early lead before it slipped away. Brandon Dubinsky scored the lone goal for Portland before the Rockets scored twice on the power play late in the latter half of the period. Kelowna goalie Kristofer Westblom (age 17) stopped all 15 shots he faced in the third period as Portland kept on the attack. Portland was outshot 39-38, and Blake Grenier stopped 37 for the Winter Hawks.
Upcoming...
Tonight: Seattle at Kelowna, Tri-City at Vancouver, Manitoba at Wilkes-Barre Scranton
Tomorrow: Manitoba at Syracuse
Friday: Seattle at Kamloops, Everett at Tri-City, Portland at Spokane, Kelowna at Vancouver, Tri-City at Puget Sound (Cascade Cup semifinal -- Game 1 of best-of-5)
Saturday: Portland at Seattle, Vancouver at Everett, Manitoba at Hamilton, Tri-City at Puget Sound (Cascade Cup semifinal -- Game 2 of best-of-5)
Sunday: Spokane at Seattle, Tri-City at Everett
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Have a great Wednesday, everyone. Bonus points to those who sniffed out the Def Leppard reference in the post title.
For today's random note...I'll let you in on what used to be my LEGO habit. Apart from getting the individual figures out of the store that come with the manuals and everything, I had this other big bucket of LEGOs. What I would do is get the smallest pieces in there, which I guess were two-by-one, with the numbers being the little bumps, or whatever you want to call them. I'd stack two of those side by side, then I'd stack two more on top of those, except rotate the top pieces 90 degrees. Then I'd repeat until none of these pieces were left in the bucket. Then usually some method of quick destruction was involved, whether it was taking the elongated LEGO monstrosity and pounding it against the floor until the pieces broke loose, or whether it was throwing things at it until it fell, and then throwing the biggest and heaviest metal toy car at it so it'd topple.
Seriously, I've never had to dwell for more than about ten seconds when trying to come up with a random thought to post, and then the detail comes out pretty quick. I'm torn as to whether this is a gift or an affliction.
On to the post!
MARINERS
In camp yesterday, it rained, but one field was clear for bunt defense drills. Since I was an outfielder throughout my playing days, I was usually a runner (conditioning) or trying to lay down the bunt if they were really getting situational on us.
Thus spake Ichiro. He's not setting any numerical goals yet or anything like that. It's February, after all. He says he doesn't know if he will ever hit .400 in a season, or if anyone will ever do it again. Ichiro is more likely to score runs this year also, but he more than likely won't come close to the modern era record of 177 by Babe Ruth circa 1921. Ichiro also says last season was "awful" and that he wants to cut down on mistakes at the plate. What do I say? Doubles into the gap. That's what I want to see out of Ichiro more than the singles machine from last year, albeit the best singles machine I'll ever see.
Mike Hargrove had a talk of decent length with the players before starting workouts with the full roster. Apparently Hargrove's not as big as Willie Randolph's new rules for the Mets, which include bans on facial hair, loud clubhouse music, and crookedly worn caps. If the latter of the three triggered a Mike Cameron holdout, I wouldn't be surprised. Okay, maybe I would be. Also, Matt Tuiasosopo apparently got new personalized bats reading "Tuiasosopopopo," which makes me immediately think that Bret Boone had a hand in it. If he did, come on, Bret, you probably haven't even said a word to the guy. You've got all camp to mess with him.
In that last P-I notebook article, there was a little blurb about Jeff Smulyan putting down a deposit to possibly buy the Washington Nationals. If he actually buys the team, how can their organization spin that at the press conference? What do you put on the website? "Smulyan owned the Mariners in the '80s...and they later went on an incredible run in 1995." Can you attribute anything good to the Smulyan years? Why would the Nationals subject themselves to this? Wait, don't answer that.
SEAHAWKS
As was being reported as on the verge of happening last night, the Seahawks had the press conference yesterday to announce that Matt Hasselbeck was locked up long-term as the starting quarterback. Matt will be getting six years and as much as $49.4M (incentives) with a $16M signing bonus. Mike Reinfeldt rules -- I don't know what more there is to say. Hasselbeck's agent said that the contract talks were sometimes "contentious" between he and Reinfeldt, but ultimately, a deal got done. This was amidst 20-30 conversations between Reinfeldy and Dunn throughout the last weekend.
Though it could have been announced yesterday, the Seahawks decided to let Hasselbeck have his day and name Tim Ruskell president today instead. Sure, we brought up Randy Mueller's name more than a few times on this site, and he's local and everything, but I can't argue with Ruskell's credentials (as so nicely stated here or two posts below by Jeremy). He helped assemble some crazy-good defenses in Tampa Bay, and if some of that crazy-goodness can be brought to Seattle's defense, then that's absolutely great. I want the Seahawks to pound the daylights out of the Rams next year. Yes, it's officially a rivalry.
With the opinion column of the day, Steve Kelley gives much-justified props to Mike Reinfeldt. Kelley then presents the moves he would make on both sides of the ball. Understandably, it's mostly on defense, and equally understandably, finding a receiver is also involved. Of course, I hope Shaun Alexander doesn't get ticked off by all this. If nothing else, I hope Alexander has a chat with Casey Treat and they agree to more commercials were Treat gets leveled while playing football. I'm sure that could be a dealbreaker. Nonetheless, the non-exclusive tag they've put on Alexander does allow him to shop around to see if teams want to give up two first-round picks to get him, though I've heard that's unlikely.
Jose Miguel Romero puts forth the list of the Seahawks' remaining unrestricted free agents, with a little blurb on each of the players.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
In North Carolina's 81-71 win on the road against NC State, Marvin Williams scored 14 points, pulled down 2 boards, and recorded 3 steals off the bench in 20 minutes. He nailed two of three from the field and shot 10-for-12 from the free-throw line. Marvin is averaging 11.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. Per 30 minutes of play, Marvin is averaging 15.6 points and 9 rebounds.
The Tar Heels travel to face Maryland on Sunday (2:30p, FSNNW) before hosting Florida State next Thursday (6p, local only)
Huskies
The Huskies host Arizona State tomorrow (7:30p, FSNNW) and Arizona on Saturday (1p, FSNNW)
Bulldogs
The Zags go to Portland tomorrow (8p, ESPN2) and host Northern Colorado the following Monday (FSNNW Seattle, Q6 NBC Spokane) before starting WCC Tournament play.
Sonics
For my take on last night's game, scroll down a post or click here if this is the only post on the page.
Scrapping was what Nate McMillan said the Sonics needed to do again. Part of this was the Ray Allen loose-ball scramble into the bench after Dikembe Mutombo bricked the free throw that would have given the Rockets a one-point lead. Allen was helped into the bench by David Wesley, whose foul sent Allen to the line to break the tie and account for the final margin. Part of the scrapping was Rashard Lewis defending Tracy McGrady, with the key play coming late when Lewis swatted the ball away after McGrady drove past him. The ball ended up in Luke Ridnour's hands, and Ray Allen was almost to the basket on the other end, and packed it. The Sonics have ended three of the six longest winning streaks in the NBA this season.
Another measure of scrap that I forgot about was when Jerome James got great position near the baseline on Yao Ming, and Ming got whistled for the sixth and final time. Furthermore about Rashard Lewis' defense, on the final Houston possession, McGrady passed up the final shot (Lewis and Radmanovic were on him) so Scott Padgett could airball a wide-open three. Think about that for a second -- the Rockets had Tracy McGrady on the floor, and the ball was in Scott Padgett's hands for the final shot. I guess it's all hindsight if Padgett makes the shot, but sheesh...
Yippee! More Ray Allen trade speculation! Can the deadline just pass already so I don't have to hear any more of this? That said, I'm going to be absolutely blindsided if the Sonics deal Ray Allen by the deadline, given everything we've heard as well as the fact that there's been little to no rumblings or rumors about who the Sonics would get back in a possible deal.
David Locke says that the Sonics' unexpected non-suckitude has altered the plan a bit in terms of possible personnel moves. If the Sonics move Vitaly Potapenko and Ron Murray, it could deprive them of cap space that basically gives the Sonics leverage against a Ray Allen sign-and-trade. At the same time, Locke says the Sonics could use a big with decent perimeter defense, but is Vladimir Radmanovic too much of a price to pay, and how much would his subtraction hurt the offense? I just say they go with what got them here, personally. If no one out there is a must-have, then they should stay put.
Upcoming...
Tonight at New Orleans (5p, FSNNW)
Friday vs. Minnesota (7:30p, FSNNW)
Sunday at Milwaukee (12p, FSNNW)
Tuesday at Indiana (4p, FSNNW)
HOCKEY
The Times has a little blurb about blueliner Zack FitzGerald of the Thunderbirds, a Saint Louis draftee whose future is uncertain. Right now, however, he's tied with teammate Matt Hansen for fourth in the WHL in plus-minus with a plus-30.
Kamloops beat Everett 2-1. All the goals in this one were scored in the first period. The Blazers got the 2-0 lead and never looked back. Kyle Annesley scored the lone Everett goal on a power play with 26 ticks left in the period. Kamloops outshot Everett 26-19, and Mike Wall stopped 24 for Everett.
Kelowna beat Portland 2-1. The Winter Hawks lost in their final game at Memorial Coliseum for the season, and will play the rest of their home games at the Rose Garden. All the goals in this one were scored in the second period, and Portland had the early lead before it slipped away. Brandon Dubinsky scored the lone goal for Portland before the Rockets scored twice on the power play late in the latter half of the period. Kelowna goalie Kristofer Westblom (age 17) stopped all 15 shots he faced in the third period as Portland kept on the attack. Portland was outshot 39-38, and Blake Grenier stopped 37 for the Winter Hawks.
Upcoming...
