KLAY Radio Sports Blog

Things I Don't Get

2012-02-05T21:52:00.001-08:00

Every day I wake up, get going, shuffle to, through and back from my day at least a little more baffled than I was when I finished the previous day. This has nothing to do with how gripping or riveting my typical day is. They mostly aren't. My days are not real complex either. The work part of my day is pretty much as expected, unsurprising. The news, weather and personal business stuff is usually expected stuff as well. I, like many others out there look to my sports as source of if not drama then certainly entertainment.

I have to admit that as comfortable as I am with my spectator sports of choice, there are a few details I just don't get. Most are so minute in significance that I tend to blow by them as fast as I notice them. But nonetheless, over time these elements of my favorite, most relaxing times keep stacking up. The questions come at me at a rate doubling the answers. So I struggle to come to grips with these life altering, intellectual stumpers. I need help, and the only way to get help is to share. So this is the basketball edition of a few things I REALLY don't get.....

1) Why does EVERY single college basketball coach wear a suit? At a recent UW-Stanford game every non player on both benches wore a black or dark gray suit. The Cardinal appeared to be coached by pall bearers. And maybe if coaches wore Khakis, polo shirts and Adidas they wouldn't have to be paid $2.5 million per year. And don't they have, ya know, managers anymore? If they do, they are all wearing suites too!

2) Why do basketball players slap the shooters hand after he shoots a free throw, even when he misses?. Husky watchers see a tremendous amount of hand slapping. This slapping (kind of a very cool, sloppy mid level five) goes on endlessly. The hand slaps appear equally uninspired regardless of whether they follow a made or missed free throw. Why slap at all? Maybe it is just out of sensitivity to Aziz N'Diaye.

3) Do the stats guys at hoops games really try to keep track of turn overs? The USC-Husky game was as sloppy as they get and with 6:30 left they had the Dawgs with 14 TO's. Really felt like that many in the first half. Had to be some reason the Dawgs had 29 in the first half against a really weak team.

4) Does anything really constructive happen during a time out in a college hoops game? Hard to believe it if it does. No less than 2-3 guys in those suits (see above # 1) , waving their arms all talking at the same time (see any family dinner scene in any Woody Allen movie) directing these blustering, bombasting ravings at five young men. Those five young man are so exhausted they can hardly sit up let alone listen to the rantings of the suits. Oh, and if they tried real hard it is doubtful they could actually hear anything anyway. But watch those coaches, every time out they go off like Indian reservation Roman candles.

5) Coaches also often spend much of the time out time talking to each other. As silly as this seems it may well be to the benefit of the players for the coaches to just stay away during these breaks.
Whatever the reason and regardless of what they are talking about, I really don't understand this either.

6) I do NOT get at all why a foul committed by an offensive player while dribbling or shooting the ball is called a "player control foul". The player who commits the foul is obviously NOT in control. So yes, the correct term would be "player OUT of control foul".

7) Why oh why do some referees put their arm around a player's waist when he is talking to the player during a break in the action? I am sure the ref is explaining some nuance of officiating but I have never watched this with any comfort. In this day and age I would think these guys would just strive to keep their hands off each other. I am sure it is a harmless gesture of respect and friendship but the two inevitably end up looking like badly mismatched prom dates. I don't get why they cant talk face to face. Hands off.

8) Male cheer leaders

9) With today's technology why do cameramen (or women) have to sit on the baseline two feet from the action putting their equipment (personal AND camera) at serious risk? EVERY single game I go to involves at least one occurrence of a 6'8" 240 pounder stumbling out of bounds under the basket jamming a camera through the eye and into the frontal lobe of the camera man. It is really surprising serious injuries don't result from these collisions on a regular basis. During the timeouts the cheer leader close ups are plenty, avoid those flying power forwards.

I guess that covers it for now. There is so much I DO get that this little stuff is really of no consequence. But after 50+ years of watching and participating in hundreds and hundreds of games it seems I should really get everything. I don't.

PAC-12 Big Time Football?

2011-10-22T15:34:00.001-07:00

I sit here in the 75 degree Palo Alto sun at Stanford Stadium anticipating a REALLY big time PAC-12 football game. Waiting for this spanking new stadium to fill up for a rare sell out featuring Stanford and our Dawgs I scan the PAC-12 football landscape and wander if this is really BIG time or not.

The PAC-10 has always had a couple of elite teams…UWC, Oregon and earlier UW, UCLA and USC. But the real strength, during those stronger years came form the others. Every year we could count on Cal, Stanford, Arizona State to pop up and pop the top team. Every year we saw 3-4 in the top 25 nationally. Now that this conference has two additional teams we ponder…what happened? This is BIG time?

The two new guys Colorado (expected to be bad) and Utah (expected to contend) have both been just not very good. Going into today 0-7 in the conference the only big score for either program is snagging one twelfth of that bazillion dollar TV contract. But in addition to those two UCLA, Oregon State, Cal even Arizona are all considered below average teams. In fact the PAC looks like the big two (Stanford and Oregon) the OK three (Ariz St., UW, USC) and gulp…the less than marginal seven. That is right, the PAC looks like it is more than 50% not too good. Less than half the teams seem to have what passes for respectability.

We will see if our Dawgs can do it on these Trees. Regardless of what happens here the new PAC may not be so packed.

2011-09-01T18:16:00.001-07:00

Tradition, College Football???

(not so much)

Tradition provides stability in our lives. Traditions are expected, they bring comfort. Some traditions are more habit than tradition. Telling someone who you barely know or don't care much about "good to see ya" is probably more habit. Smoking, spitting; habit. Christmas trees, carols, turkey; tradition. Texas-Texas A&M football on Thanksgiving Day; tradition.

Fiddler on The Roof's Tevye said it best; "Without our traditions, our lives would be as shaky as... as... as a fiddler on the roof!" So dos anyone out there think college athletic directors and presidents study or understand this tradition stuff? Do they even know who Tevye is, or was?

Recently Texas A&M announced it will most likely leave the Big-12 Conference in 2012. A&M playing in the Southeast Conference as rumored would be as traditional as Nebraska playing in the Big-10, or for that matter the Big-10 not having 10 teams. Reality is that college football traditions just aren't that traditional anymore. And it is the programs themselves sweeping those traditions away. The Big-8, the SWC? You can find those traditional conferences filed away with Continental Airlines and SeaFirst Bank.

And what prgrams are rumored to repopulate the Big-12 football conference. SMU, Houston, TCU? Nope. Most likely would be BYU followed by Louisville and or Pitt. Why not welcome those three Texas programs? Because the current conference layout has the state of Texas television market blanketed. Additional teams need to bring additional TV sets. Geography? Not so traditional anymore.

Things change, but traditions? Traditions are supposed to be…traditional. Husky football is a great Seattle and ~~Pacific Coast Conference~~, ~~AAWU (Athletic Association of Western~~ ~~Universities~~, ~~PAC-8~~, ~~PAC-10~~, PAC-12 tradition. The boat ride to the games still happens, when it is the right time of day. The setting isn't really a tradition, it is geography and it' nice. But Saturday afternoon 12:30 kickoff football? Maybe three times a year. Three days before this season's first game and seven games still show TBD kick off times. Not so traditional, or as traditional as Thursday night football. Is some of this tradition ebb the reason why Husky football season ticket sales are over 2,000 behind last year's level? Maybe.

Are traditions really that important, especially in college football? Athletic directors tend to roll out tradition whenever they seek ticket buyers or donors. College football is starting to behave a little like the NFL, measuring overall success by TV revenue first and foremost.

Tevye asked and answered his own question; "How did our tradition get started?" I'll tell you! I don't know. But it's a tradition... "

Tradition? College football? Not so much.

2011-05-27T22:13:00.001-07:00

2011 M's a Lot or Nothing Like 2010 M's ?

Ok, not true at all. The 2011 Mariners are plenty similar to last year's version. Remember last year's horror story? On Little League days coaches tried to get their players to go to the bathroom or the concession stands when the M's came to bat. They were afraid subjecting young ball players to Mariner hitting might be considered child abuse. Never mind the abuse we M's watching adults suffered.

But this is 2011, a new day, a new way. Oops, that was last year's slogan. The 2011 cry might be "don't believe everything you read, or see".

In the statistical offensive categories of batting average, slugging %, on base %, total bases, RBI, HR, hits and runs the mariners stand either 13^th or 14^th (as in dead last) in the American League. Dead last offensively in the AL is as 2010 as Sandra Bullock's divorce.

But the pitching, that is VERY un 2010 like, right? After all 2010 produced 101 losses. At this point the M's are 24-25 compared to 19-30 last season. As pathetic as 2010 was, the start was the disaster. 49 games in the Ms are playing .490 ball compared to last year's .388. With the offense being equally horrible the pitching must be incredible, right?

Well, reality is the pitching in 2011 has been VERY good. The team ERA through 49 games sits at 3.37 third best in the AL. Pretty darn good! So that is the difference. After all in that horrifying 2010 season the Mariner team ERA was 3.93 which tied Texas for……third in the AL. OK, altogether, HMMMMMMM.

So the 2010 and 2011 Mariner offenses were equally inept and the pitching was relatively equal. What gives? The story has not been written, that is what gives. Last year's team actually played a little better for the last two thirds of the season than the first third. Obviously if the 2011 version can simply (yeah, real simple!) play the way they are now we could see closer to 79 wins than 61. Sleep walking through more than one quarter of stats in college even I understand how much better 79 is than 61.

It is early. We are still several weeks and about 20 degrees away from the arrival of summer. A lot can happen and probably most of it bad. But the good news is here we are! It is late May. Our guys are NOT in last place. Our guys are a game and a half out of first. Our guys have a star pitcher and some young guys who are actually here producing… now… in Seattle… for the Mariners.

This team is very much like last year's team, except where it counts most and that should be good enough for all of us.

For Fans Irrelevance is Irrelevant

2010-08-04T21:25:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we all cried uncle and LeBron James shocked the world announcing his forwarding address as "South Beach". The following morning one of my former favorite national sports guys declared Cleveland's Cavaliers as "irrelevant". Hmmm. The Cavs were not just not good, or no longer contenders, they were NOT RELEVANT. One player sneaks off and a winning team falls off the table. The Cavs are now below the Paris Hilton "who gives a ____" line. Really kind of harsh. Being not relevant is just a cut above no longer exists.

Since that time it seems the adjective relevant is every where. It has blown by sunny, hot, light, athletic, liberal, illegal and even sleazy on the list of popular describers. Just curious, anyone out there really understand what the word means? It means a lot of not good. Things, people and teams that are not relevant are not pertinent, unconnected, have no bearing and unrelated. Being not relevant simply is being completely unimportant. Still not clear? Examples are good.

The four most irrelevant professional sports franchises according to a source (who would name this stuff? Some irrelevant guy) are the St Louis Rams, KC Royals, Charlotte Bobcats and the most irrelevant of all, Pittsburgh's Pirates. Cincinnati Bearcats football coach Brian Kelly when asked about possible interest in the Notre Dame head coaching job declared the position "irrelevant". Kelly may be not interested, busy or even bored with the question but there is little irrelevant about the ND job.

I think I have this figured out. Relevance is applied by notional sports reporters who spend their time and attention sniffing around front running, contending teams and ignoring the rest. Don Mattingly in 1995 played in the only post season series of his entire career. Did anyone declare the Yankees irrelevant during those 14 seasons? Not sure but the Yankees have never been not relevant. So these national sport folks sitting in NY or LA or Bristol Connecticut (talk about irrelevant!) apply relevance as a measure of winning percentage, attendance and especially national attention grabbing. That is why Tampa Bay and the Twins are border line irrelevant and the Cubs are always relevant. Franchises like the Cubs are so relevant that their horribleness and under achieving are by definition relevant.

Even Husky football recovering from a truly horrible four season stretch never saw season tickets drop below 40,000. Not very good but still relevant.

So weep not for Cleveland. The city and its hoops team are being declared irrelevant by everybody. And all that attention makes them....relevant..

PAC-10 Expansions - Huh?

2010-06-13T18:21:00.001-07:00

This "expansion", "realignment" of the PAC-10 has been really feeding sports types with no NBA or local Major League Baseball in existence. to talk or write about. I am glad this dribble has provided something positive. Over the next few days we will answer a few questions about all this ....stuff. Here are a few questions I invented to address the answers I already had:

1) Will this new conference be really COOL or REALLY SUCK?

Not sure but understand this: This really will not be a conference as we know it. If there really are to be 16 teams in the new PAC, it will really be two almost completely separate eight team conferences playing each other with a couple of other games each season involving the other two.

REALLY COOL: If we believe the new conference leadership the TV money will rain from heaven like a Gene Kelley movie. How can we question that? After all the top three new PAC-10 administrators came from men's tennis, women's tennis and the Kansas City Chiefs. Good enough for me!

REALLY SUCKS: Ever heard of a conference where some of the teams visited other conference teams only ten times every Haley's Comet sighting? (every 6-9 seasons) This should stabilize nothing in the long run. With every program getting more money spending will just rise with the tide. College programs already pay top coaches and charge for tickets at NFL levels. In the mid to long term this will do NOTHING. Remember the motto of every coach, " there is never enough". Conclusion is there will never, never, ever be enough money for college athletics.

2) So how will we as fans help establish the new identity of our new "conference"?

What used to be the Pacific Ten Conference will no longer be Pacific, have 10 teams or even be a conference. Other than that nothing changes. What is really happening is that the PAC-10 is transitioning from an athletic conference to a television football cooperative. Yup, think of this as a coop. The new conference will provide all the pride and excitement of a credit union, at best.

REALLY COOL: Ummmm, still just the TV money. See COOL above.

REALLY SUCKS: There are still lots of people especially fans and sports media types (that's everyone, right?) who think this is about alignment, rivalries, tradition, or anything else rational. Keep it simple, this has NOTHING to do with fans, players or anything to do with college and education. And millions will be spent painting new logos on basketball floors, producing new banners for stadiums and printing new stationary. OH GOD, the stationary!!!! And to be accurate, credi unions at least try to control costs.

3) When will this new PAC-10 conference be born, er...happen?

