Seth Kolloen

Ruskell: Quitting

News came last night that Tim Ruskell will resign as general manager of the Seattle Seahawks at 10 a.m. news conference.

One reporter has already spoken to Ruskell, ESPN's Mike Sando. Sando reports that Ruskell left because he hadn't had his contract renewed yet, and felt that was affecting his ability to do his job.

"We were getting ready to go into those meetings about free agency and the offseason. If I am not going to spearhead those meetings and it wasn't going to happen no matter what our record was, you become a lame duck. And I did not want that."

Sando says he thinks the Seahawks will promote someone on an interim basis for the rest of the season (as the Mariners did after Bill Bavasi's firing in '08) and commence a wider search in the off-season.

I'll have more tomorrow, once the sports literati weighs in, but a few thoughts:

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1) This is bad news for Jim Mora. A new GM will arrive with his own ideas on how to run a team, which may not mesh with Mora's defense-and-running-game philosophy. Mora has three years after this one left on his contract, but another losing season and he'll be gone. Under Ruskell he would've had a longer leash.

2) It's bad news for some Seahawks players, especially small fast ones. Ruskell's defensive philosophy is based on speed; guys like Kelly Jennings and Josh Wilson may not fit in a new GM's scheme.

3) Will the Hawks go for an offensive mind now? It was clear that Ruskell's hiring was an attempt to get a defense-building expert in the fold after so many years of Holmgren's offensive needs dominating the organizational mindset. Now with the defensive-minded Mora as head coach, will the Hawks look for an offense guy? (The most obvious name that comes to mind, of course, is one Mike Holmgren.)

Well, this is awkward.

As Seattle Prep sealed their win at O'Dea last night, I spotted three girls gathered in the hall connecting the gym to the parking lot. They were all wearing t-shirts with two large letters on them. I saw one girl wearing an "NT," next to one with "ER," next to one with "BA." Each held a white card with a question mark on it.

Friend David and I discussed this in confusion until I pieced it together.

"Winter Ball!" I exclaimed. "The t-shirts combine to say 'Winter Ball.' But what do the cards say?"

"Will you go to winter ball with me," said David.

"Yes," I replied. "Yes, David, I will."

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And that's how David and I ended up as O'Dea/Holy Names 2009 Winter Ball partners. Not sure what his wife is going to think, but he asked me and how could I say no? Any O'Dea students reading, please let me know where to buy tickets and especially where the afterparty is.

But I've started at the end of the game. Let me get back to the beginning.

This was the first game of O'Dea's season, and thus their first in 18 years without head coach Phil Lumpkin, who died unexpectedly last month at age 57. Commemoration was in order.

Several O'Dea students wore #10 Suns jerseys personalized with Lumpkin's name (Lumpkin played 34 games for the Suns in '75-'76).

Seattle Prep made a nice gesture when they came out for warmups--each player and coach held a white rose, which they deposited on Lumpkin's now-vacant courtside chair.

Among the hundreds of banners in O'Dea's gym, the five state hoops championships Lumpkin won

Fans were asked to observe a moment of silence in Lumpkin's honor before the game. We did so. We were told that the court would soon be named for Lumpkin. We applauded.

No pomp, no ostentation. A few words and then basketball. From what little I knew of the ostentation-less Phil Lumpkin, I think he would've approved.

Then it was time for high-school basketball. HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL!

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We were most excited to see Prep freshman DJ Fenner, a D.C. kid who is one of the best hoops prospects in the nation for his age. Fenner, a 6'5" guard, started slow, as did the game. Tight man-to-man defense strangled both offenses. Fenner didn't hit a shot, and the score was 12-10 after one quarter. Thereafter, things opened up.

A word first about the crowd. O'Dea's always-creative student section shined during free throws. One student attempted to distract Prep's free throw shooters with a loud bird call. This worked only sporadically. The Irish fans had cooked up a special cheer for Prep's Serbian center Nikola Djokovic. "U-S-A! U-S-A!" they chanted. Prep's fans countered with "Ser-Bi-A. Ser-Bi-A!"

Now the game was moving. The 35-second shot clock, new to Washington high school basketball this year has made it so. With Fenner still struggling to find a rhythm (though he hit finally hit his first shot, a rise-and-fire three-pointer, with 6:55 left in the half), Prep sophomore forward Mitch Brewe began getting some buckets inside.