Tonight: Seattle at Kelowna, Tri-City at Vancouver, Manitoba at Wilkes-Barre Scranton
Tomorrow: Manitoba at Syracuse
Friday: Seattle at Kamloops, Everett at Tri-City, Portland at Spokane, Kelowna at Vancouver, Tri-City at Puget Sound (Cascade Cup semifinal -- Game 1 of best-of-5)
Saturday: Portland at Seattle, Vancouver at Everett, Manitoba at Hamilton, Tri-City at Puget Sound (Cascade Cup semifinal -- Game 2 of best-of-5)
Sunday: Spokane at Seattle, Tri-City at Everett
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Have a great Wednesday, everyone. Bonus points to those who sniffed out the Def Leppard reference in the post title.
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Tuesday, February 22, 2005
GAME 51: SUPERSONICS 87, ROCKETS 85
SuperSonics 87, Rockets 85
(final content posted ~9:43p)
Holy hell.
The Sonics got behind in the first quarter, and they shot horribly the entire game. From that point in the first quarter, the Sonics always seemed to be a run behind -- they'd make a run and get within one or two points, and the Rockets would reel off a run and get a cushion. This pretty much carried through to the closing minutes of the game.
Rashard Lewis got two quick fouls in the first quarter, but came back to lead the Sonics in scoring, and had some incredibly clutch defensive stops late, including a key strip of Tracy McGrady in the waning minutes that led to a Ray Allen breakaway dunk. The dunk got the Sonics a one-point lead at 85-84.
After nailing a free throw that tied the score at 85, Dikembe Mutombo bricked his second free-throw attempt. Ray Allen scrambled for the rebound, had some control of the ball, and was bumped out of bounds toward the Sonic bench by David Wesley. Ray Allen went to the line and hit both shots, accounting for the final margin.
The Sonics shot crappy, yes, but this...this is a great win. They were behind most of the game, but somehow pulled it out in the end. Their advantage on the glass helped, as did their defense (yes, defense).
It also helped that Yao Ming fouled out with just over a minute to go in the fourth quarter. Tracy McGrady had an okay night, but he didn't get to go nuts, and Rashard Lewis was a big part of that.
With Danny Fortson out, the Sonics needed to do something else with those minutes coming off the bench in the frontcourt. Nick Collison got some of those minutes, and had a couple of layups. Nate McMillan let the broadcasters before the game know that Vitaly Potapenko would get some significant minutes, and he did. He had a decent line of 4 points and 6 boards. It's not easy trying to make up for Fortson, but that helps.
While none of the frontcourt guys could really do much about Yao, Vitaly, James, and Collison had a much easier time with the aged Dikembe Mutombo. Though somewhat unrelated, there was a play in the third quarter (I think) where Vladimir Radmanovic tried to climb Mount Mutombo, and Mutombo got whistled for the foul, thinking he got all ball. While I didn't get too good of a look on the replay, I must say that as a Sonic fan, I was happy to see any and every call that went against Mutombo tonight.
They shot crappy, and they didn't get much flow in their offense, but they were able to win a game whose pace favored the Rockets. It's a good way to start the second half. Though I know this team lost to the Warriors, they do have a patsy tomorrow night in New Orleans.
PEEK AT THE BOXSCORE
starters
Ray Allen 29 pts/5 reb/2 ast/2 stl (11-23 FG, 0-6 3pt, 7-8 free throws), Rashard Lewis 23 pts/9 reb/2 stl (7-20 FG, 1-8 3pt, 8-12 free throws), Luke Ridnour 7 pts/4 reb/7 ast (2-10 FG, 1-3 3pt), Reggie Evans 3 pts/11 reb/3 stl
bench
Vladimir Radmanovic 10 pts/4 reb (3-9 FG, 2-6 3pt), Antonio Daniels 7 pts/3 reb/6 ast (3-7 FG), Vitaly Potapenko 4 pts/6 reb (2-6 FG, 18 min), Nick Collison 4 pts/3 reb (2-2 FG, 8 min)
Jerome James Watch
0 pts/5 reb/1 stl/1 blk (0-5 FG, 1 turnover, 3 fouls, 18 min)
team
shot 31-for-85 (36.5%) from the field, shot 4-for-25 (16%) from downtown, shot 21-for-28 (75%) from the line, outrebounded Houston 50-37, bench outscored Houston bench 25-15 (outrebounded them 16-9), only had one shot blocked by Mutombo
Though the Sonics had their clutch defensive plays in the game, they had a great second half defensively when you just look at the linescore. They held the Rockets to 15 points in the third quarter, and 19 in the fourth, which made up for the first half. This was way better than even the first quarter (28 points), but also better than what we saw defensively out of the Sonics in the weeks leading up to the break.
Looking to the boxscore, Luke Ridnour had a terrible shooting night, but was distributing the ball, and his two free throws were key points down the stretch. Radmanovic had another bad shooting night, but when his wrist comes around, his numbers should do the same.
But really, the entire team other than Ray Allen (who went through some cold stretches himself) shot poorly tonight. Then again, it's not surprising in a way when you're facing a Jeff Van Gundy-coached team.
The Sonics couldn't contain Yao very much, but they had better luck against Tracy McGrady. That helped bigtime.
I asked Jinkies if he thinks the Rockets should go back to the uniforms they wore when they won their repeat titles. His reply: "A rash of that crazy size of which you speak should not be treated with over-the-counter ointments. You need to see somebody who can help you, and this is not me!"
Frankly, I'm blown away that I'm still getting fresh replies out of Jinkies. I think I've been asking him these questions for about 25 to 30 games now. This is crazy.
(final content posted ~9:43p)
Holy hell.
The Sonics got behind in the first quarter, and they shot horribly the entire game. From that point in the first quarter, the Sonics always seemed to be a run behind -- they'd make a run and get within one or two points, and the Rockets would reel off a run and get a cushion. This pretty much carried through to the closing minutes of the game.
Rashard Lewis got two quick fouls in the first quarter, but came back to lead the Sonics in scoring, and had some incredibly clutch defensive stops late, including a key strip of Tracy McGrady in the waning minutes that led to a Ray Allen breakaway dunk. The dunk got the Sonics a one-point lead at 85-84.
After nailing a free throw that tied the score at 85, Dikembe Mutombo bricked his second free-throw attempt. Ray Allen scrambled for the rebound, had some control of the ball, and was bumped out of bounds toward the Sonic bench by David Wesley. Ray Allen went to the line and hit both shots, accounting for the final margin.
The Sonics shot crappy, yes, but this...this is a great win. They were behind most of the game, but somehow pulled it out in the end. Their advantage on the glass helped, as did their defense (yes, defense).
It also helped that Yao Ming fouled out with just over a minute to go in the fourth quarter. Tracy McGrady had an okay night, but he didn't get to go nuts, and Rashard Lewis was a big part of that.
With Danny Fortson out, the Sonics needed to do something else with those minutes coming off the bench in the frontcourt. Nick Collison got some of those minutes, and had a couple of layups. Nate McMillan let the broadcasters before the game know that Vitaly Potapenko would get some significant minutes, and he did. He had a decent line of 4 points and 6 boards. It's not easy trying to make up for Fortson, but that helps.
While none of the frontcourt guys could really do much about Yao, Vitaly, James, and Collison had a much easier time with the aged Dikembe Mutombo. Though somewhat unrelated, there was a play in the third quarter (I think) where Vladimir Radmanovic tried to climb Mount Mutombo, and Mutombo got whistled for the foul, thinking he got all ball. While I didn't get too good of a look on the replay, I must say that as a Sonic fan, I was happy to see any and every call that went against Mutombo tonight.
They shot crappy, and they didn't get much flow in their offense, but they were able to win a game whose pace favored the Rockets. It's a good way to start the second half. Though I know this team lost to the Warriors, they do have a patsy tomorrow night in New Orleans.
PEEK AT THE BOXSCORE
starters
Ray Allen 29 pts/5 reb/2 ast/2 stl (11-23 FG, 0-6 3pt, 7-8 free throws), Rashard Lewis 23 pts/9 reb/2 stl (7-20 FG, 1-8 3pt, 8-12 free throws), Luke Ridnour 7 pts/4 reb/7 ast (2-10 FG, 1-3 3pt), Reggie Evans 3 pts/11 reb/3 stl
bench
Vladimir Radmanovic 10 pts/4 reb (3-9 FG, 2-6 3pt), Antonio Daniels 7 pts/3 reb/6 ast (3-7 FG), Vitaly Potapenko 4 pts/6 reb (2-6 FG, 18 min), Nick Collison 4 pts/3 reb (2-2 FG, 8 min)
Jerome James Watch
0 pts/5 reb/1 stl/1 blk (0-5 FG, 1 turnover, 3 fouls, 18 min)
team
shot 31-for-85 (36.5%) from the field, shot 4-for-25 (16%) from downtown, shot 21-for-28 (75%) from the line, outrebounded Houston 50-37, bench outscored Houston bench 25-15 (outrebounded them 16-9), only had one shot blocked by Mutombo
Though the Sonics had their clutch defensive plays in the game, they had a great second half defensively when you just look at the linescore. They held the Rockets to 15 points in the third quarter, and 19 in the fourth, which made up for the first half. This was way better than even the first quarter (28 points), but also better than what we saw defensively out of the Sonics in the weeks leading up to the break.
Looking to the boxscore, Luke Ridnour had a terrible shooting night, but was distributing the ball, and his two free throws were key points down the stretch. Radmanovic had another bad shooting night, but when his wrist comes around, his numbers should do the same.
But really, the entire team other than Ray Allen (who went through some cold stretches himself) shot poorly tonight. Then again, it's not surprising in a way when you're facing a Jeff Van Gundy-coached team.
