Recent Stories in Sports

Jim Mora attained his first win as Seahawks coach, and even more important than beating a division rival was demonstrating to his players that he and his staff have a winning plan.

"When you ask players to do something new," Mora said after the game, "when you ask them to practice a different way, focus on different things--when you can come away with an impressive performance like our defense did today then guys start to buy in a little bit. And they buy in a little bit more every time that happens. So you gain credibility. And as a coach, credibility with your players is extremely important--very important."

 

The game didn't start out looking like either team would emerge with credibility. Perhaps Qwest Field suffered from lingering putridity left over from Saturday's awful Wazzu/Hawaii game, which featured 11 turnovers and 19 penalties. Sunday's Seahawks/Rams game started with the Rams fumbling the kickoff, and the Seahawks added a fumble and two interceptions of their own by the end of the first quarter.

I watched the game with a Seahawks-fan-heavy crowd at Teddy's on Roosevelt, and they seemed to be in a wait-and-see approach after last year's debacle. People were waiting for the team to show them something. In the final three quarters, they did.

The Seahawks shut the Rams out despite being without talented linebacker Leroy Hill (groin injury) for almost the entire game, and without Lofa Tatupu (hamstring injury) for most of it. Backups Will Herring and David Hawthorne took over, and the defense didn't suffer at all. Said Mora: "I think one of the indicators is, do you notice a drop off when new guys take the field? Quite frankly, I didn’t notice a drop off in play.”

High praise for Herring and Hawthorne, and perhaps a wake-up call for Tatupu and Hill, both of whom underachieved last year. Neither's injury was considered serious, though we'll know more today.

On offense, the new Seahawks regime showed a commitment to getting the ball to the team's most talented offensive players--something that didn't happen in Mike Holmgren's scheme. Nate Burleson had seven catches, tying his career-high as a Seahawk, and John Carlson savaged the Rams' secondary with 6 catches for 95 yards and 2 TDs. If you have John Carlson on your fantasy team, you are almost assuredly a winner this week (unless you also have Jay Cutler).

Matt Hasselbeck had a very shaky start--four of his first six passes were touched by Rams defenders--but he settled in and finished with 25 completions on 36 passes for 279 yards and 3 TDs.

If there was a dark cloud, it was the Seahawks running game. Yes, Julius Jones had 117 yards, but most of that came on one 62-yard TD carry. Take away that run and Jones had just 55 yards on 18 carries, barely a 3-yard-per-carry average. Edgerrin James was worse, getting just 30 yards on 11 carries. The Seahawks' top backs must be able to run the ball better.

Next week, the Hawks will play at undefeated San Francisco in an early battle for division supremacy. The winner will hold a one-game lead in the NFC West race.

Was also the last weekend in which the Huskies won. November 17 and 18, 2007. The Huskies beat Cal 37-23, and the Seahawks beat Chicago 30-23.

Last time the Huskies and Seahawks both won by double-digits: September 8 and 9, 2007. The Huskies beat Boise State 24-10, and the Seahawks beat Tampa Bay 20-6.

Awesome indeed. The quote comes from Husky defensive lineman Daniel Te'o Nesheim, who admitted that those who'd endured the 15-game losing streak weren't entirely sure how to behave upon finishing with more points than the other team. "A couple of us older guys were like, 'What should we do when the clock runs out? Should we go shake hands first? Or should we go sing the song?' It was kind of funny."

A good problem to have, right?

Washington's offense powered this Band Day victory. The Huskies scored touchdowns on six of their first seven offensive drives--three through the air, three on the ground. The Dawgs averaged 6.4 yards per offensive play, their most effective performance since '07 (7.5 ypp in a loss to Arizona).

The overall performance was less impressive, as Idaho gained even more yards than the Huskies did. Granted, Idaho rolled up some garbage time ground, but the Dawgs' major weakness--their pass defense--was apparent to all 58,980 fans.

The primary problem is that the Huskies' defensive line does not... (more)

I'd like to take a moment to remember the 20th anniversary of one of the most satisfying wins in Seahawks history, their 1988 Week 1 victory at Mile High Stadium over the Denver Broncos.