There are TV consultants, athletic leaders, head coaches, university regents, presidents and anybody with a Texas T-shirt involved in these decisions. This could happen any day...in the next year or more.

REALLY COOL: Please, see COOL above

REALLY SUCKS: Elephants will give birth (about 22 months with proper prenatal care) before this happens. Husky fans are more interested and suffereing because there are no major athletic teams currently playing in the Seattle area.

Just remember this: Unlike any other restructure you may have experienced at work or school or even home this has nothing to do with improving quality in any way. All football fans should view this move with the same excitement you would when told that a five cent sales tax increase would make all government debt disappear.

What little good that may come from these conference realignments (see COOL above) will have a shelf life of about three years, maybe four. There will never, never, ever be enough money.

Halley's Comet, Paris Hilton' Talent & Mariners Scoring Runs

2010-05-02T21:39:00.001-07:00

It is May out there and we are a full 15% through the baseball season. After 25 games we have a pretty good idea of how often the Seattle Mariners will actually score 5-6 runs, or enough to win a game. In 1986 Halley's Comet made its last appearance and we are assured that some of us can catch it when it appears again in mid 2061. Yes, some of us may be unavoidably detained 51 years from now but at least we know when it will show up. And that last event, the appearance of Paris Hilton's talent? We really have no idea what we are looking for, when it will appear or if there is any at all. But on the list of rare events, the Seattle Mariners scoring at least five runs is near the top.

In 2009 the Seattle Mariners burst out of the blocks after losing 101 games in 2008. The Ms won eight of their first 11 last year before settling in for a season of very solid pitching (near the AL top) to off set very bad scoring (at the AL bottom). The 2009 M's managed to win 85 games while being outscored by 52 runs. Even the pointiest MIT pin heads tell us that is unusual. Unusual as in only three teams in MLB history have won 85 games while being outscored by 52 runs.That is Paris Hilton talent rare. Unfortunately, for the second season in a row rare is the Mariners scoring runs at any respectable level.

In this past weekend sweep by the Rangers our Ms rang up a total of FOUR runs in three games. That is four runs (three earned) in 32 innings. Yup., that is a three game earned run average of 0.84 by the Rangers. Of course doing that against the Mariners' "offense" requires a foot note. But 0.84? So is this really kind of an anomaly, shouldn't we expect this to right itself and the M's to start scoring and winning any day now? I'm not so sure. As good marketers say, this appears to be a disturbing trend.

In 2009 the Ms scored three runs or less 76 times or in 47% of games played. Not very good as the AL average runs scored per game for the season was 4.82.. Oh yeah? In 51 games or 32% of the 09 season the Ms scored TWO runs or less. When the opposition averages 4.8 runs, scoring two or less is not a plan for success. All right, that was last year and the Ms somehow managed to win 85 games. How about this year? Well, the first word that come to mind is, worse.

So far in 25 games the M's have scored three or fewer runs 14 times or 56% of the games. Two or fewer runs? Ten out of 14 games have seen the Mariners ring up two or fewer runs. At this point in 2009 the run-shy Ms were 15-10 and scored five or more runs in 11 games. This years bunch sits at 11-14 having scored five or more runs five times. The 2009 team rang up 3.95 runs per game against the AL average of 4.82. The 2010 edition is stumbling along at at a 3.54 runs per game clip trailing the AL average of 4.48. The Ms in 2009 scored 18.1% lower than the AL average while this year our guys have deteriorated to 21% behind the crowd. But how bad is it really? Our Mariners rank number 12-14 (14 is last) in the AL in runs, hits, doubles, homers, RBI, total bases, batting average, slugging and OBPS. All but two other teams have at least twice the Mariners' nine homers. OK, had enough?

The good news is that the pitching, especially the starting pitching is as good or better than the offense is bad...or terrible...or horrifying. The Ms finished 2009 with the best pitching (lowest ERA) in the AL.and looks like they are heading that direction again this season. Remember those really bad AL rankings in all those offensive categories? Well the pitching stats stack up 180 degrees the other direction. The Mariners mounds men rank number 1-3 in the AL in ERA, HR, runs, BB, OB, total bases, slugging and WHIP (walks+h per innings pitched).

So we have all figured out that our guys can really pitch and really can't score. So far the results are lots of low scoring games with more losses than wins. The good news is that the AL West looks to be only a few games better than Seattle. So where to go from here. I know, don't panic. But don't nod off either. With Cliff Lee looking really strong and Bedard possibly on the horizon it appears Trader Jack could move some pitching for a bat or two. If not for help for right now then some offense for the future. Offensively the Ms future looks like the present. Help needed.

My money is that three to four more solid, strong starts from one Cliff Lee and teams like Minnesota, Boston, The Mets and others will come calling. Lee will do great things in 2011, but they won't happen in Seattle. The most available commodity our there is position prospects. Seattle has no need to be choosy. A solid hitting 1B, OF or even DH will fill the need. And there are plenty out there. Early June The Z Man will look like some guy on the floor of the Chicago Futures Exchange. The offers will be numerous and they will be generous. Just keep pulling for Cliff Lee. Every time he walks to the mound you are looking at Seattle's next out fielder, DH or even catcher.

And who ever and whatever Seattle gets for Lee it should appear a lot sooner than whatever Paris Hilton has!

Worst 51 Days in Sports

2010-04-25T22:49:00.001-07:00

In the last 51 days the three "biggest", most repeated and over reported stories in sports had almost nothing to do with sports. And absolutely nothing to do with competition.

March 5 an NFL QB named Roethesberger allegedly "approached" a young woman in a bar called The Velvet Elvis. This happened somewhere in Georgia. Oh yeah, Big Ben allegedly had a body part exposed that had not business being "out and about". What happened after that is as fuzzy as...well, just fuzzy.

On Thursday April 8, also in Georgia (coincidence only) the PGA teed up its snootiest tourney of the year, The Masters. The story leading up to and through that tournament was all about some guy who apparently suffers from and is attempting to recover from a sexual addiction.

Lump these three griping, riveting events together treated us to 51 days of less than Paris Hilton level sports attention grabbers. Every day, week and month of our lives we depend on the folks on TV, radio, blogs and newspaper and magazine writers to deliver our sports. In those 51 days 30 NBA teams played 225 basketball games. The 30 Major League Baseball teams managed to sneak the season's first 278 games by most of us. So what did we get for those 51 days? We got:

-Tiger Woods may be or have been addicted to sex. He might have spent time at a Mississippi sex addiction rehabilitation facility. I know, use your imagination.

-25% of all men and 17% of all women are reported to be unfaithful. We assume that does NOT include clergy and politicians

- Many were impressed and won over by Tiger's apology and "facing this thing head on". Tiger shares one thing in common with all other males who came forward with their transgressions. That's right, they were all caught. We are still waiting for the first athlete, actor, politician to apologize for cookie jar groping WITHOUT getting caught first.

- Tiger may not be addicted at all. His behavior was actually reported as fairly normal by

some experts. It was however, considered serious when it started flushing mega million dollar endorsement deals.

Ben Roethesberger was suspended for four games...or more...or less for behavior unbecoming, or something like that.

-Big Ben will receive counseling and treatment that is recommended by professional evaluators. These evaluators we hope are NOT the same ones who convinced your mortgage company that your 1500 sq ft rambler was worth $695,000.

- Thank GOD the commissioner, Roger Goodell will personally review Ben's "progress". No word on how he will actually recognize progress.

-It is assumed part of Ben's rehab will bar him form drinking in any establishment with a name containing either Velvet or Elvis. That CAN be monitored.

-If the statement by the Ben's accuser is true he may also be required to study the after football life of Lance Rentzel. Give Ben credit, at least what he showed he showed to a female older than the age of 10.

On April 11 the NFL completed the 2010 draft. The picks, ESPN coverage and commissioner Roger Goodell were all praised to dizzying levels. Before this is all done someone is going to name an airport for Goodell. He was exalted for:
- His release of a "new, improved schedule". Don't ask me, I have no idea what that means.
- His suspension of Ben Roethesberger. Hmmmm, I don't see the brilliance but I guess it is there somewhere.
-Goodell presided over the most "successful" draft in history. He was even hugged by several draftees. I think I know what a successful draft means for a given team but for the entire NFL? I guess the TV audience excited somebody. The result was still 250+ guys got drafted. And another 450 + rookie free agents will be invited to camps to serve as pre season game fodder. And fans will pay big bucks to see them before they take their real estate license tests.

OK so where does this all leave us? It leaves us pondering what happened to those 51 days of actual sports contests. Ya know, with plays, action, scores....RESULTS. It is time for all of us fans to put an end to this. We must demand focus on games, scores, results. That is what makes sports unique. The rest is no different than politics, entertainment industry and even financial giant celebrities.

C'mon sports guys, report on sports, ya know... games.

2010 Mariners? It Depends

2010-04-04T23:05:00.001-07:00

The best thing about baseball returning is that it is baseball. And that is pretty good.

The 2010 baseball predictions are out now. All the fantasy tip sheets are out. So are the 2010 baseball preview editions of Sports Illustrated, Sporting News, ESPN, CBSportsline. and so on. Only Oprah's book club has yet to weigh in. And if we know the grand one, she will wait until the All-Star break.The wind in the trees has the M's finishing third, maybe second in the AL West. And mostly the view is the Mariners will NOT make the playoffs. MVP will continue to be GM Jack Zduriencik. Trader Jack has brought confidence to the franchise maybe as much as talent. Of course it may say something when the face of the team becomes the GM. So what about the 2010 Mariners? Will they be better than the 2009 edition? In technical marketing terms, "IT DEPENDS".

I really don't like the metrics people who are so convinced that numbers are everything that even AFTER the season will tell me the Mariners really should NOT have won 85 game. There is nothing better in sports than a professional team actually over-achieving, doing as well or even better than they can. For the second time in three seasons (2007 88 wins) that is exactly what sabre dweebs claim our M's did. Actually it seems these declarations only surface after the M's have a winning season. Nobody assured us after the 2008 season that those 101 loses were really just a figment of a bad dream. Well, the figment was real enough, but unfortunately it was no dream. One fact from the satisfying 2009 season should cause some concern. Only three teams in the history of baseball have won 85 games while being outscored on the season as badly as the M's were in 2009 So how about this years M's? Yeah, it depends.

In 2009 The Seattle Mariners in broad terms possessed one of the very best pitching staffs in the American League. In almost every meaningful team category (except blown saves) the M's were in the top three of the 14 AL teams. The M's also put together a solid, better than average defense.The offensive production was exactly the opposite of the pitching. Starting with DEAD LAST (yes even behind Kansas City) in runs scored, in every meaningful offensive statistic our guys were 12th, 13th or last in the league. Of course after runs scored, the rest of the statistics are just noise. So what did our Mariners do to insure a happier 2010? Jack went out and "rebuilt with pitching and defense". No issues with that here. Our guys play at Safeco Field and pitching and D are mothers milk if you play at Safeco. But if the Mariners are really going to be better than last year.....

So where are we really? We won't spend much time on pitching. There is no reason why this year's bullpen won't be better than last year's bunch. this is a lot to like about Lowe and League so much that Aardsma better hit the deck running. Any of those three are closer type guys and all throw hard. Shawn Kelley is intriguing enough that he has even been considered as a starter. With nobody over 28 years old this bunch should be solid and and should improver.

The starting rotation may be a little more dramatic, but should deliver. Until Cliff Lee gets healthy it may seem like Felix, R-R Smith and the Three Dwarfs, but it could be worse. Washburn and Bedard's 2.82 ERA will be missed but Vargas, Fister, Snell and that strong pen should keep the pitching side of things above water. Adding Cliff Lee and Bedard a month into the season could put the M's arms right at the top.

The offense could be, well, a little offensive. The Mariners didn't really lose that much from last year's team but barely added enough to offset those loses. Russel Branyan's 76 RBI, 31 HR, .867 OBPS were all team leading or close to it. Beltre's bat faded in 2009 but we will weep for his glove. Whatever we thought about Branyan, his numbers have not been replaced. Adding Figgins really raises the quality on the bases. Figgins on base % is 100 over his batting average ((Ichiro barely 35) and should make a real difference. Other than Figgins fans must hope Kotchman has a good year and Milton Bradley avoids counseling and actually plays in more than 126 games for the second time in his career. It is not unreasonable to expect more from the SS, catcher DH and left field positions than last year, but how much can we really count on? The other troubling data is that in 2009 Ichiro (.352 BA) Jose Lopez (25 HR, 96 RBI, .463 SLG) and Gutierrez (.283, 18 HR, 70 RBI) all had career or in Ichiro's case near career years. So, the best anyone should hope for is those three approach 2009 performance levels. And even with those three great seasons, the offense was, nowhere..

The American League was actually a very balanced bunch in 2009. Only three teams won 95 or more and only three teams lost 95 or more. No team lost 100 games and only the Yanks won 100 (103). The Mariners should be so lucky again this year.

So what really does all this mean? Well, it depends. If the M's all play well, a couple of guys have better than average offensive seasons, the pitching is solid with Lee and Bedard contributing AND ZERO major injuries.....then the Mariners should do about what they did last year. 82-86 wins and second or third behind the Angels.

That is still pretty good and it is still baseball.

NCAA Hoops Tourney - Fake Drama?

2010-03-21T23:02:00.001-07:00

So is all this drama provided by the NCAA men's basketball tournament really kind of fake drama?. No….well, maybe. Oh the drama on the courts is real enough. Lots of games between teams that don't play each other often while show-casing plenty of talent has provided very real excitement. Of course this drama goes on all season but until the seeds are set and the brackets are set most "fans" are on the sidelines. But how much of this drama is real drama?

First there is no question that the Northern Iowa upset of Kansas was a shocker. Use any word you like that was drama. But much or even most of the surpriseing results were not really that surpirising. Cornell in the round of sixteen? Shocking! Cornell, a 12 seed beat Temple, a five seed then knocked off fourth seeded Wisconsin. So why were these smarty pants Ivey Leaguers only four point underdogs in both those games? Do gamblers, REAL gamblers know more than these committee guys who do the seeding? It appears they do. Not that gamblers know what is happening, they just know that the difference between a three or four seed and a twelve or elevn seed is not much. As in very little. And those blathering windbags on FOX, ESPN, CBS, etc? They are worse than everybody. They actually get paid big bucks to masquaraede aswledgeable people. The reality is that all of us watching games on TV in bars for the last three months would aquire more forsight than the "pros". So after two rounds, 49 games (including the ridiculous "winner in" game) how much real drama have we seen?