The Sonics couldn't contain Yao very much, but they had better luck against Tracy McGrady. That helped bigtime.
I asked Jinkies if he thinks the Rockets should go back to the uniforms they wore when they won their repeat titles. His reply: "A rash of that crazy size of which you speak should not be treated with over-the-counter ointments. You need to see somebody who can help you, and this is not me!"
Frankly, I'm blown away that I'm still getting fresh replies out of Jinkies. I think I've been asking him these questions for about 25 to 30 games now. This is crazy.
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THE TIM RUSKELL FILE
As David posted earlier, the Seattle Seahawks will name Tim Ruskell as their new president. With the resignation of general manger Bob Ferguson, there is a possibility of Ruskell becoming the GM as well.
THE TIM RUSKELL FILE
1983-1985 Saskatchewan Roughriders (CFL) scout
1985-1986 Tampa Bay Bandits (USFL) scout
1987-1991 Tampa Bay Buccaneers regional scout
1992-2000 Tampa Bay Buccaneers director of college scouting
2001-2003 Tampa Bay Buccaneers director of player personnel
2004-2005 Atlanta Falcons assistant general manager
2002 Super Bowl XXXVII Champions --- Tampa Bay Buccaneers
"If there are 50 great evaluators of talent in the NFL, I believe Tim is in the top five," said Falcons president and general manager Rich McKay, who worked with Ruskell in Tampa Bay. "We had great success in the draft while we were in Tampa, due in large part to Tim and the players who he would put up on the draft board and that he believes in."
Here's a list of players the Bucs drafted from 1993 to 2002.
---S John Lynch (1993, 3rd round)
---QB Trent Dilfer (1994, 1st round)
---DT Warren Sapp (1995, 1st round)
---LB Derrick Brooks (1995, 1st round)
---FB Mike Alstott (1996, 2nd round)
---CB Donnie Abraham (1996, 3rd round)
---RB Warrick Dunn (1997, 1st round)
---DB Ronde Barber (1997, 3rd round)
---CB Brian Kelly (1998, 2nd round)
---DT Anthony McFarland (1999, 1st round)
---QB Shaun King (1999, 2nd round)
---K Martin Gramatica (1999, 3rd round)
---S Dexter Jackson (1999, 4th round)
---CB Dwight Smith (2001, 3rd round)
All of these players played a key role in taking the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from the NFL's laughingstock pile to the NFL's penthouse. Before you scoff about the selection of current Seahawks backup quarterback Trent Dilfer, keep in mind that he did lead the Bucs to their first postseason victory since 1979 in 1997, which was the first year of the pewter uniforms. Shaun King helped lead the Bucs to the 1999 NFC Championship Game, before losing to the St. Louis Rams.
John Lynch, Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, and Ronde Barber were the cornerstones of a Tampa Bay defense that was regarded as arguably the league's best from 1997-2002. Brooks and Barber are still in Tampa Bay, while Lynch and Sapp left for the AFC West in 2004 (Denver and Oakland, respectively). Dexter Jackson was the Super Bowl XXXVII MVP.
As far as free agents go, I will only mention the players that came to Tampa Bay from 2001 to 2003, since Ruskell was the director of player personnel during that time.
---QB Brad Johnson (2001, free agent)
---DE Simeon Rice (2001, free agent)
---WR Keenan McCardell (2002, free agent)
Johnson did what Dilfer and King couldn't do: lead the Bucs to a world championship. Rice's presence on the Bucs' defensive line helped Sapp immensely and McCardell was a nice weapon for Johnson during the Bucs' 2002 championship season.
In Ruskell's one season in Atlanta (2004), the Falcons won the NFC South and advanced to the NFC Championship Game before losing to the Philadelphia Eagles. The Falcons drafted CB Deangelo Hall, WR Michael Jenkins, QB Matt Schaub, and DT Chad Lavalais in the 2004 draft. All four players have the potential to be solid NFL players, although Schaub's possible NFL success will have to take place outside of Atlanta, because there's a guy named Michael Vick in the crowd.
Here's a few links from the national media on Ruskell (mostly from his days in Tampa Bay). While Rich McKay got the credit in Tampa Bay, Ruskell was part of the Bucs' success as well.
The Sporting News : Dan Pompei 1/23/03
Sports Illustrated : Don Banks 1/25/03
Judging by his body of work, I am impressed with Ruskell. He's one of the best talent evaluators in the NFL today. Just ask Rich McKay about the man. Ruskell has helped build a Super Bowl championship team. While some Seahawks fans were hoping for former executive Randy Mueller or current Patriots executive Scott Pioli to come to Seattle, they should be impressed by the hiring of Ruskell.
Oh, and Matt Hasselbeck is back in the saddle again. Shaun Alexander was given the franchise tag, so if he were to sign with another team, the Seahawks would get 2 first-round picks. February 22, 2005 may just be one of the most important days in Seattle Seahawks history. Let's just say I'm feeling a lot better about the Seattle Seahawks fortunes today than I was a few weeks ago.
Welcome to Seattle, Tim. Now get to work, bro. We're starving for a Super Bowl.
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SALVAGE
Well, it's a big day for the Seahawks.
-- Matt Hasselbeck has signed a deal for 6 years and $47M, according to John Clayton.
-- Shaun Alexander will get the franchise tag.
-- Last year's Atlanta assistant GM Tim Ruskell will be the Seahawks' new president, and has signed a five-year deal.
-- The Seahawks' GM of the past two years, Bob Ferguson, is resigning, though he will stay on as a consultant through the draft. It has been speculated that Ruskell might be the president as well as the GM.
Well, I'm feeling a lot better than I did yesterday about the Seahawks' situation. Now that they have some leadership in place, maybe they can begin to chip away at the 5 billion or so other unrestricted free agents they have.
-- Matt Hasselbeck has signed a deal for 6 years and $47M, according to John Clayton.
-- Shaun Alexander will get the franchise tag.
-- Last year's Atlanta assistant GM Tim Ruskell will be the Seahawks' new president, and has signed a five-year deal.
-- The Seahawks' GM of the past two years, Bob Ferguson, is resigning, though he will stay on as a consultant through the draft. It has been speculated that Ruskell might be the president as well as the GM.
Well, I'm feeling a lot better than I did yesterday about the Seahawks' situation. Now that they have some leadership in place, maybe they can begin to chip away at the 5 billion or so other unrestricted free agents they have.
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DODGE
Welcome to Tuesday. I hope all of you had a wondrous extended weekend. Of course, if you didn't get Monday off, then...hey, you got through Monday!
For the random note today...I'm a milk chocolate over dark chocolate guy. Whenever I ran across those bags of Hershey's miniatures, I dreaded Special Dark. However, the plain Hershey's minis were okay, the Mr. Goodbars were serviceable, but most of all, I was a Krackel guy. However, in another candy-related note, I couldn't stand Necco wafers or Smarties. This usually made Halloweens only 90% enjoyable for the few times I went out trick-or-treating.
To the post!
MARINERS
Hickey goes over who might start in the field and on the mound for this team on Opening Day. I wish Bucky Jacobsen's knee was 100%, but he's having trouble stopping and starting. Mike Hargrove is also saying that two of the rotation spots are up for grabs, though he's not naming any names.
Also, Adrian Beltre is in camp, and that is a good thing. He's got the locker next to Edgar's. Beltre also says he wanted to come to Seattle because of the tradition. Oh, if only more people believed that the four-year tradition could wipe away the other 20 years or so. As for the possibility that Beltre will need "a couple of days" to adjust to American League pitching, that sounds good to me. I like leaning toward the "a couple of days" spectrum rather than the "Jeff Cirillo" end of the spectrum.
You know, Mike Hargrove the other day said about Felix Hernandez, "[t]he world has a chance to be his oyster." Yesterday, he talked about switching teams like Beltre is doing, and said, "[l]eaving Texas was like a breech birth." Oyster? Breech birth? Is Hargrove going to be this outlandishly quotable all year?
SEAHAWKS
Whew. Sources close to negotiations indicate that the Seahawks reached an agreement with Matt Hasselbeck on a long-term contract. This of course enables the Seahawks to use the franchise tag on Shaun Alexander, which seemed like the likely case after Walter Jones was locked up to the long-term deal. If this holds up, the Seahawks have the top three free-agents out of the way (unless Alexander forces a trade or something), and they can focus on defense, and/or the receiving corps. Derrick Mason as a wide receiver is probably a pipe dream, of course, but I hope the Seahawks are getting one mother of a draft board together and get their fill at the combine.
Art Thiel brings to our attention an apparent Seahawk front office candidate, Tim Ruskell, current Atlanta assistant GM and former Tampa Bay scout, college scouting director, then director of player personnel. He was certainly there for those crazy Tampa Bay defenses of the past few years. Thiel suggests that Ruskell would be in line for the VP of football operations post, vacated by Ted Thompson, who fled for Green Bay's GM spot.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
The Tar Heels travel to face NC State tonight (5p, local only) and Maryland on Sunday (2:30p, FSNNW)
Huskies
The Huskies host Arizona State on Thursday (7:30p, FSNNW) and Arizona on Saturday (1p, FSNNW)
Bulldogs
The Zags go to Portland on Thursday (8p, ESPN2) and host Northern Colorado the following Monday (FSNNW Seattle, Q6 NBC Spokane) before starting WCC Tournament play.
Sonics
The second half is underway. Rashard Lewis took some extra jumpers after everyone else left the gym in Houston. The Sonics will be trying to snap red-hot Houston's eight-game winning streak. Percy Allen also attempts to answer ten questions pertaining to the Sonics' immediate future. They've got seven back-to-back sets the rest of the way, and if I'm not mistaken, they have 21 games in the next 37 days.