O'Dea's interior defense, severely compromised with by early foul trouble, had no answer. Prep forged a 30-25 lead at half. Meanwhile, O'Dea's Dustin Watts kept the Irish close. Watts would finish the night with 25 points, nearly 40% of O'Dea's total. Watts did most of his damage outside, it seems to me.

Fenner looked for his shot more in half two. He attempted more shots in the third quarter than in all of the first half.

Just 30 seconds in Fenner made a nice cut without the ball on the baseline, took a pass and exploded to the hoop for a layin.

A minute after that Fenner grabbed a pass in the lane and was fouled attempting a shot.

A minute after that Fenner took the ball on the wing, feinted a drive, stepped back and hit a jumper.

A minute after that Fenner received a pass at the top of the key and immediately rose to shoot a three. He swished it.

Two minutes after that, Fenner was involved in the most controversial play of the game. He missed a shot off the front rim, leading to an O'Dea run-out. But Fenner raced back down the court, catching up to the Irish player just as he rose for a layin. Fenner pinned the ball against the backboard. He also bodied the shooter into the two-row grandstand under the basket.

The ref correctly called Fenner for a foul, but inexplicably deemed it an intentional foul. An awful call, because Fenner not only was clearly going for the ball, he actually got the ball. Sure, it was a foul, but it wasn't even close to an intentional one. (Sometimes high school refs are confused by super-athletic players; Fenner was also called (by the same ref) for a totally unwarranted traveling call on a sweet drop-step to the basket.)

Seattle Prep's fans rightfully went nuts and head coach Mike Kelly stood mouth agape with his arms spread wide in disbelief. Less than a minute later, Fenner made a steal, drove baseline and attempted to dunk over an O'Dea player. The defender got enough body to misdirect the shot--he got nowhere near the ball. The Prep faithful mockingly called for an intentional foul call on the Irish. Of course, this wasn't an intentional foul either, but Fenner's defense at least got a piece of the ball.

Behind Fenner, who finished with 18 points, Prep pulled out to a nine-point lead. They seemed to have the game won. BUT THIS IS HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL!!! No lead is safe (especially with the new shot clock, which prevents the keep-away tactics we would've seen in this situation last year). The Irish charged back behind Watts' shooting and tied the score with less than four minutes to go.

But Prep put away the game on one of the strangest basketball shots I've ever seen. Prep guard Jackson Clough attemped to feed a pass into the post, but it was tipped up by an O'Dea player. The ball hit the side of the rim, then defied physics by spinning straight up and through the basket for a three-pointer.

Prep hit their free throws at the end, pulling away to win 71-64.

If every game I see this year is as fun as this one, it'll be a great year of Metro League Tuesdays. Join me sometime, will ya? (Here's the calendar of games).

Now that the Apple Cup is mercifully behind us, can we just pretend that football doesn't exist? Basketball is where it's at, people. And our state is holding the banner of West Coast hoops for the entire nation.

Only three schools in states that touch the Pacific Ocean are ranked in the AP basketball poll. Two of those schools--the University of Washington (#12) and Gonzaga University (#17)--are right here in the Evergreen State.

UW and Wazzu are the only two undefeated teams in the Pac-10 conference, and have collectively monopolized the conference's player of the week award thus far.

Wazzu's Thompson, the nation's top scorer

Wazzu guard Klay Thompson leads the nation in scoring, averaging 28.3 points per game. Thompson's excellence has won him the past two Pac-10 Player of the Week awards. The previous one, first of the season, when to Washington's Quincy Pondexter.

Seattle U's Charles Garcia isn't far behind Thompson, ranking 4th in the country. Garcia was named Mid-Majority Baller of the Week after a 41-point performance in SU's loss to Wofford Saturday. Seattle U is ranked #64 in the NCAA's RPI rankings, ranking them above most Pac-10 teams as the Times' Bob Condotta tweeted yesterday.

As for football, Seattle U, Gonzaga and Washington State don't even field teams, and Washington's squad will wind down another losing season Saturday. The only decent football team in the state, Central Washington, saw their season end on a blocked PAT in the DII quarterfinal.

