Saturday, February 19, 2005
SEXSON TALKS TO THE MEDIA
Mariners first baseman Richie Sexson has broken his silence concerning his arrest in Vancouver two weeks ago. Rather than making light of the situation here at Sports and Bremertonians, we'll reserve our thoughts to ourselves. I will applaud Sexson, however, for speaking to the media about his legal situation when he could have very well decided not to speak at all.
At least Sexson is no Leonard Little.
"With this contract I can get cabs and limos."
Good idea, Richie.
At least Sexson is no Leonard Little.
"With this contract I can get cabs and limos."
Good idea, Richie.
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SPRING REIGNS
Welcome to Saturday. Hope your extended weekend is going along fine.
Random note...I'm a blinds over curtains guy. Blinds are just more versatile, I think. With blinds, you have the little wand thingy, and you can change the trajectory of the incoming light...great stuff. Curtains are curtains, and they need to be washed every once in a while. Not that blinds don't have to be cleaned every once in a blue moon, but you don't have to throw them in the washer. My favorite thing to do with blinds in the morning is to point them so that the sun doesn't come in and wake me up too quickly or burn my eyes while I try to read the morning paper. I'm also not a morning person, in case my post times are any indication. I'm a nightowl, through and through.
Now, to the post.
MARINERS
'Twas a day of rain at the ol' complex in Peoria...
I remember how the Mariner bullpen so badly needed a second late-inning lefty in 2002, and now it appears the Mariners have lefties oozing out their ears. Much like the free-agent spending this offseason, it would have been nice to have approximately 3 years ago. Also, Joel Pineiro will be showing Felix Hernandez the ins and outs of spring training. Don't show him how to hurt an arm, Joel.
Also, Bob Finnigan gives Kit Pellow quite a lot of ink, but most of it is because he was Jorge Campillo's teammate in winter ball. Pellow says "Campy" (that'll fit in well with the broadcast crew) has four good pitches and can change speeds well, even using the word "devastating."
SEAHAWKS
Still no president.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
The Tar Heels host Clemson this morning (10a, ABC) and travel to face NC State on Tuesday (5p, local only)
Huskies
Make no mistake about it, Thomas Kelati and the soon-on-his-way-out Dick Bennett would just love to upset the Huskies in Pullman. It's not a stretch, either. The Huskies better hope they don't let the Cougars bite them. It could really hurt them when come tournament time. The Cougars did manage to beat Arizona in Tucson, so anything can happen.
The Huskies go to Washington State this afternoon (4p, FSNNW) and host Arizona State on Thursday (7:30p, FSNNW).
Bulldogs
The Zags host San Francisco this afternoon (3p, ABC) and go to Portland on Thursday (8p, ESPN2)
Sonics
Luke Ridnour didn't do too much in the Rookie Challenge. Only two players played less minutes than Ridnour, though Luke did score 12 on 5-for-6 shooting and dish out three assists. In the Percy Allen column, we learn that the Sophomore team conspired to get Carmelo Anthony the ball as much as possible. The setup to that in the article is mildly hilarious.
I heard the revelation on KJR that Vladimir Radmanovic hadn't been practicing for the three-point contest yesterday. When Dick Fain notified Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis about this, one of them said, "oh no." Dick Fain and Elise Woodward then discussed that getting the ball off a rack is way different from getting it via a pass from a teammate, and that Vladimir is a guy who likes to admire his shots.
Rashard Lewis is adjusting to all the attention at the All-Star Game, seeing as to how it's his first one. Also in that article is an anecdote about Sports Illustrated's Rick Reilly asking Luke Ridnour the "white guy" question. The phrase "your people" is involved.
Upcoming...
Tuesday at Houston (5:30p, FSNNW)
Wednesday at New Orleans (5p, FSNNW)
HOCKEY
Seattle beat Red Deer 4-1. The six-game winless streak is over for the Thunderbirds. Seattle scored twice in the first period (Scott Jackson from the point through traffic, Ladislav Scurko) and twice again in the third period (Clay Barthel, Chris Durand). The Rebels never got closer than 2-1 toward the end of the second period. Seattle outshot Red Deer 32-28, and Bryan Bridges stopped 27 in the Seattle net.
Everett beat Prince George 6-1. Alex Leavitt had a crazy six-point night, assisting on the first three Everett goals, then scoring the next three goals (twice in the second period, once shorthanded in the third) for the Silvertips. Torrie Wheat scored the first goal, and Shaun Heshka had the other two goals for the 'Tips. Everett outshot the Cougars 20-23, and Mike Wall stopped 22.
Spokane beat Portland 7-3. The Chiefs ripped this one away from Portland. After Mike Funk had tied the game 6:38 into the final period, the Chiefs waited about seven minutes, and then erupted for four goals in the final 6:37 of play (a span of 4:56). Braydon Coburn and Brandon Dubinsky accounted for the rest of Portland's goals. Portland outshot Spokane 34-30, and Blake Grenier stopped 23.
Vancouver beat Kamloops 6-2. He didn't have a six-point night like Alex Leavitt did for Everett, but Gilbert Brule did net the natural golden sombrero, scoring Vancouver's second through fifth goals to more than put away the Blazers. Triston Grant and Max Gordichuk had the bread goals to the Brule sandwich. Vancouver badly outshot Kamloops 32-18, and Marek Schwarz stopped 16.
Manitoba beat Edmonton 3-2 in overtime. The Road Runners got the equalizer early in the third period, but Jason King was able to break away, thread through a couple of defenders, and go five-hole on Tyler Moss to get the Moose the victory. Tim Smith and Josh Green (fed by a nifty Peter Sarno saucer pass) accounted for the other Manitoba goals. The Moose outshot Edmonton 29-20, and Alex Auld stopped 18.
Upcoming...
Tonight: Seattle at Portland, Red Deer at Everett, Vancouver at Kamloops, Edmonton at Manitoba
Tomorrow: 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
---
Enjoy the beginnings of your weekend, everybody.
Random note...I'm a blinds over curtains guy. Blinds are just more versatile, I think. With blinds, you have the little wand thingy, and you can change the trajectory of the incoming light...great stuff. Curtains are curtains, and they need to be washed every once in a while. Not that blinds don't have to be cleaned every once in a blue moon, but you don't have to throw them in the washer. My favorite thing to do with blinds in the morning is to point them so that the sun doesn't come in and wake me up too quickly or burn my eyes while I try to read the morning paper. I'm also not a morning person, in case my post times are any indication. I'm a nightowl, through and through.
Now, to the post.
MARINERS
'Twas a day of rain at the ol' complex in Peoria...
I remember how the Mariner bullpen so badly needed a second late-inning lefty in 2002, and now it appears the Mariners have lefties oozing out their ears. Much like the free-agent spending this offseason, it would have been nice to have approximately 3 years ago. Also, Joel Pineiro will be showing Felix Hernandez the ins and outs of spring training. Don't show him how to hurt an arm, Joel.
Also, Bob Finnigan gives Kit Pellow quite a lot of ink, but most of it is because he was Jorge Campillo's teammate in winter ball. Pellow says "Campy" (that'll fit in well with the broadcast crew) has four good pitches and can change speeds well, even using the word "devastating."
SEAHAWKS
Still no president.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
The Tar Heels host Clemson this morning (10a, ABC) and travel to face NC State on Tuesday (5p, local only)
Huskies
Make no mistake about it, Thomas Kelati and the soon-on-his-way-out Dick Bennett would just love to upset the Huskies in Pullman. It's not a stretch, either. The Huskies better hope they don't let the Cougars bite them. It could really hurt them when come tournament time. The Cougars did manage to beat Arizona in Tucson, so anything can happen.
The Huskies go to Washington State this afternoon (4p, FSNNW) and host Arizona State on Thursday (7:30p, FSNNW).
Bulldogs
The Zags host San Francisco this afternoon (3p, ABC) and go to Portland on Thursday (8p, ESPN2)
Sonics
Luke Ridnour didn't do too much in the Rookie Challenge. Only two players played less minutes than Ridnour, though Luke did score 12 on 5-for-6 shooting and dish out three assists. In the Percy Allen column, we learn that the Sophomore team conspired to get Carmelo Anthony the ball as much as possible. The setup to that in the article is mildly hilarious.
I heard the revelation on KJR that Vladimir Radmanovic hadn't been practicing for the three-point contest yesterday. When Dick Fain notified Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis about this, one of them said, "oh no." Dick Fain and Elise Woodward then discussed that getting the ball off a rack is way different from getting it via a pass from a teammate, and that Vladimir is a guy who likes to admire his shots.
Rashard Lewis is adjusting to all the attention at the All-Star Game, seeing as to how it's his first one. Also in that article is an anecdote about Sports Illustrated's Rick Reilly asking Luke Ridnour the "white guy" question. The phrase "your people" is involved.
Upcoming...
Tuesday at Houston (5:30p, FSNNW)
Wednesday at New Orleans (5p, FSNNW)
HOCKEY
Seattle beat Red Deer 4-1. The six-game winless streak is over for the Thunderbirds. Seattle scored twice in the first period (Scott Jackson from the point through traffic, Ladislav Scurko) and twice again in the third period (Clay Barthel, Chris Durand). The Rebels never got closer than 2-1 toward the end of the second period. Seattle outshot Red Deer 32-28, and Bryan Bridges stopped 27 in the Seattle net.
Everett beat Prince George 6-1. Alex Leavitt had a crazy six-point night, assisting on the first three Everett goals, then scoring the next three goals (twice in the second period, once shorthanded in the third) for the Silvertips. Torrie Wheat scored the first goal, and Shaun Heshka had the other two goals for the 'Tips. Everett outshot the Cougars 20-23, and Mike Wall stopped 22.
Spokane beat Portland 7-3. The Chiefs ripped this one away from Portland. After Mike Funk had tied the game 6:38 into the final period, the Chiefs waited about seven minutes, and then erupted for four goals in the final 6:37 of play (a span of 4:56). Braydon Coburn and Brandon Dubinsky accounted for the rest of Portland's goals. Portland outshot Spokane 34-30, and Blake Grenier stopped 23.
Vancouver beat Kamloops 6-2. He didn't have a six-point night like Alex Leavitt did for Everett, but Gilbert Brule did net the natural golden sombrero, scoring Vancouver's second through fifth goals to more than put away the Blazers. Triston Grant and Max Gordichuk had the bread goals to the Brule sandwich. Vancouver badly outshot Kamloops 32-18, and Marek Schwarz stopped 16.
Manitoba beat Edmonton 3-2 in overtime. The Road Runners got the equalizer early in the third period, but Jason King was able to break away, thread through a couple of defenders, and go five-hole on Tyler Moss to get the Moose the victory. Tim Smith and Josh Green (fed by a nifty Peter Sarno saucer pass) accounted for the other Manitoba goals. The Moose outshot Edmonton 29-20, and Alex Auld stopped 18.
Upcoming...
Tonight: Seattle at Portland, Red Deer at Everett, Vancouver at Kamloops, Edmonton at Manitoba
Tomorrow: 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
---
Enjoy the beginnings of your weekend, everybody.
/ Click for main page
Friday, February 18, 2005
ARIZONA AND DUKE
David posted CBS Sportsline's Gregg Doyel's piece on Arizona head coach Lute Olson's criticism of the East Coast bias on Thursday. I would have gotten to this earlier, but I didn't. So here's my take on that piece. Specifically, the one paragraph that David loved. I did too, but there's more to it.
For example, we're guessing he'd disagree with the opinion that he has underachieved in the past decade.
That's my take, but luckily for Lute, I'm located east of the Mississippi and therefore don't know enough about Arizona to realize he has won just three Pac-10 titles since 1995, despite having Damon Stoudamire (a senior in 1995), Ray Owes, Reggie Geary, Ben Davis, Michael Dickerson, Mike Bibby, Miles Simon, Jason Terry, A.J. Bramlett, Michael Wright, Richard Jefferson, Loren Woods, Luke Walton, Gilbert Arenas, Jason Gardner, Rick Anderson, Andre Iguodala, Hassan Adams, Channing Frye, Salim Stoudamire, Mustafa Shakur ...
See, they do play basketball at Arizona! Not as well as they recruit, but ...
How many national championships have Arizona and Duke each won in the past 10 years?
How about one? (Arizona 1997 and Duke 2001)
As a matter of fact, let me list the players that Duke has had in their program in the last 10 years. Their talent was just as good as Arizona's talent, if not better.
---Trajan Langdon
---William Avery
---Elton Brand
---Shane Battier
---Corey Maggette
---Mike Dunleavy, Jr.
---Jason Williams
---Roshown McLeod
---Chris Carrawell
---Steve Wojciechowski
---Ricky Price
---Nate James
---Carlos Boozer
---Casey Sanders
---Chris Duhon
---J.J. Redick
---Daniel Ewing
---Shavlik Randolph
---Luol Deng
---Shelden Williams
---Sean Dockery
---Dahntay Jones
Look at all that talent Mike Krzyzewski has amassed in Durham, but yet, there's only one national championship out of that group of players over the past 10 seasons. So, when a national writer calls out Lute Olson, then it is only fair to call out Coach K.
The 1999 Duke team was supposed to be "the best team ever". But what did they do? They lost in the national championship game to an underdog Connecticut team. To this day, I haven't seen a bigger chokejob in a national championship game than the one by Duke in 1999. Of course, the East Coast Media will never bother to bring that up.
I am in SEC country. And I've made it a point to tell some of these people that the SEC is down this year. Way down. There's only one team out of the SEC that I can see going to the Sweet 16 and that is Alabama. I don't believe in Kentucky at all. They're lucky to play in a SEC East filled with underachieving teams such as Florida, Tennessee, and South Carolina. Oh, and that South Carolina team just upset the Cats earlier this week.
But the main point of this post is to remind people that while Arizona hasn't won enough with their talent, Duke hasn't either. The facts don't lie.
For example, we're guessing he'd disagree with the opinion that he has underachieved in the past decade.
That's my take, but luckily for Lute, I'm located east of the Mississippi and therefore don't know enough about Arizona to realize he has won just three Pac-10 titles since 1995, despite having Damon Stoudamire (a senior in 1995), Ray Owes, Reggie Geary, Ben Davis, Michael Dickerson, Mike Bibby, Miles Simon, Jason Terry, A.J. Bramlett, Michael Wright, Richard Jefferson, Loren Woods, Luke Walton, Gilbert Arenas, Jason Gardner, Rick Anderson, Andre Iguodala, Hassan Adams, Channing Frye, Salim Stoudamire, Mustafa Shakur ...
See, they do play basketball at Arizona! Not as well as they recruit, but ...
How many national championships have Arizona and Duke each won in the past 10 years?
How about one? (Arizona 1997 and Duke 2001)
As a matter of fact, let me list the players that Duke has had in their program in the last 10 years. Their talent was just as good as Arizona's talent, if not better.
---Trajan Langdon
---William Avery
---Elton Brand
---Shane Battier
---Corey Maggette
---Mike Dunleavy, Jr.
---Jason Williams
---Roshown McLeod
---Chris Carrawell
---Steve Wojciechowski
---Ricky Price
---Nate James
---Carlos Boozer
---Casey Sanders
---Chris Duhon
---J.J. Redick
---Daniel Ewing
---Shavlik Randolph
---Luol Deng
---Shelden Williams
---Sean Dockery
---Dahntay Jones
Look at all that talent Mike Krzyzewski has amassed in Durham, but yet, there's only one national championship out of that group of players over the past 10 seasons. So, when a national writer calls out Lute Olson, then it is only fair to call out Coach K.
The 1999 Duke team was supposed to be "the best team ever". But what did they do? They lost in the national championship game to an underdog Connecticut team. To this day, I haven't seen a bigger chokejob in a national championship game than the one by Duke in 1999. Of course, the East Coast Media will never bother to bring that up.
I am in SEC country. And I've made it a point to tell some of these people that the SEC is down this year. Way down. There's only one team out of the SEC that I can see going to the Sweet 16 and that is Alabama. I don't believe in Kentucky at all. They're lucky to play in a SEC East filled with underachieving teams such as Florida, Tennessee, and South Carolina. Oh, and that South Carolina team just upset the Cats earlier this week.
But the main point of this post is to remind people that while Arizona hasn't won enough with their talent, Duke hasn't either. The facts don't lie.
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PARDON THE ERUPTION
One of our many readers Drew dropped us a link to his blog, Pardon The Eruption, in the comment box in David's daily post today.
Pardon The Eruption was "created to off-set all the emails we send PTI that never get read." David and I are big PTI fans, so we'll go ahead and give Drew and Jeff some dap. Speaking of DAP, here's your definition, according to Drew.
We'll get Pardon The Eruption linked ASAP. Any site that gives me a definition of DAP is a winner in my book. In related news, Sports and Bremertonians always oozes of DAP.
Pardon The Eruption was "created to off-set all the emails we send PTI that never get read." David and I are big PTI fans, so we'll go ahead and give Drew and Jeff some dap. Speaking of DAP, here's your definition, according to Drew.