No matter how the season ends up, the players will still have their rides. I didn't know there was a league-wide ban on motorcycle use by players after the Jay Williams incident. In any event, Jerome James can't ride his motorbike. Man, that picture with Robert Swift and his stereo system...yikes.
As for Jayda Evans taking out an estimate to pimp her ride, well, my ride is way more ghetto than hers. Sure, it's paid for, but it's a grannymobile, the same one I've driven since high school. Of course, it gets great gas mileage and the only hiccup I've ever had with it was when the A/C went kaput. I only felt the bad effects of that when I lived in Ellensburg for the summer of 2003. I didn't take the car out until dusk, if ever, and the campus itself is very flat and fairly bike-friendly, of which I took advantage.
Upcoming...
Tonight at Houston (5:30p, FSNNW)
Tomorrow at New Orleans (5p, FSNNW)
HOCKEY
Steve Kelley writes about another group getting screwed by the lack of NHL activity -- draft-eligible junior hockey players. The Thunderbirds have Chris Durand, Scott Jackson, and Bretton Stamler waiting for the draft that hopefully comes, though it'll be next year at the earliest. Of course, outside of Seattle, it's also the Sidney Crosbys and the Gilbert Brules of the world that are getting the shaft here too.
Upcoming...
Tomorrow: Everett at Kamloops, Kelowna at Portland
Wednesday: Seattle at Kelowna, Tri-City at Vancouver, Manitoba at Wilkes-Barre Scranton
Thursday: Manitoba at Syracuse
Friday: Seattle at Kamloops, Everett at Tri-City, Portland at Spokane, Kelowna at Vancouver, Tri-City at Puget Sound (Cascade Cup semifinal -- Game 1 of best-of-5)
Saturday: Portland at Seattle, Vancouver at Everett, Manitoba at Hamilton, Tri-City at Puget Sound (Cascade Cup semifinal -- Game 2 of best-of-5)
Sunday: Spokane at Seattle, Tri-City at Everett
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Have a great Tuesday and a great start to your hopefully shortened work week.
For the random note today...I'm a milk chocolate over dark chocolate guy. Whenever I ran across those bags of Hershey's miniatures, I dreaded Special Dark. However, the plain Hershey's minis were okay, the Mr. Goodbars were serviceable, but most of all, I was a Krackel guy. However, in another candy-related note, I couldn't stand Necco wafers or Smarties. This usually made Halloweens only 90% enjoyable for the few times I went out trick-or-treating.
To the post!
MARINERS
Hickey goes over who might start in the field and on the mound for this team on Opening Day. I wish Bucky Jacobsen's knee was 100%, but he's having trouble stopping and starting. Mike Hargrove is also saying that two of the rotation spots are up for grabs, though he's not naming any names.
Also, Adrian Beltre is in camp, and that is a good thing. He's got the locker next to Edgar's. Beltre also says he wanted to come to Seattle because of the tradition. Oh, if only more people believed that the four-year tradition could wipe away the other 20 years or so. As for the possibility that Beltre will need "a couple of days" to adjust to American League pitching, that sounds good to me. I like leaning toward the "a couple of days" spectrum rather than the "Jeff Cirillo" end of the spectrum.
You know, Mike Hargrove the other day said about Felix Hernandez, "[t]he world has a chance to be his oyster." Yesterday, he talked about switching teams like Beltre is doing, and said, "[l]eaving Texas was like a breech birth." Oyster? Breech birth? Is Hargrove going to be this outlandishly quotable all year?
SEAHAWKS
Whew. Sources close to negotiations indicate that the Seahawks reached an agreement with Matt Hasselbeck on a long-term contract. This of course enables the Seahawks to use the franchise tag on Shaun Alexander, which seemed like the likely case after Walter Jones was locked up to the long-term deal. If this holds up, the Seahawks have the top three free-agents out of the way (unless Alexander forces a trade or something), and they can focus on defense, and/or the receiving corps. Derrick Mason as a wide receiver is probably a pipe dream, of course, but I hope the Seahawks are getting one mother of a draft board together and get their fill at the combine.
Art Thiel brings to our attention an apparent Seahawk front office candidate, Tim Ruskell, current Atlanta assistant GM and former Tampa Bay scout, college scouting director, then director of player personnel. He was certainly there for those crazy Tampa Bay defenses of the past few years. Thiel suggests that Ruskell would be in line for the VP of football operations post, vacated by Ted Thompson, who fled for Green Bay's GM spot.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
The Tar Heels travel to face NC State tonight (5p, local only) and Maryland on Sunday (2:30p, FSNNW)
Huskies
The Huskies host Arizona State on Thursday (7:30p, FSNNW) and Arizona on Saturday (1p, FSNNW)
Bulldogs
The Zags go to Portland on Thursday (8p, ESPN2) and host Northern Colorado the following Monday (FSNNW Seattle, Q6 NBC Spokane) before starting WCC Tournament play.
Sonics
The second half is underway. Rashard Lewis took some extra jumpers after everyone else left the gym in Houston. The Sonics will be trying to snap red-hot Houston's eight-game winning streak. Percy Allen also attempts to answer ten questions pertaining to the Sonics' immediate future. They've got seven back-to-back sets the rest of the way, and if I'm not mistaken, they have 21 games in the next 37 days.
No matter how the season ends up, the players will still have their rides. I didn't know there was a league-wide ban on motorcycle use by players after the Jay Williams incident. In any event, Jerome James can't ride his motorbike. Man, that picture with Robert Swift and his stereo system...yikes.
As for Jayda Evans taking out an estimate to pimp her ride, well, my ride is way more ghetto than hers. Sure, it's paid for, but it's a grannymobile, the same one I've driven since high school. Of course, it gets great gas mileage and the only hiccup I've ever had with it was when the A/C went kaput. I only felt the bad effects of that when I lived in Ellensburg for the summer of 2003. I didn't take the car out until dusk, if ever, and the campus itself is very flat and fairly bike-friendly, of which I took advantage.
Upcoming...
Tonight at Houston (5:30p, FSNNW)
Tomorrow at New Orleans (5p, FSNNW)
HOCKEY
Steve Kelley writes about another group getting screwed by the lack of NHL activity -- draft-eligible junior hockey players. The Thunderbirds have Chris Durand, Scott Jackson, and Bretton Stamler waiting for the draft that hopefully comes, though it'll be next year at the earliest. Of course, outside of Seattle, it's also the Sidney Crosbys and the Gilbert Brules of the world that are getting the shaft here too.
Upcoming...
Tomorrow: Everett at Kamloops, Kelowna at Portland
Wednesday: Seattle at Kelowna, Tri-City at Vancouver, Manitoba at Wilkes-Barre Scranton
Thursday: Manitoba at Syracuse
Friday: Seattle at Kamloops, Everett at Tri-City, Portland at Spokane, Kelowna at Vancouver, Tri-City at Puget Sound (Cascade Cup semifinal -- Game 1 of best-of-5)
Saturday: Portland at Seattle, Vancouver at Everett, Manitoba at Hamilton, Tri-City at Puget Sound (Cascade Cup semifinal -- Game 2 of best-of-5)
Sunday: Spokane at Seattle, Tri-City at Everett
---
Have a great Tuesday and a great start to your hopefully shortened work week.
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Monday, February 21, 2005
BLEW IT
I'm blaming this all on Bob Whitsitt.
I should have gotten to this way earlier today, but heard it in the car this afternoon after driving out and about, and I wish the Tribune would refresh at or near midnight like the other two papers I take headlines from.
Anyway, Mike Sando's word is that if both Matt Hasselbeck and Shaun Alexander are unsigned tomorrow, Hasselbeck is getting the tag.
Again, regardless of who you want to keep here...why in the HELL couldn't they sign at least one of Alexander, Hasselbeck, and Walter Jones last offseason?
So now they can't even get a long-term deal done with Hasselbeck. Great. All that leverage the Seahawks gained when they signed Jones? Gone.
I just think it's an unfortunate waste of franchise tag for the one guy left that's more likely to stay in Seattle.
Still, they made the quantum leap and finally signed Jones long-term, and now they can't even lock up Hasselbeck, which seemed to be the most likely situation this offseason.
...and with that, they've at the very least lost some sweet first-round picks since they won't be able to use the tag on Shaun, not to mention a back that ran for almost 1700 yards last season.
If Bob Whitsitt wasn't so busy butting heads with everybody over there, maybe there's some more front office organization over there, and maybe we're not in this mess.
They said that they'd been planning on signing one guy and hoping there was a domino effect, and we've yet to see that happen. That's for sure.
Sigh...
In other news, I know we're dying for some defense, but the Titans cut Derrick Mason today. Mason only caught 96 balls last year for 1168 yards and seven scores. That was only his fourth straight 1000-yard season.
I'm angry. The Seahawks won't like me when I'm angry.
I should have gotten to this way earlier today, but heard it in the car this afternoon after driving out and about, and I wish the Tribune would refresh at or near midnight like the other two papers I take headlines from.
Anyway, Mike Sando's word is that if both Matt Hasselbeck and Shaun Alexander are unsigned tomorrow, Hasselbeck is getting the tag.
Again, regardless of who you want to keep here...why in the HELL couldn't they sign at least one of Alexander, Hasselbeck, and Walter Jones last offseason?
So now they can't even get a long-term deal done with Hasselbeck. Great. All that leverage the Seahawks gained when they signed Jones? Gone.
I just think it's an unfortunate waste of franchise tag for the one guy left that's more likely to stay in Seattle.
Still, they made the quantum leap and finally signed Jones long-term, and now they can't even lock up Hasselbeck, which seemed to be the most likely situation this offseason.
...and with that, they've at the very least lost some sweet first-round picks since they won't be able to use the tag on Shaun, not to mention a back that ran for almost 1700 yards last season.