2009 college football season, I scrub you from my memory as I look forward to one of the best hoops games in the state tomorrow night in Pullman.

Gonzaga visits Washington State Wednesday night. Game's at 6 p.m., you can watch on FSN. Should be an interesting match; the battle-tested against the unchallenged. The Zags have already played four power conference teams this season, while Wazzu hasn't faced one.

Last year, the Zags destroyed the Cougs 74-52, a loss which portended the poor Cougs season that followed. Different team this time around, with Wazzu playing up-tempo under new coach Ken Bone.

Thursday, the undefeated Huskies play their first road game of the season, at Texas Tech as part of the Pac-10/Big XII challenge. That game's at 4 p.m. on ESPN2.

Seattle U also has an interesting game Thursday night, they travel to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, new home of their former coach Joe Callero. Callero left the Redhawks after 8 seasons to take over at Cal Poly, and while Seattle U has been ripping off upsets under new coach Cameron Dollar, Callero's Mustangs are 0-5. The game's at at 7 .pm., you can listen live on ESPN 710.

Long live hoops!

First time I got press tix to ACT's A Christmas Carol I took my grandparents. Sunday I took my nieces. Both pairs of relatives thanked me profusely as we left the theater. Not too often will you find a show that's a joy whether you were born under Coolidge or under Clinton. 

I mean, what the hell's not to like? The costumes are fantastic, the acting stellar, the dancing enjoyable, the jokes funny, the child actors impossibly adorable.

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Scrooge with "the surplus population" (Photo: Chris Bennion)

You know the story, but that doesn't make it any less affecting. When Scrooge hops out of bed Christmas morning a changed man, your face breaks into a wide grin. If not, you probably require your own three-spirit visit. (And I'm not talkin' about lunch with Don Draper. Wacka wacka wacka!)

(Digression: Dickens! Wow! Can you imagine a world without the story of Ebenezer Scrooge? Without "There's more of gravy than of grave about you?" And yet Dickens wrote it in six weeks. National Novel Writing Month participants now on your last day, take heart!)

ACT's production, an annual treat, is presented in-the-round at the Allen Theater. Being surrounded by the audience forces the actors to stay on the move. This constant motion staves off restlessness from easily-bored young ones. The actors' inventive interpretations of Dickens' familiar lines keeps the older folks entertained.

Two actors alternate shows in the part of Scrooge, a particularly demanding role as you're on stage for all 90 minutes (no intermission). Kurt Beattie, ACT's artistic director, played Scrooge Sunday afternoon, as he will for about half the performances. It's his first turn in the role since 1998. Says Beattie: "Ten years on...I think the ossification of the human soul is something I understand more now than I did then."

The always-excellent R. Hamilton Wright will portray Scrooge for remaining half of the run (here's a schedule of who plays Scrooge when).

Of note in the production: Brandon Whitehead is tremendous fun in Christmas Past as effervescent Mr. Fezziwig, and again in Christmas Present as Nephew Fred's slightly douchey, flirtatious friend Topper. I also thought young Shereen Khatibloo did nice work in her too-brief appearance as Scrooge's beloved sister Fan.

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(Digression #2: You know how there's those books based on Pride and Prejudice but written from the perspective of Darcy? Where's one based on A Christmas Carol written from the perspective of Fan? Why was she so devoted to her brother? Did she try to halt his slide into miserdom? Who's Fred's dad and what happened to him? This shit keeps me up at night.)

Up in the audience, tons of kids. So you'll hear a lot more shushes than you would at your average show, usually following whispered questions from young ones who aren't quite following the story.

My favorite audience moment? Watching the rich dudes in the front row squirm a bit when Ghost Marley proclaims: "Business!! Mankind was my business! Their common welfare was my business!" One guy in khakis and a cashmere sweater started rubbing his finger on his nose, which I know from watching Lie to Me is a sure sign of guilt. I'm thinking that dude goes home and decided to grant the company bonus this year after all.

And not to get all mushy, but Dickens' message of charity truly is a valuable one at this time of year. Even if you don't like costumes, good acting, dancing, and jokes, you ought to see the show as a vehicle for self-improvement.

Um, can you tell I liked the show too? Add "born under Ford" to the list of people who'll enjoy it. (That's Gerald Ford, I wasn't actually born under a car as I'm not an Allman Brother. Thank you.)