It was only the Hawks' third win in Denver in ten tries, and first since 1982.

Said Seahawks safety (and current KIRO pre-game talker) Paul Moyer post-game to the P-I: "It's probably one of the most emotional wins I've ever had, just because we've been waiting all year for this game and we've gone through so much in (training) camp."

The game was played in front of a super-charged 75,698 Mile High crowd--angry and aggrieved over insults Brian Bosworth had hurled at their hero, John Elway. In his book The Boz: Confessions of a Modern Anti-Hero (co-written with Rick Reilly, who attended the game), Bosworth referred to Elway as Mr. Ed, and wrote of Elway "If I had a gun I would have killed him."

Art Thiel reported that Bronco fans held a "Beat the Boz" event, where you could bash a VW beetle with Bosworth's face on it.

On the field,... (more)

Pink salmon are returning from the ocean to spawn, as they do every other year, and they are numerous. This morning I hitched a ride with CHS fishing specialist Justin Carder to West Seattle Blog's neighborhood, to the beach at Lincoln Park.

The sun was shining, a few boats drifted by with poles off the stern. We were 15 minutes from downtown Seattle.

About a dozen fishermen lined the shore, and about two dozen fish were caught in the two hours I was there. The daily limit is two salmon, with an additional two pink allowed, but Carder finessed only some seaweed on this trip. A recent transplant from Michigan collected two pinks, another guy had three by the time I left.

Your #3-ranked Washington Huskies volleyball team is, as I write this, facing #9 Minnesota in the "Tampa Twice" tournament. Should you wish to watch the game, you can do so using the link on the tournament page. The game began at about 3:10 p.m. our time.

Doing so will cost you $9.95, the price of a monthly subscription to the University of South Florida' multimedia site. If you don't want to pay diddly, you can follow the live chat, or the graphical live stats display.  

You can also get updates via Twitter from the UW Volleyball Twitter, @UWVolleyball.

The UW volleyballers also play tomorrow at 3 p.m. PST, their opponent will be #4-ranked Florida. The same viewing options will be available then.

Not to toot my own horn, but are you going to be memorialized forever at Qwest Field? Unless you are a Sounders season ticket holder (or Steve Largent), no you will not!

Got an email from the Sounders this week asking me to confirm the spelling of my name, they say they are planning a permanent display to honor inaugural season ticket holders.

The display will be unveiled October 24, when the Sounders host Dallas in the final regular season game of the year. Let's hope that the display is sweet--and that the Sounders won't later cover it up with bleachers, like the Mariners did with the commemorative bricks in centerfield.

Other Sounders news--the official U.S. Open Cup championship t-shirts are available at the team shops. I guess a t-shirt is pretty cool, but I'll take my name on a trophy any day.

Matt Barkley, who is perfect in every way

While I hope the Husky football team isn't looking past the Vandals to the next week's matchup against USC, we fans are under no such limitations. Thus, I point you to this fawning piece about USC true freshman quarterback Matt Barkley, who is apparently the greatest human being in world history.

According to Mandel, Barkley "reminds you of a young Joe Montana."

Barkley's private quarterback tutor (??!!!??) says: "Once every so many years, you find this one person that has something, you can't explain it, but you feel it."

Hmmm. I know that feeling, I think it's called love. 

Which is something Barkley wouldn't know anything about! He's more chaste than Tim Tebow. Actual quote from Barkley: "Girls? No, I don't associate with them."

More chaste than Jesus, actually, who was buddies with Mary Magdalene.

Moving on from personal magnetism and celibacy, Barkley is apparently a very advanced quarterback. He has the physical tools at 6-2, 230 lbs., but he also has the all-important... (more)

The middle-aged black lady sitting one row below me in the Memorial Stadium grandstand yesterday let loose a long sigh after another Garfield pass fell incomplete.

"Ever since I've known Garfield football," she said, "which has been, like, centuries--they can't throw!"

A perspicacious observation, which mirrors my own experience with the Bulldogs' gridiron efforts. (Granted, one former Garfield QB is now in the NFL, but from what I'm told he was more of a runner in high school.)