If Bob Whitsitt wasn't so busy butting heads with everybody over there, maybe there's some more front office organization over there, and maybe we're not in this mess.
They said that they'd been planning on signing one guy and hoping there was a domino effect, and we've yet to see that happen. That's for sure.
Sigh...
In other news, I know we're dying for some defense, but the Titans cut Derrick Mason today. Mason only caught 96 balls last year for 1168 yards and seven scores. That was only his fourth straight 1000-yard season.
I'm angry. The Seahawks won't like me when I'm angry.
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SWUNG ON AND BELTRE'D!!!
20 fake dollars says that soccer moms and the M's marketing department uses the phrase "Yo, Adrian!" throughout the 2005 season. Ugh.
Oh well, at least M's fans finally have a legitimate player at the hot corner.
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FUNK DAT!
QUESTION!
Why is it that every time the Mariners are down 10 runs, Rick Rizzs still says "these guys never quit?"
MAN, FUNK DAT!
(Get out of my way!)
QUESTION
Why is it that every time I stand up in Safeco Field, the soccer mom 3 rows behind me tells me to sit down? I'm just having a good time, lady.
FUNK DAT!
(What are you looking at?)
QUESTION...
Why is it that every time I hear Crazytown's "Butterfly" I just want to break stuff?
FUNK DAT!
(Come come my lady, whatever!)
QUESTION
Why is it that people feel the need to do the wave at a baseball game? Does it make them look cool? I mean, I thought I was looking cool at the games, but I guess I'm doing something wrong.
MAN, FUNK DAT!
(The inspiration)
Why is it that every time the Mariners are down 10 runs, Rick Rizzs still says "these guys never quit?"
MAN, FUNK DAT!
(Get out of my way!)
QUESTION
Why is it that every time I stand up in Safeco Field, the soccer mom 3 rows behind me tells me to sit down? I'm just having a good time, lady.
FUNK DAT!
(What are you looking at?)
QUESTION...
Why is it that every time I hear Crazytown's "Butterfly" I just want to break stuff?
FUNK DAT!
(Come come my lady, whatever!)
QUESTION
Why is it that people feel the need to do the wave at a baseball game? Does it make them look cool? I mean, I thought I was looking cool at the games, but I guess I'm doing something wrong.
MAN, FUNK DAT!
(The inspiration)
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RANK 'EM (SPRING TRAINING VERSION)
Throughout the offseason, I’ve thought about ways I could improve the baseball content at Sports and Bremertonians, at least on my end of things. It’s not that we haven’t done a good job, because we have. We just don’t want to grow complacent. Complacency leads to mediocrity and we certainly don’t want to go down that road anytime soon.
If you’ve read Sports and Bremertonians, you know what we are all about here. I believe we are one of the few baseball blogs that doesn’t bring up sabermetrics on a daily basis. Shocking, I know. The only time I mention PECOTA is when I’m talking about Bill Pecota.
One of the new features of Sports and Bremertonians' baseball coverage is our own version of power rankings. But since the phrase "power rankings" is overused, we have our own name for our rankings.
RANK ‘EM!
30 teams. 1 to 30.
Enjoy yourself.
RANK 'EM - SPRING TRAINING VERSION
1. Boston - The defending world champions may be better
2. St. Louis - Mark Mulder is the ace the Cards needed last October
3. New York Yankees - The Yankees haven’t won a World Series since 2000
4. Anaheim - The best of the A.L. West, which could be the best division in ‘05
5. Atlanta - Once again, the defending N.L. East champions
6. Florida - Al Leiter will help the young Marlins rotation
7. Chicago Cubs - Mark Prior must stay healthy
8. Minnesota - Johan Santana, best pitcher in A.L.
9. Oakland - 2/3 of Big 3 are gone
10. San Francisco - Barry Bonds, Marquis Grissom, Moises Alou = 95 years old
11. Cleveland - With a few breaks, they could be playing in October
12. Philadelphia - Charlie Manuel takes over a ballclub that has underachieved
13. Seattle - Adrian Beltre and Richie Sexson can't pitch, but they can hit
14. San Diego - Those road unis have to go
15. Los Angeles - The Jim Tracy Watch is on
16. Houston - Can Phil Garner’s luck continue?
17. Texas - Still no pitching?
18. Chicago White Sox - A full season of Freddy Garcia in Comiskey
19. New York Mets - Does Pedro Martinez still have it?
20. Baltimore - Sammy Sosa rejuvenated in the Charm City?
21. Milwaukee - Carlos Lee, N.L. All-Star. You heard it here.
22. Detroit - How will Magglio Ordonez hold up?
23. Cincinnati - Let’s hope Ken Griffey, Jr. can stay healthy
24. Pittsburgh - Great ballpark, no team
25. Toronto - Field turf was their best acquisition during the offseason
26. Washington - RFK Stadium is relevant again (the D.C. United don’t count)
27. Colorado - Yikes
28. Tampa Bay - Lou Piniella is going to snap soon
29. Arizona - Send in the clowns
30. Kansas City - Tony Pena to the Dodgers in 2006
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
I will post my 2005 preview in a few weeks. You'll know when it's up. As for "Rank 'Em", there may be another one during spring training. We'll just see what happens. My plan is to post a new "Rank 'Em" every Monday during the 2005 season.
Keep on truckin'.
If you’ve read Sports and Bremertonians, you know what we are all about here. I believe we are one of the few baseball blogs that doesn’t bring up sabermetrics on a daily basis. Shocking, I know. The only time I mention PECOTA is when I’m talking about Bill Pecota.
One of the new features of Sports and Bremertonians' baseball coverage is our own version of power rankings. But since the phrase "power rankings" is overused, we have our own name for our rankings.
RANK ‘EM!
30 teams. 1 to 30.
Enjoy yourself.
RANK 'EM - SPRING TRAINING VERSION
1. Boston - The defending world champions may be better
2. St. Louis - Mark Mulder is the ace the Cards needed last October
3. New York Yankees - The Yankees haven’t won a World Series since 2000
4. Anaheim - The best of the A.L. West, which could be the best division in ‘05
5. Atlanta - Once again, the defending N.L. East champions
6. Florida - Al Leiter will help the young Marlins rotation
7. Chicago Cubs - Mark Prior must stay healthy
8. Minnesota - Johan Santana, best pitcher in A.L.
9. Oakland - 2/3 of Big 3 are gone
10. San Francisco - Barry Bonds, Marquis Grissom, Moises Alou = 95 years old
11. Cleveland - With a few breaks, they could be playing in October
12. Philadelphia - Charlie Manuel takes over a ballclub that has underachieved
13. Seattle - Adrian Beltre and Richie Sexson can't pitch, but they can hit
14. San Diego - Those road unis have to go
15. Los Angeles - The Jim Tracy Watch is on
16. Houston - Can Phil Garner’s luck continue?
17. Texas - Still no pitching?
18. Chicago White Sox - A full season of Freddy Garcia in Comiskey
19. New York Mets - Does Pedro Martinez still have it?
20. Baltimore - Sammy Sosa rejuvenated in the Charm City?
21. Milwaukee - Carlos Lee, N.L. All-Star. You heard it here.
22. Detroit - How will Magglio Ordonez hold up?
23. Cincinnati - Let’s hope Ken Griffey, Jr. can stay healthy
24. Pittsburgh - Great ballpark, no team
25. Toronto - Field turf was their best acquisition during the offseason
26. Washington - RFK Stadium is relevant again (the D.C. United don’t count)
27. Colorado - Yikes
28. Tampa Bay - Lou Piniella is going to snap soon
29. Arizona - Send in the clowns
30. Kansas City - Tony Pena to the Dodgers in 2006
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
I will post my 2005 preview in a few weeks. You'll know when it's up. As for "Rank 'Em", there may be another one during spring training. We'll just see what happens. My plan is to post a new "Rank 'Em" every Monday during the 2005 season.
Keep on truckin'.
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VINYL PRESIDING
Yes, it's the final day of the weekend for most out there. I hope you're having a dandy Presidents Day.
For the random note today...not many things are worse than having the rearview mirror in your car manage to detach itself from the windshield. I had this problem maybe a year or two ago before finally taking the time to scratch away the rest of the old adhesive before putting on some new glue. That and I had to take my rockhammer to pound out the metal thingy that sticks to the windshield and slots into the base of the mirror apparatus. That was a good day when I finally got all of that done. Before that, well, I had to do some pretty tactical driving, what with having to definitely look over the shoulders when changing lanes. The rearview mirror is a nice thing to have, let's just put it that way.
Okay, enough of my crazy talk. On with the post!
MARINERS
The full squad reports today, and the whole crew works out tomorrow. Yippee!
As for the rain in camp so far, I don't think it's rained this much over there since...well, just two years ago, when the Mariners had prepared to go to Japan, had their trip cancelled, and then struggled to get work in for everybody as the rains came down.
Let's get Campy!
New clothes are fun...but they won't save you any money on car insurance!
Much to my chagrin, I think that ad campaign is over with. I thought the Old Navy parody ad was pure brilliance, and it blindsided me the first time I watched it all the way through. I think the first couple times I came across it, I saw the intro, thought that it was an actual Old Navy ad, and turned away.
Back to the pitcher at hand, Bryan Price is liking Jorge Campillo, and he seems to be getting attention. If he goes north with the big club and does any damage, let's thank Rodrigo Lopez for teaching him the cutter. Then let's have the Mariners pound Lopez whenever they face him. Benji Gil likens the Campillo changeup to that of Brad Radke, and also says that Campillo is confident enough in the change to throw it consecutively, a la Jamie Moyer. Also in the P-I article is a token quote from Randy Winn regarding offseason trade rumors, Mike Hargrove's preference for an eight-man fight for five rotation spots, and some more raves about Felix Hernandez.