Overton will check "traffic on the ones" next time

You know the feeling: You're driving to some important event, via the quickest and most obvious route, during a time when traffic shouldn't be an issue, when suddenly you're in a bumper-to-bumper disaster. Last time it happened to me, it was during bike dropoff the day before the Danskin Triathon. Fit ladies, I demand 30 minutes of my life back!

In the case of Washington guard Venoy Overton on Sunday, it was the Seattle Marathon that made him 30 minutes late for shootaround before Washington's basketball game against Montana. As a result, Overton was on the bench at tip-off for the first time this year.

"I knew I probably wasn't going to start," Overton told the Seattle Times' Percy Allen after the game. "If I was like five minutes late then I thought I would be good, but I knew I wasn't going to start tonight."

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Overton was one of the first subs off the bench, and deployed his typical mix of aggression and risk-taking. A steal and lay-in early in the first half was nice. An attempted alleyoop to Darnell Gant, not so much.

At game's end, with Washington up three points, Overton found himself guarding Montana's Anthony Johnson, the leading scorer in the Big Sky conference. The 6'3" Johnson elevated for a three-point attempt above the 5'11" Overton. But Overton timed his leap perfectly and blocked Johnson's attempt. 

It's tremendously rare to block a jump shot, let alone the jump shot of a league-leading scorer, let alone a jump shot by a guy who's four inches taller than you. But Overton managed the feat; not only that, he secured the ball, took a foul, and hit the game-clinching free throws.

Overton's block gives him an early highlight for his Pac 10 defensive player of the year reel. And it secures a win on a night when the Huskies shooting hands were ice cold. Now at 5-0 one of only two undefeated Pac 10 teams (Wazzu is the other), UW moved up in both national basketball polls. Coaches say the Dawgs are the #10 best team in the nation, the media puts them at #12.

UW's next game is their first on the road--they'll play at Texas Tech on Thursday as part of the Pac 10/Big XII Challenge.

Busy weekend for Husky athletics. Three important games, all on campus. Let's get to it.

Friday the #4-ranked Washington volleyball team can assure a share of the Pac-10 title by beating #18 Oregon. The Dawgs are tied with Stanford, who hosts Cal Friday. The game, at 7 p.m., is also Senior Night. A victory would likely assure the Dawgs a coveted #1-seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Selection Show is Sunday at noon on ESPN News.

Saturday it's the Apple Cup at Husky Stadium. Washington is a 25-point favorite over the hapless Cougars, who once again come into the game winless in Pac-10 play. Of course, the Huskies were favored over the winless Cougars last year in Pullman and somehow pulled out a defeat. You know the line -- in rivalry games, "you can just throw out the records, because these two teams flat-out do not like each other." The game is at 3:30 p.m. on FSN. Tickets are still available. UW is asking $70 for them, but I suspect you could head to the stadium and get a better deal from a scalper.

Sunday the undefeated Washington basketball team--other than Wazzu, the only undefeated team left in the Pac-10--tries to help prevent the league from becoming more of a national laughingstock when they play 4-1 Montana. The Grizzlies have already beaten one Pac-10 team this year, Oregon, by a 13-point margin! It was just another in a series of shocking losses by Pac-10 teams. The worst came last night when Portland thrashed UCLA 74-47 (Here's a piece I wrote about that game for the national hoops site Storming the Floor.)

UW/Montana will be a battle of 253 scorers: Montana's Anthony Johnson, a Stadium High product averaging 22 points per game, against UW's Isaiah Thomas, who attended Curtis High five miles away. Thomas is averaging 22.5 points per game.

Not sure if I'll make the volleyball game tonight, but I've got tickets for the Apple Cup and the Montana game. Schultzy's, here I come!

It'll be three seasons until Seattle University's basketball team is eligible to make the NCAA Tournament, so coach Cameron Dollar set the loftiest goal he could before the season, telling players: "Our goal is to play for a championship in New York, play in the NIT."

When I read this, I thought coach Dollar was blowing smoke. The NIT, the consolation tournament for teams that don't make the NCAA Tourney, seemed to me to be way out of reach for a school in just its second year of D1 ball.

But, last night, after SU went to Salt Lake City and upset the University of Utah--which won 24 games and was a #5-seed in the NCAA tourney last year--I'm taking Dollar seriously.