So how odd then that Garfield's first touchdown, which may end up as the most entertaining football play I'll see all season, was a pass.

On third down, Bulldogs running back Valentino Coleman received a screen pass at his own 25 yard line and began an Odyssey to the end zone. First, you must understand that Coleman is 6-1, 240 lbs. Not so much a lithe sprinter gliding through space as a lumberer who's going to perk up the seismograph.

Coleman was big enough to break through the two arm tackles the Inglemoor linebackers attempted,... (more)

Mike Teel

On the eighth anniversary of 9/11 (I was working in Manhattan at the time, the first plane flew right over my head) Steve Kelley relates Seahawks third-string QB Mike Neel's story of the day and its aftermath.

Neel's father Mike Sr. was a Port Authority cop; 39 of his colleagues died that day. Senior had been working an accident on the George Washington Bridge at the time of the attack, he arrived after the towers collapsed and was unharmed. His family didn't know that, though, until he finally took a break from trying to rescue his doomed co-workers and called home at 6 p.m.

Teel tells Kelley of the wait: "There was just no information. There was so much anxiety. We were just praying and hoping."

Senior stayed at the site for days after, working on the futile rescue effort. Some amazing stuff, check it out.

The University of Idaho has an awful football program. How could they not? Existing in the shadows of a far more successful in-state team is bad enough -- ask Auburn (Alabama), Iowa State (Iowa) or Vanderbilt (Tennessee). But at least those states have people in them. Relying on regional powerhouse Boise State's discards when your whole state has fewer residents than Greater Milwaukee is not a recipe for success.

Idaho coach Robb Akey will not let you leave this lot without the car of your dreams

Thus Idaho's coaches, headed by former Wazzu defensive coordinator Robb "Have I Got a Car for You" Akey, scour the other 49 states for talent. And they do a fine job: They found their starting quarterback in Nebraska. Their starting running back: Arkansas. Their top returning tackler: California.

Considering that Moscow, Idaho, is not exactly an air travel hub, Akey's staff must spend their lives on planes. (Can one even book a flight from Idaho to Arkansas? Wouldn't Orbitz just explode?) In fact, I guarantee that at... (more)

The great 2009 Tweeps-Off between Husky hoopsters Matthew Bryan-Amaning (@MBALIVE11) and Isaiah Thomas (@it_thomas) ended this morning with Bryan-Amaning reaching the magic 500 followers mark. MBA passed the mark at 2:36 a.m. today (10:36 a.m. in London, where the British native is at the moment).

As per the bet, Isaiah Thomas will have his head shaved bald--on video, which will be posted to YouTube. Presumably this will happen when MBA returns to the states in a couple of days.

Bryan-Amaning also promised to give a signed jersey to one of his Tweeps should he win. (Thomas had promised to give away his jersey from last March's NCAA tourney game vs. Purdue). Fingers crossed, maybe it'll be me!

"Gaah! The suck vortex is reaching critical mass! Don't let them cross streams! They must not cross streams!!!"

RANT ALERT: PLEASE MOVE ALONG....

Seriously. Kenny G, stop haunting me. Back in the dark late-80s Mariner days, if they didn't have someone to sing the National Anthem, they would replay a version Kenny G had done on opening day. WHICH WAS LIKE FIVE MINUTES LONG! Kenny G, we get it, you have incredible breath control. Why don't you try free diving instead of torturing us with your music???!!!???!!!

Perhaps spurred by the horror of four minutes of Kenny G before an even more horrific three hours of Mariner baseball, when I was in high school I used to take Kenny G records out of the jazz section of "The Wherehouse" (which Castle Porn Store is on Broadway now) and move them into ... I don't know where I moved them, actually. But out of jazz. It remains unconscionable to categorize what Count Basie plays and what Kenny G plays as the same.

Phew, that felt good. In conclusion, I never want to see Miguel... (more)

The M's have replaced their bats with those little wooden replicas, I guess, because they go down so quickly I'm never home in time to see the game. Tonight: Five hits. No baserunners past second. Ryan Rowland-Smith pitched well, but even 1986 Doc Gooden would lose with this offense. Ichiro was 0-4, he's still four hits shy of 200 on the year, and the Japanese media horde will continue to follow him. Box score.