Northern Iowa. A nine seed beating the number one team is a Haley's Comet kind of deal. This sort of thing rarely happens. But beyond that the results so far really just reflect ther is not much to choose from among the teams seeded numbers three through 12. Washington's Huskies, an 11 seed faced a six and a three, yet was favored by one over New Mexico (#3) and even against Marquette. Hmmmm, that 11 seed Cindarella stuff seems a little over rated. Murray St. a 13 upset Vandy, a 4 and yet was only a four point under dog. We really all need to just get a grip. Northern Iowa after thrashing UNLV 69-66 slipped by Kansas 69-67. Get it? This is why the regular season should count much more than it does. Single games in basketball rarely are meaningfull for the long run.

In 32 first round games there were 15 games with spreads of four points or less and 13 with spreads of 10 or more. There were only four teams seeded three or four that were favored by 10 or more points. So why are teams playing 14 and 13 seeds favored by so little? Because these teams aren't really much different.

For months we have heard and read of seedings, who could get a five instead of a six if they get hot. Or who really deserves a seven instad of an eight. What does it really mean? NOTHING! Nothing at all. Any fellow Husky fans think for one minute that third seeded New Mexico is even close to as good as sixth seeded Marquette?

So here we are. All this "chaos" and all these "giant killers".With sixteen teams left we have six teams seeded either one or two. Yes, we also have one each numbers 9, 10, 11 and 12. Nothing really shocking here. Per normal the 16 teams seeded 13-16are all gone now. Murray State (#13) and Ohio (#14)each snatched a first round win . That is a 2-14 record for the bottom feeders. About right. And there is a very good chance (better than even money) that all Elite Eight teams could be either one or two seeds. So what do seeds really mean? Seeds mean everything and nothing.

So if you are seeking excitement, fun office pools and prtty good college hoops then this tourney is for you. If you are looking for real drama go to Broadway. The drama is real and the tickets are cheaper.

Hacker / spam problems

2010-03-13T11:40:00.001-08:00

I am very sorry, something or somebody has hacked into my email (bmbr70@yahoo.com). I am trying to shut this down. Many of those on my contact list have received emails NOT from me over the last few days.

I am trying to fix this (if any of you have any bright ideas I would apprciate any help).

In the interim I must apologize and suggest you not even open email from this address.

My regrets
Mike

dominique maurer

2010-03-13T09:07:00.003-08:00

http://businessavenuenetwork.com/annie.html

karim mostefa

2010-03-13T09:07:00.001-08:00

http://kfwerp.com/amel.html

laura conges

2010-03-10T15:31:00.001-08:00

http://dogagozculeri.org/ouarda.html

WSU Hiring Grand Slam

2010-02-25T21:22:00.001-08:00

Finally Washington State Cougar athletics warranted a headline NOT related to criminal activity or losing, losing and more losing. The school "over there" picked up an individual so skilled, so dynamic and so "full of pizzazz" that Cougars everywhere are swooning, even slobbering. So who is this quarterback, this rocket five star running back, this flying small forward? Who is this guy? He is 59 year old Bill Moos. Yup, the guy generating all this lather is a 59 year old athletic director.

Does it say something about a major university athletic program if the hottest breaking news is the hiring of an athletic director? Yeah, and it doesn't say much very good. First let's get a few things straight. There is no reason why Bill Moos can't succeed at WSU. His first and biggest job may well have nothing to do with fund raising. It may have a lot to do with hiring a football coach.

Back to Bill. Lots of nice things happened at Oregon during the Moos era. However it is important to note that more than just the foundation of success was in place years prior to Bill's 1994 arrival. Two individuals made Moos as pilot a pretty manageable job.

First and foremost is Rich Brooks, head football coach. Brooks brought the Ducks out the weeds and into tall cotton with bowl games four times in the eight seasons prior to Moos' arrival. That included a Rose Bowl appearance. Ducks football was playing winning football and ready to start fleecing fans and the state like any respectable athletic program. And when it comes to no-fleecing- required boosters who let's the dough fly as much and more often than Phil Knight. Any program would love to have just one guy like Uncle Mc$woosh.

Bill Moos did a great job of leveraging those two very real engines to really make things happen, but the field was plowed. Bill just harnessed it. Many credit Mike Lude for building the UW program but in reality, he followed the Don James hiring and really only succeeded in generating maximum money from football. Neither Moos nor Lude did much for other sports. After early promise Ernie Kent has let Ducks hoops backwards. Oregon just recently restarted its baseball program.

There is no doubt that the Moos hiring looks good, but expectations need management. We don't need to go back to far in history to recall the excitement generated by a few local hires:

"The national search ended with a terrific regional hire".

"…it appears as if most are thrilled with the choice of Eastern Washington's head man."

"He has all of the qualities to be a Cougar head coach," "I'm happy for him and happy for Washington State. It's going to be a good marriage."

OK, you guessed that was all about the hiring two short years ago of Paul Wulf. More?

" I have observed him…I have been impressed with his dedication to the profession, his knowledge of the game and the tremendous amount of credibility he has throughout the campus, the Pullman community, the state and the nation."

"I have also been impressed with the way they (the WSU players) play with their heart and soul for the coach … That is something money can't buy."

You win, the Bill Doba hiring. OK, one more:

Dennis Green, Arizona Cardinals head coach and former Stanford head coach:
"The University of Washington is extremely fortunate to be hiring Tyrone Willingham".

Warren Moon, Former UW Quarterback, 1978 Rose Bowl MVP:"This is an outstanding hire. Tyrone is a person of incredible integrity, and incredible character…"

And now......"Moos hiring a grand slam". and Moos as a "..59 year old rock star" (which means he could play a SUper Bowl half time).

What makes a great athletic director? Simple, raise lots of money, oversee wide spread winning by all athletic teams, guide football to a position of increased revenue generation, oversee the enhancement, expansion and building of athletic facilities. That is the simple expectation Moos will be measured against. Ya know, put the football team into national prominence, build new facilities for women's teams, and roost annually in the top 20 in NCAA all sports.

And if Bill Moos can do all that, he might actually be compared with….Barbara Hedges.

Detlef Gutwirth

2010-02-23T03:16:00.001-08:00

http://fullbobal.com/acha.html

geraldine castro

2010-02-21T01:47:00.001-08:00

http://UrbanaEcoVillage.com/Elaine.html

The Greatest… EVER

2010-02-13T08:54:00.001-08:00

With the recent announcement of Randy Johnson's retirement came the immediate declaration of RJ as "The Greatest Left-hander of All Time".

That is OK with me. Like all such baseball related "Greatest Ever's" these statements can be researched, debated, accepted, discredited and so on. This kind of discourse further reveals the superiority of Baseball as a historical institution built on decades of events, almost all quantifiable. And through the history of the game over 17,000 major league baseball players have come and gone. So we all understand when we declare a player, coach, record, play, season or moment as "The Greatest" we do so with great respect, or we should.

Ok, we all know that. Which brings us back to Randy Johnson as The Greatest left handed pitcher of all time. With FIVE Cy Young awards, 4,875 strike outs and 303 wins there is absolutely no argument that Johnson is in the middle if not at the top of the The Greatest left handed pitcher discussion. The issue is how these declarations are rationalized or substantiated. We will not target individual reporters but this particular issue was raised by the Sports Illustrated article recognizing both Johnson's retirement and greatness. Is there a term "greatestness"?

Apparently to substantiate Johnson's perch atop the world of lefty pitchers the writer felt compelled to compare him with one Sanford Koufax. Fair enough, but in doing so the writer ended up minimizing, to some degree Koufax's career to make his point. Again it is easy to argue that Johnson's career is superior to that of Koufax, but NEVER minimize anything Sandy Koufax did in the process. Stating Johnson pitched over nine more (full) seasons" than Koufax is true enough. However the contention that Randy faced …"more difficult situations…more explosive offenses…" crosses that line that always seems to be crossed in these comparisons.

A few things anyone knows or should when comparing these two greats: Koufax pitched just over 10 full seasons, his career ended by arthritis at age 30. Koufax faced plenty of his own "difficult conditions". And yes, RJ's FIVE Cy Young's is an incredible achievement. But wait, Sandy won three1963, 65, 66 when only ONE Cy Young was awarded each season. Randy won his when Cy Youngs were awarded to both the AL AND NL top pitchers. At risk of doing what I detest (minimizing RJ's accomplishments) note that his 1999 (17-9 2.49) and 2000 (19-7 2.64) awards may have lost out to Pedro Martinez, the NL winner 1999 (23-4 2.07) 2000 (18-6 1.74) had only one Cy Young been awarded those years.

As we visit annualized 162 game stats for the brilliant lefties nothing dramatic jumps out. What is revealed is that these two left handers are in the same "Greatest" neighborhood. The biggest separater is Johnson's 22 seasons doubling Koufax's 10. That's it.

IP ERA GS CG H SO BB HR Wins

R. Johnson 230 3.29 34 6 186 271 83 23 17

S. Koufax 222 2.76 30 13 168 229 78 20 16

So the next time we are enjoying a cold beverage sharing views on "the Greatest", names like Tiger, Jordon, Jim Brown, Jim Thorpe, Pele and Federer should and will come up. Just make sure in staking out our views and positions we don't slam Magic or Bird, Carl Lewis, Deion Sanders or Sampras.

It is difficult, maybe impossible to find a single Greatest. Need some help? Here is a hint, real name George, nick name Babe.

That Was a ? or a ! Super Bowl

2010-02-08T17:24:00.000-08:00

Ok, which was it? Was that a really great, exciting, fulfilling game? Or was it a stumblethon between two pillow fight defenses flailing at two dink-and-flip QBs?

Many of us (yeah, I am kind of one of those Super Bowl Grinch types) found the two weeks of "analysis" leading up to the game simply unbearable. I spent the last few days prior to the game in Mexico and found that the Spanish (nope, yo no hablo) speaking guys down here were no less understandable than Howie, Tom, Boomer, Dan, Shannon, Phil, Curly, Moe, Larry and whoever else CBS, NBS, ESPN had on BLAH-BLAH-BLAH duty. So before the game ever started I was already a little nauseated.

Just to remind us, the early portion of this classic featured a couple of dropped passes, a dropped interception and ZERO of those memorable commercials that everyone anticipates. Bad news: the game really did not make all that Hurricane Katrina damage disappear. Good news: for 49:33 out of the game's 60 minutes the Saints and Colts were separated by a TD or less. So, it was a close game for almost its entirety. Two teams with the two of the season's three best records this season duked it out. There was mostly good stuff from this game. Reportedly 80% of viewers loved the game. For those of us somewhat disappointed there were several features of this one that fell below championship type standards. You can find good and bad here:

-There was a total of ONE sack in this game. Neither QB really was even hurried much until the end. The D line play was weak at best. Neither team was considered above average defensively but D was not much of a factor.

-The "tackling" looked a lot like what the UW D tried doing during its 2008 0-12 season. With no respect intended I saw almost no one-on-one tackles. Very few ball carriers were hit hard and driven back. The defense in general was really soft and light.

-No D? Wait a minute! Neither offense scored more than two TD's. How is that not good defense? Well, my view was two dink-and-flip, short passing QB's had a field day between the 20's, flipping 4-8 yarders out there. These two completed passes at a 75% clip! 75%!!!! Jeeez, how does that happen? How does one guy complete 82% of his passes unless there is no D at all across the other line? Slacker Manning was a pathetic 69%. And his team lost! Oh yeah, this game featured only four punts.

-The commercials were what they should be, a non story. For years the media made Super Bowl commercials an annual story. The cost and cleverness apparently really grabbed our attention. Well this year life returned to normal. The commercials were not clever and well, just commercials. What interested me was the fact that most big advertisers, like the pass rush were missing.

Yeah, Taco Bell stood tall and Bud was there (I would have a seizure if Christmas or the Super Bowl passed with no Clydesdales) and Doritos chipped in. But Hyundai and VW were the only car guys to show up. Not one car manufacturer from either the United States or Japan bought time. Not one! And no other junk food pushers showed, no MacDonald's or other burger slingers, no pizza guys. Not hungry? Ok, where were Apple, Dell, and Microsoft? For the second year in a row it was news that (in late January) the network (CBS this time) was able to sell out the spots. What are we to think?

Well, I have to come clean. When it comes to the Super Bowl I have problems when I have no rooting interest in the two teams. Stuff like Hurricane Katrina damage and people saying "WHO DAT!" just don't register with me.

I will try to look forward to next year's Super Bowl, I promise. For now, I will look forward to Baseball.

Economics of Husky Pizza

2010-01-30T23:49:00.001-08:00

A brief excorsise...

Last week at the Husky-Cal basketball game the the Hec Ed Pavillan concession stand ran out of pizza just as the first half ended. Hundreds of fans lined up to buy a slice at half time were greeted with a "Pizza Sold Out" sign. So barely halfway through the game the pizza was gone, sold out. Oh, by the way, the pizza sells for $6 per slice. That's right, SIX bucks a slice.

So today's econ lesson is the following question: For the next game will the pizza management folks at Hec Ed stock more pizza or raise the price?

Answer is on its way. Hint: At Saturday's WSU game there was plenty of pizza.

Fw: NO & Indy?

2010-01-24T22:37:00.001-08:00

It is late January. Pitchers and catchers are sowing name labels into their underwear bands preparing for Spring Training. The NBA is nearing the halfway point in its annual endless season and The Australian Open is just getting cranked up Down Under. Oh yeah, the NFL is entering its 25th week crawling, staggering, even stumbling towards the Super Bowl.

Barring another Janet Jackson peek-a-boo the Saints and Colts should hold everyone's attention in Miami for a few hours.

There's really no news here. Every year two teams make it to the big game. It is required. Wins, losses, quality really doesn't matter, just get into the playoffs win two or three games and you are in. But this year something strange happened. Something that rarely hapens.

Hang on.