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The NIT Is Coach Dollar's Goal

First, a little bit about yesterday's game. The Redhawks trailed 50-39 with 16 minutes left, but fought back with an 18-6 run, during which six different SU players scored. They held Utah to just one field goal in the final six minutes, and came away with a 77-74 win. Charles Garcia led SU in scoring again, tallying 24 points on 13 shots against a Utah front line with two seven-footers.

Now, let's talk NIT. The tournament has 32 teams. Automatic bids go to teams that win their conference's regular season title but not their conference tournament, and don't receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tourney. There were 5 such teams in last year's tourney field, giving the tourney committee 27 at-large bids.

How many wins do you need? Major conference teams can sneak it with as few as 17, like Wazzu did last year. But Seattle U, with its schedule primarily consisting of Big Sky, Big West, and Independent teams, will need to do better than that.

More likely, they'll be treated like lesser conference at-large teams such as Illinois State of the Missouri Valley Conference, which made last year's field with a 24-9 record. Or Saint Mary's of the WCC, which got in with a 26-6 record.

Seattle U plays 31 games this year. I think that to make the NIT, they'll need to finish 24-7 at a minimum. Considering that they've already lost twice (Oklahoma St., Portland), they face the tough task of going 21-5 the rest of the way. Could they do it?

Almost certainly, they'd need to win all 11 of their remaining home games. (You can help there, buy tickets today, get out to KeyArena and cheer). SU's toughest home test will likely be Idaho on January 30th.

SU also plays at Idaho. The Vandals are one of seven schools that the Redhawks will play both home and away. The others are UC Davis, Eastern Washington, Sacramento State, Cal State Northridge, Portland State, Utah Valley.

The Redhawks also have road games against Pac-10 opponents Oregon St. and Washington. Mark those down as likely losses.

So, assuming that SU wins out at home, they would have to go 10-3 in their other road games to get to 24-7. It's a tall order. But after going into SLC and beating Utah, I think they at least stand a chance.

On my iTunes, I have a playlist called "Misery." It's for those times when I really want to own being depressed. Stars of the playlist include "I Would Be Sad" by the Avett Brothers and Dylan's "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright."

But the main attraction is Ray Charles' 1963 rendition of "Old Man River," a song from the 1927 musical Show Boat. Charles imbues Oscar Hammerstein's lyrics, written from the perspective of a oppressed, overworked African-American dock worker, with melancholy and a hint of rage.

And Charles does this despite the fact that he doesn't know the words. Due to some half-assed remastering, you can hear the recording engineer feeding Charles the lyrics line-by-line.

I don't know if that's how Charles liked to work, or if he was too strung out to memorize the song (he'd go to rehab for heroin addiction in '64), but it's real funny to hear the words transform from recording engineer monotone to soulful blues.

Recording engineer (use your most uptight white man voice): "He don't plant taters."

Charles: "He Don't Plant (half-beat rest) Tataahrs."

The song begins with a 90-second choral opening. When Charles does finally come in, his bluesy style is the perfect--and very welcome--counterpoint. It's delayed gratification at its best.

Charles reaches for your heartstrings in the song's final lines, where he snaps from anger to melancholy, and end with just a hint (maybe?) of hope.

Tote that barge / Lift that bale / And if you drink a little scotch / You land in jail

I get weary / And so sick of tryin' / I'm tired of livin' / But I'm scared of dyin'

But that Old Man River / He keeps rolling along.

And that's when I realize it's gotten very dusty, pop open another beer, and press repeat.

Charles' "Old Man River," off his Ingredients in a Recipe for Soul album, isn't available on iTunes or the Amazon music store, likely due to some arcane copyright issue. Thanks, laws. You can buy the CD from Amazon, though.

Oh, the statistics are ugly.

--The Seahawks are 7-19 over the past two seasons.

--Their defense, supposedly the cornerstone of GM Tim Ruskell's winning formula, allowed Brett Favre to complete a career-best 88 percent of his passes Sunday. It even allowed a TD pass from Tarvaris Jackson.

--The Seahawks rushing attack, supposedly bound for improvement under new offensive coordinator Greg Knapp, is the worst in the NFL.