We'll get Pardon The Eruption linked ASAP. Any site that gives me a definition of DAP is a winner in my book. In related news, Sports and Bremertonians always oozes of DAP.
/ Click for main page
SEE-YESTAH
Welcome to Friday. The three-day weekend is soon to be upon you.
Random note...my all-time least favorite font is Comic Sans. I don't care about its readability -- if you want any of your official/scholarly documents to immediately give a hint of childishness and unprofessionality, don't hesitate to use Comic Sans. My favorite fonts are probably Calisto, Century Gothic, Book Antiqua, and Denmark (i.e., our header and sidebar tags). A geology cohort of mine back at Central is a big fan of Palatino Linotype, which is also a solid font.
Now, to the post.
MARINERS
You know, I was flipping around on the TV last night, and the season premiere of Survivor Palau was on CBS. I surfed around later, and I couldn't believe an ad I saw for another reality show...
Two articles on Jorge Campillo, to whom the Mariners now officially have rights. GM Bill Bavasi looks at the 26-year-old righty speed-changer/control pitcher as a back-end rotation guy, if need be. Campillo pitched for the Culiacan Tomateros (Tomato Growers) in winter ball. If you're a fan of team nicknames in different languages, look no further than junior hockey in Quebec. Go Sagueneens!
As for camp itself, 14 position players are there. Bryan Price isn't concerned about Joel Pineiro, who apparently threw without any red flags being raised, as did Eddie Guardado. Rafael Soriano also threw, with his ETA in game action with the big club being July or thereafter. Also, my coaches didn't have me pitch too much in high school, but I did run through some PFPs, and a little of those go a long way, and they do get tiresome. They're a total pain, but they're completely necessary, and I keep that in mind every time I see a seamless 3-1 putout during the season. And since I'm a lazy washed-up lout who hasn't played competitive ball in five years, I'm hungry for some PFPs and running poles right about now.
Bobby Madritsch tattoos himself much more than other teams tattoo him. He's got a couple more, but he's also got family on the mind as well. He's never seen his mother, and he's had chances to do it. There's just issues. What they are isn't our business, and it does make for kind of an ominous and somewhat awkward article, but that's how it is.
SEAHAWKS
Do you think there will be any automatic recounts triggered when the Seahawks name their new president?
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
The Tar Heels host Clemson tomorrow (10a, ABC) and travel to face NC State on Tuesday (5p, local only)
Huskies
Nate Robinson. Father. Hooray for full-ride athletic scholarships and a great chance at the NBA, because I know if I'd had a kid my junior year of college (keep in mind, this would have been two years ago for me)...it would have been far from smooth sailing, to say the least. I'd venture to say I definitely wouldn't have gotten out of Central in four years, which I was fortunately able to do. That said, the best of luck to Nate, Sheena, and little Nahmier.
Next year's point guard will more than likely be Florida transfer Ryan Appleby, who transferred after one year with the Gators. He wasn't digging the whole deviation from run-and-gun to a more halfcourt-oriented offense that Billy Donovan was instituting in Gainesville.
The Huskies go to Washington State tomorrow (4p, FSNNW) and host Arizona State the following Thursday (7:30p, FSNNW).
Bulldogs
Gonzaga extended its home win streak to 23 with a 90-73 win over San Diego. Derek Raivio went nuts, scoring 29 (12 from the line) with 5 boards and 7 assists. JP Batista scored 19 and pulled down 5 boards. Ronny Turiaf had his third straight double-double (yes, he's back) with 15 points and 13 boards. A win tomorrow against USF will clinch a 5th straight WCC regular season title for the Zags.
The Zags host San Francisco tomorrow (3p, ABC) and go to Portland on Thursday (8p, ESPN2)
Sonics
You know, Luke Ridnour has worn some combination of green and yellow on the court for the last six years. My favorite shots of his this year are the running right-side high banker in the lane and the 18-footer. If they stay together a few years, Ridnour and Collison are going to be absolutely awesome together, and not just because they ran a flawless pick and roll in the Golden State game.
Nate McMillan has to be coach of the year at this point, right? He took basically the same cast from last year and has somehow gotten it to do what it's doing this year. No significant additions, a la Steve Nash to Phoenix. Just instilling a mentality.
Speaking of mentality, the Sonics seemed to stray away from what got them to this point in the season, and that isn't lost on me or John Levesque. I didn't like the loss to Dallas, which wasn't good at all, blowing that fourth-quarter lead and everything, but given the competition in that four-games-in-five-days stretch, I figured I might be able to let it slide. That loss to Golden State, though, was brutal in every way. Just horrid. The team still sits pretty recordwise here at the break, but they just haven't clicked on all cylinders since the calendar turned over to 2005. This was somewhat coincident with when Reggie Evans sat out of the lineup with his gastrointestinal hell. The typical Ridnour/Allen/Lewis/Evans/James starting lineup had to change for the first time at that point, and although it shouldn't matter, it seems like it did.
Also, the new NBA security guidelines seem to pretty much be what KeyArena already had in place. Hooray, KeyArena. They're eight ounces under the new alcoholic beverage capacity limit. As for the Fan Code of Conduct, it's totally obvious, and it really shouldn't have to be said. However, I'm hoping it carries more weight than the Blazers' 25-point pledge.
Upcoming...
Tuesday at Houston (5:30p, FSNNW)
Wednesday at New Orleans (5p, FSNNW)
HOCKEY
It's an overload of non-game coverage for the Seattle Thunderbirds, as Matt Gaschk sits down with goalie Bryan Bridges, and Jim Riley brings the news of an impending return of captain Tyler Metcalfe to the lineup to help curb a 6-game winless streak. Both articles seem to express that the Thunderbirds are on their way back defensively, but just need to bury a few more of their chances offensively.
Upcoming...
Tonight: Red Deer at Seattle, Prince George at Everett, Spokane at Portland, Kamloops at Vancouver, Edmonton at Manitoba
Tomorrow: Seattle at Portland, Red Deer at Everett, Vancouver at Kamloops, Edmonton at Manitoba
Sunday: 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
---
Have a great Friday and a great extended weekend, o faithful readers of ours.
Random note...my all-time least favorite font is Comic Sans. I don't care about its readability -- if you want any of your official/scholarly documents to immediately give a hint of childishness and unprofessionality, don't hesitate to use Comic Sans. My favorite fonts are probably Calisto, Century Gothic, Book Antiqua, and Denmark (i.e., our header and sidebar tags). A geology cohort of mine back at Central is a big fan of Palatino Linotype, which is also a solid font.
Now, to the post.
MARINERS
You know, I was flipping around on the TV last night, and the season premiere of Survivor Palau was on CBS. I surfed around later, and I couldn't believe an ad I saw for another reality show...
Two articles on Jorge Campillo, to whom the Mariners now officially have rights. GM Bill Bavasi looks at the 26-year-old righty speed-changer/control pitcher as a back-end rotation guy, if need be. Campillo pitched for the Culiacan Tomateros (Tomato Growers) in winter ball. If you're a fan of team nicknames in different languages, look no further than junior hockey in Quebec. Go Sagueneens!
As for camp itself, 14 position players are there. Bryan Price isn't concerned about Joel Pineiro, who apparently threw without any red flags being raised, as did Eddie Guardado. Rafael Soriano also threw, with his ETA in game action with the big club being July or thereafter. Also, my coaches didn't have me pitch too much in high school, but I did run through some PFPs, and a little of those go a long way, and they do get tiresome. They're a total pain, but they're completely necessary, and I keep that in mind every time I see a seamless 3-1 putout during the season. And since I'm a lazy washed-up lout who hasn't played competitive ball in five years, I'm hungry for some PFPs and running poles right about now.
Bobby Madritsch tattoos himself much more than other teams tattoo him. He's got a couple more, but he's also got family on the mind as well. He's never seen his mother, and he's had chances to do it. There's just issues. What they are isn't our business, and it does make for kind of an ominous and somewhat awkward article, but that's how it is.
SEAHAWKS
Do you think there will be any automatic recounts triggered when the Seahawks name their new president?
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
The Tar Heels host Clemson tomorrow (10a, ABC) and travel to face NC State on Tuesday (5p, local only)
Huskies
Nate Robinson. Father. Hooray for full-ride athletic scholarships and a great chance at the NBA, because I know if I'd had a kid my junior year of college (keep in mind, this would have been two years ago for me)...it would have been far from smooth sailing, to say the least. I'd venture to say I definitely wouldn't have gotten out of Central in four years, which I was fortunately able to do. That said, the best of luck to Nate, Sheena, and little Nahmier.
Next year's point guard will more than likely be Florida transfer Ryan Appleby, who transferred after one year with the Gators. He wasn't digging the whole deviation from run-and-gun to a more halfcourt-oriented offense that Billy Donovan was instituting in Gainesville.
The Huskies go to Washington State tomorrow (4p, FSNNW) and host Arizona State the following Thursday (7:30p, FSNNW).
Bulldogs
Gonzaga extended its home win streak to 23 with a 90-73 win over San Diego. Derek Raivio went nuts, scoring 29 (12 from the line) with 5 boards and 7 assists. JP Batista scored 19 and pulled down 5 boards. Ronny Turiaf had his third straight double-double (yes, he's back) with 15 points and 13 boards. A win tomorrow against USF will clinch a 5th straight WCC regular season title for the Zags.
The Zags host San Francisco tomorrow (3p, ABC) and go to Portland on Thursday (8p, ESPN2)
Sonics
You know, Luke Ridnour has worn some combination of green and yellow on the court for the last six years. My favorite shots of his this year are the running right-side high banker in the lane and the 18-footer. If they stay together a few years, Ridnour and Collison are going to be absolutely awesome together, and not just because they ran a flawless pick and roll in the Golden State game.
Nate McMillan has to be coach of the year at this point, right? He took basically the same cast from last year and has somehow gotten it to do what it's doing this year. No significant additions, a la Steve Nash to Phoenix. Just instilling a mentality.
Speaking of mentality, the Sonics seemed to stray away from what got them to this point in the season, and that isn't lost on me or John Levesque. I didn't like the loss to Dallas, which wasn't good at all, blowing that fourth-quarter lead and everything, but given the competition in that four-games-in-five-days stretch, I figured I might be able to let it slide. That loss to Golden State, though, was brutal in every way. Just horrid. The team still sits pretty recordwise here at the break, but they just haven't clicked on all cylinders since the calendar turned over to 2005. This was somewhat coincident with when Reggie Evans sat out of the lineup with his gastrointestinal hell. The typical Ridnour/Allen/Lewis/Evans/James starting lineup had to change for the first time at that point, and although it shouldn't matter, it seems like it did.
Also, the new NBA security guidelines seem to pretty much be what KeyArena already had in place. Hooray, KeyArena. They're eight ounces under the new alcoholic beverage capacity limit. As for the Fan Code of Conduct, it's totally obvious, and it really shouldn't have to be said. However, I'm hoping it carries more weight than the Blazers' 25-point pledge.
Upcoming...
Tuesday at Houston (5:30p, FSNNW)
Wednesday at New Orleans (5p, FSNNW)
HOCKEY
It's an overload of non-game coverage for the Seattle Thunderbirds, as Matt Gaschk sits down with goalie Bryan Bridges, and Jim Riley brings the news of an impending return of captain Tyler Metcalfe to the lineup to help curb a 6-game winless streak. Both articles seem to express that the Thunderbirds are on their way back defensively, but just need to bury a few more of their chances offensively.
Upcoming...
Tonight: Red Deer at Seattle, Prince George at Everett, Spokane at Portland, Kamloops at Vancouver, Edmonton at Manitoba
Tomorrow: Seattle at Portland, Red Deer at Everett, Vancouver at Kamloops, Edmonton at Manitoba
Sunday: 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
---
Have a great Friday and a great extended weekend, o faithful readers of ours.
/ Click for main page
Thursday, February 17, 2005
HOKIE'D!
OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW
Former Mariners manager Bob Melvin, who's now in Arizona
And here's new Mariners manager Mike Hargrove
Hargrove is happy to be a part of the Mariners organization. Although, he has just one small problem: He can't stand the hats.
"The hat's killing me," the new skipper said with a laugh. "The person who designed these hats should be drawn and quartered, but the Seattle colors are nice. That part, I like."
The hats were designed for 5-year olds. Believe me, I tried on one of those hats when they first came out. I have a very big head (David can attest to this), so let's just say that I looked hideous in those preschool hats they call "spring training hats".
MARINERS BASEBALL --- SWUNG ON AND BELTRE'D!
And here's new Mariners manager Mike Hargrove
Hargrove is happy to be a part of the Mariners organization. Although, he has just one small problem: He can't stand the hats.
"The hat's killing me," the new skipper said with a laugh. "The person who designed these hats should be drawn and quartered, but the Seattle colors are nice. That part, I like."
The hats were designed for 5-year olds. Believe me, I tried on one of those hats when they first came out. I have a very big head (David can attest to this), so let's just say that I looked hideous in those preschool hats they call "spring training hats".
MARINERS BASEBALL --- SWUNG ON AND BELTRE'D!
/ Click for main page
WASTED YEARS
In the quest to find a writer worse than Justin Spiro (he of "Ivan Rodriguez will sign with the Mariners" fame), I think I've found a winner.
Look no further than Nathanial Skinner's piece at Scout.com on the American League West. Instead of doing a review of Skinner's thoughts on the Mariners, I'll just link you to Gizoogle's take on Mr. Skinner. Gizoogle!
By the way, where can I find a writing job like the one Skinner has at Scout.com? I usually don't like to brag, but I know I'm a much better writer than Nathanial Skinner. How does his crap get posted on a legitimate website such as Scout.com? Yes, it is crap. I won't apologize for that, because in this case, I am right.
Somewhere in Peoria right now, Eddie Guardado is pranking some minor league pitcher. Any guess on who that minor league pitcher may be?
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MARINERS CARE
Yes, spring training brings hope for the following summer. It also signifies the beginning of team bonding...
Of course, it seems Mike Hargrove and Joel Pineiro are making some progress over Wiki Gonzalez last year...
...and it'd be messed up if I didn't link the real Mariners Care at this point.
Of course, it seems Mike Hargrove and Joel Pineiro are making some progress over Wiki Gonzalez last year...
...and it'd be messed up if I didn't link the real Mariners Care at this point.
/ Click for main page
ALL HAIL THE KING
FOLLOW UP-IZZLES
To follow up on my earlier Gizoogle post, let's Gizoogle the Mariner blogosphere. Well, four of them anyway. Oh, and here's the earlier post in its Gizoogled glory.
USS Mariner (USS Marina)
2004 was a motherf***a fo` Bizzle Boone, especially in light of his recent
performizzle bustin' his excellent 2003 season.
Lookout Landing
Tendinizzle as you may or may not K-N-to-tha-izzow, is medical lingo fo` "sum-m Sum-m's wrizzay wit you, but I dizzay know wizzle it is, so here's a fancy word ta makes bizzay of us more comfortizzles
Nice Guys Finish Third (Funky Ass Guys Finish Third)
Once spr'n ridin' n tha season starts, I’ll be mizzle more Brotha n also mizzle more mobbin' in tha mutha f***in club.
Mariner Optimist (Marina Optimist)
This poser piece appeared in today's AL Marketwatch at Ron Killa invaluable BaseballHQ site puttin tha smack down. It shows that tha smizzay money view of Bucky coincides funky assly wit tizzy of Bucky fans everywhere mah nizzle. FREE BUCKY . Im crazy, you can't phase me!
P-to-tha-izzost yo favorizzles in tha box.
(Post your Gizoogled links in the comments box)
USS Mariner (USS Marina)
2004 was a motherf***a fo` Bizzle Boone, especially in light of his recent
performizzle bustin' his excellent 2003 season.
Lookout Landing
Tendinizzle as you may or may not K-N-to-tha-izzow, is medical lingo fo` "sum-m Sum-m's wrizzay wit you, but I dizzay know wizzle it is, so here's a fancy word ta makes bizzay of us more comfortizzles
Nice Guys Finish Third (Funky Ass Guys Finish Third)
Once spr'n ridin' n tha season starts, I’ll be mizzle more Brotha n also mizzle more mobbin' in tha mutha f***in club.
Mariner Optimist (Marina Optimist)
This poser piece appeared in today's AL Marketwatch at Ron Killa invaluable BaseballHQ site puttin tha smack down. It shows that tha smizzay money view of Bucky coincides funky assly wit tizzy of Bucky fans everywhere mah nizzle. FREE BUCKY . Im crazy, you can't phase me!
P-to-tha-izzost yo favorizzles in tha box.
(Post your Gizoogled links in the comments box)
/ Click for main page
SPORTS AND BREMERTIZZLES!
How I didn't do a post on this subject a long time ago, I don't know.
Anyways, Gizoogle!
That's right, Gizoogle is basically Google Snoop Dogg-ized. I can't stop rolling at some of these results. By the way, I'll label these as NSFW, because of profane language.
My Rams-Seahawks post on Sunday, January 2
College Basketball January 27
North Carolizzles!