The Times notebook starts off with Hernandez, whose change is "nasty," according to Hargrove. Also discussed is the eight starters thing, and how Hargrove says the hitters dread the first day of live-arm.
SEAHAWKS
Maybe if the Seahawks had hired a president by now, they'd have a VP of football operations and a director of college scouting. Instead, everyone's multitasking, and Will Lewis is working twelves. Ouch. The well-deserved addition of Mike Reinfeldt helped lighten Lewis' load a bit, but he's still going to be helping put together the draft board and interviewing players at the combine.
In related news, I'm touting Nate Odomes as the Westside Burrito Connections' Honorary Seahawk President of the Day. He may not have played a regular-season game with the Seahawks, but hey, I felt like I had to give him something.
I've just looked through some stuff and found that Darrell Jackson led the Seahawk receiving corps in touchdowns last year (7), but that in the 1999 season, Derrick Mayes led the receiving corps in touchdowns with...10. Ricky Watters ran for five touchdowns and 1210 yards, while Shaun Alexander this year had his 16 scores and 1696 yards.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
The Tar Heels travel to face NC State on Tuesday (5p, local only) and Maryland next Sunday (2:30p, FSNNW)
Huskies
Yes, the Huskies had that team meeting after the Oregon State loss, a couple of players said some stuff, and then they proceeded to blow out the Cougars. For their sake, it's a good thing they didn't lose two conference games in a row.
The Huskies host Arizona State on Thursday (7:30p, FSNNW) and Arizona on Saturday (1p, FSNNW)
Bulldogs
The Zags go to Portland on Thursday (8p, ESPN2) and host Northern Colorado the following Monday (FSNNW Seattle, Q6 NBC Spokane) before starting WCC Tournament play.
Sonics
Well, I saw maybe a minute of the All-Star Game. I missed Ray Allen leading all scorers with 17 points in 23 minutes. He bricked his final four shots, and probably lost the MVP to Allen Iverson over that span, but the West didn't win either. Mentions were made about the game ball, which apparently stuck more. Anyway, Allen was 6-for-16 with four rebounds and an assist. He nailed five threes. Rashard Lewis only hit one basket for all of his points, and airballed his first shot. He pulled down four boards and stole the ball once.
...And there's the inevitable wonderings in regards to Ray Allen's future in Seattle.
Upcoming...
Tuesday at Houston (5:30p, FSNNW)
Wednesday at New Orleans (5p, FSNNW)
HOCKEY
John Levesque is a fan of the Saint Louis Blues? Say it ain't so, John! Anyway, he harkens back to the Monday Night Miracle in May of 1986, when the Blues came back from three goals down with 12 minutes remaining to tie the game and win it in overtime. Levesque contends that no one involved in the labor negotiations is a fan anymore.
Seattle beat Prince George 3-2. Denis Tolpeko scored the winner early in the second period to get the victory for the Thunderbirds. Goals alternated in the game, with Seattle scoring the first and last goals. Ladislav Scurko opened the scoring, and Nate Thompson got the Thunderbirds a 2-1 leading heading into the second period. Seattle outshot the Cougars 35-25, and Bryan Bridges stopped 23.
Incredibly, the Portland Pioneers, who had an incredible regular season with some ridiculously long winning streaks, lost the deciding game of their three-game series with the Tri-City Titans. Thus, the Titans will face the Tomahawks in a best-of-5 series, of which the first two games are Friday and Saturday at the rink in Bremerton. The Tomahawks were 7-0-1 against the Titans during the regular season.
Upcoming...
Tomorrow: Everett at Kamloops, Kelowna at Portland
Wednesday: Seattle at Kelowna, Tri-City at Vancouver, Manitoba at Wilkes-Barre Scranton
Thursday: Manitoba at Syracuse
Friday: Seattle at Kamloops, Everett at Tri-City, Portland at Spokane, Kelowna at Vancouver, Tri-City at Puget Sound (Cascade Cup semifinal -- Game 1 of best-of-5)
Saturday: Portland at Seattle, Vancouver at Everett, Manitoba at Hamilton, Tri-City at Puget Sound (Cascade Cup semifinal -- Game 2 of best-of-5)
Sunday: Spokane at Seattle, Tri-City at Everett
---
Have a great Presidents' Day, everyone. It might be a tad cold outside, but it should be sunny again in the northwest. To anyone out there who's got one, I say fire up the grill. Yes, it's that twisted kind of year where you can barbecue in February in the northwest and actually get away with it.
For the random note today...not many things are worse than having the rearview mirror in your car manage to detach itself from the windshield. I had this problem maybe a year or two ago before finally taking the time to scratch away the rest of the old adhesive before putting on some new glue. That and I had to take my rockhammer to pound out the metal thingy that sticks to the windshield and slots into the base of the mirror apparatus. That was a good day when I finally got all of that done. Before that, well, I had to do some pretty tactical driving, what with having to definitely look over the shoulders when changing lanes. The rearview mirror is a nice thing to have, let's just put it that way.
Okay, enough of my crazy talk. On with the post!
MARINERS
The full squad reports today, and the whole crew works out tomorrow. Yippee!
As for the rain in camp so far, I don't think it's rained this much over there since...well, just two years ago, when the Mariners had prepared to go to Japan, had their trip cancelled, and then struggled to get work in for everybody as the rains came down.
Let's get Campy!
New clothes are fun...but they won't save you any money on car insurance!
Much to my chagrin, I think that ad campaign is over with. I thought the Old Navy parody ad was pure brilliance, and it blindsided me the first time I watched it all the way through. I think the first couple times I came across it, I saw the intro, thought that it was an actual Old Navy ad, and turned away.
Back to the pitcher at hand, Bryan Price is liking Jorge Campillo, and he seems to be getting attention. If he goes north with the big club and does any damage, let's thank Rodrigo Lopez for teaching him the cutter. Then let's have the Mariners pound Lopez whenever they face him. Benji Gil likens the Campillo changeup to that of Brad Radke, and also says that Campillo is confident enough in the change to throw it consecutively, a la Jamie Moyer. Also in the P-I article is a token quote from Randy Winn regarding offseason trade rumors, Mike Hargrove's preference for an eight-man fight for five rotation spots, and some more raves about Felix Hernandez.
The Times notebook starts off with Hernandez, whose change is "nasty," according to Hargrove. Also discussed is the eight starters thing, and how Hargrove says the hitters dread the first day of live-arm.
SEAHAWKS
Maybe if the Seahawks had hired a president by now, they'd have a VP of football operations and a director of college scouting. Instead, everyone's multitasking, and Will Lewis is working twelves. Ouch. The well-deserved addition of Mike Reinfeldt helped lighten Lewis' load a bit, but he's still going to be helping put together the draft board and interviewing players at the combine.
In related news, I'm touting Nate Odomes as the Westside Burrito Connections' Honorary Seahawk President of the Day. He may not have played a regular-season game with the Seahawks, but hey, I felt like I had to give him something.
I've just looked through some stuff and found that Darrell Jackson led the Seahawk receiving corps in touchdowns last year (7), but that in the 1999 season, Derrick Mayes led the receiving corps in touchdowns with...10. Ricky Watters ran for five touchdowns and 1210 yards, while Shaun Alexander this year had his 16 scores and 1696 yards.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
The Tar Heels travel to face NC State on Tuesday (5p, local only) and Maryland next Sunday (2:30p, FSNNW)
Huskies
Yes, the Huskies had that team meeting after the Oregon State loss, a couple of players said some stuff, and then they proceeded to blow out the Cougars. For their sake, it's a good thing they didn't lose two conference games in a row.
The Huskies host Arizona State on Thursday (7:30p, FSNNW) and Arizona on Saturday (1p, FSNNW)
Bulldogs
The Zags go to Portland on Thursday (8p, ESPN2) and host Northern Colorado the following Monday (FSNNW Seattle, Q6 NBC Spokane) before starting WCC Tournament play.
Sonics
Well, I saw maybe a minute of the All-Star Game. I missed Ray Allen leading all scorers with 17 points in 23 minutes. He bricked his final four shots, and probably lost the MVP to Allen Iverson over that span, but the West didn't win either. Mentions were made about the game ball, which apparently stuck more. Anyway, Allen was 6-for-16 with four rebounds and an assist. He nailed five threes. Rashard Lewis only hit one basket for all of his points, and airballed his first shot. He pulled down four boards and stole the ball once.
...And there's the inevitable wonderings in regards to Ray Allen's future in Seattle.
Upcoming...
Tuesday at Houston (5:30p, FSNNW)
Wednesday at New Orleans (5p, FSNNW)
HOCKEY
John Levesque is a fan of the Saint Louis Blues? Say it ain't so, John! Anyway, he harkens back to the Monday Night Miracle in May of 1986, when the Blues came back from three goals down with 12 minutes remaining to tie the game and win it in overtime. Levesque contends that no one involved in the labor negotiations is a fan anymore.
Seattle beat Prince George 3-2. Denis Tolpeko scored the winner early in the second period to get the victory for the Thunderbirds. Goals alternated in the game, with Seattle scoring the first and last goals. Ladislav Scurko opened the scoring, and Nate Thompson got the Thunderbirds a 2-1 leading heading into the second period. Seattle outshot the Cougars 35-25, and Bryan Bridges stopped 23.
Incredibly, the Portland Pioneers, who had an incredible regular season with some ridiculously long winning streaks, lost the deciding game of their three-game series with the Tri-City Titans. Thus, the Titans will face the Tomahawks in a best-of-5 series, of which the first two games are Friday and Saturday at the rink in Bremerton. The Tomahawks were 7-0-1 against the Titans during the regular season.
Upcoming...