Never mind that New Orleans by most messures really got smoked by the Vikings. Outgained 475-257,out "pocessed" 82-55 plays the Sainst used five Viking turnovers to lift victory from Minnesota. So what if Minnesota with 31 first downs doubled NO. Somehow New Orleans won. Now we get to relive all the Hurican Katrina sympathy plays. This should be good for about six nights of Larry King if he can pull hinslef away from Haiti. Indy on the arm of PM did what was expectd and cruised, operated and finallly coasted to a win over the "what are they doing here?" Jets.

So what is the big deal here? Here is the big deal. In the NFL this year the four best regular season records included a two loss team, two with three loses and on with four. And guess what boys and girls? Three of those four made it to Sunday's "semis". Indy, Minnesota and New Orleans all lost three or less. Only San Diego with four losses and that stomach truning performance at home against the Jets scrambled things. Had SD done its job the teams with the four best records would have made it to the final four. For those who are partial to teams earning their way in, this is one of the good years. If you think regular season games should mean something than this is your year.

Indy and New Orleans have the two best regular season records in the NFL. For once we do not have to ignore a 9-7 record and pretend that we are watching the two best teams. These two just may be this year's best. Never mind that the Sainst finished 25th in yards allowed or 20th in points allowed. And ignore the fact the Colts are nearly as bad defensiveley. These two teams went 27-5 and ride the arms of their QB's who figure to light up the scoreboard like a Hanukkah bush. Neither of these teams play a lot of defense but the show should be be a grabber. Nobody really cares about defense, do they?

Put your money on New Orleans as they have at least a little versitility. Regardless, the two QB's will drive this show. But if anything bad should happen to either Manning or Brees we may all be calling for Janet Jackson.

NO & Indy?

2010-01-24T22:29:00.000-08:00

It is late January. Pitchers and catchers are sowing name labels into their underwear bands preparing for Spring Training. The NBA is nearing the halfway point in its annual endless season and The Australian Open is just getting cranked up Down Under. Oh yeah, the NFL is entering its 25th week crawling, staggering, even stumbling towards the Super Bowl.

Barring another Janet Jackson peek-a-boo the Saints and Colts should hold everyone's attention in Miami for a few hours.

There's really no news here. Every year two teams make it to the big game. It is required. Wins, losses, quality really doesn't matter, just get into the playoffs win two or three games and you are in. But this year something strange happened. Something that rarely hapens.

Hang on.

Never mind that New Orleans by most messures really got smoked by the Vikings. Outgained 475-257,out "pocessed" 82-55 plays the Sainst used five Viking turnovers to lift victory from Minnesota. So what if Minnesota with 31 first downs doubled NO. Somehow New Orleans won. Now we get to relive all the Hurican Katrina sympathy plays. This should be good for about six nights of Larry King if he can pull hinslef away from Haiti. Indy on the arm of PM did what was expectd and cruised, operated and finallly coasted to a win over the "what are they doing here?" Jets.

So what is the big deal here? Here is the big deal. In the NFL this year the four best regular season records included a two loss team, two with three loses and on with four. And guess what boys and girls? Three of those four made it to Sunday's "semis". Indy, Minnesota and New Orleans all lost three or less. Only San Diego with four losses and that stomach truning performance at home against the Jets scrambled things. Had SD done its job the teams with the four best records would have made it to the final four. For those who are partial to teams earning their way in, this is one of the good years. If you think regular season games should mean something than this is your year.

Indy and New Orleans have the two best regular season records in the NFL. For once we do not have to ignore a 9-7 record and pretend that we are watching the two best teams. These two just may be this year's best. Never mind that the Sainst finished 25th in yards allowed or 20th in points allowed. And ignore the fact the Colts are nearly as bad defensiveley. These two teams went 27-5 and ride the arms of their QB's who figure to light up the scoreboard like a Hanukkah bush. Neither of these teams play a lot of defense but the show should be be a grabber. Nobody really cares about defense, do they?

Put your money on New Orleans as they have at least a little versitility. Regardless, the two QB's will drive this show. But if anything bad should happen to either Manning or Brees we may all be calling for Janet Jackson.

Husky Football Revisionist History

2010-01-17T23:10:00.001-08:00

The best way antidote to the 11-37 record of Husky Football Ty style was 2008. That modest a five win season ending with two convincing wins in a row felt almost normal. Relatively speaking it felt incredible. Well, to most of us. Many of the most committed (and many should be committed) Dawg fans still relive "the collapse". The complete collapse of Husky football is the "where were you when Kennedy was shot" of local sports.

Never mind the "where were you" but whose fault was it really? The theories are as numerous as they are accepted as fact. These he/she did it theories are almost not theories with most true believers. Like so many Jonestownsians going back over and over for more Kool-Aid, Husky fan conspiracy theorists are more sure than ever that the blame goes to:

1) Athletic Director Barbara Hedges. After all this all happened on her watch, she agreed to extreme PAC-10 penalties and just rolled over rather than taking the boys on. Oh yeah, she came from USC AND she was and still is a girl!

2) Billy Joe Hobart. He is the guy who borrowed the money that any other student could never get. The loan was made with Hobart's future pro career as loan security, an NCAA violation (getting up in the morning can be an NCAA violation). Never mind that Billy Joe NEVER lost a game as a starter, led the team to that 12-0 season AND at age 18 changed his name from Bill to Billy Joe. The penalties also cited UW for numerous players being paid for jobs they did not do and receiving fruit baskets. This whole thing was mostly Hobart's fault.

3) The PAC-10. That's right, the entire PAC-10 (less UW, of course) was to blame. Those fellow conference members carried out this miscarriage of justice. The two years of no bowl games, no TV revenue and reduced scholarships was way excessive in the penalty world. Obviously those other nine schools were tired of Husky football success and this was the best way to neuter the Dawgs.

4) Dan James. That is correct, a number of the most loyal Husky fans blame the Dawgfather Himself. Although he acted as a result of some or all of the above, Don James quitting ultimately is what brought down "The Program". Had James merely sucked it up, taken the whippin' and carried on "The Program" would have continued its excellence. One guy could have avoided all this anguish and that was Don James.

Not so fast, paranoia breath! Time for everyone to line up NOT for Kool-Aid but for a couple of Dixie cups of reality.

First, the collapse: It was real enough. Many of us have little problem agreeing that the 2004-2008 stretch qualifies as a collapse, at least. Those five seasons, the last Gilby year and all four TW seasons yielded records of 6-37 conference and 12-47 overall (cover the children's eyes here). Winning percentages of 20% and 14% over a five season period is more like a complete and instantaneous oxidation.

Timing: Everyone seems to know that until 2004 the Huskies had gone a century (really 27 seasons) without a sub .500 season. Uppity media types scoffed at that "record" noting several 6-6 seasons padded by weak non conference teams. One record that is scoff-proof is the stretch of 1977-2003 with only ONE (1988 3-5, 6-6) season below .500 in CONFERENCE play. Look that up, no other team ever even came close to that in modern times.

Oh yeah, the theories. My view is NONE of the above four theories are any more meaningful or significant than Paris Hilton's IQ relative to the collapse. The FACTS:

1993 was the first Dawgfather gone season, with Lambo at the helm. Here is what happened in the ten seasons 1993-2002:

1) Husky records were 77-41-1 (overall) and 54-22-1 (PAC-10). That is 64% and 70% folks. We wouldn't really consider 8 wins per year a disaster, would we?

2) During those ten seasons our Dawgs finished either first (95, 2000) or second (93, 96, 99, 2001) six times. Hmmmm, not really Dawgfather worthy but pretty competitive.

3) The Huskies also went to six bowl games ( incl. 1 Rose, 3 Holiday) and finished the season ranked nationally five times (# 24, 23, 19, 18, 3).

The 2004 season, Gilby's second and last was the real collapse. That year the Dawgs missed that curve and went over a 1-10 / 0-8 cliff and lay on the rocks below until the 2009 Sark appearance. I gotta put the Hedges, Hobart, PAC-10 as Snidely Whiplash and James quitting theories in a sack of rocks and throw it off the nearest Green River dyke.

Nobody really knows what caused the 2004 crumble. All I know is that in 2004:

- Britney Spears had her 55 hour marriage annulled

- Janet Jackson's breast appeared during halftime of Super Bowl XXXVIII

- The sitcom Friends ended

- Ichiro got broke the 84 year old single season MLB hit record

- The Boston Red Sox after 86 years win the World Series

Take your pick, any of these events or others probably had more to do with Dawg Collapse 2004 than any or all of those other favorite theories.

Anyone Seen A Seahawks Org Chart?

2010-01-10T20:29:00.001-08:00

Lots of Seahawks stuff going on lately, don't ya think? First a red-eyed Tim Ruskell "steps down" as Hawks president and GM. He joked he wanted to be cremated so he wouldn't have "he lost Steve Hutchinson" on his tombstone. Not that funny Tim, I know lots of Hawks fans ready to help you out with that cremation two years ago…yes, while you were still alive! So Reskell goes, leaving an opening / openings. Next thing we know, Jim Mora the coach is gone. With dozens of breathless media types locally and nationally following every move by every team apparently they were all on vacation, or in a coma. Anyway, the only reporters not surprised by the Mora firing were the liars. Nobody saw it coming. Another opening.

Then all of a sudden riding out of that smog basin to the south comes Pete Carroll.

Our local know-it-alls missed this one as well. Some national guy uncovered the Carroll story back east. So the Hawks are without a coach at least for another day and without a coaches boss for maybe ever, or a long time anyway. OK, let's replay this, from the top.

A few weeks ago Mike Holmgren was offered a job, but not enough of a job by the Hawks. To illustrate how inadequate the offer was, Holmgren decided he would rather be in Cleveland and left town. Proving that some guys will do ANYTHING to pad their NFL pensions, Gilby went with him.

Now rumor has it that Pete Carroll could be in line for at least the head coach job but probably some sort of a player personnel guru as well as "president". Wow. Pete could end up being everything short of Chief Rabbi.

Well, it looks like the president thing may have been over stated (IE: inaccurately reported, made up). So it appears the coach will be hired BEFORE a GM is hired AND reports have Carroll already offering assistant coaching positions prior to his own hiring. If we have minds we should be confused. Help me out; is there a Seahawks org chart anywhere around here? Not that I can find. But there is some basic organizational information that will help all of us understand, a little…or maybe not at all.

The Seahawks are managed by:

Paul Allen, Chairman of Vulcan, First and Goal Inc and whatever else he wants

Jody Patton, COO (Chief Operating Officer) of the same including Sounders FC

Ted Leiweke CEO / VSE (no idea what that means) of Seahawks, FG INC, Sounders

Then there are lots of others….

-COO Hawks & Sounders

-VP Football Administration

-Rusty Webster Interim GM(did you know they had one?)

-Director of Pro Personnel (think they have a dir of amateur personnel?)

- Mascot

- Cooks (there are two cooks and an Executive Chef, a department of 3!)

- Football Administrative Coordinator

- Executive assistant Head Coach

- Executive Assistant (there are several)

- Fan Development Manager & Coordinator (let me know what that is)

- Partnership – there are many "Partnership" positions, Director of Partnership & Development, Corporate Partnership Business Development, Partnership Development Manager, Corporate Partnership Service Coordinator, and not one or two but THREE Directors of Partnership Development. That is a Partnership department with SEVEN positions! If you can't actually play football, the Partnership Department looks like the place to be. Think Office Space with free polo shirts.

The only more heavily manned group is the coaches. There are 17 coaches (including strength coach and assist) for a total of 61 players. Hmmm. That would be one coach for every 3.6 players. At Boeing and other large companies that would be a very unacceptable span of control number. It is even worse relative to a sub .333 winning %.

Even the Huskies seem to be better managed, if not a lot more successful on the field. With a total of 105 players the Dawgs manage with only 13 coaching staff folks. And, unlike the NFL and especially the Hawks, the Huskies are actually in the player development business. Husky coaches, coach AND they scout and recruit. And the Huskies 8.1 span of control might just make the grade with any large company managing lots of employees.

So when Pete Carroll comes calling and ends up being Head Coach with a little President, GM and Personnel VP mixed in don't try and understand what any of it means. He probably won't know himself.

Yes, I know

2010-01-03T21:36:00.001-08:00

OK, I know the Florida Gators are NOT Noles.

And yes my message (earlier) was that there is no doubt that Bama and Texas DO belong in the championship game. It's late, it's Sunday.

We Need College Football Plaoff? Not Really

2010-01-03T21:27:00.001-08:00

We made it. We have arrived at the New Year, 2010. Or, more significantly, we somehow survived 2009. That's right, we survived snow storms, wild fires, the recession, terrorist attacks,
a billion dollar presidential campaign and Tiger being Tiger. Oh yeah, we survived all that and another year WITHOUT a division 1 college football playoff. Incredible!

With two bowl games and four undefeated teams left, does anyone out there really think that in Texas and Alabama we have the two best teams matched up for the championship? Not me, I am really good with this. Think the Rose Bowl didn't mean much because the winner doesn't;t move on in "the playoffs"? How about the Rose Bowl drew 65,000 Oregon and Ohio State fans from out of town for a game to decide who would be number 5 and 8 in the country? There is no reason to think either of these teams deserved a shot at a "national championship". The Rose Bowl was a good game with two deserving teams.

Another of those really deserving teams, the undefeated Cincinnati Bearcats played a game. Unfortunately for them they played Florida and fell just four touchdowns short. Yup, undefeated Cincy got crushed by a team with one loss. Everybody knew Florida was the much better team, but after all Cincy was undefeated. That 55-24 margin was about the saem as the amrgin would have been had either TCU or Boise State had to play the Noles. OK, TCU may have lost by only 17.

The point here (there is a point) is that if we MUST tolerate some post season tourney four teams would be plenty. See, whether the playoff includes 2, 4, 8 or even 16 teams the method of selecting the teams will be the same as it is today.And although egg heads everywhere spit up all over the BCS it performs its job almost perfectly. It selects the very best , most deserving two teams for the big game. IF this was expanded to four or eight teams the same selection process sould still be used. It really is not different from the NCAA basketball tourny selection process. Even with an endle3ss 30 game season the process is the same.