Richie Sexson cited for DUI
But this is my favorite translation that I've come across so far. From my Arizona Cardinals new logo post. You know, the "tough bird"
Several prominent Cardinals -- includ'n Josh McCown, Larry Fitzgerald n Leonard Davis -- modeled apparel wit tha new logo.
Wit his rural Texas background, McCown was asked if he was sum-m sum-m of an expert on birds in tha hood.
"izzle only birds I kizzle `bout is tha duck n tha dizzle n tha quail, birds thizzay you shoot," tha Cardinals quarterback said. "You're not really supposed ta shoot cardinals yeah yeah baby. I don't know if I'd shoot this bird. It looks pretty mean . Ill slap tha taste out yo mouf. This bird might pizzle a gat out n shoot rizzight back at you."
That's bootylicious shiznit.
Who knew that Josh McCown could speak Gizoogle?
Anyways, Gizoogle!
That's right, Gizoogle is basically Google Snoop Dogg-ized. I can't stop rolling at some of these results. By the way, I'll label these as NSFW, because of profane language.
My Rams-Seahawks post on Sunday, January 2
College Basketball January 27
North Carolizzles!
Richie Sexson cited for DUI
But this is my favorite translation that I've come across so far. From my Arizona Cardinals new logo post. You know, the "tough bird"
Several prominent Cardinals -- includ'n Josh McCown, Larry Fitzgerald n Leonard Davis -- modeled apparel wit tha new logo.
Wit his rural Texas background, McCown was asked if he was sum-m sum-m of an expert on birds in tha hood.
"izzle only birds I kizzle `bout is tha duck n tha dizzle n tha quail, birds thizzay you shoot," tha Cardinals quarterback said. "You're not really supposed ta shoot cardinals yeah yeah baby. I don't know if I'd shoot this bird. It looks pretty mean . Ill slap tha taste out yo mouf. This bird might pizzle a gat out n shoot rizzight back at you."
That's bootylicious shiznit.
Who knew that Josh McCown could speak Gizoogle?
/ Click for main page
THROWN DOWN
Welcome to Thursday. Today, Mariner pitchers and catchers work out for the first time this year. Fun. As I learned in one of the articles below, Yuniesky Betancourt is in camp, and George Sherrill came early, but the security people wouldn't let him past the gate for about 15 minutes.
Random note...my favorite plant of all-time is the cactus, which I guess makes this somewhat spring training-related, and not so random. I once wrote some weird piece in a high school english class about wanting a saguaro cactus in my house, and then drilling a hole in the ceiling if the cactus grew higher than the ceiling would allow. This wouldn't fly in Washington due to the moisture, but what's a high school student without dreams and unattainable goals? In directly related news, I've got problems.
To the post!
MARINERS
Hickey's in Peoria. He says nothing too surprising about Felix, but then makes me cringe at the notion that Aaron Sele has a great chance at a spot in the rotation. Yikes. I know there's some questions about the rotation, but is it in that bad a shape? Worse yet, Hickey says that Sele's curve doesn't bite as well, so he could get tattooed pretty good in the spring even if he threw well. Anyway, I'm just not looking forward to seeing starts of 4 2/3 innings out of Sele every fifth day. Of course, if it has to be done, there's part of me that wants the fifth day in the rotation to be the Sele/Villone day, where Sele doesn't get out of the 5th, and Villone mops up the next three or four innings.
Zumsteg boils it all down to a DH battle of Bucky vs. Ibanez. I'm rooting for a trade of Ibanez or Winn so that Bucky can get the shot he so deserves, but I'm thinking it looks bleak. As such, it's one year later and we're still lamenting the horrible Ibanez contract. Ugh. More from last offseason -- I just remembered how the only solace I could take out of the Mariners not landing Miguel Tejada was that he signed with a team outside the division. Of course, that solace was dragged out to the barn and shot after Vladimir Guerrero signed in the division.
Don Baylor says he didn't see ex-teammate Jose Canseco juicing up. Jose Canseco can only be so trusted in all of this, seeing as to how he's peddling a book, but regardless of his validity, he's succeeding in planting the seed of doubt on a few of his past teammates, fair or unfair. Of course, from my standpoint, when Pete Rose came out with that book not too long ago, I just wanted him to just go away for a long time, and now I feel the same way about Canseco.
By the way, if someone still has one of the masks from No Way Jose Mask Night at the Kingdome, I'd like to see how much one of those things could fetch on eBay right about now.
SEAHAWKS
Walter Jones. Signed. Seven years. The Seahawks won't have to franchise him. The guy will actually be in Cheney. Pertaining to the Bishop/Romero article, is sacks yielded really a formal statistic? I could swear that Jones let at least one guy past last year on the way to a sack. Well, maybe it might have just been pressure. I don't have all the games from the past season on tape...just those darn game posts.
This of course means one of a few things. The one I'll say is three cheers for Mike Reinfeldt. He didn't have long to get this done, but lo and behold, he's gotten Walter Jones in for the long term, and that's something he couldn't do even before Bob Whitsitt shoved him out the door. I don't know if Reinfeldt will be the president of this team, but they've got to at least remove the temporary tag, because he's more than earned it with this signing.
Of course, with Matt Hasselbeck and Shaun Alexander as the bigger free agents remaining, the widely-held belief is that the Seahawks sign Hasselbeck and franchise Alexander. If they do this, in my mind, they better be sure of the following...
-- Mo Morris better be a 1000-yard back, and/or
-- They better get a solid receiver through free agency that can actually CATCH AND HOLD ON TO THE BALL
-- They better draft wisely in case one or both of the previous fail(s) to pan out
It might be rudimentary and simple, but I think it's sound thinking. If you tag Shaun and trade him for some freakin' sweet picks, you're losing a 1700-yard back, and someone that carried the offense when Hasselbeck was having a bad day or the other receivers were dropping passes like mad. If you let Shaun go, you obviously have to make up the holes that Shaun patched. Of course, you're not going to improve the quarterback situation, and Maurice Morris isn't going to match Shaun yard-for-yard (or even within 700 yards, I think). So if this offense is more pass-oriented (it's Holmgren we're dealing with here), can you really afford to just turn loose the same exact receiving core next year as you did this past year with a running back that isn't as good? I hope not, and this is why the names of Plaxico Burress and Muhsin Muhammad (if his Carolina contract situation falls through) sound so great right about now. I just don't think you can go with the same quarterback, a worse (though not crappy) running back, and the same exact receivers. If you're going to throw more, you'd better get a set of hands that is more sure.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
Marvin Williams had turf toe (left) and sat out North Carolina's 85-61 home win against Virginia. In related news, Sean May is awesome.
The Tar Heels host Clemson on Saturday (10a, ABC) and travel to face NC State on Tuesday (5p, local only)
Huskies
Ah, yes. A topic everyone loves -- Pac-10 officiating. Hold your applause until all the names have been announced.
Of course, there was another article where Gregg Doyel tried to sort of call out Lute Olson. Olson has been flying the East Coast Bias flag for years, but Doyel doesn't like Olson naming JJ Redick, even in defense of Salim Stoudamire. While I don't think all of Doyel's argument is gospel, I love this paragraph...
...luckily for Lute, I'm located east of the Mississippi and therefore don't know enough about Arizona to realize he has won just three Pac-10 titles since 1995, despite having Damon Stoudamire (a senior in 1995), Ray Owes, Reggie Geary, Ben Davis, Michael Dickerson, Mike Bibby, Miles Simon, Jason Terry, A.J. Bramlett, Michael Wright, Richard Jefferson, Loren Woods, Luke Walton, Gilbert Arenas, Jason Gardner, Rick Anderson, Andre Iguodala, Hassan Adams, Channing Frye, Salim Stoudamire, Mustafa Shakur ...
Ah, gotta love inter-regional discontent. You can ask Jeremy what the SEC folk think about the Pac-10.
The Huskies go to Washington State on Saturday (4p, FSNNW) and host Arizona State the following Thursday (7:30p, FSNNW).
Bulldogs
Since I peruse the boxscores after every Gonzaga game before I post about it here, I know about what this article tells us -- Ronny Turiaf is back in his groove. His ankles are feeling a ton better, and his numbers have shot up to go with the very welcome dominance down low for the Bulldogs.
The Zags host San Diego tonight (6p, KONG 6/16 Seattle, Q6 NBC Spokane) and San Francisco on Saturday (3p, ABC)
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.
Man, do I have to read these articles? That game was horrible. The lack of defense all game by the Sonics was just maddening. All-Stars Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis were a combined 1-for-7 in the fourth quarter. Ron Murray was the only pulse for the offense in the final frame. It was a shame to see Nick Collison's double-double go for a losing effort.
Aaaaaand I need to lay off a bit on Vladimir Radmanovic for last night's game on account of the sore wrist. Such will be noted in the game post.
Upcoming...
Tuesday at Houston (5:30p, FSNNW)
Wednesday at New Orleans (5p, FSNNW)
HOCKEY
Kelowna beat Seattle 2-1. The Thunderbirds are trying to find their groove again, but it's hard to do against a solid Kelowna team. The best they did tonight was spoil Derek Yeomans' shutout with a second remaining in the game. That goal went to Zack FitzGerald. Seattle was outshot 32-24, and Bryan Bridges stopped 30.
Red Deer shut out Vancouver 3-0. Brent Sutter was back behind the bench for Red Deer, but it also helped that the flu bug had ravaged through the Giants. The Giants were outshot 25-20, and Marek Schwarz stopped 22. Mikko Kuukka, Colin Fraser, and Tanner Gillies scored for Red Deer.
Upcoming...
Tomorrow: Red Deer at Seattle, Prince George at Everett, Spokane at Portland, Kamloops at Vancouver, Edmonton at Manitoba
Saturday: Seattle at Portland, Red Deer at Everett, Vancouver at Kamloops, Edmonton at Manitoba
Sunday: Prince George at Seattle
Tuesday: Everett at Kamloops, Kelowna at Portland
Wednesday: Seattle at Kelowna, Tri-City at Vancouver, Manitoba at Wilkes-Barre Scranton
---
Have a terrific Thursday, o great readers of ours.
Random note...my favorite plant of all-time is the cactus, which I guess makes this somewhat spring training-related, and not so random. I once wrote some weird piece in a high school english class about wanting a saguaro cactus in my house, and then drilling a hole in the ceiling if the cactus grew higher than the ceiling would allow. This wouldn't fly in Washington due to the moisture, but what's a high school student without dreams and unattainable goals? In directly related news, I've got problems.
To the post!
MARINERS
Hickey's in Peoria. He says nothing too surprising about Felix, but then makes me cringe at the notion that Aaron Sele has a great chance at a spot in the rotation. Yikes. I know there's some questions about the rotation, but is it in that bad a shape? Worse yet, Hickey says that Sele's curve doesn't bite as well, so he could get tattooed pretty good in the spring even if he threw well. Anyway, I'm just not looking forward to seeing starts of 4 2/3 innings out of Sele every fifth day. Of course, if it has to be done, there's part of me that wants the fifth day in the rotation to be the Sele/Villone day, where Sele doesn't get out of the 5th, and Villone mops up the next three or four innings.
Zumsteg boils it all down to a DH battle of Bucky vs. Ibanez. I'm rooting for a trade of Ibanez or Winn so that Bucky can get the shot he so deserves, but I'm thinking it looks bleak. As such, it's one year later and we're still lamenting the horrible Ibanez contract. Ugh. More from last offseason -- I just remembered how the only solace I could take out of the Mariners not landing Miguel Tejada was that he signed with a team outside the division. Of course, that solace was dragged out to the barn and shot after Vladimir Guerrero signed in the division.
Don Baylor says he didn't see ex-teammate Jose Canseco juicing up. Jose Canseco can only be so trusted in all of this, seeing as to how he's peddling a book, but regardless of his validity, he's succeeding in planting the seed of doubt on a few of his past teammates, fair or unfair. Of course, from my standpoint, when Pete Rose came out with that book not too long ago, I just wanted him to just go away for a long time, and now I feel the same way about Canseco.
By the way, if someone still has one of the masks from No Way Jose Mask Night at the Kingdome, I'd like to see how much one of those things could fetch on eBay right about now.
SEAHAWKS
Walter Jones. Signed. Seven years. The Seahawks won't have to franchise him. The guy will actually be in Cheney. Pertaining to the Bishop/Romero article, is sacks yielded really a formal statistic? I could swear that Jones let at least one guy past last year on the way to a sack. Well, maybe it might have just been pressure. I don't have all the games from the past season on tape...just those darn game posts.
This of course means one of a few things. The one I'll say is three cheers for Mike Reinfeldt. He didn't have long to get this done, but lo and behold, he's gotten Walter Jones in for the long term, and that's something he couldn't do even before Bob Whitsitt shoved him out the door. I don't know if Reinfeldt will be the president of this team, but they've got to at least remove the temporary tag, because he's more than earned it with this signing.
Of course, with Matt Hasselbeck and Shaun Alexander as the bigger free agents remaining, the widely-held belief is that the Seahawks sign Hasselbeck and franchise Alexander. If they do this, in my mind, they better be sure of the following...
-- Mo Morris better be a 1000-yard back, and/or
-- They better get a solid receiver through free agency that can actually CATCH AND HOLD ON TO THE BALL
-- They better draft wisely in case one or both of the previous fail(s) to pan out
It might be rudimentary and simple, but I think it's sound thinking. If you tag Shaun and trade him for some freakin' sweet picks, you're losing a 1700-yard back, and someone that carried the offense when Hasselbeck was having a bad day or the other receivers were dropping passes like mad. If you let Shaun go, you obviously have to make up the holes that Shaun patched. Of course, you're not going to improve the quarterback situation, and Maurice Morris isn't going to match Shaun yard-for-yard (or even within 700 yards, I think). So if this offense is more pass-oriented (it's Holmgren we're dealing with here), can you really afford to just turn loose the same exact receiving core next year as you did this past year with a running back that isn't as good? I hope not, and this is why the names of Plaxico Burress and Muhsin Muhammad (if his Carolina contract situation falls through) sound so great right about now. I just don't think you can go with the same quarterback, a worse (though not crappy) running back, and the same exact receivers. If you're going to throw more, you'd better get a set of hands that is more sure.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
Marvin Williams had turf toe (left) and sat out North Carolina's 85-61 home win against Virginia. In related news, Sean May is awesome.
The Tar Heels host Clemson on Saturday (10a, ABC) and travel to face NC State on Tuesday (5p, local only)
Huskies
Ah, yes. A topic everyone loves -- Pac-10 officiating. Hold your applause until all the names have been announced.
Of course, there was another article where Gregg Doyel tried to sort of call out Lute Olson. Olson has been flying the East Coast Bias flag for years, but Doyel doesn't like Olson naming JJ Redick, even in defense of Salim Stoudamire. While I don't think all of Doyel's argument is gospel, I love this paragraph...
...luckily for Lute, I'm located east of the Mississippi and therefore don't know enough about Arizona to realize he has won just three Pac-10 titles since 1995, despite having Damon Stoudamire (a senior in 1995), Ray Owes, Reggie Geary, Ben Davis, Michael Dickerson, Mike Bibby, Miles Simon, Jason Terry, A.J. Bramlett, Michael Wright, Richard Jefferson, Loren Woods, Luke Walton, Gilbert Arenas, Jason Gardner, Rick Anderson, Andre Iguodala, Hassan Adams, Channing Frye, Salim Stoudamire, Mustafa Shakur ...
Ah, gotta love inter-regional discontent. You can ask Jeremy what the SEC folk think about the Pac-10.
The Huskies go to Washington State on Saturday (4p, FSNNW) and host Arizona State the following Thursday (7:30p, FSNNW).
Bulldogs
Since I peruse the boxscores after every Gonzaga game before I post about it here, I know about what this article tells us -- Ronny Turiaf is back in his groove. His ankles are feeling a ton better, and his numbers have shot up to go with the very welcome dominance down low for the Bulldogs.
The Zags host San Diego tonight (6p, KONG 6/16 Seattle, Q6 NBC Spokane) and San Francisco on Saturday (3p, ABC)
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.
Man, do I have to read these articles? That game was horrible. The lack of defense all game by the Sonics was just maddening. All-Stars Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis were a combined 1-for-7 in the fourth quarter. Ron Murray was the only pulse for the offense in the final frame. It was a shame to see Nick Collison's double-double go for a losing effort.
Aaaaaand I need to lay off a bit on Vladimir Radmanovic for last night's game on account of the sore wrist. Such will be noted in the game post.
Upcoming...
Tuesday at Houston (5:30p, FSNNW)
Wednesday at New Orleans (5p, FSNNW)
HOCKEY
Kelowna beat Seattle 2-1. The Thunderbirds are trying to find their groove again, but it's hard to do against a solid Kelowna team. The best they did tonight was spoil Derek Yeomans' shutout with a second remaining in the game. That goal went to Zack FitzGerald. Seattle was outshot 32-24, and Bryan Bridges stopped 30.