The M's are en route to Texas, tomorrow it'll be Luke French vs. Kevin Millwood.

Garfield High junior Tony Wroten, who if you've read this blog even in just the last five days you'll know is the #1 basketball player in the country, has decided to play football this season. His prep football career started out well last Saturday, catching 7 passes for 63 yards and TD, and making two interceptions. Garfield won the game, their first win in two seasons.

Wroten, who's about 6-4 and can jump out of the gym, will play his second game tonight when Garfield plays Inglemoor at 5 p.m. at Memorial Stadium. Inglemoor is 0-1, having lost their season opener to Juanita.

Wroten isn't the Bulldogs hoopster excelling on the football team--basketball guard Pierre Wright had 97 yards rushing in the season opener. Des'Juan Newton, another member of the hoops team, plays football as well.

Inglemoor, picked to finish third in their division by Kingco coaches, will be a tougher test for the Bulldogs.

If you do go to the game, stick around for the 7:45 p.m. nightcap: Skyline vs. Ballard. It won't be much of a game,... (more)

Congrats to Team Smile of Seattle, which won the World Hardcourt Bicycle Polo Championship this weekend in Philadelphia. Team Smile defeated Ballz Deep of East Vancouver--both clubs represent Cascadia Bike Polo.

I don't really have any more additional information, being unable to find any descriptions of the final event. However, I do have this terrific photo of the boys from Team Smile, courtesy of photographer Mark Schoneveld (flickr/blog).

 

Last Friday night, while you were enjoying your wine bar or experimental theater or ginormous music festival, I went in search of the pleasures of small-town America: A Friday night high school rivalry football game.

Montesano and Elma have played 148 times

I found it in Montesano, a logging town of 3,000 that's halfway between Olympia and the coast. Sitting at Geppetto's Sports Bar on Pioneer Avenue before the game, I overheard the type of conversation that assured me I was truly in a small town.

One bar patron turns to another.

Patron #1: "Hear about Bob Timmons*?"

Patron #2: "Nope."

Patron #1: "Dead!"

Of cancer, he related, and so the small-town gossip went, touching on various forms of cancer suffered by people in town.

The guy sitting next to me leans in and says "So, how do you like it? This is what you get in a small town--everyone knows everybody's business."

They even knew my business. I challenge anyone to sit in a bar in Montesano, Washington, and not have your business known by the time... (more)

New Twitterer Isaiah Thomas and Matthew Bryan-Amaning of the Husky basketball team are in a race to get to 500 Twitter followers (I prefer "Tweeps"). The loser of the battle has to go bald: "Razor clean bald!!!" as Quincy Pondexter, who arranged the contest, puts it.

MBA was originally hesitant to participate: "no1 in london has twitter and IT is the home town kid," he pointed out. But now the battle is joined.

The gamesmanship has begun, as Bryan-Amaning this morning offered team-signed Husky gear to two lucky followers if he wins.

Pertinent Twitter feeds:

Matthew Bryan-Amaning: @MBALive11

Isaiah Thomas: @it_thomas

Quincy Pondexter: @QuincyPondexter

For only the ninth time since 1998, the Seahawks won't have Walter Jones at left tackle in a game. Jones is still recovering from two surgeries on his left knee in the past nine months. Center Chris Spencer will also miss the game. Coach Mora said Jones and Spencer could both play in Week 2 at San Francisco.

Your cobbled-together O-Line for Saturday: LT Sean Locklear, LG Rob Sims, C Steve Vallos, RG Max Unger, RT Ray Willis. 

Career NFL Starts: Locklear 53; Sims 20; Vallos 5; Unger 0, Willis 10. 

Hrm. Let's hope zone-blocking really works its magic.

In other starting news, Justin Griffith will start at fullback over Owen Schmitt. Griffith's in his seventh NFL season, he played for the Raiders the past two seasons and played for Jim Mora in Atlanta.