OK, I give in, I can support a four team post season tournament (please do not call it a championship!). But four teams is it. NEVER do more than four teams actually deserve a shot at the "championship". Did undefeated Cincy deserve a shot? They didn't even deserve tickets to watch it. TCU? Marginal. Iowa & Georgia Tech? No way. Ohio State nope. Oregon? Paleeeeeez! You insist on a playoff? Here it is, Bama, Texas, Florida and flip a coin between TCU, Boise State and Cincy (before their coming-out humiliation). Get it? Florida with one loss belongs. Cincy and TCU and certainly Boise State do not. This will go on regardless of how many teams are selected.

Look at the NFL plaoffs if you can stand it. Of the 12 teams awarded the opportunity to win the CHAMPIONSHIP four of them have six or seven losses. That is losing 6 (38%) or 7 (44%) of the games played. How would you feel about college teams with three or four losses (that would be only 25 or 33%) getting a shot? Cooly, we could have seen Utah, Pitt, LSU, Va. Tech, Miami. Real gripping stuff, huh?

The "model" NFL takes 17 weels (a third of a YEAR!) to eliminate less than two thirds of all the league's teams from the playoffs. THEN another five weeks are required to crown a "champion". Februay 7, 23 weeks after the first game the NFL season staggers to a close. The ancient Hebrews wondered in the desert for forty years. The NFL post season feels the same way...EVERY year.

Quick, what did San Diego losses in weeks 2, 4 % 6 mean? Nothing. How about Minnesota's 27-17 loss to Pit in week 7? Zero. What did it mean that Indianapolis won 14games in a row and went 14-2? It means that if they play the seven loss Jets or Baltimore they get home field advantage. WOW, for winning FIVE more games and 14 in a row, they get nothing.

Now, how important was that USC win at Ohio State weeks ago? how about that Florida win over LSU? OR way back in their season opener was that Boeise State win over Oregon a big deal? We even rememer those games, they count.

So let's take our fingers of f the trigger. Let's NOT reduce the college regular season games to the mostly meaninglessness of the NFL regular season.

And yes, I know the very best bowl game (so far) was that Idaho 43-42 win in the Humanitarin Bowl. You want games like that to go away?

Jake Announces, We Get Stupid

2009-12-20T22:46:00.001-08:00

In the past week a local sports related announcement bounced the needle on the Richter scales at the University of Washington sisemology department. Not Nisqually Quake bounce, but the rumble was significant. That the news was sports related should have surprised none of us. That our local reaction rolled between ironic and baffling was even more expected.

Announcement: "Jake stays"

Jake Locker announced, via the UW Atletic Department that he would return for the Husky 2010 season. He would NOT be available for a forecasted top five draft position and the expected guarenteed $25-$35 million that would drop into his lap. Our guy, Montlake Jake turned his back on that which we ALL dream about and is "staying".

He is risking injury, he is risking a possible 2010 rookie salary / bonus cap that could limit the guarenteed money to a modest $5 million. Oh yeah, AND a really good year for our Dawgs in 2010 could result in a dream trip to the Sun Bowl, maybe. And Heisman Trophy? Get a grip!

So what was our reaction to Jake's decision? What did we scream to the heavens? Well, stuff like:

"..he is a rare individual.."

"...the exception"..."Jake has character, genuine integrity and great loyalty..."

"Wow. He is a special dude!"

"What a great character person. A true role model."

"Thank you, Jake. thank you, santa. thank you, bloggers. thank you, Sark... thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!"

"We are talking about Loyalty here folks, Husky Loyalty."

"it's nice to see a guy like Jake stand up and quietly be such a great role model and example of leadership and character."

"This just shows you how mature and grounded Jake is"

OK. I am giving Sark, the coaching staff and the team a free passon on this. They should be as thrilled as the rest of us with Jake's return. In addition, the staff and team faced real issues in a Jakeless 2010. Another good, improved year may have resulted in another non bowl game season without Locker. That would have changed everything for Sark and the program. But we fans, who gushed and mushed all over our guy with those (above) declarations, what is our excuse? Jake, as we recall was already a pretty good guy.

Jake, the guy with every admirable attribute suddenly exploaded to the next character level because he is "staying"? Truly baffling. Now that it has been stated / leaked / implied that Jake may NOT have been a top five draft pick therefore had NOT turned his back on $20-30 million that maybe he is back to being only angelic istead of God-like. Wew! this is all hard to keep up with , swallow, let alone digest.

My view is that Jake had good reasons to "stay". After all, most of us would have blown off our last year of college for $100,000 in a Cheney minute. So Jake is probably still the really great character guy we all thought he was before he did what he did and before we knew what we think we know. As public and media reaction has bounced around like a ping pong ball Locker seems to be the constant, the only constant. So maybe the announcement wasn't really the needle-mover we thought it was. Maybe it just revealed the fan base and media as a bunch of knuckleheads.

And for all the nuttines one regular fan actually hit it right on the fat part of the bat when he wrote, "Jake Locker has the same character whether or not he stayed or went pro."

Winter Meetings M’s Disaster???

2009-12-13T21:58:00.001-08:00

Many who love baseball have come to love the off-season. The free agent filings, non tenders, arbitration, option and trade activity all contribute to keep us warm and interested and lately, annoyed. There is now almost a complete bridge stretching from the (now) November World Series end to the early February pitchers and catchers Spring Training report dates.

All of this serves to pump up blog, Twitter and other digital traffic to melt down levels. For baseball fans there is more "information" out there than ever, by a lot. But reading our newspapers, watching TV, listening to radio and absorbing all this digital dribble can fill us up while informing us…hardly at all. Now we have "mainstream media" types reporting rumors and quoting blogs. Full time professional reporters are actually reporting information that they know is completely groundless. That is like reporting that Tiger Woods….never mind.

So where does this leave us? Mired, almost drowning in misinformation and fabricated expectations. This didn't start yesterday but the "press coverage" of the recently completed MLB winter meetings seemed to belong on a rack at the Safeway checkout counter.

Take the coverage of our Seattle Mariners and General Manager Jack Zduriencik. After a satisfying and surprising 85 win 2009 Jack and the M's headed into the MLB meetings with about $50 million in available payroll space. Yes that is serious folding money. And NO, Carlos Silva was not moved. So what did our local and many national reporters do?

At the opening of the meetings they referred to Jack as a "Rock Star" GM. A central figure at these meetings. A guy who would command tremendous attention. Why? Ummmm, because these reporters said so. They had "rumors" to back up every fabricated, meaningless word they wrote, spoke, blogged, twitted, semaphored and smoke signaled.

And what actually happened at the four-day meetings? Apparently not enough to keep these great seers from looking blind, or at least uninformed and inaccurate. It seems to meet the forecast of the press types Jack needed to sign two or three high priced free agents and trade away four or five Mariner prospects in HUGE blockbuster deals and generally provide lots of action. Oh yeah, it would have been nice to sign Felix to a $100 million deal at the same time.

The most respected of the media types actually used (and use) words like excitement, sizzle, splash and even steam. Of course the Mariners supplied none of that. At least not yet. Even the Figgins signing was discounted as a lounge act to the Granderson trade main room event. Apparently since the Figgins signing occurred a couple days PRIOR to the meetings it didn't count. Never mind that every Mariner fan we heard from reacted as if they had been spoon-fed a super sized portion of excitement, splash and sizzle.

Nope, the Figgins deal was brushed aside thusly "….the Mariners come away from here without having added to the Chone Figgins signing they negotiated prior to the beginning of events in Indianapolis."

Or, the Figgins deal was done before the meetings so it really didn't count. And the Mariners crossed the wrong folks in doing no other deals during those four days. By not validating the "information" provided by our crack media types they left themselves open for some tough treatment. Seems the entire four days were among the worst or at least most disappointing in baseball history. And Jack? Rock Star no more. Here are a few of the gems, or shots to the Mariners crotch in characterizing the Winter Meetings as they ended.

"For now, Zduriencik leaves here knowing he lost out on attempts to land Curtis Granderson, Edwin Jackson and Rich Harden".

"Zduriencik tried to downplay any hint these meetings had been a disappointment."

"Not quite the splash that had been expected of them here so far"

And my very favorite: "In some ways, Zduriencik is a victim of timing when it comes to the aura of disappointment over Seattle's showing here. He did, after all, technically secure free-agent infielder Chone Figgins at these meetings, though the leaking of that deal several days earlier took some of the steam out of the announcement."

More code words, like "technically" and "steam".

Finally Zduriencik himself was actually allowed to provide his view of things. And shock of shocks, he provided a little bit of logic and perspective. "I don't walk out of here feeling like we'd have liked to have done a lot more," Zduriencik said. "You want to do the things that you think are the most productive for you. Sometimes it takes a little longer than other times, so we'll see where we end up at."

Hey Jack, don't let anything take the steam out of whatever it is the media thinks you are doing. See, Jack and the Mariners are really in the business of Major League Baseball, and making it better. For those who are looking for excitement, splash, sizzle or even steam. What until April, that is what the games are for.

Weep Not for Jake or USC

2009-12-06T21:18:00.001-08:00

Wow, the 2009 college football season is past. Pearl Harbor Day, National Brownie Day, Hanukkah and (my favorite) Humbug Day are coming right up. Oh yeah, Christmas is looming as well. As we slide into the last few weeks of 2009 there are a couple of PAC-10 football related items of interest we really need to address. And, of course we will do that right here and right now.

Jake Locker Will he go? Should he go? Why would he or wouldn't he? Let's help Jake out. Everything about this is predicated on the assumption that our Jake is truly a top 10 draft pick.

1) Jake, you better go now and go fast. The 2011 draft could well bring an NBA style rookie pay/bonus cap. In the 2009 draft QB's received:

Draft Position     contract length / value       $'s Guaranteed (millions)
1 Stafford                  6 years / $72    $41.7
5 Sanchez          5 / $ 60    $28
17 Freen                   5        / $ 36                   $10.3
25 (CB)                                                          $7.5

Yo, Jake. If you are in that 1-10 group, tell me again how much you love that purple and gold. That guarantee could well be $4 million instead of $40 if you wait a year. Me, I take the dough.

2) Jake, 2009 was unique in what way for you? Correct. It was the fist and only season of your UW career you did NOT miss at least a game with injuries. Even this year you took a hard hit in the thigh in the first quarter of the Oregon game and were not healthy until the WSU game. It took three games and a bye for you to get your wheels back and be Jake again. The point here is that the same kind of nick could drop you from that top 5-10 spot to the lower 20's range. Result would be $20 million in guaranteed money disappearing
like Tiger's nine iron. Ouch! And if this sounds like negative thinking, give Sam Bradford a buzz.

3) Dawg fans everywhere tell me Jake that you really want to come back in 2010 for a Heisman and Rose Bowl run. Sorry friends, I don't see either of these happening. Oh, Jake could have a good enough year to get to sit there in New York and politely clap for some SEC running back. But let's face it. The 2010 Dawgs Will be greatly improved and should win 7 maybe 8 games. But that's it. Oregon, Oregon State and USC all have lineups as young or even younger than the Dawgs. Coming back for a Rose Bowl run would result in big disappointment. If you come back, Jake, you need a valid reason. This isn't it.

4) And finally Jake, I assume your goal and dream is and always has been to be an NFL quarterback. To do that you get to enjoy a fun, great high school career, a fun, good college career, then move on to the NFL. Tell us why you would not move on now instead of a year from now. I assume you view the NFL as fun as well. Trust me, I think if you are as bright as you appear to be you would quit this football nonsense and play baseball, a civilized game. You could go the rest of your playing days without a brain scan to find your marbles. You could actually run, use your speed without getting killed.

OK Jake, you didn't ask me. But you will make the right choice, without my help.

USC Football - Is it sliding?

Short answer: PALEEEEEEEEEEZ !!!

We won't revisit the record of USC the last seven seasons and the continuous excellence. At this point I view this season as simply a timing thing. In the 2007-8 seasons the Trojans record was 23-3. At the end of those two seasons a total of 23 players were drafted by the NFL. Do the math in your head: Those 23 represen about half the starter from each of those teams. Half! USC simply lost a lot of really good players going into a season that saw the PC-10 as good from top to bottom (OK, almost bottom, dicount WSU) as ever. End of story, that is all. Did the loss of Sark AND Holt hurt? With so many young guys, maybe, probably. But the USC last three recruiting classes were typical, ranked # 4, 8, 2 in the country. And some of those guys that struggled this year will be getting drafted in a couple of seasons.

Has this been a really poor year for the Trojans? Yup. Any reason for anyone to be smug out there? Not a chance.

Did the Yanks Buy the Championship? Yup!

2009-11-24T22:21:00.001-08:00

Are economic times tough out there? As they used to say, tougher than a $3 steak. I know, where would you find a $3 steak and if you did, would you eat it? How tough is tough? Through August average domestic (U. S.) pay increased 1.89%. Fully 37% of all companies in our country froze pay in aggregate. They granted no pay increases this year at all. It should surprise nobody that among that 37% was that well known skin flint the New York Yankees. That is correct friends, the New York Yankees were forced to navigate this season with the same $209 million payroll they lived with in 2008. When the Yanks have to hold the line we know these are serious times. We can only imagine how much of the $1 billion + cost of new Yankee Stadium was covered via federal stimulus funds.

So knowing how tight things were with the Yanks can we really believe that they "bought" the championship this year? Of course we can belive it and of course they did buy it. Not that there is anything wrong with it, but buy it they did.

Like most championship teams, especially baseball teams, the 2009 Yanks won becasue of the performance of a key core of players. That core for the Yanks differed in three elements than that of normal teams:

1) The usual "core" of a team is 3-6 players total who really carry the whole to the championship. The 2009 Yankees core consisted of 11 players: Damon, Swisher, A-Rod, Jeter, Cano, Texeira, Matsui, Sabathia, Burnett, Pettit and Rivera. Each of these players made significant contributions to the Yanks winning 103 wins. Each of these players would have been one of the two or three most valuable players on any other team in baseball.

2) That core was REALLY well paid, assuming you consider $164 million ($15.4 million avg.) well paid.. Of course the difference between the Yankees and the normals is that core was paid $24 million more than the entire roster of the second highest paid team in baseball, the New York Mets.