Red Deer shut out Vancouver 3-0. Brent Sutter was back behind the bench for Red Deer, but it also helped that the flu bug had ravaged through the Giants. The Giants were outshot 25-20, and Marek Schwarz stopped 22. Mikko Kuukka, Colin Fraser, and Tanner Gillies scored for Red Deer.
Upcoming...
Tomorrow: Red Deer at Seattle, Prince George at Everett, Spokane at Portland, Kamloops at Vancouver, Edmonton at Manitoba
Saturday: Seattle at Portland, Red Deer at Everett, Vancouver at Kamloops, Edmonton at Manitoba
Sunday: Prince George at Seattle
Tuesday: Everett at Kamloops, Kelowna at Portland
Wednesday: Seattle at Kelowna, Tri-City at Vancouver, Manitoba at Wilkes-Barre Scranton
---
Have a terrific Thursday, o great readers of ours.
/ Click for main page
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
GAME 50: WARRIORS 117, SUPERSONICS 110
Warriors 117, SuperSonics 110
(final content posted ~10:09p)
Here's what I have for tonight. Danny Fortson is back east attending to his ill grandmother, and is not in the arena tonight. Also, this one is also being carried nationally by ESPN, as well as locally by FSNNW. Of course, given the choice of Calabro and anybody, I'm choosing Calabro.
Those taste loss commercials have me in stitches. "Can you get taste loss from a foosball table?" "How you do fight taste loss?" "...with antibiotics?"
1st qtr
9:54 James banker low first basket TIE 4-4. 9:13 James turnaround fader SEA 6-4. 8:43 Evans hits two free throws! SEA 8-4. 6:48 Lewis spins by Richardson, lays up SEA 12-10. 5:28 James with another low basket GS 15-14. 3:36 Lewis alleyoop slam from Allen SEA 20-18 off Vladimir forced turnover. 3:12 Allen is on, SEA 22-18. 2:42 Allen double-pump in key SEA 24-20. 2:13 off a turnover, Daniels eventual three SEA 27-20. 1:32 Allen pull-up on the break SEA 29-20. 0:01 Daniels fouled, hits both SEA 31-26.
After one quarter -- Seattle 31, Golden State 26
It started out a bit sluggish, and the Sonic defense has been shoddy at times under the basket. However, the defense also got a couple of key turnovers and breaks going the other way, which enabled them to get the lead and build on it a little bit. Though Jerome James did get abused a couple times down low on defense, he also has six points after one quarter. He's been having some heightened offensive production as of late. It's a bit encouraging.
However, the first quarter was offensively all about Ray Allen, who has 5-for-6 from the floor and 2-for-2 at the line for 12 first-quarter points.
2nd qtr
10:14 Ridnour and Collison connect on the pick-and-roll for slam SEA 35-30. 9:29 Murray to the rack, hits two free throws SEA 37-30. 6:45 Allen back in the game GS 38-37. 6:24 Lewis three SEA 40-38. 5:51 Allen free low, hit with a pass, lays up SEA 42-38. 5:22 Allen pull-up three SEA 45-38. 3:51 Radmanovic lefty hook SEA 51-41. 2:39 Collison taps in a Lewis miss SEA 54-42. 1:09 Lewis low jumphook SEA 56-46. 0:17.3 Allen is good from midrange SEA 58-50.
At halftime -- Seattle 58, Golden State 52
Well, the Sonics aren't getting the job defensively, they've been beaten under the basket for a few rebounds and some easy Warrior points, and they just allowed a 52-point half. Luckily Ray Allen is on fire and the team shot the crap out of the ball. Shooting 58% at halftime is always a good thing, but giving up 51% is not. Ray Allen has 22 (8-for-11) at half and Rashard Lewis has 11, with other Sonics scoring in scattered fashion. Nick Collison's favorite foul tonight is the illegal screen, basically a shout-out to Fortson, if you ask me. Collison has six rebounds to lead all players. As quickly as the Sonics have been able to build a lead at times, they've been able to see it dwindle via bad defense or some inopportune turnovers.
3rd qtr
8:31 James falls away low GS 65-64, snaps 11-0 GS run. 6:35 Allen midrange, first basket of quarter GS 69-66. 6:16 Daniels inopportune four-point play (miss) for fisher GS 72-66. 5:56 Daniels drives, fouled, hits two GS 72-68. 4:35 Warriors outhustling the Sonics, timeout GS 76-68. 3:21 Lewis jumphook low GS 78-72. 2:38 Lewis layup GS 81-74. 2:05 Daniels drives to rack, fouled, hits one GS 84-75. 0:53.8 Collison behind defense, lays in, GS 86-77. 0:35.4 Richardson fouled for a four-point play (miss), GS 89-77.
After three quarters -- Golden State 89, Seattle 79
I don't think I can stress how much that quarter disgusted me, and I don't care how many threes Golden State nailed (7-for-9). Obviously, they have to find some other scoring option than Ray Allen, and he had one basket in the quarter. The defense is consistently a step slow, and they're getting beaten by an extra pass down low on many occasions.
Ugh. Just ugh. At least this game isn't nationally televised or anything. Oh wait...
4th qtr
10:58 Collison rebound, basket and foul underneath, misses GS 90-81, Murray rebound, Allen hits GS 90-83. 9:53 Murray baseline layup beats shot clock GS 90-85. 8:42 Daniels midrange GS 92-87. 7:04 Murray crazy freakin' reverse layup and foul, hits GS 95-92. 6:36 Murray drives, misses, Collison tips in GS 97-94, answered by wide-open Fisher three. 4:59 Daniels steals, Murray lays in on break GS 102-96. 4:20 Collison follows up Murray miss GS 102-98. 3:26 Daniels on break, drives to rack, hard foul, hits both GS 104-100. 1:48 Murray layup in lane and foul, hits GS 106-103. 1:31 Sonics beaten by the baseline pass low, end of game. 0:44.6 Daniels three GS 110-106.
Final -- Golden State 117, SuperSonics 110
Okay, I've said this way too many times this season...
Dude, where's the defense?
I was ticked off after the loss to Dallas, and some people were just chalking up the squandering of an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter to having three games in four days against stiff competition. The Warriors are the team that lost at home to Dallas last night. The Sonics hadn't played since Sunday.
It wasn't lack of rest that did the Sonics in tonight. It's being freakin' lazy on defense. I don't think it's too much to ask your players to put a hand in the face of his shooter a little more often. The Sonics haven't regained the form of what got them to this point. Furthermore, they haven't regained the form of what got them through to the end of December. They didn't play defense in January, and they've played a little better defense and have taken care of the ball better in February. At least they did until these last two games before the break. Though secondary, they've lost a little glitz from the free-throw line lately too, which I think is somewhat due to Danny Fortson getting less minutes (before the suspension).
It's too bad that a great night down the stretch for Ron Murray and a double-double night out of Nick Collison had to be wasted tonight. It's also too bad that Reggie Evans was a complete nonfactor as well. The streak of double-digit rebound games for Evans officially ended tonight.
Seriously, though. If I was expecting bench scoring tonight, I was expecting it from Daniels and Radmanovic, and not Collison and Murray. Speaking of which, where the hell has Vladimir Radmanovic been the last few games?
On an odd note, Jerome James had another productive night on the offensive end, cracking double digits. Someone check his gym bags!
Seriously, though. The last loss sucked, but this one sucks worse. Just disgusting.
PEEK AT THE BOXSCORE
starters
Ray Allen 26 pts/5 reb/7 ast (10-18 FG, 1-4 3pt, 5-7 free throws), Rashard Lewis 17 pts/6 reb (6-13 FG, 1-4 3pt, 4-6 free throws), Reggie Evans 4 pts/4 reb/2 ast (0-1 FG, 4-4 free throws, 13 min), Luke Ridnour 2 pts/2 reb/3 ast/2 stl (1-4 FG, 0-1 3pt, 24 min)
bench
Antonio Daniels 19 pts/4 reb/4 ast/2 stl (4-9 FG, 2-4 3pt, 9-10 free throws, 33 min), Nick Collison 16 pts/12 reb/2 stl/3 blk (7-9 FG, 2-5 free throws, 31 min), Ron Murray 14 pts/4 reb (5-14 FG, 4-4 free throws), Vladimir Radmanovic 2 pts (1-4 FG)
Jerome James Watch
10 pts/3 reb/1 blk (5-7 FG, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 14 min)
team
shot 39-for-79 (49.4%) from the field, shot 4-for-16 (25%) from downtown, shot 28-for-36 (77.8%) from the line (Warriors shot only 14-for-22 from the line), outrebounded Golden State 41-40, bench outscored Warrior bench 51-30 (outrebounded them 21-17), led by 12 at one point in the game, were beat 18-9 on the fast break
I'd remarked about Evans and Radmanovic being nonexistent tonight, but I forgot all about Luke Ridnour. Through the boxscore alone, nothing really shines through as to why Ridnour and James were nonfactors, just that they didn't play a lot of minutes. Of course, it's weird to see Evans not stay in the game and collect rebounds like he has lately, but it's possible to think that maybe McMillan thought Collison was matching up a lot better, and likewise with Daniels and even Murray over Ridnour. Ridnour only shot 1-for-4, but maybe it wasn't the percentage that kept him off the floor, but rather that he wasn't taking or creating more shots.
As for the Warriors, big credit to them for holding Ray Allen to 4 second-half points. Great job to them. They held Ray Allen effectively out of the second half, started raining down threes, and the Sonics couldn't pick up enough of the slack.
I would have liked to have seen Radmanovic stick a couple of threes off the bench, but he's been a tiny bit cold lately. His last real Vlad-type game was either the game five days ago at Phoenix (13 points, 3-for-5 from downtown), which is kind of a stretch, or the game against New Orleans on the 8th (18 points, 4-for-6 from long). The games inbetween those, though, were putrid. I'm referring to the 3-for-10 game against Dallas (10 points) and the 1-for-8 game against Sacramento (9 points, mostly off free-throws).
[***Add 2:19a -- I'll back off a bit on Vladimir. He had a sore wrist coming into the game.]
Still, as we sit here at the All-Star break, I just hope the Sonics regain their defensive tenacity and their edge down low in the second half. More importantly, I hope Danny Fortson once again becomes a big part of what happens down low, because he really hasn't been that for the last month or so. Seriously. I know Nick Collison is taking some of Fortson's minutes, and I like how he's developing, but I need to see the Sonics pounding the ball down low to Danny Fortson late in the fourth quarter when they need points, and having him put up a shot and get hacked. I might be really hung up on this strategy, but I fail to see how it wouldn't work, aside from Fortson getting ejected or picking up six fouls in 30 seconds.
All in all, I just hope the guys come back more hungry after the break. They've had a good first 50 games, but the work is far from done.
Now play some defense again! It's what got you doing so well in the first place!
I asked Jinkies what he'll do to try to get the Sonics to play defense again. His reply: "This is good question. I don't mind the dogs, actually. I feel very sorry for them. God is cruel to make a creature so stupid and slow."
(final content posted ~10:09p)
Here's what I have for tonight. Danny Fortson is back east attending to his ill grandmother, and is not in the arena tonight. Also, this one is also being carried nationally by ESPN, as well as locally by FSNNW. Of course, given the choice of Calabro and anybody, I'm choosing Calabro.
Those taste loss commercials have me in stitches. "Can you get taste loss from a foosball table?" "How you do fight taste loss?" "...with antibiotics?"
1st qtr
9:54 James banker low first basket TIE 4-4. 9:13 James turnaround fader SEA 6-4. 8:43 Evans hits two free throws! SEA 8-4. 6:48 Lewis spins by Richardson, lays up SEA 12-10. 5:28 James with another low basket GS 15-14. 3:36 Lewis alleyoop slam from Allen SEA 20-18 off Vladimir forced turnover. 3:12 Allen is on, SEA 22-18. 2:42 Allen double-pump in key SEA 24-20. 2:13 off a turnover, Daniels eventual three SEA 27-20. 1:32 Allen pull-up on the break SEA 29-20. 0:01 Daniels fouled, hits both SEA 31-26.
After one quarter -- Seattle 31, Golden State 26
It started out a bit sluggish, and the Sonic defense has been shoddy at times under the basket. However, the defense also got a couple of key turnovers and breaks going the other way, which enabled them to get the lead and build on it a little bit. Though Jerome James did get abused a couple times down low on defense, he also has six points after one quarter. He's been having some heightened offensive production as of late. It's a bit encouraging.
However, the first quarter was offensively all about Ray Allen, who has 5-for-6 from the floor and 2-for-2 at the line for 12 first-quarter points.
2nd qtr
10:14 Ridnour and Collison connect on the pick-and-roll for slam SEA 35-30. 9:29 Murray to the rack, hits two free throws SEA 37-30. 6:45 Allen back in the game GS 38-37. 6:24 Lewis three SEA 40-38. 5:51 Allen free low, hit with a pass, lays up SEA 42-38. 5:22 Allen pull-up three SEA 45-38. 3:51 Radmanovic lefty hook SEA 51-41. 2:39 Collison taps in a Lewis miss SEA 54-42. 1:09 Lewis low jumphook SEA 56-46. 0:17.3 Allen is good from midrange SEA 58-50.
At halftime -- Seattle 58, Golden State 52
Well, the Sonics aren't getting the job defensively, they've been beaten under the basket for a few rebounds and some easy Warrior points, and they just allowed a 52-point half. Luckily Ray Allen is on fire and the team shot the crap out of the ball. Shooting 58% at halftime is always a good thing, but giving up 51% is not. Ray Allen has 22 (8-for-11) at half and Rashard Lewis has 11, with other Sonics scoring in scattered fashion. Nick Collison's favorite foul tonight is the illegal screen, basically a shout-out to Fortson, if you ask me. Collison has six rebounds to lead all players. As quickly as the Sonics have been able to build a lead at times, they've been able to see it dwindle via bad defense or some inopportune turnovers.
3rd qtr
8:31 James falls away low GS 65-64, snaps 11-0 GS run. 6:35 Allen midrange, first basket of quarter GS 69-66. 6:16 Daniels inopportune four-point play (miss) for fisher GS 72-66. 5:56 Daniels drives, fouled, hits two GS 72-68. 4:35 Warriors outhustling the Sonics, timeout GS 76-68. 3:21 Lewis jumphook low GS 78-72. 2:38 Lewis layup GS 81-74. 2:05 Daniels drives to rack, fouled, hits one GS 84-75. 0:53.8 Collison behind defense, lays in, GS 86-77. 0:35.4 Richardson fouled for a four-point play (miss), GS 89-77.
After three quarters -- Golden State 89, Seattle 79
I don't think I can stress how much that quarter disgusted me, and I don't care how many threes Golden State nailed (7-for-9). Obviously, they have to find some other scoring option than Ray Allen, and he had one basket in the quarter. The defense is consistently a step slow, and they're getting beaten by an extra pass down low on many occasions.
Ugh. Just ugh. At least this game isn't nationally televised or anything. Oh wait...
4th qtr
10:58 Collison rebound, basket and foul underneath, misses GS 90-81, Murray rebound, Allen hits GS 90-83. 9:53 Murray baseline layup beats shot clock GS 90-85. 8:42 Daniels midrange GS 92-87. 7:04 Murray crazy freakin' reverse layup and foul, hits GS 95-92. 6:36 Murray drives, misses, Collison tips in GS 97-94, answered by wide-open Fisher three. 4:59 Daniels steals, Murray lays in on break GS 102-96. 4:20 Collison follows up Murray miss GS 102-98. 3:26 Daniels on break, drives to rack, hard foul, hits both GS 104-100. 1:48 Murray layup in lane and foul, hits GS 106-103. 1:31 Sonics beaten by the baseline pass low, end of game. 0:44.6 Daniels three GS 110-106.
Final -- Golden State 117, SuperSonics 110
Okay, I've said this way too many times this season...
Dude, where's the defense?
I was ticked off after the loss to Dallas, and some people were just chalking up the squandering of an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter to having three games in four days against stiff competition. The Warriors are the team that lost at home to Dallas last night. The Sonics hadn't played since Sunday.
It wasn't lack of rest that did the Sonics in tonight. It's being freakin' lazy on defense. I don't think it's too much to ask your players to put a hand in the face of his shooter a little more often. The Sonics haven't regained the form of what got them to this point. Furthermore, they haven't regained the form of what got them through to the end of December. They didn't play defense in January, and they've played a little better defense and have taken care of the ball better in February. At least they did until these last two games before the break. Though secondary, they've lost a little glitz from the free-throw line lately too, which I think is somewhat due to Danny Fortson getting less minutes (before the suspension).
It's too bad that a great night down the stretch for Ron Murray and a double-double night out of Nick Collison had to be wasted tonight. It's also too bad that Reggie Evans was a complete nonfactor as well. The streak of double-digit rebound games for Evans officially ended tonight.
Seriously, though. If I was expecting bench scoring tonight, I was expecting it from Daniels and Radmanovic, and not Collison and Murray. Speaking of which, where the hell has Vladimir Radmanovic been the last few games?