Tomorrow: Everett at Kamloops, Kelowna at Portland
Wednesday: Seattle at Kelowna, Tri-City at Vancouver, Manitoba at Wilkes-Barre Scranton
Thursday: Manitoba at Syracuse
Friday: Seattle at Kamloops, Everett at Tri-City, Portland at Spokane, Kelowna at Vancouver, Tri-City at Puget Sound (Cascade Cup semifinal -- Game 1 of best-of-5)
Saturday: Portland at Seattle, Vancouver at Everett, Manitoba at Hamilton, Tri-City at Puget Sound (Cascade Cup semifinal -- Game 2 of best-of-5)
Sunday: Spokane at Seattle, Tri-City at Everett
---
Have a great Presidents' Day, everyone. It might be a tad cold outside, but it should be sunny again in the northwest. To anyone out there who's got one, I say fire up the grill. Yes, it's that twisted kind of year where you can barbecue in February in the northwest and actually get away with it.
/ Click for main page
Sunday, February 20, 2005
BOOGITY, BOOGITY, BOOGITY
I thought we had a great car today with the #03 Western Family/Oh Boy Oberto/Labatt Blue Ford. It's not always about the car who's the fastest, it's about the one who refuses to lose. Well, we weren't the fastest and I know we refused to win in the end. But hey, I just wanted to race, daddy.
I'd also like to thank our other sponsors, GoDaddy.com, Brown and Haley, and TVT Records. They've been really good to us.
I'm going to get crunked. Courtesy of TVT! Where's Kenny Wallace?
BOOGITY, BOOGITY, BOOGITY, LET'S GET CRUNKED!
I'd also like to thank our other sponsors, GoDaddy.com, Brown and Haley, and TVT Records. They've been really good to us.
I'm going to get crunked. Courtesy of TVT! Where's Kenny Wallace?
BOOGITY, BOOGITY, BOOGITY, LET'S GET CRUNKED!
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WIND UP
Welcome to Sunday. Remember that although it is sunny outside, if it's anything like yesterday, it's a bit breezy out there, and it's that stiff north wind (makes it kinda cold). Also, if you have that wind, it sucks trying to hit baseballs into it if you're hoping they go far.
The random note before we get started here...popping air cushions on your shoes really sucks. I've only had it happen twice, and neither time involved basketball shoes (too short), but the two instances were still very much undesirable. One pair was a pair of black Reebok walking shoes, and they weren't horribly fashionable, but they were the most comfortable things in the world. You could stand for hours in those things, which I did do when I did security under the Space Needle for Bumbershoot a few years ago, and standing all the time was required. The other was a pair of Reebok (not really an intended coincidence) gym shoes that I got after I mysteriously lost my bitchin' pair of New Balances in the locker room (I think) of the high school. I needed gym shoes just for the pre-wrestling practice jogging, and for PE classes, but primarily for the jogging. Anyway, after the air cushions popped on one of the shoes, now it makes this squeezing rubber sound -- basically at times it can sound like you walked into a puddle of water and then came right out of it even though you're on actually on dry ground the whole time. Yes, it creates an artificial dry-ground squishy sound. It doesn't do this all the time, but man, it's embarrassing when it actually happens.
To the non-random parts of the post...
MARINERS
Richie Sexson's a big man, yes, but his Breathalyzer numbers were for two Michelob Ultra Lights after having eaten a chicken breast and some salad, according to his side of the story. He'd apparently driven that road a gazillion times and got stopped, and worse yet the two empty beercans in the back were a week old. Ouch. Also racked onto the end of the story is more refutation of Jose Canseco's steroid allegations by Bret Boone. I think the most hilarious thing out of all of it is the revelation that Jose Canseco never reached second base in spring training with Bret Boone playing second against the Mariners, though that was revealed sometime last week.
Apparently Richie Sexson claims his shoulder is stronger than it has ever been, and has even gone to the extent of repeating the checkswing without busting his labrum, except obviously without busting his labrum. Of course, he then says that his left shoulder is probably stronger than the right. I know he's not a switch hitter, but I think balancing the shoulder muscle mass might be a good thing here. Oh, what am I saying? Would this be like expecting Joel Pineiro's left shoulder to be just as strong as his right, even with the repetitive moves? I need to throw more. I've sort of painted myself into a corner with this paragraph.
SEAHAWKS
I think we should have honorary Seahawk presidents for every day that there isn't one. Therefore, today's West Hills Honda Seahawk President of the Day is "House" Ballard.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
In 4th-ranked North Carolina's 88-56 home win over Clemson, Marvin Williams returned from turf toe to 14 points and pull down 9 rebounds in only 16 minutes of play off the bench. He also chipped in an assist, steal, block, and a couple of fouls for good measure. The one assist was a nifty touch pass (off a nice save) to Jawad Williams down low for a dunk.
The Tar Heels travel to face NC State on Tuesday (5p, local only) and Maryland next Sunday (2:30p, FSNNW)
Huskies
15th-ranked Washington beat Washington State 68-55. Two quick notes about the score -- The Cougars went into halftime with 17 points, and they ended the game with a 13-0 run against the Huskies' scrubs. Of course, simple math shows that the scrubs were put in with the score 68-42. Ouch.
The Huskies host Arizona State on Thursday (7:30p, FSNNW) and Arizona on Saturday (1p, FSNNW)
Bulldogs
13th-ranked Gonzaga beat San Francisco 75-73. Adam Morrison was clutch yesterday and clutch is everything in life. I was lucky enough to see him hit that shot live as it was happening on TV. My words: "holy s***!" I thought the play developed a little slowly, and I knew Morrison definitely wasn't going to get all the way to the rack, but man, how clutch. Luckily for the Zags and the home crowd, USF's tying basket was a fraction of a second too late. Morrison's 28 points were a career high, and he pulled down 6 rebounds. JP Batista had 17 and 5, and Ronny Turiaf had his double-double streak broken, getting 14 and 8.
The Zags go to Portland on Thursday (8p, ESPN2) and host Northern Colorado the following Monday (FSNNW Seattle, Q6 NBC Spokane) before starting WCC Tournament play.
Sonics
I know it's hindsight, but I probably would have cried too if Vladimir Stepania was drafted before I was. Rashard Lewis was 18 when that happened on draft day, and he thought he was going quite a lot earlier. He also toughed out his first few years with the Sonics. Percy Allen traces a weird string of similarities between Lewis and coach Nate McMillan and their ties to the Sonic organization. Yes, Rashard Lewis has come a long way. He also bought a bunch of Vin Baker's old crap, i.e., houses.
Following such Seattle All-Star performances as Bret Boone's goose egg in the 2001 Home Run Derby, Vladimir Radmanovic and Ray Allen didn't get past the first round of the three-point challenge. Radmanovic had the lowest total of any of the competitors, though his shooting wrist is a bit jacked as of late. Luke Ridnour was also third in the skills challenge, hampered by his inability to bounce a ball into the basket.
Upcoming...
Tuesday at Houston (5:30p, FSNNW)
Wednesday at New Orleans (5p, FSNNW)
HOCKEY
One of the worse things that can happen when I read print columns about hockey from non-hockey towns after something big happens in hockey. Who enjoyed reading predictable knee-jerk reactions to the Todd Bertuzzi incident, but from writers with little to no background when it came to following hockey? A bad incident sprung forth some bad columns.
...luckily Blaine Newnham had a lot of Turner Stevenson references and quotes when it came time to run this column. Newnham experienced some sense of relief that the meetings were fruitless yesterday that would have attempted to save the season, with players' union man Ted Saskin saying there's a "100 percent" chance that they're not coming back from it this time. Although it would have been to hand out the Cup again, though its recipient would have been forever branded with having a "tainted" Cup, it would have been counter-intuitive once again. Why? As Jeremy and I were discussing the other night, the two sides can't just throw a bandage on a gigantic crack in the hull of a steam ship and expect it to stay afloat for very long. A rushed agreement might have gotten everyone playing, sure, but would it have guaranteed that in four years, or whenever the new CBA would run out, that we wouldn't be barking up the same tree once again? The two sides obviously have the time to do this, and now they should just try to do it right. Don't wait all the way until September to do it, either. You can get away with procrastination when it comes to college and paying taxes, but not this.
Portland beat Seattle 3-1. After losing the first five matchups with Seattle this season, Portland has won the last three. Defense was the name of this one, as the Winter Hawks were able to limit Seattle's offensive chances. Denis Tolpeko was able to make it interesting with an early goal in the third period to cut Portland's lead to 2-1. Cody McLeod put the game away with an empty-netter with 30 ticks remaining. Portland's other goals both came in the second period, as Dan Da Silva opened the scoring and Brian Woolger put in the winner. Da Silva also assisted on the other two goals, and therefore had his name attached to all of Portland's goals. Portland outshot Seattle 25-16. Bryan Bridges stopped 23 for Seattle, and Blake Grenier stopped 15 for Portland. Portland has won nine of 11 games.
Everett shut out Red Deer 3-0. Red Deer reached the end of their five-game road swing, Everett dominated, and Brent Sutter got so ticked that he benched all his forwards and had five defenseman on the ice. That came after the Rebels were badly outshot 15-3 by Everett in the first period. Brady Calla scored the first two Everett goals (one in the first, one in the third), and Shaun Heshka put the game away with an empty-netter. Shots were 29 apiece, and Mike Wall stopped all 29 for his WHL-leading 10th shutout of the season.
Vancouver shut out Kamloops 4-0. Gilbert Brule followed up his four-goal game with a late shorthanded goal to end the second period and an assist on the opening (game-winning) goal. Brett Festerling opened the scoring with his game-winner in the first period. Matt Robinson and Brule scored in the second period, and Adam Courchaine tallied in the final frame. Vancouver outshot the Blazers 29-22, and Marek Schwarz stopped all 22.