3) Of those 11 core players EIGHT came from other teams via trades or free agent signings. Only Jeter, Rivera and Cano started thier careers and were developed by the Yankees. Three.

Almost every World Series Champion of modern times was led by at least some of a core that came from outside the organization. But eight of 11? Over 70% of the key Yankees came from outside the "familly". Is this the recipe for consistent elite status? If your team can afford to pay Carl Pavoano $11 million for the last year on a four year $32 million disaster of acontract producing exactly ZERO this really works well.

For all their sucess the Yanks can afford to make more money wasting bad moves than any other three teams in baseball. Of course all those players love the Yanks becasue they do "what it takes" to win.

The irony of the Yankees buying the championship in 2009 is that the same $2009 million in 2008 couldn't even buy them a spot in the playoffs.

Griffey's Back and You're Not Happy ???

2009-11-15T21:29:00.001-08:00

Last week the Mariners announced Ken Griffey will return for the 2010 season. This wasn't really shocking news to a lot of us. And it really wasn't surprising that at least some questioned the value of Junior this coming season. After all, the .214 hitter really can't negotiate the outfield much anymore and doesn't present much fo a challenge for opposing pitchers.
Last seasons feel good-return really did feel good but what is left for Junior to contribute? How long can this Mr Congeniality thing go on?

Oddly enough it may be the Mariners' general weakness that makes his return make sense. If the Mariners were really nearing contending status Griffey's spot on the roster might be too critical to be occupied by an aging icon. And while the M's may make that leap sooner than we think it makes perfect sense to have Kenny occupy that fist locker on your right in the M's clubhouse.

First the facts. The Mariners were not only NOT a Murder's Row in 2008, they weren't even a Purse Snatcher's Row. The offensiveness of their offense is well known. But can Jr. really help?

Sure he can. The reality is Griffey contributed more in 2009 than most took the time to recognize. Beyond that .214 batting average Junior rapped 19 home runs to go with 19 doubles. His 19 HR was third most on the M's, his 57 RBI fourth. Griffey with the sixth most at bats actaually led the M's in wlaks. That may say as much about Mariner patience at the plate as Griffey's eye. He managed to score 44 runs (sixth ) despite being removed often late in games for pinch runners.

In addition to all that there is Griffey himself. He is merely the single, most signifcant figure and personality in Seattle sports history history. Yes, he is more loved than Brian Bosworth and Ryan Leaf combined.

So as we look forward to 2010 we hope for better health for Junior. We look forward to some big hits, some special moments. All those camera flashes every time he steps to the plate. But most of all we get one more year of that smile. November 20 Ken Griffey turns 40.

The good news is Number 24 is back and he is still The Kid and he is still Junior.

HUH ?

2009-11-01T22:11:00.001-08:00

We get our sports every day. Figure it out. How many games do you listen to on the radio or watch on TV? Add to that all the sports reports you view or hear on ESPN, FOX, local and network TV and radio. In addition some of us still actually read sports articles in magazines, newspapers and on line. We are exposed to countless words delivered by hundreds of sports reporters. Having about 3,000 reporters covering the 150 players and coaches at the Super Bowl each year causes strange and confusing things to happen to our language. Or at least to the language our sports reporters use to "communicate with us". With the volume of communication growing at a rate that exceeds the sporting events being reported, reporters are inventing words and phrases faster than we can even pretend to understand them. We hear these words so often we don't even question where they cam form let alone what they mean. Try these few gems:

The House As in "Take it to the house". We all know this refers to a football player running the ball into the end zone. A punt or kickoff returner or a long run from scrimmage are favored reasons for reporters screaming "HE TAKES IT TO THE HOUSE"!!! Sorry, I don't get it, plus that sounds stupid. "Scores a touchdown" seems more clear and actually makes sense. This use of the word "house" or the phrase appears in no reference source.

Athleticism This is one of my favorites. Merriam-Webster tells us that these words mean…"an active interest in sports" and or " an obsessive participation in physical activity." Now when a ball player or group of players is described as possessing great athleticism we are programmed to understand great speed, quickness and leaping ability.

You may like that word. Me? I am more comfortable with statements like "he is the quickest guy on the field", or "his jumping ability is unmatched". A simple "this guy is really athletic" would work really well.

Physicality This word is so stupid that many on line dictionaries don't even recognize it.

One definition states: "intensely physical orientation…" and "predominance of the physical , usually at the expense of the mental, spiritual or social". Our reporter friends use this word referring to athletes that are very powerful, strong, and big. They usually hit and tackle very hard. Why reporters don't just say that, I have no idea.

In Space as in "he makes great plays in space", "he can really defend in space". Where is "in space"? What does this mean? It seems that a player can do great things playing one on one. Or a player can play very well in the open field. I think that is what it means. Is "in space" especially descriptive? No.

Perfect Sacrifice Bunt OK, this one doesn't really belong in this discussion. I heard the worst baseball announcer of any kind in history, Tim McCarver use this term. It seems the batter successfully sacrificed the runner from first base to second by bunting. Yo Tim! There is no perfect sacrifice bunt. There are successful sacrifice bunts and unsuccessful sacrifice bunts. There is no such thing as an OK sacrifice bunt, a really good sacrifice bunt, one of the best sacrifice bunt I have ever seen. They are either successful or not.

See, all of this is really, really simple. The rest of it is just artificial complexity, just wind in the trees.

Alex & Rush

2009-10-25T19:43:00.001-07:00

Alex

Sometimes my own views get in the way of my own views. This is one of those times. Alex Rodriguez is truly without question the best baseball player of our time. The steroid thing is a valid blot but he has been what every legendary player has been throughout the history of The Best Game. All that being the case in the interest of full disclosure I must state I have never been a fan of his. I am not going to itemize the reasons; they are all the typical ones. But A-Rod is one of the all time greats. HOWEVER, his sterling performance in this year's post season has resulted in a few of baseball's media types to make their usual over the top declarations. I hate that!

Recently one of A-Rod's "post season" numbers (which stat is not important) apparently tied or surpassed that of Lou Gehrig. I am not going to go into the detail, well, OK a little. Yes A-Rod is having a nice post season, batting >400 with 11 RBI and 5 HR so far. And without question this has been his most productive post season. Well, his most productive since he got to New York. Anything he did prior his Big Apple days is generally not reported. Yes, in the NY postseasons of 2004-2007 Alex hit a mortal .274 and the more recent 2005-2007 he hit .159. Several New York fans and sports writers questioned whether hitting .159 meets the expectations of a $25 million salary.

How does that hitting compare with Lou Gehrig? I try to keep things simple because a lot of us are not that bright. See, Gehrig's career post-season batting average was .361. That looks pretty good. The more important point here is Gehrig hit .361 in career World Series games. There was no "post season", just the World Series. The reason that is important is A-Rod's numbers are ALL post season, he has NEVER had single World Series at bat. Not one.

So if any of us must compare any of today's greats with yesterday's legends, be accurate. There is the playoffs and there is the World Series. Keep that straight. As a matter of fact, don't compare A-Rod with Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Stan Musial or any other classic legend. In this case, A-Rod himself is not to blame. It just upsets me.

Rush

Like Alex, I really do not like Rush Limbaugh. Even if I did agree with him politically (I don't) I wouldn't like him. I know, maybe if I got to know him…but I doubt it. Rush is one of those guys I would invite over late in the evening if I were trying to get my party guests to go home. OK, enough of that.

Recently Rush was dumped as a minority owner by a group interested in buying the St> Louis Rams NFL team. Word is he was dropped because of his political views. I think it is possible that he was dropped because he is a jerk, or the other guys didn't like him. At any rate, I really didn't think this was a big deal. Although he has a lot more followers, Rush is right up there with Paris Hilton on my list of interesting people. Further, I know a lot of people who were equally NOT captivated by this story. It took Rush himself to reveal the true significance of this injustice. Read the following words from Rush:

"This is about the future of the United States of America and what kind of country we're going to have,"

Wow, was I ever off base. I didn't think anything about the NFL, let alone its owners were related to the future of our country. Limbaugh and others referred to fairness and "free enterprise" in debating the injustice. The National Football League owners are as involved in free enterprise and free markets as bankers and insurance company executives. But the simple point here is that the NFL ahs nothing to do with fairness or open anything. It is no different than a county club. You aren't rich, sorry, You are Jewish, black (not a millionaire celebrity), Latino take a hike. Gay, see ya. This is a private group and they can do whatever they want with whoever they want.

So Rush, finds no reason to support equal rights for gays, equal pay for women or equal opportunity in hiring. But he does support our equal right to be a part owner of the Rams.

If I really understood this I would be confused. I would make a little sense if it were the Yanks or the Lakers, but Rush, the Rams?

I don’t get it

2009-10-13T22:17:00.001-07:00

When it comes to confusion most sports provide plenty. The best, most enjoyable sports there are cross my eyes. All year long I bathe in baseball, college football and NFL football. The NBA? Nope, I live in Seattle, I care as much about the NBA as the NBA cares about Seattle. The other sports, they shape my life, at least the part that is shallow and really doesn't mean much. So, help me understand just a few things, I am pretty sure I am alone in my confusion:

Major League Baseball

1) If the maximum number of playoff games were played this year we would see 19 games in 35 days. Now we know that will not happen as several of the first round series did not go the maximum. However, 19 games in 35 days? Who painted that masterpiece? The regular season sees 162 games played in about 183 days. What that means is during the six month regular season each team gets 18 off days (or days off). That figures to one day off for every nine days / games. Now, enter the post season. We see 17 off days! Or one off day for every 1.1 games played. Sit down, take a deep breath and have a drink, or several. Then send me a note explaining this. I know all about television and ratings but it is OCTOBER!!! It is cold and I am in Seattle, warmer than half the cities in the league! Hey Baseball, play 4-5 games a week and finish the playoffs ten days earlier! Otherwise we will see more of what we saw in Denver or Minneapolis.

2) Which brings to mind the shiny new Target Field in Minneapolis set to open in 2010. The park looks simply ballpark gorgeous. Finally a park just for the Twins, intimate 40,000 seats and OUTDOOR baseball! Can you spell BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR? September is a pretty nice month in Minneapolis, temperature averages in the 50-60+ range. Things get a little nasty quickly in October as this past weekend's two inch snow showed. The average temperature for April in the Twin Cities is 49 degrees. Oh, sorry, that was the average HIGH, the average low for April is 30 degrees. Precipitation is 29.5 annually with 15 inches of it falling in the May-August time period. Can the Twins take a 120 day road trip? Say what you want about retractable roofs they guarantee games will be played. In places like Seattle and probably Minnesota fans come from a wide geographic area. Being confident of no rain outs is a big boost for attendance. For about 15-30% more cost zero rain outs is a huge pay back. Good evening Twins fans and welcome to

electric underwear night.

NFL

1) Rush Limbaugh apparently is interested in buying partial ownership in the St. Louis Rams. Yo Rush, buying a piece of Enron would be cheaper and probably a better investment. On top of that the NFL is taking a hard look at whether Limbaugh meets NFL ownership "standards". Yeah, we know the NFL must protect that multi BILLION dollar branding, but who really cares who owns teams? And although I agree with Limbaugh on nothing he is in a dead heat with Paris Hilton on the who cares meter. Limbaugh wants to own part of the Rams? I know which part he will end up with and it is not the end that eats!

College Football

1) Notre Dame faces USC this Saturday in South Bend. This annual piece of drama for the last seven years has been pretty much drama-free. USC has won seven in a row with only one of the games being close at all. ND coach Charlie Weise this week said "This is the first time since I've been here that they (our players) believe they are going to win". Huh??? Yo, Charlie, that is what the Domers get for their $4 million a year? It took you six seasons to get your plyers to even believe they can win? Large Charlie sports a sterling 14-16 record since 2007. He has led ND to a 0-6 record against top ten teams. Jeeeeeeez, imagine what the Irish could do with a $10 million coach!

And don't forget…

-In 1961 Roger Maris hit 61 home runs, but didn't hit his first that season until April 26, two weeks int the season

-In 1928 the Pacific Coast League Hollywood Stars became the first team to travel by air. Really? Why?

-An unidentified batter on facing Sandy Koufax, "Against that guy we should all get four strikes!"

-And…yes, prior to 1931 all balls that bounced over or went through the outfield fence were considered home runs.

Yeah, Right !!!

2009-10-04T22:31:00.001-07:00

A few assumptions that nobody will claim....now:

1) The PAC-10 is a conference of strong offenses. OK, forget WSU, they don't exist. USC will get respectable as soon as the young QB comes around. With 457 yards this past Saturday that should be soon. Oregon looks as explosive as ever. The Huskies may actually develop into something respectable offensively. The rest? The offenses are little, well offensive. UCLA, WSU, Oregon State all stumbled to less than 300 yards total offense this past weekend. CAL with RB Jahvid Best listed as a Heisman possible ran up 85 yards in 25 carries. Oregon State, UCLA and ASU all had less than 100 rushing yards Saturday. The conference will be as week as it ever has been this year. USC and Oregon will be on top as expected and Stanford looks like a solid number three. But CAL is a train wreck and the rest look ordinary at best. That East Coast bias at least for this year won't be a bias.

2) Ready for The Playoffs? The best sport there is, Major League Baseball gets it going Tuesday night with the Tigers-Twins one game stumble-off. I am glad to see the Twins sneak in but neither of these really belong. The AL is the Yanks and the rest. If the Angels play like they did a couple months ago they can get some of their fans to actually show up for the first inning. Boston will not make noise this year. Ortiz needs to be replaced or reborn and Sox fans don't believe it but they may miss Manny forever.

Many like St Louis and with starting pitching (Wainwright & Carpenter) to go with Albert they could easily get to The Series with only three players. Because those three are the best and the National League is well, not the best. Of course the Cards had the good fortune to play 25% of their games against Houston, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. For msot of the first half of this season the Dodgers looked like the cream, but that cream has spoiled a little in the lst month. The Phils really look a littel suspect on the mond ant the ROckies are....c'mon. the Rockies? Look fot the Yanks (maybe Angels) and the Cards to duke it out in the Series.