On an odd note, Jerome James had another productive night on the offensive end, cracking double digits. Someone check his gym bags!
Seriously, though. The last loss sucked, but this one sucks worse. Just disgusting.
PEEK AT THE BOXSCORE
starters
Ray Allen 26 pts/5 reb/7 ast (10-18 FG, 1-4 3pt, 5-7 free throws), Rashard Lewis 17 pts/6 reb (6-13 FG, 1-4 3pt, 4-6 free throws), Reggie Evans 4 pts/4 reb/2 ast (0-1 FG, 4-4 free throws, 13 min), Luke Ridnour 2 pts/2 reb/3 ast/2 stl (1-4 FG, 0-1 3pt, 24 min)
bench
Antonio Daniels 19 pts/4 reb/4 ast/2 stl (4-9 FG, 2-4 3pt, 9-10 free throws, 33 min), Nick Collison 16 pts/12 reb/2 stl/3 blk (7-9 FG, 2-5 free throws, 31 min), Ron Murray 14 pts/4 reb (5-14 FG, 4-4 free throws), Vladimir Radmanovic 2 pts (1-4 FG)
Jerome James Watch
10 pts/3 reb/1 blk (5-7 FG, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 14 min)
team
shot 39-for-79 (49.4%) from the field, shot 4-for-16 (25%) from downtown, shot 28-for-36 (77.8%) from the line (Warriors shot only 14-for-22 from the line), outrebounded Golden State 41-40, bench outscored Warrior bench 51-30 (outrebounded them 21-17), led by 12 at one point in the game, were beat 18-9 on the fast break
I'd remarked about Evans and Radmanovic being nonexistent tonight, but I forgot all about Luke Ridnour. Through the boxscore alone, nothing really shines through as to why Ridnour and James were nonfactors, just that they didn't play a lot of minutes. Of course, it's weird to see Evans not stay in the game and collect rebounds like he has lately, but it's possible to think that maybe McMillan thought Collison was matching up a lot better, and likewise with Daniels and even Murray over Ridnour. Ridnour only shot 1-for-4, but maybe it wasn't the percentage that kept him off the floor, but rather that he wasn't taking or creating more shots.
As for the Warriors, big credit to them for holding Ray Allen to 4 second-half points. Great job to them. They held Ray Allen effectively out of the second half, started raining down threes, and the Sonics couldn't pick up enough of the slack.
I would have liked to have seen Radmanovic stick a couple of threes off the bench, but he's been a tiny bit cold lately. His last real Vlad-type game was either the game five days ago at Phoenix (13 points, 3-for-5 from downtown), which is kind of a stretch, or the game against New Orleans on the 8th (18 points, 4-for-6 from long). The games inbetween those, though, were putrid. I'm referring to the 3-for-10 game against Dallas (10 points) and the 1-for-8 game against Sacramento (9 points, mostly off free-throws).
[***Add 2:19a -- I'll back off a bit on Vladimir. He had a sore wrist coming into the game.]
Still, as we sit here at the All-Star break, I just hope the Sonics regain their defensive tenacity and their edge down low in the second half. More importantly, I hope Danny Fortson once again becomes a big part of what happens down low, because he really hasn't been that for the last month or so. Seriously. I know Nick Collison is taking some of Fortson's minutes, and I like how he's developing, but I need to see the Sonics pounding the ball down low to Danny Fortson late in the fourth quarter when they need points, and having him put up a shot and get hacked. I might be really hung up on this strategy, but I fail to see how it wouldn't work, aside from Fortson getting ejected or picking up six fouls in 30 seconds.
All in all, I just hope the guys come back more hungry after the break. They've had a good first 50 games, but the work is far from done.
Now play some defense again! It's what got you doing so well in the first place!
I asked Jinkies what he'll do to try to get the Sonics to play defense again. His reply: "This is good question. I don't mind the dogs, actually. I feel very sorry for them. God is cruel to make a creature so stupid and slow."
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IT'S ONLY JUST BEGUN!
In happier news, Mariners pitchers and catchers have reported to Peoria. Let's just pray for everybody to stay healthy in Peoria. Lord knows we need to read more stories about torn labrums.
Oh, and we're still around. Of course, we never left either. PLAY BALL!
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I DON'T CARE IF YOU DON'T CARE
No, that's not a dig at the folks who read our work and wonder why anybody, especially us, would give a damn about hockey. Let's just say that the post title, which is a line from Green Day's 9-plus minute epic "Jesus Of Suburbia", sums up my thoughts about the NHL Lockout as well as any line I could come up with. Score one for the boys from the Bay Area. Sadly, I'm not talking about the San Jose Sharks here.
That's right, in case you've been swarmed by endless "Step By Step" reruns or working hard and making your hard-earned money, the NHL has officially cancelled the 2004-2005 season. Of course, I've been expecting this for over 3 months now. But it doesn't make this day seem any less painful than it is. Painful, because I'm a hockey fan. An NHL hockey fan, to be exact. I've tried to watch the token college hockey games on Fox College Sports, to no avail. If I don't like Michigan or Wisconsin in football, then why would I want to watch those schools play hockey?
While David has a hockey team to support (the Puget Sound Tomahawks), I don't. The minor league hockey team from these parts folded about 2 years ago. The closest minor league team to my house is the Memphis Riverkings of the Central Hockey League, but they play in Southaven, Mississippi. So, with the NHL not playing any games for the past 5 months, I've pretty much been left with nothing as far as the coolest game on earth goes.
What does this hockey lockout mean? This day was eventually coming. It would have been a joke to have had a 25-game regular season if it had come to that. Most sports fans in the United States already don't care about the NHL, so what would have the NHL's image looked like had they played just a 25-game regular season? The integrity of the game would have been at stake. Although, in reality, the integrity of the game is already at stake, with the cancellation of an entire season.
There's not really much more for me to add here, because there really isn't a positive to be found about the NHL not playing at all. I can only hope that when the game comes back, that the league has a better marketing plan in place. In cities such as Raleigh, North Carolina, the NHL is an afterthought. That's pretty sad to consider, because just 3 years ago, the Hurricanes were in the Stanley Cup Finals. But with ACC basketball and NASCAR in the region, who knows what will happen to teams like the Hurricanes in the months to come.
The National Hockey League is officially done until September at least. Unfortunately, there aren't too many people in this country who care about the game right now.
At this point, I'm on the brink of not caring myself. Thanks, Gary.
That's right, in case you've been swarmed by endless "Step By Step" reruns or working hard and making your hard-earned money, the NHL has officially cancelled the 2004-2005 season. Of course, I've been expecting this for over 3 months now. But it doesn't make this day seem any less painful than it is. Painful, because I'm a hockey fan. An NHL hockey fan, to be exact. I've tried to watch the token college hockey games on Fox College Sports, to no avail. If I don't like Michigan or Wisconsin in football, then why would I want to watch those schools play hockey?
While David has a hockey team to support (the Puget Sound Tomahawks), I don't. The minor league hockey team from these parts folded about 2 years ago. The closest minor league team to my house is the Memphis Riverkings of the Central Hockey League, but they play in Southaven, Mississippi. So, with the NHL not playing any games for the past 5 months, I've pretty much been left with nothing as far as the coolest game on earth goes.
What does this hockey lockout mean? This day was eventually coming. It would have been a joke to have had a 25-game regular season if it had come to that. Most sports fans in the United States already don't care about the NHL, so what would have the NHL's image looked like had they played just a 25-game regular season? The integrity of the game would have been at stake. Although, in reality, the integrity of the game is already at stake, with the cancellation of an entire season.
There's not really much more for me to add here, because there really isn't a positive to be found about the NHL not playing at all. I can only hope that when the game comes back, that the league has a better marketing plan in place. In cities such as Raleigh, North Carolina, the NHL is an afterthought. That's pretty sad to consider, because just 3 years ago, the Hurricanes were in the Stanley Cup Finals. But with ACC basketball and NASCAR in the region, who knows what will happen to teams like the Hurricanes in the months to come.
The National Hockey League is officially done until September at least. Unfortunately, there aren't too many people in this country who care about the game right now.
At this point, I'm on the brink of not caring myself. Thanks, Gary.
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GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS
...you know I've had my share.
-- Good news: Walter Jones has agreed to a seven-year deal with the Seahawks, with a signing bonus of at least $15M. In related news, I'm not sure how I'll ever know when training camp starts, since the annual event will happen no more.
-- Bad news: the NHL season is officially done. If you would have asked me about this anywhere within the last few days, I would have thought they would have pulled it off and had a season. Not so. I thought it was just a matter of numbers at this point, but it appears they couldn't even work that out. Gary Bettman is saying in the press conference right now that they really weren't as close as reported, but I'll hash through that later. Of course, I'm guessing both sides will be even more firmly entrenched for a few months because the NHL pulled their offer off the table and now they're not coming without a link between player salaries and league revenues.
If you end up listening to any of the stuff that Gary Bettman is saying today, I now relay Ron McLean's words from last week's column...
...he's a vicious negotiator. He's attempted to shape my interviews, trying to force me off topics, demanding limits on the numbers of questions per subject, etc. He is a master of rhetoric.
***Add ~4:50p -- Here's what popped up in my inbox a few hours ago, and I'll supplement it with a picture...
All in all, two things I can't believe today. Big fun.
-- Good news: Walter Jones has agreed to a seven-year deal with the Seahawks, with a signing bonus of at least $15M. In related news, I'm not sure how I'll ever know when training camp starts, since the annual event will happen no more.
-- Bad news: the NHL season is officially done. If you would have asked me about this anywhere within the last few days, I would have thought they would have pulled it off and had a season. Not so. I thought it was just a matter of numbers at this point, but it appears they couldn't even work that out. Gary Bettman is saying in the press conference right now that they really weren't as close as reported, but I'll hash through that later. Of course, I'm guessing both sides will be even more firmly entrenched for a few months because the NHL pulled their offer off the table and now they're not coming without a link between player salaries and league revenues.
If you end up listening to any of the stuff that Gary Bettman is saying today, I now relay Ron McLean's words from last week's column...
...he's a vicious negotiator. He's attempted to shape my interviews, trying to force me off topics, demanding limits on the numbers of questions per subject, etc. He is a master of rhetoric.
***Add ~4:50p -- Here's what popped up in my inbox a few hours ago, and I'll supplement it with a picture...
- Dear Canucks Fans,
It is with deep disappointment that I am writing to you today following the cancellation of the remaining games scheduled for the 2004-05 NHL season. It is a day we hoped would never come.
Despite our frustration with the current situation, a new CBA is essential. A system that ultimately reduces the huge disparities in team salaries, and contributes to a more competitive balance within the league will be of great benefit for our fans and for the long-term success of our team in Vancouver.
In the meantime, we'll continue to use the time available as an opportunity to focus the efforts and talent of our staff and coaches on fostering the values of grassroots hockey in British Columbia. We will also continue with our on-going Canucks for Kids Fund programs supporting Canuck Place, the Canucks Family Education Centre, and other initiatives helping children.
Having been a Canucks fan all my life, I understand that this is a very difficult time for all of us who love the game. On behalf of the entire Canucks organization, I want to say how much we appreciate your support and passion for your team. Although it seems difficult at this time, we will remain positive because eventually this will be resolved, and we'll be back on the ice at General Motors Place. We look forward to that moment, and to rewarding your patience and loyalty.
Sincerely,
VANCOUVER CANUCKS
Dave Nonis
Senior Vice President and General Manager
All in all, two things I can't believe today. Big fun.
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PITCHERS AND CATCHERS REPORT!
SCATTERPAINED
Welcome to Wednesday. May the middle of your week bring you much middleness. Maybe "middleness" can be a hipper version of the word "mediocrity." Though I just came up with that, I guess I'm not wishing a mediocre Wednesday on everybody. That'd be bad. Rude, even. Just have some fun and eat some Chex Mix (if you don't have high blood pressure).
Random note...water never tasted better than it did after wrestling practice in high school. The fountain in the locker room back at the high school could have been pouring out lead and arsenic, for all I knew, but after a few hours of losing a good amount of fluid, it was quite a relief to go to the fountain and spend about 20 seconds there, mouth agape, as water was gulped like mad. Fast-forward about seven years, and here at the house we're having water via the store-bought plastic jug. It tastes horrible. Maybe it's because I definitely haven't been working out to wrestling practice-type standards, which possibly leads to a lowering in taste standards for water. Still, I can imagine myself drinking the recommended amount of water every day if it tasted like it did in high school, but not stuff out of the plastic jug. My goodness, it's brutal.
Okay, here's the post.
MARINERS
It's finally here! Pitchers and catchers report today!! Yippee!!
Now let's come back down to earth by realizing that Travis Blackley is done for the year, and that a big part of the bullpen's fate rests on (or in) the shoulder of Eddie Guardado.
I have to say at this point that I don't know what the proportions are for other teams' arms having this many large-scale injuries, but putting that admittedly big caveat aside, I'm all but convinced at this point that there has to be some adverse activities in this team's minor league conditioning methods or something. I'm only drawing on a past experience at baseball camp, but here goes. When I was at baseball camp in Canada (1998), they were having us do these rotator cuff exercises where we would be standing and lifting our arms from vertical (downward) until they were horizontal and even with our collarbones (don't do this with weights over five pounds). Thumbs would be pointing inward at the start and downward at the highest part of the exercise. They made it a point to warn us not to raise our arms any higher than level with our collarbones, noting that apparently the Astros organization had some trouble with injuries popping up resulting from such movements in the same exercise.
I'm not saying that this is the exact thing that's busting arms in the Mariners' system, I'm just thinking it could be something like this -- something that is a repetitive exercise or stretch.
Of course, this is as good a time as any to link Steve's work on all the bad stuff that's happened with the Mariners' arms.
You know, if I was of the gambling sort, I'd get together some sort of over-under game that involves Ron Villone's wildness, probably with a percentage of strikes. Of course, if we had money here at Sports and B's, we'd have really neat and cool giveaways based on something like this, but that could be years from now. What would a moment of celebration be like? "All right! 45 balls and 35 strikes in two-thirds of an inning!! I win!!"
SEAHAWKS
"I don't want to be the pr-r-r-r-resident of the Seahawks!"
Okay, so that's not exactly what Freddie Mercury said. I'm not sure how to convey the rolling of the letter "r" with a keyboard.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
The Tar Heels are back home tonight for Virginia (4p, ESPN) and Saturday for Clemson (10a, ABC).
Huskies
The Huskies go to Washington State on Saturday (4p, FSNNW) and host Arizona State the following Thursday (7:30p, FSNNW).
Bulldogs
The Zags host San Diego tomorrow (6p, KONG 6/16 Seattle, Q6 NBC Spokane) and San Francisco on Saturday (3p, ABC)
Sonics
I'm a day late posting this, but Kevin Pelton has the final installment in the four-part series "The Sonics Play Moneyball." Emphasis in this one is on plus-minus statistics, Nate McMillan as George Karl's plus-minus dynamo, the advent of 82games.com, how some plus-minus numbers might be deceiving, and plus-minus numbers in conjunction with groups of players on the court at a given time. Great stuff, Kevin. I enjoyed the series very much.
The Sonics' betterness this month can be at least partially attributed to more care of the ball and more crashing of the defensive glass. Still, they want to go into the All-Star break feeling good, as opposed to feeling bad. That'd happen if they lost tonight to the Warriors, who deserve a much bigger pasting than the close game in Oakland where the Sonics eked by for the win.
Also, Damien Wilkins' father, Gerald, will be one of the six trying out for ESPN's Dream Job. At this point, I don't even think former NBA players can get me to watch that show. That's even with Darryl Dawkins involved.
Upcoming...
Tonight vs. Golden State (6p, FSNNW)
HOCKEY
About this NHL thing, it's gotten pretty crazy in the last couple days. If all it took was for Gary Bettman to set a drop-dead date to really stoke the fire here, I wish it was set about a month earlier. The whole season could still be wiped away by the time many of you read this, but basically the owners backed down on the linking of player salaries and revenues, and the players backed down on the salary cap. It seems to me that all that has to be worked out are the numbers. If they do a season, it'll be a hell of a sprint, but I'm still going to love the playoffs. Of course, we can only speculate as to how many of the players in Europe will come back if the NHL kicks back into session. Most probably will, but there are also a lot of NHLers in Europe that are from there and live there. Most specifically, I'm thinking about Markus Naslund here, who for all we know may have already played his last game in Vancouver.
Everett's power play is key to their success. They score 43% of their goals on the man-advantage, leading the WHL. Of course, they're dead last in the league in even-strength goals, which makes the power play thing even more important.