The Seattle Times ran their Seahawks preview section today--here's the lead story, about the changes Mora has made to the team. You can get to the rest of the stories from the box on the side. The section seems to be written for a general audience, there'... (more)

The Tacoma Rainiers lost the first game of their best-of-five playoff series against Sacramento last night. The key play, as reported by TNT's Don Ruiz, was a first-inning fly ball that Tacoma LF Prentice Redman stopped chasing because he thought CF Jerry Owens had called him off. In fact, Owens was telling him that he had room.

"I just need to clear the peanut butter out of my ears,” Redman told Ruiz after the game.

Tacoma starter Chris Seddon absorbed the loss.

Game 2 is tonight at 7 p.m. Chad Reineke (9-4, 4.75 ERA) will pitch for Sacramento. Garrett Olson (2-3, 4.94) pitches for the Rainiers.

Ichiro had a third-inning single to get within four hits of 200, but his groundout to third with the tying run on deck ended the game. Ian Snell just barely made it into the sixth inning after a four-run Angels first inning. Jack Wilson didn't play; he had the flu. In other news, Brandon Morrow will start for the M's--not Tacoma--on Friday.

In conclusion, here are funny pictures of Mike Sweeney posing as Ichiro.

Michael Jordan has chosen ex-Sonic David Thompson to introduce him at the Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremony Friday, causing much confusion. Thompson played at NC State, but Jordan was a UNC guy. Jordan's public image has remained squeaky clean (his gambling habit largely ignored in this era of MegaMillions), while Thompson's career flamed out due to substance abuse. Bethlehem Shoals of The Sporting News does a great job of explaining what Jordan's pick of Thompson means.

Jordan and Thompson met for the first time right here in the Emerald City. Take it away, Marc Spears of Yahoo Sports:

Thompson met Jordan for the first time during the 1984 Final Four in Seattle. Jordan was there to receive a National Player of the Year award while Thompson was in the midst of the final season of his NBA career with the Seattle SuperSonics.

"My friend took a picture of us together while saying, 'These are the two best to ever play in the ACC,' Thompson said. "A couple years later he ran into Michael and had the picture...

For the first time, both the Huskies and Seahawks start the season with a new coach. New Husky head man Steve Sarkisian opened with a loss last week, which UW fans were cool with given that a team that didn't win a game last year played powerhouse LSU tough.

Unlike Sarkisian, who comes from USC, new Seahawks coach Jim Mora is a local guy. He grew up here while his father was a UW assistant coach, attending Interlake High in Bellevue. He later walked-on and played four years for the Huskies, appearing in two Rose Bowls.

You'd think a local guy might get more slack than a Cali import. No way.

Seahawk fans (many of whom are also Husky fans) will emphatically not be happy should the Mora era open with a loss. For Mora has drawn the lowly St. Louis Rams.

After making the playoffs five times from 1999-2004 (and beating the Seahawks five out of seven games), the Rams began to decline. They fell in the past two seasons, winning just five games total. They now actually have a losing record for the decade.

NEW RAMS... (more)

Sounders star Freddie Ljungberg flew to London over the weekend try to convince Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger to take him back, the Daily Mirror reports.

Now he's back in Seattle, but he won't comment on who he spoke to, nor will he say what his plans are.

An Arsenal spokesperson also refused to comment.

Obviously Sounders fans would be a little wary of Ljungberg playing again for an top European club team--we saw what happened with David Beckham, who tipped his toe in and found he liked the water better. No he's just a part-time player for L.A.

Ljungberg did tell the Times' Jose Miguel Romero what he likes about playing in the U.S.--anonymity (or is it the lack of fashion sense?): "It's a totally different lifestyle for me ... I can walk in a track suit and look like [expletive] and I can walk my dog, and nobody minds."

Will the ability to walk in a track suit be enough to offset the thrill of playing European club soccer? (And the money that would come with it?) Stay tuned.

OTHER SOUNDERS NEWS:

Kasey Keller was... (more)

Washington doesn't play Arizona State until October 17, but already I'm a little terrified of Sun Devils linebacker Vontaze Burfict. A true freshman, the 6-3, 245 Burfict was the consensus #1 linebacker in the class of '09. This hit Burfict lays on the Idaho St. QB will show you why. Good lord.