3) The Seahawks can still make noise in the NFL. Does wretching count as noise? The Hawks are deader than disco. And those of you who thought they were great before the injuries, ask your doctor to add some reality to that flu shot.

And my favorite quote from Red SOx owner Harry Frazee in January 1920 after selling Babe RUth to The Yankees: "I believe the sale of Babe Ruth will ultimately strengthen the team."

What Des It All Mean?

2009-09-27T21:44:00.001-07:00

There are two points of time during our sporting year where things kind of collide. Or at least they merge, mingle if you will (what the &$#@** does "if you will" mean?). Well, at least our games coexist. They mix together. You get it, right?

Every March college basketball starts sprinting towards the NCAA tourney while the NBA poises for its gripping three-month playoff. I know, it seems longer than three months but really, the ancient Hebrews wondered in the wilderness only slightly longer than an NBA season. And while that is gripping us baseball dangles spring training out there. No matter how lousy your teams might be at least one of them promises enough to get you a little juiced every March.

The other riveting point in the year is right now, September. Our baseball teams are sliding into playoff mode. Or continuing their wait til next year mode. Or reconfirming their "not in your grand daughter's lifetime" commitment to losing. At the same time college football is hitting the gas, enabling millions of generally respectable citizens to behave like lunatics within the realm of something called "tailgating". And on top of that the NFL launches its annual fleecing of fans. After charging the same ticket prices for preseason games (played by temporary "players") as they do for regular season games fans actually find the regular season a bargain There is just so much going on we barely have time for county fairs and worrying about terrorists.

So where does that leave us? Jim Mora, Seahawks coach after losing to Da Bears noted that losing two in a row in the NFL is like losing 20 in a row for a baseball team. He lost you, didn't he? See, Jim's point is that 2 games is equal to 12.5% of an NFL season which figures out to 20 baseball games or 12.5% of 162. Ummm, well, Jim you lost me on that as well. Only the 1961 Phillies (23) and the 1988 Orioles (21) in modern time have lost as many as 20 games in a row. I didn't look it up but my guess is losing two games in a row has happened a lot more than twice in the last 40 or so NFL seasons. So Jim's point? There is no point. If you think you understand the point, you are insane, get help.

Here is what seems to matter at this glorious time:

The Yanks are in, Boston and the Angels will be. Detroit and Minnesota will wrestle with the opportunity to humiliate themselves by reaching the playoffs with a worse record than Texas, who will NOT make it at all The National league will be a little more credible in its own inferior way. The Dodgers and the Cards are in, the Phils will be. Colorado should parlay its 2.5 game lead over Atlanta to slide into the wild card. Fans can only hope for the Dodgers to get hot enough to provide a competitive Series. Otherwise the Yanks and Angels should duke it out for the rings.

Ichiro's streak of NOT having gone two consecutive hitless games was halted at 180.

This all means something, but not very much, not yet.

All NFL teams have either two or three games under their belts. And no, I do not know why any team needs a bye in week one or two. With all due respect to Coach Mora a mere 14 out of 32 NFL teams are undefeated with 12 at 3-0. Jim would remind us that a three game NFL winning streak is the same as a 30 baseball game winning streak All is know is NO (as in none, ZERO) major league baseball team has ever won 30 games in a row. What does it all mean? Absolutely nothing, nil, zero. Glad to get that clear.

Oh yeah, a bunch of "ranked" college teams really stepped in it this weekend. Number four Ole Miss lost by six, Penn State sitting at number five tanked by 11, CAL at number 6 was clocked by 39 and number nine Miami got trashed by 24. Not only did FOUR of the top ten teams in the country lose, only one of the games was even close. And before Yom Kippur is even over UCLA is the only remaining undefeated team in the PAC-10. And we already are hearing BCS sniveling and whining from Boise? What does all of this really mean? This all means, again absolutely nothing. Words cannot describe how little this all means.

So just take all of this, mix it up and swallow it whole. Take it daily, with plenty of liquids. And as you do you will feel happy, sad, joy, anger and before you know it…. it will be March.

Trivia question:

When he first joined the Yankees what number did the greatest hitter of all time, Babe Ruth wear?

Answer: He wore no number. It was not until 1929 that the Yanks added numbers to the player uniforms. Ruth batted number three so he was given 3. Gherig batted behind Ruth and was given 4.

Double Tall?

2009-09-24T22:13:00.001-07:00

Words are just words and phrases are just phrases until we tie them to some sports related connotation. Then the word collections become more than meaningful. The words and phrases become something that they never were before. Consider this:

Just when we think the spirit of service in this country has died, innovation and drive has been abandoned and striving for perfection just doesn't happen anymore….well, we are reassured. The following was reported Wednesday and apparently (allegedly) happened right here in the great Puget Sound region:

Five Everett baristas accused of prostitution

"Investigators saw the women expose their crotches, lick whipped cream off

their co-workers' private parts and pose naked for pictures inside the Grab-n-Go espresso stand on Broadway," The Everett Herald reports.

Detectives also saw some of them charge customers to touch their bare breasts and buttocks, which falls under the city's definition of prostitution.

Regardless of your view of this activity you must admire the drive and creativity involved. After all, these are not prostitutes, these are coffee sellers! And they don't work at The Coffee Corral, the Java Hut or Cup-A-Jo Joint. They work at the Grab-N-Go! If this article were written by a typical sports media type not only would the words be very different, the message we receive would be even more different.

These workers, they are just taking it to the next level to sell that coffee. These players obviously know how to perform in space. Wouldn't you say that they probably significantly improved their performance as they got more and more reps? I would.

I do not question for one minute that these ladies were told to be the guy, get the job done and (of course) to step up. This is all about taking it to the next level. I am sure they have their package ready and are ready to be really physical as they play every snap.

So all of this may land some hard working folks on the wrong side of some courtroom. Regardless of the results I would bet more than one satisfied customer declared " this is huge!"

Bad Honeymoon Management

2009-09-20T20:47:00.001-07:00

Three games into the 2009 season and Husky football coach Steve Sarkesian has done everything right. He has energized the fans including the alums. He has made significant recruiting progress. And, best of all the results on the field have been, well, off the charts. So what, if anything has Sark done wrong? Well, he has done a little too much, a little too fast. He is guilty of bad honeymoon management.

What is honeymoon management? Under normal circumstances the new coach comes in, does exactly what Sark has done…up until this past Saturday. The accepted norm would have been a hard fought loss to USC, say, 21-17 or so. A better, closer feel good loss than the LSU game, but a loss nonetheless. THEN, on September 26 go down to The Farm and upset Stanford to break a then 11 game PAC-10 conference game losing streak. The Dawgs would then be 2-2 heading for South Bend for a game with Notre Dame nobody would expect to win.

But nooooooooooooo! Sark has to rally these vagabonds and dump the Trojans. He and the Dawgs got greedy; they decided a signature win should be against a team considered in the top four nationally, not top four in the state of California.

Well, all I have to say is: Way to go Sark!!! You have Husky fans all whacked out over:

1) Should UW be ranked higher than #24 (no, they shouldn't be ranked at all until they beat Stanford…oops, I mean IF they beat Stanford)

2) What Bowl game should the Huskies play in? (The #6 team goes to the Poinsettia in San Diego on December 23. At least a few fans have already stated that bowl stinks and would be a slap in the face of the previously 12-47 Huskies. (I agree, I would prefer any of the bowl games the Dawgs played in the last four years!)

3) Stanford being favored by NINE (9) points over the Huskies is insulting and disrespectful. I agree, Vegas bookies have no respect at all for the Huskies. They are willing to lose millions of dollars on an inflated spread just to "dis the Dawgs".

4) Husky coaches Sark and Holt better get enormous raises soon or they will both leave for greener pastures. The day may well come when Holt leaves for a head coaching job. My guess is he will not be going back to Idaho. Holt is probably among the highest paid non-head coaches in the country so don't worry about him replacing the Wiz (Mike Price at UTEP). And Sark, well his next job will be as an NFL head coach. By the time that happens Jim Mora may be available.

So losing to USC, beating Stanford and say, Arizona, Oregon State, UCLA and WSU would have put Sark and the Dawgs at 5-7, middle of the PAC for 2009. Sark would have been coach of the year in the conference and on his way to a bowl game 7+ win season in 2010. Now?

Now, if the Dawgs lose to Stanford somebody could get hung in effigy. And if the Dawgs DON"T win at least six games this year they will be labeled by some (including "fans") as a disappointment.

The UW Athletic department has hired strength coaches, quality control people, academic advisers and others. Stanford being favored by NINE (9) points over the Huskies is insulting and disrespectful There are wedding planners out there. Somebody at the UW should have hired a honeymoon planner.

Boise State Fan & More Pujols

2009-09-13T22:17:00.001-07:00

No, these two people are not connected but we will revisit both.

First of all, BSF sent the following response to my view that Boise State does NOT belong in a BCS bowl this year and the championship game ever.

"Hello whoever wrote this I was I was very interested to read this blog but after reading the one about Boise State I have come to the conclusion that you guys don't know how to write blogs. I guess I should of expected that from a radio station. I am a Boise State fan and I will agree with you and the other 5 million people that don't know much about our football program, yes BSU doesn't have the strongest schedule but you also have to realize that BSU football is on the rise. The sad truth is most ranked teams wont come play on the blue turf after watching what happen in the Fiesta Bowl. Oregon tried to step on it and well you know the rest. We are tired of hearing all these excuses and the truth is everyone is just scared of what Boise State can become once we play tougher teams. So dear radio blogger I think the only BS around here is this lousy, pathetic so called "blog"."

I want to respond, as my point had nothing to do with Boise State in particular. Everyone I know loves Boise State. Really. And I don't look down at non BCS conference teams just because the Broncos came to Seattle in 2007 and lost to the eventually 4-9 Huskies 24-10 with a Boise State team that would win 10 games that same season. That is not why I feel this way, although it is a good example of why I feel this way.

My point simply is that football teams from the WAC, Mountain West, Conference USA and other non-BCS conferences should NEVER be considered for the BCS championship based on record alone. If we go to ML record book and see what teams had the best records, the most wins in a season all-time we see the 2001 Seattle Mariners and the 1906 Chicago Cubs both with 116 wins. WAITAMINUTE! The 1934 Los Angeles Angels went 137-50. The Angels winning percentage exceeded The Mariners' .733 to .717. Why isn't that 1934 team listed? Because they were in the Pacific Coast league, they were not a major league team.

A few other points regarding BSF's points:

1) I don't quarrel about not knowing how to write blogs (whatever that means) but it took the Boise State column to reach that conclusion?

2) WE ALL realize Boise State is on the rise and is a ___good football program. I do not know any serious college fans that don't know that. Boise State has proven to me over the years that it is equal to the #2-4 teams in the ok-not-great PAC-10.

3) We are not "scared of what Boise State can become" when it plays tougher teams, we welcome it. That is the point.

Boise State and BYU and Utah last year suffer from Gonzaga syndrome. Of course in NCAA basketball any team with a pulse gets into the tourney and has a chance to win it all. If football had the same low standard it would include 20% of all or 24 football teams which would certainly include the Boise States, Utah's, BYU's and half the SEC.

Trust me, I like Boise State a lot, every year. A lot of our Washington kids play ball there, Jack Simplot of MacDonald's fries fame and fortune hangs out there, my older brother was born there. Perfect game pitcher Don Newcome lives somewhere around there. Outside of Sun Valley, Boise is one of my favorite places in all of Idaho!

Albert Pujols is the greatest ever, NOT, Chapter V

Albert, the greatest offensive player of our time just does not match The Babe, the greatest offensive player of ALL TIME. More evidence:

Total bases: In 1921 the Babe racked up 475 while averaging 375 per season for his career. Albert is a hitting machine but has NEVER had more than 394 in a season.

Slugging %: The Babe averaged .690 for his career while Albert has a career best season of .689 to Ruth's best of .849.

OPS: While Albert's numbers are tremendous, and average of 1.058 with highs of 1.136, 1.14 and 1.106 The Babe weighs in with a career 1.1.164 with highs of 1.382, 1.359 and 1.309. Again, Albert has yet to record a single season as high as Ruth's career average.

And remember Ruth accomplished this while opening his career with five seasons of under 325 AB seasons while he was pitching as will as a two season fade at the end of his career.

The Babe is still the best ever. And Boise State is the best football team in the state of Idaho, and half of Washington, and at least half of Oregon.

Boise State to BCS is BS

2009-09-06T23:14:00.001-07:00

What a great time of the sporting year this is. Baseball races shaping up for the playoffs. The mind numbing pain of NFL pre season games mercifully are over. And college football is with us again. The down side to all this? One week into the college football season we have to start reading and hearing the annual drivel of which over rated undeserving lousy non-BCS team will make it to a BCS bowl this season. I call this SUTS (stupid undeserving team selection).

After sitting through that Oregon - Boise State stumble fest I shuddered at the thought that the game did anything to enhance Boise's position nationally. The significant story of course was LeGarrette Blount going from possible first round draft pick to probable Jerry Springer stage hand in about five minutes. The right cross was as quick and effective as it was stupid. But the following act was breath taking. Watching this grown man go completely hysterical fighting off teammates, coaches and cops while baying like a werewolf caught out at a full moon. It was riveting. Unfortunately, the game was pretty much like a two-hour proctologist appointment. But I regress.

Here are the facts. Even the supporters of the annual SUTS process expose the whole thing by declaring Boise State in now that they have cleared the only hurdle (Oregon) of consequence on their schedule. Huh? They are one game into their "season" and they are done? C'mon! I checked the CBS Sports rankings of all 120 D-1 teams and was relieved to find that Boise State has several games left against um…football teams. See, they still must face the likes of Nevada #42, Tulsa # 65 and Fresno State #71. That is not all. Lurking in the weeds like poisonous snakes are Idaho, New Mexico State, Miami of Ohio, San Jose State and Hawaii (all ranked from # 95-118). If we gathered the 30 worst rated teams in the country we would find that Boise State will play five of them. Oh yeah, they also play UC Davis but they are not ranked at all. I assume they are division 2, 3, or something else.

Actually there is nothing wrong with the teams Boise State schedules. I think they should be able to tee it up against Mississippi University for Women if they want (they might face a better prepared team than Oregon). But none of that should get anyone into a BCS bowl game. As a matter of fact it should eliminate a team from even consideration for a BCS bowl.