Portland beat Red Deer 7-2. I was expecting Red Deer to come through the I-5 corridor and level every team they faced. This definitely wasn't the case last night. Red Deer was without coach Brent Sutter (yes, that name), who was at his dad's funeral. In the game, Calgary draftee Dion Phaneuf scored only 58 seconds in, but that was the Rebels' only lead of the night. Dan DaSilva, Brian Woolger (power play), and Cody McLeod (shorthanded with 11 seconds left) scored by the end of the period, and there was no looking back for the Winter Hawks on their way to victory. Woolger added another goal late in the second period. Garrett Festerling, McLeod again, and Martin Bucek rounded out the scoring in the third period. Portland has now won nine of ten, and goalie Blake Grenier has won seven straight starts. Portland outshot Red Deer 28-26, and Grenier stopped 24.
Upcoming...
Tonight: Seattle at Kelowna, Red Deer at Vancouver
Friday: Red Deer at Seattle, Prince George at Everett, Spokane at Portland, Kamloops at Vancouver, Edmonton at Manitoba
Saturday: Seattle at Portland, Red Deer at Everett, Vancouver at Kamloops, Edmonton at Manitoba
Sunday: Prince George at Seattle
Tuesday: Everett at Kamloops, Kelowna at Portland
---
Have a great Wednesday, everybody. Does Kirkland Signature orange juice (from concentrate) always taste like Tang, or is that only if you mix it wrong with the water?
Random note...water never tasted better than it did after wrestling practice in high school. The fountain in the locker room back at the high school could have been pouring out lead and arsenic, for all I knew, but after a few hours of losing a good amount of fluid, it was quite a relief to go to the fountain and spend about 20 seconds there, mouth agape, as water was gulped like mad. Fast-forward about seven years, and here at the house we're having water via the store-bought plastic jug. It tastes horrible. Maybe it's because I definitely haven't been working out to wrestling practice-type standards, which possibly leads to a lowering in taste standards for water. Still, I can imagine myself drinking the recommended amount of water every day if it tasted like it did in high school, but not stuff out of the plastic jug. My goodness, it's brutal.
Okay, here's the post.
MARINERS
It's finally here! Pitchers and catchers report today!! Yippee!!
Now let's come back down to earth by realizing that Travis Blackley is done for the year, and that a big part of the bullpen's fate rests on (or in) the shoulder of Eddie Guardado.
I have to say at this point that I don't know what the proportions are for other teams' arms having this many large-scale injuries, but putting that admittedly big caveat aside, I'm all but convinced at this point that there has to be some adverse activities in this team's minor league conditioning methods or something. I'm only drawing on a past experience at baseball camp, but here goes. When I was at baseball camp in Canada (1998), they were having us do these rotator cuff exercises where we would be standing and lifting our arms from vertical (downward) until they were horizontal and even with our collarbones (don't do this with weights over five pounds). Thumbs would be pointing inward at the start and downward at the highest part of the exercise. They made it a point to warn us not to raise our arms any higher than level with our collarbones, noting that apparently the Astros organization had some trouble with injuries popping up resulting from such movements in the same exercise.
I'm not saying that this is the exact thing that's busting arms in the Mariners' system, I'm just thinking it could be something like this -- something that is a repetitive exercise or stretch.
Of course, this is as good a time as any to link Steve's work on all the bad stuff that's happened with the Mariners' arms.
You know, if I was of the gambling sort, I'd get together some sort of over-under game that involves Ron Villone's wildness, probably with a percentage of strikes. Of course, if we had money here at Sports and B's, we'd have really neat and cool giveaways based on something like this, but that could be years from now. What would a moment of celebration be like? "All right! 45 balls and 35 strikes in two-thirds of an inning!! I win!!"
SEAHAWKS
"I don't want to be the pr-r-r-r-resident of the Seahawks!"
Okay, so that's not exactly what Freddie Mercury said. I'm not sure how to convey the rolling of the letter "r" with a keyboard.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
The Tar Heels are back home tonight for Virginia (4p, ESPN) and Saturday for Clemson (10a, ABC).
Huskies
The Huskies go to Washington State on Saturday (4p, FSNNW) and host Arizona State the following Thursday (7:30p, FSNNW).
Bulldogs
The Zags host San Diego tomorrow (6p, KONG 6/16 Seattle, Q6 NBC Spokane) and San Francisco on Saturday (3p, ABC)
Sonics
I'm a day late posting this, but Kevin Pelton has the final installment in the four-part series "The Sonics Play Moneyball." Emphasis in this one is on plus-minus statistics, Nate McMillan as George Karl's plus-minus dynamo, the advent of 82games.com, how some plus-minus numbers might be deceiving, and plus-minus numbers in conjunction with groups of players on the court at a given time. Great stuff, Kevin. I enjoyed the series very much.
The Sonics' betterness this month can be at least partially attributed to more care of the ball and more crashing of the defensive glass. Still, they want to go into the All-Star break feeling good, as opposed to feeling bad. That'd happen if they lost tonight to the Warriors, who deserve a much bigger pasting than the close game in Oakland where the Sonics eked by for the win.
Also, Damien Wilkins' father, Gerald, will be one of the six trying out for ESPN's Dream Job. At this point, I don't even think former NBA players can get me to watch that show. That's even with Darryl Dawkins involved.
Upcoming...
Tonight vs. Golden State (6p, FSNNW)
HOCKEY
About this NHL thing, it's gotten pretty crazy in the last couple days. If all it took was for Gary Bettman to set a drop-dead date to really stoke the fire here, I wish it was set about a month earlier. The whole season could still be wiped away by the time many of you read this, but basically the owners backed down on the linking of player salaries and revenues, and the players backed down on the salary cap. It seems to me that all that has to be worked out are the numbers. If they do a season, it'll be a hell of a sprint, but I'm still going to love the playoffs. Of course, we can only speculate as to how many of the players in Europe will come back if the NHL kicks back into session. Most probably will, but there are also a lot of NHLers in Europe that are from there and live there. Most specifically, I'm thinking about Markus Naslund here, who for all we know may have already played his last game in Vancouver.
Everett's power play is key to their success. They score 43% of their goals on the man-advantage, leading the WHL. Of course, they're dead last in the league in even-strength goals, which makes the power play thing even more important.
Portland beat Red Deer 7-2. I was expecting Red Deer to come through the I-5 corridor and level every team they faced. This definitely wasn't the case last night. Red Deer was without coach Brent Sutter (yes, that name), who was at his dad's funeral. In the game, Calgary draftee Dion Phaneuf scored only 58 seconds in, but that was the Rebels' only lead of the night. Dan DaSilva, Brian Woolger (power play), and Cody McLeod (shorthanded with 11 seconds left) scored by the end of the period, and there was no looking back for the Winter Hawks on their way to victory. Woolger added another goal late in the second period. Garrett Festerling, McLeod again, and Martin Bucek rounded out the scoring in the third period. Portland has now won nine of ten, and goalie Blake Grenier has won seven straight starts. Portland outshot Red Deer 28-26, and Grenier stopped 24.
Upcoming...
Tonight: Seattle at Kelowna, Red Deer at Vancouver
Friday: Red Deer at Seattle, Prince George at Everett, Spokane at Portland, Kamloops at Vancouver, Edmonton at Manitoba
Saturday: Seattle at Portland, Red Deer at Everett, Vancouver at Kamloops, Edmonton at Manitoba
Sunday: Prince George at Seattle
Tuesday: Everett at Kamloops, Kelowna at Portland
---
Have a great Wednesday, everybody. Does Kirkland Signature orange juice (from concentrate) always taste like Tang, or is that only if you mix it wrong with the water?
/ Click for main page
FEED CLAIM
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
2005 SI SWIMSUIT ISSUE OUT NOW
You can take a look at the online version of the 2005 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue at SI.com. (I'll label this NSFW, so there's no issues to be had. Just looking out for the people who work, you know.)
Yes, there is a Seattle connection to this year's swimsuit issue, with Seattle Storm star Lauren Jackson posing for this year's issue. She has clothes on this time, though. (Here's your "Lauren Jackson nude photos" Google search, for sh*ts and giggles.) To continue with the female athletes theme, Jennie Finch and Amanda Beard also posed for the 2005 issue.
Unfortunately, Arkansas' own Krisi Ballentine didn't win the SI Swimsuit Model Search. Alicia Hall was the winner of the NBC contest, so here are her pics. BTW, Krisi is a graduate of the University of Arkansas-Monticello. Go Cotton Blossoms!
OK, enough words. More visuals. Click on the links, if you want to. You know you want to.
Oh, and is that a Doug Christie jersey Marisa Miller is "wearing"?
Yes, there is a Seattle connection to this year's swimsuit issue, with Seattle Storm star Lauren Jackson posing for this year's issue. She has clothes on this time, though. (Here's your "Lauren Jackson nude photos" Google search, for sh*ts and giggles.) To continue with the female athletes theme, Jennie Finch and Amanda Beard also posed for the 2005 issue.
Unfortunately, Arkansas' own Krisi Ballentine didn't win the SI Swimsuit Model Search. Alicia Hall was the winner of the NBC contest, so here are her pics. BTW, Krisi is a graduate of the University of Arkansas-Monticello. Go Cotton Blossoms!
OK, enough words. More visuals. Click on the links, if you want to. You know you want to.
Oh, and is that a Doug Christie jersey Marisa Miller is "wearing"?
/ Click for main page
BOOHYZEL
Welcome to Tuesday. You know what makes these posts I've been doing lately a little easier? If your guess was that I don't give a flying [expletive] about the Rick Neuheisel trial, give yourself a free prize! Seriously, it's bad enough it has to take up sports headlines, but I'm tired of seeing whole segments on the local evening newscasts wasted on Slick Rick. I'm tired of it all, and I could care less who wins in the trial.
Random note...I have a couple of fleece jackets and/or pullovers and find them to provide just the right amount of warmth and comfort, and I guess versatility when it comes to clothing choices. That said, it freakin' sucks if you like fleece and manage to visit the house of someone that has a pet. Man, it sucks. Sure, cat or dog hair will get stuck to any kind of clothing upon entry into a pet-friendly environment, but when you sit back with a fleece jacket, you may not realize you're doing anything bad at that moment, but when you get home three hours later and hang up that jacket, you bear witness to the colony of shedded hair on the back of your coat, and you just hate yourself. If you're smart at this point, you remove the lint off with masking tape or something. If you're lazy, then you just pray for the pet hair to go away, but that does take a while.
Holy hell, that was random.
Now to the rest of the post...
MARINERS
I figured if there was one guy that was going to bring up the fact that Richie Sexson was in a hurry to see the Blazers when he was pulled over, it was going to be Jim Moore. He can't help the Blazer thing; he grew up way closer to Portland than Seattle. One could only not be surprised at the Blazer inclination. As for other parts of the article, Moore does ask a legal analyst about the possibility of Sexson actually being prosecuted for DUI, which apparently is quite low since Sexson didn't blow above the legal limit on the Breathlyzer.
Here's yet another photo from spring training last year, the 22nd of February, to be exact.
Seriously, I still can't believe Mike Myers went from being a Mariner last year to winning a World Series ring in the same year, and managing to do that with the Red Sox. It's like entering a perfect storm, only everything's good. It was for Myers, anyway.
SEAHAWKS
Okay, everyone who had high hopes over the possibility of Scott Pioli being hired as president of the Seahawks can come back down now. It's not happening. He plans to stay in the Patriots' brass through the 2006 draft.
Oh well.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
The Tar Heels are back home tomorrow for Virginia (4p, ESPN) and Saturday for Clemson (10a, ABC).
Huskies
The Huskies go to Washington State on Saturday (4p, FSNNW) and host Arizona State the following Thursday (7:30p, FSNNW)
Bulldogs
The Zags host San Diego on Thursday (6p, KONG 6/16 Seattle, Q6 NBC Spokane) and San Francisco on Saturday (3p, ABC)
Sonics
Danny Fortson's done serving the two-game suspension. When did he know he'd done something wrong? That was when Luke Ridnour looked at him like he was nuts. Fortson also wants to find out who would have been in the path of the flying chair. They could be in for some game-worn stuff. In a weird and sick way, though, it'd be hilarious if he gave the closest person the chair that flew, signed.
Upcoming...
Wednesday vs. Golden State (6p, FSNNW)
HOCKEY
Okay, so there's really no good reason for me to post this photo of Jay Bouwmeester. Of course, you won't be seeing him or many other players this year wearing an NHL uniform. Bouwmeester, who was on Canada's World Cup-winning team last September, would be playing with the Florida Panthers. Instead, he's relegated to playing for their AHL franchise, the San Antonio Rampage. Why the Rampage's uniforms look more like those of the Tampa Bay Lightning instead of the Florida Panthers, I have no idea. By the same token, the Lightning's AHL affiliate does have some of the Lightning's color scheme, but also has uniforms with falcon feet on the sleeves. See it to believe it.
Oh yeah, the PlanetUSA team beat the Canadian team 5-4 in a shootout at the AHL All-Star Classic last night. Just a wild guess, but I think the PlanetUSA team was probably composed of Americans and Euros, while the Canadian team was comprised of, well, Canadians.
Upcoming...
Tonight: Red Deer at Portland
Tomorrow: Seattle at Kelowna, Red Deer at Vancouver
Friday: Red Deer at Seattle, Prince George at Everett, Spokane at Portland, Kamloops at Vancouver, Edmonton at Manitoba
Saturday: Seattle at Portland, Red Deer at Everett, Vancouver at Kamloops, Edmonton at Manitoba
---
Have a great Tuesday, everybody.
Random note...I have a couple of fleece jackets and/or pullovers and find them to provide just the right amount of warmth and comfort, and I guess versatility when it comes to clothing choices. That said, it freakin' sucks if you like fleece and manage to visit the house of someone that has a pet. Man, it sucks. Sure, cat or dog hair will get stuck to any kind of clothing upon entry into a pet-friendly environment, but when you sit back with a fleece jacket, you may not realize you're doing anything bad at that moment, but when you get home three hours later and hang up that jacket, you bear witness to the colony of shedded hair on the back of your coat, and you just hate yourself. If you're smart at this point, you remove the lint off with masking tape or something. If you're lazy, then you just pray for the pet hair to go away, but that does take a while.
Holy hell, that was random.
Now to the rest of the post...
MARINERS
I figured if there was one guy that was going to bring up the fact that Richie Sexson was in a hurry to see the Blazers when he was pulled over, it was going to be Jim Moore. He can't help the Blazer thing; he grew up way closer to Portland than Seattle. One could only not be surprised at the Blazer inclination. As for other parts of the article, Moore does ask a legal analyst about the possibility of Sexson actually being prosecuted for DUI, which apparently is quite low since Sexson didn't blow above the legal limit on the Breathlyzer.
Here's yet another photo from spring training last year, the 22nd of February, to be exact.
Seriously, I still can't believe Mike Myers went from being a Mariner last year to winning a World Series ring in the same year, and managing to do that with the Red Sox. It's like entering a perfect storm, only everything's good. It was for Myers, anyway.
SEAHAWKS
Okay, everyone who had high hopes over the possibility of Scott Pioli being hired as president of the Seahawks can come back down now. It's not happening. He plans to stay in the Patriots' brass through the 2006 draft.
Oh well.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
The Tar Heels are back home tomorrow for Virginia (4p, ESPN) and Saturday for Clemson (10a, ABC).
Huskies
The Huskies go to Washington State on Saturday (4p, FSNNW) and host Arizona State the following Thursday (7:30p, FSNNW)
Bulldogs
The Zags host San Diego on Thursday (6p, KONG 6/16 Seattle, Q6 NBC Spokane) and San Francisco on Saturday (3p, ABC)
Sonics
Danny Fortson's done serving the two-game suspension. When did he know he'd done something wrong? That was when Luke Ridnour looked at him like he was nuts. Fortson also wants to find out who would have been in the path of the flying chair. They could be in for some game-worn stuff. In a weird and sick way, though, it'd be hilarious if he gave the closest person the chair that flew, signed.
Upcoming...
Wednesday vs. Golden State (6p, FSNNW)
HOCKEY
Okay, so there's really no good reason for me to post this photo of Jay Bouwmeester. Of course, you won't be seeing him or many other players this year wearing an NHL uniform. Bouwmeester, who was on Canada's World Cup-winning team last September, would be playing with the Florida Panthers. Instead, he's relegated to playing for their AHL franchise, the San Antonio Rampage. Why the Rampage's uniforms look more like those of the Tampa Bay Lightning instead of the Florida Panthers, I have no idea. By the same token, the Lightning's AHL affiliate does have some of the Lightning's color scheme, but also has uniforms with falcon feet on the sleeves. See it to believe it.
Oh yeah, the PlanetUSA team beat the Canadian team 5-4 in a shootout at the AHL All-Star Classic last night. Just a wild guess, but I think the PlanetUSA team was probably composed of Americans and Euros, while the Canadian team was comprised of, well, Canadians.
Upcoming...
Tonight: Red Deer at Portland
Tomorrow: Seattle at Kelowna, Red Deer at Vancouver
Friday: Red Deer at Seattle, Prince George at Everett, Spokane at Portland, Kamloops at Vancouver, Edmonton at Manitoba
Saturday: Seattle at Portland, Red Deer at Everett, Vancouver at Kamloops, Edmonton at Manitoba
---
Have a great Tuesday, everybody.