Get out your pointing fingers! It's time to play the blame game!

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Ruskell: Whipping Boy

The Times' Steve Kelley fixes on GM Tim Ruskell: "The Seahawks are in a death spiral and the defense that Ruskell has put together has allowed 56 points and 746 total yards in the past six quarters. ... They need a shake-up at the top."

Kelley's already touting a candidate for Ruskell's job: Former coach and GM Mike Holmgren, who left the team after last season.

Yeah, things are getting a little silly.

If you must place blame for this season, point the finger at Lady Luck, who has struck the Seahawks where they are most vulnerable.

The Seahawks have five Pro Bowlers on their roster: Walter Jones, Matt Hasselbeck, Lofa Tatupu, Patrick Kerney, and Marcus Trufant. Through eleven games, these players could have played a total of 55 combined games.

They've played in just 26. Jones, the best player in franchise history, hasn't played at all. Tatupu is also out for the season.

Even those who are playing aren't doing so at full strength--Hasselbeck is playing with a broken rib, and Kerney has a variety of injuries. Trufant missed the first two months of the season and has looked rusty on his return.

Jones' absence, already a huge blow for the team, was exacerbated when his backup went down. And then that backup went down. Another former Pro Bowler, Mike Wahle, was supposed to line up beside Jones, but Wahle was released before training camp after failing his physical. Instead of having a left side of their line with two Pro Bowlers, the Seahawks have rookies and backups.

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Ruskell's stewardship brought the Seahawks to a Super Bowl, and three consecutive years with a playoff victory. If the team he constructed was actually taking to the field and losing this badly, I can see how you might replace him.

But when injuries strike down every single one of the team's top five players, you have to take the vagaries of chance into consideration.

If I'm in charge, I'm keeping Ruskell until I see what he can do with a relatively healthy team. Because in the past, that's been Super Bowl wins and playoff victories.

Continuing our sporadic tour of 206 hoopsters around world, we land in Europe, home to several ballers with local ties.

Bobby Jones

The 206 star: Former Husky Bobby Jones, who's leading Banca Tercas Teramo of the Italian Serie A in scoring, with 12.6 ppg. One of Jones' teammates is Drake Diener, one of the famed shooting Deiner brothers. Jones' team, sadly, is just 2-5 on the year.

Teramo is a town of about 55,000, about two hours from Rome near the Adriatic Sea. Here's a picture of city hall at night. Nice!

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Garfield High and University of Nevada star Marcelus Kemp is playing in Italy's second-division league, in Sassari. Kemp averages 17.3 ppg for the third-place Banco di Sardinia Sassari squad.

Sassari is 120 miles from the Italian mainland on the island of Sardinia. It is Sardinia's second-largest city, with a metro population of 300,000. Learning Italian won't necessarily get Kemp by, as many people in the area speak Sassarese.

Franklin High grad Lyndale Burleson also attended Nevada--in fact, he and Kemp are members of the Wolfpack all-decade team. Now Burleson plays for USC Heidelberg in Germany's second division. Burleson's averaging 18.3 ppg, which puts him third on the high-scoring Heidelbergers.

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Burleson's brother Kevin, who went to Garfield for a year and then transferred to O'Dea, played 39 games for Charlotte in the 2005-06 NBA season. After spending most of last season in the NBA D-League, Kevin Burleson is playing in Romania for first-place Asesoft Ploiesti. He's leading the team in assists and is second in scoring.

O'Dea had some rabid fans, I'm sure, but Burleson's never experienced anything like the streamer-tossing, chanting Ploiseti faithful:

 

 

Ploiesti, about 40 miles north of Bucharest, has about 230,000 people and is the ninth-largest city in Romania. It was one of the first major oil-producing areas of Europe, and remains an important location for oil refineries. As such, it was attacked several times during WWII.

 

Rodrick Stewart

Former Rainier Beach star Rodrick Stewart is considerably further north, playing in Forssa, Finland in the top Finnish pro league. Stewart is averaging 14.3 ppg for Forssan Koripojat, which is 4-10 on the season. 

 

Forssa, a region of less than 20,000 people in southwest Finland, is home to the Pick-Nick car show, the largest in Northern Europe.

Stewart's twin brother Lodrick played in Germany last year, but he's not on any European roster that I could find.