Manitoba beat Edmonton 2-1. Josh Green scored with just under two minutes remaining in regulation to take this game for the Moose. That was in a period where Edmonton rattled off the first ten shots, and outshot the Moose 15-3 in the final frame. One of the 15 Alex Auld saves in the period went the other way, where Jason King shot the puck, and the rebound went off the skate of Green and into the net. Shots were 30-25 for the Road Runners, and Auld stopped 29.
Upcoming...
Tonight: Prince George at Seattle
Tuesday: Everett at Kamloops, Kelowna at Portland
Wednesday: Seattle at Kelowna, Tri-City at Vancouver, Manitoba at Wilkes-Barre Scranton
Thursday: Manitoba at Syracuse
Friday: Seattle at Kamloops, Everett at Tri-City, Portland at Spokane, Kelowna at Vancouver, Tri-City/Portland at Puget Sound
Saturday: Portland at Seattle, Vancouver at Everett, Manitoba at Hamilton, Tri-City/Portland at Puget Sound
---
Have a great Sunday and a great rest of the weekend.
The random note before we get started here...popping air cushions on your shoes really sucks. I've only had it happen twice, and neither time involved basketball shoes (too short), but the two instances were still very much undesirable. One pair was a pair of black Reebok walking shoes, and they weren't horribly fashionable, but they were the most comfortable things in the world. You could stand for hours in those things, which I did do when I did security under the Space Needle for Bumbershoot a few years ago, and standing all the time was required. The other was a pair of Reebok (not really an intended coincidence) gym shoes that I got after I mysteriously lost my bitchin' pair of New Balances in the locker room (I think) of the high school. I needed gym shoes just for the pre-wrestling practice jogging, and for PE classes, but primarily for the jogging. Anyway, after the air cushions popped on one of the shoes, now it makes this squeezing rubber sound -- basically at times it can sound like you walked into a puddle of water and then came right out of it even though you're on actually on dry ground the whole time. Yes, it creates an artificial dry-ground squishy sound. It doesn't do this all the time, but man, it's embarrassing when it actually happens.
To the non-random parts of the post...
MARINERS
Richie Sexson's a big man, yes, but his Breathalyzer numbers were for two Michelob Ultra Lights after having eaten a chicken breast and some salad, according to his side of the story. He'd apparently driven that road a gazillion times and got stopped, and worse yet the two empty beercans in the back were a week old. Ouch. Also racked onto the end of the story is more refutation of Jose Canseco's steroid allegations by Bret Boone. I think the most hilarious thing out of all of it is the revelation that Jose Canseco never reached second base in spring training with Bret Boone playing second against the Mariners, though that was revealed sometime last week.
Apparently Richie Sexson claims his shoulder is stronger than it has ever been, and has even gone to the extent of repeating the checkswing without busting his labrum, except obviously without busting his labrum. Of course, he then says that his left shoulder is probably stronger than the right. I know he's not a switch hitter, but I think balancing the shoulder muscle mass might be a good thing here. Oh, what am I saying? Would this be like expecting Joel Pineiro's left shoulder to be just as strong as his right, even with the repetitive moves? I need to throw more. I've sort of painted myself into a corner with this paragraph.
SEAHAWKS
I think we should have honorary Seahawk presidents for every day that there isn't one. Therefore, today's West Hills Honda Seahawk President of the Day is "House" Ballard.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
In 4th-ranked North Carolina's 88-56 home win over Clemson, Marvin Williams returned from turf toe to 14 points and pull down 9 rebounds in only 16 minutes of play off the bench. He also chipped in an assist, steal, block, and a couple of fouls for good measure. The one assist was a nifty touch pass (off a nice save) to Jawad Williams down low for a dunk.
The Tar Heels travel to face NC State on Tuesday (5p, local only) and Maryland next Sunday (2:30p, FSNNW)
Huskies
15th-ranked Washington beat Washington State 68-55. Two quick notes about the score -- The Cougars went into halftime with 17 points, and they ended the game with a 13-0 run against the Huskies' scrubs. Of course, simple math shows that the scrubs were put in with the score 68-42. Ouch.
The Huskies host Arizona State on Thursday (7:30p, FSNNW) and Arizona on Saturday (1p, FSNNW)
Bulldogs
13th-ranked Gonzaga beat San Francisco 75-73. Adam Morrison was clutch yesterday and clutch is everything in life. I was lucky enough to see him hit that shot live as it was happening on TV. My words: "holy s***!" I thought the play developed a little slowly, and I knew Morrison definitely wasn't going to get all the way to the rack, but man, how clutch. Luckily for the Zags and the home crowd, USF's tying basket was a fraction of a second too late. Morrison's 28 points were a career high, and he pulled down 6 rebounds. JP Batista had 17 and 5, and Ronny Turiaf had his double-double streak broken, getting 14 and 8.
The Zags go to Portland on Thursday (8p, ESPN2) and host Northern Colorado the following Monday (FSNNW Seattle, Q6 NBC Spokane) before starting WCC Tournament play.
Sonics
I know it's hindsight, but I probably would have cried too if Vladimir Stepania was drafted before I was. Rashard Lewis was 18 when that happened on draft day, and he thought he was going quite a lot earlier. He also toughed out his first few years with the Sonics. Percy Allen traces a weird string of similarities between Lewis and coach Nate McMillan and their ties to the Sonic organization. Yes, Rashard Lewis has come a long way. He also bought a bunch of Vin Baker's old crap, i.e., houses.
Following such Seattle All-Star performances as Bret Boone's goose egg in the 2001 Home Run Derby, Vladimir Radmanovic and Ray Allen didn't get past the first round of the three-point challenge. Radmanovic had the lowest total of any of the competitors, though his shooting wrist is a bit jacked as of late. Luke Ridnour was also third in the skills challenge, hampered by his inability to bounce a ball into the basket.
Upcoming...
Tuesday at Houston (5:30p, FSNNW)
Wednesday at New Orleans (5p, FSNNW)
HOCKEY
One of the worse things that can happen when I read print columns about hockey from non-hockey towns after something big happens in hockey. Who enjoyed reading predictable knee-jerk reactions to the Todd Bertuzzi incident, but from writers with little to no background when it came to following hockey? A bad incident sprung forth some bad columns.
...luckily Blaine Newnham had a lot of Turner Stevenson references and quotes when it came time to run this column. Newnham experienced some sense of relief that the meetings were fruitless yesterday that would have attempted to save the season, with players' union man Ted Saskin saying there's a "100 percent" chance that they're not coming back from it this time. Although it would have been to hand out the Cup again, though its recipient would have been forever branded with having a "tainted" Cup, it would have been counter-intuitive once again. Why? As Jeremy and I were discussing the other night, the two sides can't just throw a bandage on a gigantic crack in the hull of a steam ship and expect it to stay afloat for very long. A rushed agreement might have gotten everyone playing, sure, but would it have guaranteed that in four years, or whenever the new CBA would run out, that we wouldn't be barking up the same tree once again? The two sides obviously have the time to do this, and now they should just try to do it right. Don't wait all the way until September to do it, either. You can get away with procrastination when it comes to college and paying taxes, but not this.
Portland beat Seattle 3-1. After losing the first five matchups with Seattle this season, Portland has won the last three. Defense was the name of this one, as the Winter Hawks were able to limit Seattle's offensive chances. Denis Tolpeko was able to make it interesting with an early goal in the third period to cut Portland's lead to 2-1. Cody McLeod put the game away with an empty-netter with 30 ticks remaining. Portland's other goals both came in the second period, as Dan Da Silva opened the scoring and Brian Woolger put in the winner. Da Silva also assisted on the other two goals, and therefore had his name attached to all of Portland's goals. Portland outshot Seattle 25-16. Bryan Bridges stopped 23 for Seattle, and Blake Grenier stopped 15 for Portland. Portland has won nine of 11 games.
Everett shut out Red Deer 3-0. Red Deer reached the end of their five-game road swing, Everett dominated, and Brent Sutter got so ticked that he benched all his forwards and had five defenseman on the ice. That came after the Rebels were badly outshot 15-3 by Everett in the first period. Brady Calla scored the first two Everett goals (one in the first, one in the third), and Shaun Heshka put the game away with an empty-netter. Shots were 29 apiece, and Mike Wall stopped all 29 for his WHL-leading 10th shutout of the season.
Vancouver shut out Kamloops 4-0. Gilbert Brule followed up his four-goal game with a late shorthanded goal to end the second period and an assist on the opening (game-winning) goal. Brett Festerling opened the scoring with his game-winner in the first period. Matt Robinson and Brule scored in the second period, and Adam Courchaine tallied in the final frame. Vancouver outshot the Blazers 29-22, and Marek Schwarz stopped all 22.
Manitoba beat Edmonton 2-1. Josh Green scored with just under two minutes remaining in regulation to take this game for the Moose. That was in a period where Edmonton rattled off the first ten shots, and outshot the Moose 15-3 in the final frame. One of the 15 Alex Auld saves in the period went the other way, where Jason King shot the puck, and the rebound went off the skate of Green and into the net. Shots were 30-25 for the Road Runners, and Auld stopped 29.
Upcoming...
Tonight: Prince George at Seattle
Tuesday: Everett at Kamloops, Kelowna at Portland
Wednesday: Seattle at Kelowna, Tri-City at Vancouver, Manitoba at Wilkes-Barre Scranton
Thursday: Manitoba at Syracuse
Friday: Seattle at Kamloops, Everett at Tri-City, Portland at Spokane, Kelowna at Vancouver, Tri-City/Portland at Puget Sound
Saturday: Portland at Seattle, Vancouver at Everett, Manitoba at Hamilton, Tri-City/Portland at Puget Sound
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Have a great Sunday and a great rest of the weekend.
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