/ Click for main page
Monday, February 14, 2005
1995 PROMOTIONS, VERSION 1
In honor of the Mariners promoting the 1995 A.L. West Champion Seattle Mariners ballclub, we here at Sports and Bremertonians want to honor the '95 M's as well.
All season long, we'll have different promotions representing the '95 M's. Needless to say, don't expect the fielders to hand these items out to you at the Safeco Field gates this spring and summer.
So, here's our first list of items we have to represent the 1995 Mariners.
---Sweetwater "Superstar" EP, in honor of Rich Amaral, sponsored by Sharp Records
You can't find any albums of the Seattle-based band anywhere. So, in a Sports and Bremertonians exclusive, the first 15 readers will receive a "Superstar" EP, complete with Rich Amaral's baseball card. "Superstar" was Amaral's at-bat music in 1995.
---Joey Cora Towel, in honor of Joey Cora, sponsored by Bed, Bath, and Beyond
We brought you the Kevin Jarvis "towel" in 2004, so it's only fitting that we bring you the Joey Cora Towel, where you can wipe your tears of sadness after seeing Willie Bloomquist going 0-for-4 in place of Richie Sexson on a June afternoon at the Safe. There is also an Alex Rodriguez Towel in the works as well, provided that the current Yankee chokes once again this October.
---Greg Pirkl Spitting Bucket, in honor of Greg Pirkl, sponsored by Kitsap Sports
Yes, we must honor the .235 batting average of Mr. Pirkl, who's best known for being one of the first players to congratulate Randy Johnson after the M's won the West.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
This is just a preview of things to come.
It's only just begun...
All season long, we'll have different promotions representing the '95 M's. Needless to say, don't expect the fielders to hand these items out to you at the Safeco Field gates this spring and summer.
So, here's our first list of items we have to represent the 1995 Mariners.
---Sweetwater "Superstar" EP, in honor of Rich Amaral, sponsored by Sharp Records
You can't find any albums of the Seattle-based band anywhere. So, in a Sports and Bremertonians exclusive, the first 15 readers will receive a "Superstar" EP, complete with Rich Amaral's baseball card. "Superstar" was Amaral's at-bat music in 1995.
---Joey Cora Towel, in honor of Joey Cora, sponsored by Bed, Bath, and Beyond
We brought you the Kevin Jarvis "towel" in 2004, so it's only fitting that we bring you the Joey Cora Towel, where you can wipe your tears of sadness after seeing Willie Bloomquist going 0-for-4 in place of Richie Sexson on a June afternoon at the Safe. There is also an Alex Rodriguez Towel in the works as well, provided that the current Yankee chokes once again this October.
---Greg Pirkl Spitting Bucket, in honor of Greg Pirkl, sponsored by Kitsap Sports
Yes, we must honor the .235 batting average of Mr. Pirkl, who's best known for being one of the first players to congratulate Randy Johnson after the M's won the West.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
This is just a preview of things to come.
It's only just begun...
/ Click for main page
OVER YET?
I'm just waiting for the NHL season to officially be wiped away.
I saw Ron McLean of Hockey Night in Canada being interviewed in a segment last night for CBC News Sunday. Of course, I didn't really have an idea of what he was going to say going in, but I was a bit surprised.
McLean said he thinks there will be a season this year (I think that's a stretch), but he also says that the two sides really aren't that far apart, and that the owners have all of the leverage in this situation, in that they're the ones with the deep pockets. The owners of course are also not paying players during the lockout and in all likelihood will probably have an easier time than the other side financially trying to wait this one out, should they try and bust the union.
Anyway, here's Ron's piece, which is almost a week old, but is pretty much in tune with what he said last night. He has also cited Rod Fort, who has been on our sidebar since I encountered some of his data on the way to making this last year.
I guess I'm just surprised at the perspective that the owners might actually have all of the leverage in all of this. Can it really be that lopsided?
I saw Ron McLean of Hockey Night in Canada being interviewed in a segment last night for CBC News Sunday. Of course, I didn't really have an idea of what he was going to say going in, but I was a bit surprised.
McLean said he thinks there will be a season this year (I think that's a stretch), but he also says that the two sides really aren't that far apart, and that the owners have all of the leverage in this situation, in that they're the ones with the deep pockets. The owners of course are also not paying players during the lockout and in all likelihood will probably have an easier time than the other side financially trying to wait this one out, should they try and bust the union.
Anyway, here's Ron's piece, which is almost a week old, but is pretty much in tune with what he said last night. He has also cited Rod Fort, who has been on our sidebar since I encountered some of his data on the way to making this last year.
I guess I'm just surprised at the perspective that the owners might actually have all of the leverage in all of this. Can it really be that lopsided?
/ Click for main page
TO YOU AND YOURS...
The Minnesota Twins have re-signed 2004 AL Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana to a 4-year deal, details not announced.
Santana was 20-6 with a league-leading 2.61 ERA in 2004 for the Twins. He's 25 years old, so he should be able to stay among the upper echelon of starting pitchers throughout baseball for a while. Twins fans have a good reason to be excited today.
In related news, Santana is likely to start against the Mariners on April 4 in Safeco Field. Hopefully he changes his evil ways, baby, because a Mariner victory on Opening Day would be, well, glorious.
Santana was 20-6 with a league-leading 2.61 ERA in 2004 for the Twins. He's 25 years old, so he should be able to stay among the upper echelon of starting pitchers throughout baseball for a while. Twins fans have a good reason to be excited today.
In related news, Santana is likely to start against the Mariners on April 4 in Safeco Field. Hopefully he changes his evil ways, baby, because a Mariner victory on Opening Day would be, well, glorious.
/ Click for main page
SMURF IT
Welcome to Monday.
It wasn't a good day for your local basketball teams.
Random note...when I get a can of soda for the first time, my first move is usually to tap the top of the can exactly three times with the furthest knuckles of the middle and ring fingers on my left (non-dominant) hand. I'm not sure if it actually does help in not having a pop explosion when opening the thing, but I do it anyway, and it's been a years-long habit. What does prevent soda explosion, though, is the way I open the cans, which is to do it as slowly as possible. Of course, sometimes you get a can that is just so charged there's nothing you can do.
Now, the usual.
MARINERS
Once again, it's a photo stashed away in the vault from last year...except slightly altered for this year.
SEAHAWKS
Still no president. No, I don't care about the "game" that occurred yesterday.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
In North Carolina's 77-70 win in Hartford over the Huskies of Connecticut, Marvin Williams had a line of 8 points, 6 boards (3 offensive), and an assist in 23 minutes of play off the bench. He shots 4-for-9 from the field.
The Tar Heels are back home Wednesday for Virginia (4p, ESPN) and Saturday for Clemson (10a, ABC).
Huskies
Well, no repeat of last year's game in Corvallis, but that'll happen when the other team shoots 60 freakin' percent. Crazy. Almost as crazy as missing 23 of 27 shots from beyond the arc, which the Huskies did. Anyway, the Huskies obviously lost 90-73. That'll be a drop in the polls. They're 4-4 on the road. Yikes. Aaaaand the guys might be letting the officials on the road get to them. Not good.
The Huskies go to Wazzu Saturday (4p, FSNNW) and host Arizona State the following Thursday (7:30p, FSNNW)
Bulldogs
The Zags host San Diego on Thursday (6p, KONG 6/16 Seattle, Q6 NBC Spokane) and San Francisco on Saturday (3p, ABC)
Sonics
For my take on the game last night, scroll down a post or click here if this post is the only one on the page you're reading.
I didn't like this loss one bit. Sure, it was the third game in four days, and they had great wins in the first two. But dammit, you don't just blow an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter, even with how crappy the offense was in the previous three quarters. As for the anatomy of the collapse, they missed their final 10 shots from the floor, and scored only 3 points in the final 5:02, all from the charity stripe, which they haven't shot well from in the last couple games to begin with.
Ugh.
Upcoming...
Wednesday vs. Golden State (6p, FSNNW)
HOCKEY
Well, there's obviously wasn't an NHL All-Star Game this year...but they're warming up for the AHL All-Star Game. It's basically AAA hockey, but it's different from the NHL due to the fact they have the designated goalies' puckhandling box behind the nets and then there's that whole thing with the shootouts, as in they've got 'em.
Everett beat Spokane 4-2. The Silvertips scored all their goals on the power play, and scored three times in the second period to win this one. The 'Tips scored three times in 3:18, with the winner going to Curtis Billsten. Torrie Wheat, Mitch Love, and Ivan Baranka also tallied. Shaun Heshka and Zach Hamill had a pair of assists each. Everett badly outshot Spokane 36-18, and Leland Irving stopped 16.
Upcoming...
Tomorrow: Red Deer at Portland
Wednesday: Seattle at Kelowna, Red Deer at Vancouver
Friday: Red Deer at Seattle, Prince George at Everett, Spokane at Portland, Kamloops at Vancouver, Edmonton at Manitoba
Saturday: Seattle at Portland, Red Deer at Everett, Vancouver at Kamloops, Edmonton at Manitoba
---
Have a great Monday, everyone.
It wasn't a good day for your local basketball teams.
Random note...when I get a can of soda for the first time, my first move is usually to tap the top of the can exactly three times with the furthest knuckles of the middle and ring fingers on my left (non-dominant) hand. I'm not sure if it actually does help in not having a pop explosion when opening the thing, but I do it anyway, and it's been a years-long habit. What does prevent soda explosion, though, is the way I open the cans, which is to do it as slowly as possible. Of course, sometimes you get a can that is just so charged there's nothing you can do.
Now, the usual.
MARINERS
Once again, it's a photo stashed away in the vault from last year...except slightly altered for this year.
SEAHAWKS
Still no president. No, I don't care about the "game" that occurred yesterday.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
In North Carolina's 77-70 win in Hartford over the Huskies of Connecticut, Marvin Williams had a line of 8 points, 6 boards (3 offensive), and an assist in 23 minutes of play off the bench. He shots 4-for-9 from the field.
The Tar Heels are back home Wednesday for Virginia (4p, ESPN) and Saturday for Clemson (10a, ABC).
Huskies
Well, no repeat of last year's game in Corvallis, but that'll happen when the other team shoots 60 freakin' percent. Crazy. Almost as crazy as missing 23 of 27 shots from beyond the arc, which the Huskies did. Anyway, the Huskies obviously lost 90-73. That'll be a drop in the polls. They're 4-4 on the road. Yikes. Aaaaand the guys might be letting the officials on the road get to them. Not good.
The Huskies go to Wazzu Saturday (4p, FSNNW) and host Arizona State the following Thursday (7:30p, FSNNW)
Bulldogs
The Zags host San Diego on Thursday (6p, KONG 6/16 Seattle, Q6 NBC Spokane) and San Francisco on Saturday (3p, ABC)
Sonics
For my take on the game last night, scroll down a post or click here if this post is the only one on the page you're reading.
I didn't like this loss one bit. Sure, it was the third game in four days, and they had great wins in the first two. But dammit, you don't just blow an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter, even with how crappy the offense was in the previous three quarters. As for the anatomy of the collapse, they missed their final 10 shots from the floor, and scored only 3 points in the final 5:02, all from the charity stripe, which they haven't shot well from in the last couple games to begin with.
Ugh.
Upcoming...
Wednesday vs. Golden State (6p, FSNNW)
HOCKEY
Well, there's obviously wasn't an NHL All-Star Game this year...but they're warming up for the AHL All-Star Game. It's basically AAA hockey, but it's different from the NHL due to the fact they have the designated goalies' puckhandling box behind the nets and then there's that whole thing with the shootouts, as in they've got 'em.
Everett beat Spokane 4-2. The Silvertips scored all their goals on the power play, and scored three times in the second period to win this one. The 'Tips scored three times in 3:18, with the winner going to Curtis Billsten. Torrie Wheat, Mitch Love, and Ivan Baranka also tallied. Shaun Heshka and Zach Hamill had a pair of assists each. Everett badly outshot Spokane 36-18, and Leland Irving stopped 16.
Upcoming...
Tomorrow: Red Deer at Portland
Wednesday: Seattle at Kelowna, Red Deer at Vancouver
Friday: Red Deer at Seattle, Prince George at Everett, Spokane at Portland, Kamloops at Vancouver, Edmonton at Manitoba
Saturday: Seattle at Portland, Red Deer at Everett, Vancouver at Kamloops, Edmonton at Manitoba
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Have a great Monday, everyone.
/ Click for main page
Sunday, February 13, 2005
GAME 49: MAVERICKS 95, SUPERSONICS 92
Mavericks 95, SuperSonics 92
What a way to close out a crappy day for basketball teams based in Seattle!
Here's what I have for this game, pretty much the first half, though I did witness most of the second half.
(final content posted ~8:15p)
1st qtr
9:51 Ridnour to James filling lane layup DAL 4-2. 8:21 Rashard dribbles into 3 SEA 5-4. 7:49 Lewis driving slam SEA 7-4. 5:09 James jumper beats shot clock DAL 14-9. 4:45 Allen three DAL 14-12. 2:27 Evans low DAL 20-14. 2:05 Evans low after offensive rebound DAL 20-16. 1:15 Daniels fallaway DAL 21-18.
After one quarter -- Dallas 21, Seattle 19
Nick Collison had a nice hustle play toward the end of the quarter, intercepting a pass that was headed for Dirk Nowitzki and then eventually ending up on the floor with it and punching it out to Radmanovic. Reggie Evans pulled down 7 boards, but the quarter was an otherwise weird one for the Sonics. OKay, simply put, they didn't shoot well. They were 8-for-24 from the field. The weird thing was that the quarter was a quarter of runs for both teams. Dallas had a 10-0 run at one point. Still, the Sonics looked flat.
2nd qtr
11:10 Daniels fallaway beats shot clock DAL 23-21. 9:34 Ridnour midrange DAL 27-23. 9:00 Ridnour midrange DAL 27-25. 8:31 Daniels driving layup DAL 30-27. 5:35 Daniels again 37-33. 5:04 Radmanovic with moves to the bucket DAL 37-35. 3:47 Daniels lean-in banker, fouled, misses DAL 39-38.
At halftime -- Dallas 51, Seattle 42
After three quarters -- Dallas 66, Seattle 66
Final -- Dallas 95, Seattle 92
Well, that's a crappy loss.
The Sonics couldn't get any offensive flow going and were pretty sluggish until the fourth quarter, when the threes started falling. The problem was, they went cold for about the final five minutes of the fourth quarter. Dallas got to the line a few times, a couple of the Sonics were in foul trouble, and the Sonics also got way too tentative on offense. Dallas closed the game with a 15-2 run.
So yeah, that's how you blow a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter.
Disappointing.
They should have had this game.
One thing's for sure, though. They could have used Danny Fortson tonight because the Sonics got manhandled on the boards.
PEEK AT THE BOXSCORE
starters
Rashard Lewis 18 pts/7 reb (6-16 FG, 4-8 3pt), Luke Ridnour 17 pts/3 reb/8 ast (6-12 FG, 1-3 3pt, 4-4 free throws), Ray Allen 10 pts/4 reb/3 ast (4-17 FG, 1-8 3pt), Reggie Evans 5 pts/12 reb (2-4 FG, 1-4 free throws)
bench
Antonio Daniels 14 pts/3 ast (7-13 FG, 0-1 free throws), Vladimir Radmanovic 10 pts/2 reb/2 ast (3-10 FG, 2-4 3pt, 2-4 free throws), Nick Collison 6 pts/4 reb (2-4 FG, 17 min, fouled out), Vitaly Potapenko 2 pts/1 reb (7 min), Ron Murray 2 pts/1 reb (4 min)
Jerome James Watch
8 pts/6 reb/2 blk (4-10 FG, 1 foul, 20 min)
team
shot 35-for-89 (39.3%) from the field, shot 8-for-24 (33.3%) from downtown, shot 14-for-21 (66.7%) from the line, were outrebounded 49-40, bench outscored Dallas bench 34-6 (outrebounded them 8-3)
Well, just with the boxscore, you can see a couple of things become evident. The Sonics shot crappy. Luke Ridnour, the birthday boy, was the only starter (other than maybe Jerome James) that really had his game working tonight. Ray Allen had a horrible night. Over on the bench, Vladimir Radmanovic also had another horrible night, though somehow in Phoenix the Sonics were able to win without a decent night from him. Not tonight.
The weird thing was, Jason Terry was having a brutal night for Dallas as well. That is, until he hit the game-winning three-pointer. He finished 2-for-8 from the floor with six points, but the final three were the points that did in the Sonics.
As for the boards, Reggie Evans had 12, and the next highest was Rashard Lewis with 7. Meanwhile, Dallas had Erick Dampier (14), Dirk Nowitzki (11), and Michael Finley (11) all break double digits on the glass.
I guess another disturbing trend over the last couple games is that the Sonics have been a bit off from the free-throw line. Tonight they bricked a third of their attempts from the free-throw line.
I hope this loss sears itself into the minds of the Sonics because I'm pretty ticked off about it right now. There's no way they should have lost this one. When you hold Dallas to 21 in the first quarter and 15 in the third quarter, you should win. What you shouldn't do is crap the bed and allow 30 and 29 in the even-numbered quarters.
I asked Jinkies whether he was as ticked off about the Sonic loss as I was. It took more than 10 tries to get a new response, but we got one. "Please you must stop writing me. This is becoming the stalker thing and I am getting the freakouts."
What a way to close out a crappy day for basketball teams based in Seattle!
Here's what I have for this game, pretty much the first half, though I did witness most of the second half.
(final content posted ~8:15p)
1st qtr
9:51 Ridnour to James filling lane layup DAL 4-2. 8:21 Rashard dribbles into 3 SEA 5-4. 7:49 Lewis driving slam SEA 7-4. 5:09 James jumper beats shot clock DAL 14-9. 4:45 Allen three DAL 14-12. 2:27 Evans low DAL 20-14. 2:05 Evans low after offensive rebound DAL 20-16. 1:15 Daniels fallaway DAL 21-18.
After one quarter -- Dallas 21, Seattle 19
Nick Collison had a nice hustle play toward the end of the quarter, intercepting a pass that was headed for Dirk Nowitzki and then eventually ending up on the floor with it and punching it out to Radmanovic. Reggie Evans pulled down 7 boards, but the quarter was an otherwise weird one for the Sonics. OKay, simply put, they didn't shoot well. They were 8-for-24 from the field. The weird thing was that the quarter was a quarter of runs for both teams. Dallas had a 10-0 run at one point. Still, the Sonics looked flat.
2nd qtr
11:10 Daniels fallaway beats shot clock DAL 23-21. 9:34 Ridnour midrange DAL 27-23. 9:00 Ridnour midrange DAL 27-25. 8:31 Daniels driving layup DAL 30-27. 5:35 Daniels again 37-33. 5:04 Radmanovic with moves to the bucket DAL 37-35. 3:47 Daniels lean-in banker, fouled, misses DAL 39-38.
At halftime -- Dallas 51, Seattle 42
After three quarters -- Dallas 66, Seattle 66
Final -- Dallas 95, Seattle 92
Well, that's a crappy loss.
The Sonics couldn't get any offensive flow going and were pretty sluggish until the fourth quarter, when the threes started falling. The problem was, they went cold for about the final five minutes of the fourth quarter. Dallas got to the line a few times, a couple of the Sonics were in foul trouble, and the Sonics also got way too tentative on offense. Dallas closed the game with a 15-2 run.
So yeah, that's how you blow a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter.
Disappointing.
They should have had this game.
One thing's for sure, though. They could have used Danny Fortson tonight because the Sonics got manhandled on the boards.
PEEK AT THE BOXSCORE
starters
Rashard Lewis 18 pts/7 reb (6-16 FG, 4-8 3pt), Luke Ridnour 17 pts/3 reb/8 ast (6-12 FG, 1-3 3pt, 4-4 free throws), Ray Allen 10 pts/4 reb/3 ast (4-17 FG, 1-8 3pt), Reggie Evans 5 pts/12 reb (2-4 FG, 1-4 free throws)
bench
Antonio Daniels 14 pts/3 ast (7-13 FG, 0-1 free throws), Vladimir Radmanovic 10 pts/2 reb/2 ast (3-10 FG, 2-4 3pt, 2-4 free throws), Nick Collison 6 pts/4 reb (2-4 FG, 17 min, fouled out), Vitaly Potapenko 2 pts/1 reb (7 min), Ron Murray 2 pts/1 reb (4 min)
Jerome James Watch
8 pts/6 reb/2 blk (4-10 FG, 1 foul, 20 min)
team
shot 35-for-89 (39.3%) from the field, shot 8-for-24 (33.3%) from downtown, shot 14-for-21 (66.7%) from the line, were outrebounded 49-40, bench outscored Dallas bench 34-6 (outrebounded them 8-3)
Well, just with the boxscore, you can see a couple of things become evident. The Sonics shot crappy. Luke Ridnour, the birthday boy, was the only starter (other than maybe Jerome James) that really had his game working tonight. Ray Allen had a horrible night. Over on the bench, Vladimir Radmanovic also had another horrible night, though somehow in Phoenix the Sonics were able to win without a decent night from him. Not tonight.
The weird thing was, Jason Terry was having a brutal night for Dallas as well. That is, until he hit the game-winning three-pointer. He finished 2-for-8 from the floor with six points, but the final three were the points that did in the Sonics.
As for the boards, Reggie Evans had 12, and the next highest was Rashard Lewis with 7. Meanwhile, Dallas had Erick Dampier (14), Dirk Nowitzki (11), and Michael Finley (11) all break double digits on the glass.
I guess another disturbing trend over the last couple games is that the Sonics have been a bit off from the free-throw line. Tonight they bricked a third of their attempts from the free-throw line.
I hope this loss sears itself into the minds of the Sonics because I'm pretty ticked off about it right now. There's no way they should have lost this one. When you hold Dallas to 21 in the first quarter and 15 in the third quarter, you should win. What you shouldn't do is crap the bed and allow 30 and 29 in the even-numbered quarters.
I asked Jinkies whether he was as ticked off about the Sonic loss as I was. It took more than 10 tries to get a new response, but we got one. "Please you must stop writing me. This is becoming the stalker thing and I am getting the freakouts."
/ Click for main page
LATE BREAKING NEWS COMING INTO SPORTS AND B'S
CYCLE
Welcome to Sunday. Not too much going on, though I did get to see the Puget Sound Tomahawks last night win their division on the last day of the regular season. I hadn't been that happy since...the Canucks won their division in their final regular season game last April.
Random note. I was a fan of Kiwi Strawberry-flavored Snapple from the moment I tasted it, and since have developed an appreciation for all things of the flavor. Last summer I got a hold of a couple packets of the same flavor of Kool-Aid, and it didn't disappoint. The stuff is just awesome, but even better on a hot day. Unfortunately, I didn't try pouring the stuff into an ice tray and then getting the chance to later munch on some delectable kiwi strawberry Kool-Aid cubes. I've made myself hungry once again.
Back to sports, it turns out that Tara and Dana Kirk were swimming this weekend. On Friday at the FINA World Cup, Tara won the 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:06.52. Yesterday, she won both the 50m breast (30.85) and the 200m breast (2:25.45) events, finishing strong in the former. Dana won the 100- and 200-yard butterfly in respective times of 55.11 and 1:59.43 and held the butterfly leg on the winning medley relay team to help Stanford to a 172-128 win over the Cal Bears to cap an undefeated Pac-10 season.
MARINERS
It's Finnigan's pre-spring training article, but it's pretty much nothing you haven't heard before either from Finnigan or in this space. I think we all knew Finnigan couldn't resist putting that Mike Cameron nugget in the piece. I guess my only question is...did Cha Seung Baek really impress that many people with his Major League time last year? I was only impressed with the one really good start, but maybe that's just me.
SEAHAWKS
Is anyone really going to be watching One Last Meaningless Last Game?
From NFL.com's front page...
The AFC, featuring some of the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots will look to avenge a 55-52 defeat against the NFC in the 2004 thriller.
Yes, there's so much riding on the game. I can hardly hold back my suspense.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
The Tar Heels go to Hartford and face Connecticut this morning (10a, CBS), then go back home Wednesday for Virginia (4p, ESPN)
Huskies
Boy, did Will Conroy come through in that game at Oregon. He was clutch and clutch is everything in life.
The Huskies face Oregon State today (1p, FSNNW) before going to Wazzu Saturday (4p, FSNNW)
Bulldogs
Gonzaga escaped with a 61-58 road win against Loyola Marymount. Ronny Turiaf had another big night with 20 points, 11 boards, and 6 blocks. JP Batista had limited minutes, but his only three points were the game-winning three-point play. Adam Morrison put in another 16 and had 12 boards for a double-double. However, there were some very productive minutes off the bench for the redhead David Pendergraft (8 pts/9 reb) and Sean Mallon (1 pt/6 reb). This helped make up for Derek Raivio's awful 1-for-9 game. It happens. The Zags also pulverized Loyola Marymount on the boards, 47-29 by the boxscore, and 50-30 by the article.
The Zags host San Diego on Thursday (6p, KONG 6/16 Seattle, Q6 NBC Spokane) and San Francisco on Saturday (3p, ABC)
Sonics
The Sonics' plane in Phoenix had some mechanical problems. Thankfully, they happened after the game rather than before it.
Upcoming...
Tomorrow vs. Dallas (5p, FSNNW)
Wednesday vs. Golden State (6p, FSNNW)
HOCKEY
Seattle and Everett skated to a 1-1 overtime tie. The tie ends the Thunderbirds' four-game skid. The goals came within 1:43 of each other around the halfway point of the third period. Denis Tolpeko gave the Thunderbirds a short-lived lead, and Ivan Baranka tied it up. Seattle outshot Everett 31-26. Mike Wall stopped 30 for Everett, and Bryan Bridges stopped 26 for Seattle.
Portland beat Tri-City 4-2. The Winter Hawks scored twice in the third period to break the tie and get their 7th win in 8 games. Nick Hotson's first WHL marker was the game-winner, and the win was the 50th in the WHL for goalie Blake Grenier. Kyle Bailey put the game away later in the third period, and Frazer McLaren and Cody McLeod scored the first two Portland goals. Portland was outshot 35-25, and Grenier stopped 33.
Spokane beat Vancouver 4-3 in overtime. The Giants scored twice in the third period to rally back from down 3-1 and force overtime, where Joe Logan's winner got the Chiefs the extra point. Conlan Seder scored on the power play to beat the buzzer in the first period, and Tim Kraus and Paul Albers scored the two vital goals in the third period. Adam Courchaine had two assists. Shots were 37 apiece, and Marek Schwarz stopped 33 for the Giants.
Saint John's beat Manitoba 6-1. Josh Green scored early in the third period to get the Moose within one goal before things got way out of hand. The Baby Leafs scored four times in the third period to more than put away the game. The Leafs outshot the Moose 40-30, and Alex Auld stopped 34 for the Moose.
Puget Sound beat Portland 2-1. Before a packed house at the Bremerton Ice Arena, the Tomahawks used two third-period goals to take the division title away from the Pioneers in the final game of the regular season. The Pioneers got their goal in the second period and at one point were basically playing keep-away with the puck in their own end. Skater behind the net passes to skater on the side boards, who passes to skater behind net; rinse and repeat. Of course, they didn't do that after they lost the lead. The Tomahawks didn't hold their lead the easy way in the final minutes, having to kill off penalties in the process. Of course, the final half-minute of 6-on-3 hockey (Portland pulled the goalie) was a cliffhanger as well. The Tomahawks will get next weekend off before more than likely getting Portland in a five-game series the following week after the Pioneers more than likely lay waste to the Tri-City Titans.
Upcoming...
Tonight: Spokane at Everett
Tuesday: Red Deer at Portland
Wednesday: Seattle at Kelowna, Red Deer at Vancouver
Friday: Red Deer at Seattle, Prince George at Everett, Spokane at Portland, Kamloops at Vancouver, Edmonton at Manitoba
Saturday: Seattle at Portland, Red Deer at Everett, Vancouver at Kamloops, Edmonton at Manitoba
---
Have a great Sunday, everyone, and enjoy those last shreds of weekend.
Random note. I was a fan of Kiwi Strawberry-flavored Snapple from the moment I tasted it, and since have developed an appreciation for all things of the flavor. Last summer I got a hold of a couple packets of the same flavor of Kool-Aid, and it didn't disappoint. The stuff is just awesome, but even better on a hot day. Unfortunately, I didn't try pouring the stuff into an ice tray and then getting the chance to later munch on some delectable kiwi strawberry Kool-Aid cubes. I've made myself hungry once again.
Back to sports, it turns out that Tara and Dana Kirk were swimming this weekend. On Friday at the FINA World Cup, Tara won the 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:06.52. Yesterday, she won both the 50m breast (30.85) and the 200m breast (2:25.45) events, finishing strong in the former. Dana won the 100- and 200-yard butterfly in respective times of 55.11 and 1:59.43 and held the butterfly leg on the winning medley relay team to help Stanford to a 172-128 win over the Cal Bears to cap an undefeated Pac-10 season.
MARINERS
It's Finnigan's pre-spring training article, but it's pretty much nothing you haven't heard before either from Finnigan or in this space. I think we all knew Finnigan couldn't resist putting that Mike Cameron nugget in the piece. I guess my only question is...did Cha Seung Baek really impress that many people with his Major League time last year? I was only impressed with the one really good start, but maybe that's just me.
SEAHAWKS
Is anyone really going to be watching One Last Meaningless Last Game?
From NFL.com's front page...
The AFC, featuring some of the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots will look to avenge a 55-52 defeat against the NFC in the 2004 thriller.
Yes, there's so much riding on the game. I can hardly hold back my suspense.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
The Tar Heels go to Hartford and face Connecticut this morning (10a, CBS), then go back home Wednesday for Virginia (4p, ESPN)
Huskies
Boy, did Will Conroy come through in that game at Oregon. He was clutch and clutch is everything in life.
The Huskies face Oregon State today (1p, FSNNW) before going to Wazzu Saturday (4p, FSNNW)
Bulldogs
Gonzaga escaped with a 61-58 road win against Loyola Marymount. Ronny Turiaf had another big night with 20 points, 11 boards, and 6 blocks. JP Batista had limited minutes, but his only three points were the game-winning three-point play. Adam Morrison put in another 16 and had 12 boards for a double-double. However, there were some very productive minutes off the bench for the redhead David Pendergraft (8 pts/9 reb) and Sean Mallon (1 pt/6 reb). This helped make up for Derek Raivio's awful 1-for-9 game. It happens. The Zags also pulverized Loyola Marymount on the boards, 47-29 by the boxscore, and 50-30 by the article.
The Zags host San Diego on Thursday (6p, KONG 6/16 Seattle, Q6 NBC Spokane) and San Francisco on Saturday (3p, ABC)
Sonics
The Sonics' plane in Phoenix had some mechanical problems. Thankfully, they happened after the game rather than before it.
Upcoming...
Tomorrow vs. Dallas (5p, FSNNW)
Wednesday vs. Golden State (6p, FSNNW)
HOCKEY
Seattle and Everett skated to a 1-1 overtime tie. The tie ends the Thunderbirds' four-game skid. The goals came within 1:43 of each other around the halfway point of the third period. Denis Tolpeko gave the Thunderbirds a short-lived lead, and Ivan Baranka tied it up. Seattle outshot Everett 31-26. Mike Wall stopped 30 for Everett, and Bryan Bridges stopped 26 for Seattle.
Portland beat Tri-City 4-2. The Winter Hawks scored twice in the third period to break the tie and get their 7th win in 8 games. Nick Hotson's first WHL marker was the game-winner, and the win was the 50th in the WHL for goalie Blake Grenier. Kyle Bailey put the game away later in the third period, and Frazer McLaren and Cody McLeod scored the first two Portland goals. Portland was outshot 35-25, and Grenier stopped 33.
Spokane beat Vancouver 4-3 in overtime. The Giants scored twice in the third period to rally back from down 3-1 and force overtime, where Joe Logan's winner got the Chiefs the extra point. Conlan Seder scored on the power play to beat the buzzer in the first period, and Tim Kraus and Paul Albers scored the two vital goals in the third period. Adam Courchaine had two assists. Shots were 37 apiece, and Marek Schwarz stopped 33 for the Giants.
Saint John's beat Manitoba 6-1. Josh Green scored early in the third period to get the Moose within one goal before things got way out of hand. The Baby Leafs scored four times in the third period to more than put away the game. The Leafs outshot the Moose 40-30, and Alex Auld stopped 34 for the Moose.
Puget Sound beat Portland 2-1. Before a packed house at the Bremerton Ice Arena, the Tomahawks used two third-period goals to take the division title away from the Pioneers in the final game of the regular season. The Pioneers got their goal in the second period and at one point were basically playing keep-away with the puck in their own end. Skater behind the net passes to skater on the side boards, who passes to skater behind net; rinse and repeat. Of course, they didn't do that after they lost the lead. The Tomahawks didn't hold their lead the easy way in the final minutes, having to kill off penalties in the process. Of course, the final half-minute of 6-on-3 hockey (Portland pulled the goalie) was a cliffhanger as well. The Tomahawks will get next weekend off before more than likely getting Portland in a five-game series the following week after the Pioneers more than likely lay waste to the Tri-City Titans.
Upcoming...
Tonight: Spokane at Everett
Tuesday: Red Deer at Portland
Wednesday: Seattle at Kelowna, Red Deer at Vancouver
Friday: Red Deer at Seattle, Prince George at Everett, Spokane at Portland, Kamloops at Vancouver, Edmonton at Manitoba
Saturday: Seattle at Portland, Red Deer at Everett, Vancouver at Kamloops, Edmonton at Manitoba
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Have a great Sunday, everyone, and enjoy those last shreds of weekend.