Memo to Boise State: If God wanted you to play in BCS bowls he wouldn't have placed you in Boise in the first place, and certainly NOT in the WAC!

Please, it is early September. Let us enjoy this best time of year without this nonsense.

Most Obnoxious Fans No Coin Flip

2009-08-24T20:04:00.001-07:00

Earlier this season May 15-17 the Mariners hosted Boston for a three game series. The Red Sox came cruising into that series at .600 (21-14) one game behind Tampa Bay. The M's at a more modest 16-19 (.457) were still light years ahead of that 101 loss hair ball they coughed up in 2008. So for all the right reasons this mid May series generated some pretty positive vibes around town. Even the weather that weekend was tolerable with game start temps of 65, 75 and 65 degrees and dry. This was good stuff for mid May in our town.

The Mariners played pretty good ball winning two of the three games in low scoring fashion and creating the start of some pretty good times for local baseball fans. Besides some evidence of improvement, even respectability in the Mariners, the weekend generated evidence of Red Sox fans. Red Sox fans at Safeco Field. Lots of them? Probably not more than 25-30% of the 118,000 who witnessed the games. But they were evident. Enough so that noise levels put the Sox fans dead even with the locals. And in general behavior, well those Sox fans were something special. They were so special that early in game two on that glorious 75 degree Saturday, an acquaintance (actually a media professional) turned to me and stated, " Boston Red Sox fans are by far the most obnoxious fans in all of baseball. The Yankee fans used to be, but the Sox fans are the worst."

I have a life long Sox fan Boston resident cousin who feared this day. Back in October of 2004, with champagne still sticking to the Red Sox locker room walls my cousin expressed concern that "…now that we won it all I hope everyone won't hate us". Well some opinion has it that five years and another championship later that is exactly the case. Many are on board with Sox fans being the most obnoxious.

I raised this issue very recently, this month with my daughter. At age 23 she is a life long M's fan but after the locals a Sox supporter as well. Having spent a summer in Boston and experiencing dozen or more games at Fenway over several seasons her view is worth understanding. And a simple view it is. Her reaction to this Sox obonoxiousness went something like…"Dad, Red Sox fans were ALWAYS obnoxious. But until 2004 and a World Series championship nobody cared." Having seen even more games in Boston over the years myself, I couldn't disagree.

Following this line of thought I drew the same conclusion regarding many Yankee fans over the years. But in comparing the two teams and their fans I find common ground build on two factors. Passion and winning. Since 2003 the Sox and Yanks missed the play offs only one season each. The Yanks made it to the Series once while the Red Sox made it twice, winning both times. Nobody questions the passion of either teams' fans. Passion is easy to measure. They care, a lot. Simple as that. All fans care, only a few care a lot, all the time. Are these great fans? Yup. Obnoxious? No. If fans are passionate AND their team wins they get a pass. It is OK to expect, even demand wins if you have a winning organization.

Which brings to the quintessential obnoxious fans. These fans expect winning and talk of past championships. They pray at the alter of "Commitment To Excellence". They even dress up like they are in a high school production of The Lion King. I am referring to Oakland Raider fans. Passion is OK, it is good. Loyalty? Bring it on. But this organization is so bad that when Al Davis was looking for a new home after Los Angeles, even Khadafy wouldn't accept the Raiders. These fans are truly obnoxious. This Titanic led by the guy with the 10-40 weight hair. The guy who has had a bad hair decade. This "team", this "franchise"this organization that since 2003 has lost more than double its wins each season. This commitment to excellence has yielded 24 wins in 96 games for a "sinning" rate of .250.

The fans of the Raiders, they are the obnoxious ones. They cling to the lore of The Snake Stabler and the rest like Greta Garbo grasping for one more role (yes, she and the Raiders are both dead) These are fans who give Halloween a bad name. These are fans who even soil the term "obnoxious".

So don't throw rocks at Red Sox fans, or Yankee fans. Quit picking on those Cowboy, Patriot ior Laker fans. Want to see and hear fans ten times as irritating as your sister's kid? Look no farther than Raider fans. The only group more completely obnoxious than Raider fans is the Raider football team.

Pujols is Great, Not Greatest

2009-08-09T23:20:00.001-07:00

What happens when we add a pretty solid feature sports writer, a very respected weekly sports magazine and the best offensive baseball player of our time? We get an Albert Pujols story that does the impossible. We get a story that suggests Pujols is the greatest baseball player of all time, as in history.

Why do baseball media types insist on exaggerating and over blowing stories already huge, as huge as Albert Pujols? I can't even make up a reason why. And we won't start to be even slightly critical of Albert's brilliant nine-year career. But we will help every one understand why Puhols has little on Ted Williams and NOTHING on the greatest ever; Babe Ruth.

The writer establishes that there are three conditions to be met in this coronation.

1) The player must play full seasons from day one in the majors

2) The players career must be uninterrupted by illness, war, strike or injuries.

3) Every year must be a Hall of Fame caliber year.

Numbers one and two are obviously meaningless and skewed to favor Pujols, who needs no favor. Yes, Pujols played a full season his first season but does that make him a greater player than Ted Williams or Babe Ruth? No, it makes nobody better than anyone. Actually it means nothing.

Number two is even more meaningless. The fact that Pujols' career has been uninterrupted by strike, injury or war simply reflect the relative quiet of 2001-2009. Albert can do almost anything but he had nothing to do with those nine years of peace and quiet.

Number three is a valid enough measure and Pujols' first year of major league baseball certainly met that standard.

2000- Runs 112, H 194, 2B 47, 3B 4 HR 37, RBI 130, OPS 1.013, Slg .610, B Avg .329

9 yr Avg 124 199 44 2 43 129 1.055 .628 .334

Review and digest those numbers and there is no question of Pujols' HOF worthiness. But "the greatest ever"? Greater than Ruth and Williams? That is worth at least one Keith Jackson Whoa Nellie.

First of all let's revisit those first two meaningless qualifiers. As Albert's career has played out nine uninterrupted seasons so far, Ted Williams fell short. He did interrupt his play to serve in the military. Although Teddy Ballgame logged no hits during his military service he did fly 39 combat missions in Korea as a pilot. Pujols, while still young will likely not rack up that many combat missions before his career closes.

And Babe Ruth did NOT rack up the same kind of year one offensive numbers as Albert. In fact Ruth's second through forth seasons showed pitching records of 18-8, 23-12, 24-13. His innings pitched were 217, 323, 326 and ERA 2.44, 1.75, 2.01. In 1916 Ruth tossed a 14 inning complete game victory in the World Series. No hitter of any kind, including Pujols will ever rack up any pitching performances of any note, let alone Ruthia level.

In reality Albert Pujols has matched or exceeded most of Ted Williams' career numbers. The only one he may have trouble with is maintaining this level for 19 seasons as Williams did. Williams out hit Albert .344-.334 and produced about 10 more extra base hits per season. RBI, hits and slugging are about equal. It is close but Pujols backers can argue that he is equal to Williams. Oh, if you are like me and hate strikeouts, Albert is averaging 66 per season so far. Ted Williams had 64 in his first season and over 50 two other seasons. Ted Williams, while batting .344 and hitting 521 homers averaged 37 strike outs per season. THIRTY-SEVEN!

But equal to Babe Ruth? Paleeeeeez! Ruth's numbers go on and on. He set a record that still stands with 119 extra base hits in 1921 on only 540 at bats. Pujols while averaging a healthy 89 extra bas hits per season has had as few as 540 AB only twice. The Babe had a career average slugging of .690. That is an average over 22 seasons. Albert averaging .628 has been over .670 twice in nine seasons. He will never touch Ruth in that category.

I also like relativity, performance relative to the time, the world or in this case other players of his time. A for instance: In 1927 Ruth's 60 HR's represented 14% of all homers hit in the American League that season. A similar percentage today might be over 300. Don't expect Albert to do that soon. In the first 12 seasons following Ruth's trade to New York he out homered the Boston TEAM 10 times. Never mind that Ruth hit over .350 eight seasons, five over .370. Albert has hit over .350 twice with a high of .356. Forget the Babe's NY career OBP of .484 (Pujols best season .462). Oh yea, at the time of his retirement with 714 career home runs (a record that stood for decades) the hitter in second place had fewer than half that amount. Some guy named Lou Gehrig.

Enough of this. Albert Pujols can be and might be the greatest hitter of this time. He likely will be the greatest hitter of his time. Be he is not and never will be the greatest hitter of all time. Time can stop right now. Babe is the greatest.

Blame It On Bedard

2009-07-26T22:43:00.001-07:00

The Mariners got whacked Saturday night 10-3 by Cleveland. Erik Bedard burned up 81 pitches in only three innings and came out of the game. That loss certainly was Bedard's fault. The Mariners have scored NINE runs in the last FIVE games. Blame it on Bedard. As a matter of fact, the M's have scored three runs or less five games in a row. Yup, that damn Bedard! It was hot as Hell Sunday and will be in the mid 90's the nest four days. Bedard again. This guy has hosed up everything like a soup sandwich!

OK, gullible fans and bad baseball reporters, get a grip!

Seattle, you see is averaging 3.88 runs scored per game. Is that good? No, it stinks! The M's are 13^th out of 14 AL teams, ONE run ahead of the Murderers Row that is the Kansas City Royals. The Angels second in the AL average 5.5 runs scored. The Rangers are 8^th best in the league at 4.83 runs per game. That Seattle is a full run per game behind Texas, the eighth best run scorer speaks volumes about that contender's role. Seattle really never was one. Scoring less than four runs per game in the American League (not every DH bats .220 like Seattle's) is no way of contending, even with the best ERA in the league.

Is my pal Erik Bedard a disappointment? Absolutely, without question. However, friends, except for his health and durability issues he has been stellar. Let's review:

-Bedard simply does not give the M's enough innings. No question. Just note that he is averaging 5.5 innings pitched this season in 15 starts. Not three or four innings as some would have us believe. He missed four starts going on the DL June 8. Prior to that date on 11 starts Bedard averaged 6.0 (5.97 actually) innings per start. Pretty good? I think so. In 2008 Felix went 6.5 and Washburn 5.9 innings per start. In Washburn's best year ever, 2003 (18-6 with LAA) he averaged 6.4. In 2006 Bedard pitched 196 1/3 innings, his most ever. That year he averaged 5.9 innings per start. When healthy he has averaged about what should be expected. He was never an inning eater.

-Can the guy really pitch? No doubt he is as good as there is. In his 15 starts this year Bedard's 2.82 ERA is sixth best in the AL. Prior to his DL stint his ERA was 2.47, near league leading. Even in his four "bad starts" in July after the DL time his ERA was a better than average 4.16. Can this guy pitch? C'mon, do I need to call your parole officer?

-Bedard is lazy, not tough, doesn't want it bad enough. Our friend Erik is in his ninth full year of big time ball. The guy will also become a free agent at the end of this season. An average season would have earned him a $10-12 million per 3-4 year contract. Yeah, he is just lazy and doesn't care about his contract or earnings.

I suspect Bedard is endlessly stoned for two reasons:

1) He simply has not met expectations. No argument there, although his level of disappointment hardly rivals Jeff Cirillo, and a few others.

2) The real reason is he is not the most chatty guy in the game. Baseball press types like "stand up guys'. Players who give good (or bad, or stupid) quotes no matter how lousy they played that game. "Every Day Eddie" Guardardo in 2006 was really bad with Seattle. After a couple of decent seasons he finished 15 games, saving five and losing three. He was bad, BUT he sat around BS ing with reporters, taking responsibility for his endlessly bad relief work. He was praised for being a stand up guy. Reporters would rather a lousy pitcher give them quotes and than a good one say nothing.

A lot of us would just as soon see a good pitcher pitch.

Buy or Sell or Whatever

2009-07-23T22:31:00.001-07:00

It is said for every seller there must be a buyer and for every buyer there must…oh, you get it. In our world, the world of major league baseball, selling is about the the price, what is being received. Selling and buying are both pretty easy. Getting value, good value is a little trickier. (refer to the Bavasi book of really good deals)

Today, about 58% through this season only 11 or 12 teams of 30 are really out of the playoff races. Even a realistic view shows a full half (15 teams) are within five games of at least a wild card spot. So really who is buying or selling?

If you happen to be sitting here in Seattle you really should be considering how to do both. With the 10^th highest payroll in baseball at $99 million some relief is just a few months away. The end of September should find our Mariners a good deal lighter in the payables department.

Dead Lock See ya laters Might Go By-By

Bedard $7.8 million Washburn $9.9

Batista $9.5 Chavez $2

Beltre $13.4 Branyan $1.4

Griffey $ 2 Sweeney $ .5

Total $ 32.7 Total $13.8

So except for paying Felix about double his current $3.8 million Seattle should not be facing any other significant pay increase. At least not until they notice that there are empty uniforms waiting for a shortstop, third baseman, at least one starting pitcher and a left fielder. Not all these empty suits can or should be filled by free agents. (refer to the Pat Guillick book of who cares about the future?) Free agents (except for the cheap ones like Branyan, Raul) almost always deliver poor value for the money (Sexson, Silva, Beltre, Batista et al). Keep this in mind: the balance of 2009 promises to be at least entertaining. 2010 appears to be potentially ugly, a possible 2008 light.

The suggestion here is that Seattle consider buying, for next year. If Washburn can be had for a 1-2 year deal he should be locked up. Even in his poor seasons he rarely missed a start and averaged at least six innings per start. Signing Wash can take a lot of pressure of constructing a rotation for next season. Right now he and Felix are as good a 1-2 as there is. Bedard can be kept for the rest of this season regardless of how the M's do the rest of the way. Selling is easy. Do it only if a player is offered who can fill one of those empty suits, in 2010. Otherwise forget it. More marginal AAA players are not needed. The challenge is not finding a team that needs and wants Bedard. It is finding one with a player of real value to offer. For those paying attention Seattle already ahs plenty of Balentein, Cedeno, Hannahan, Griffey, Sweeney types. The M's don't need to trade for more.

The view from here is that the phantom offense will catch up with the M's over the next month or so. While we cheer a thrilling race with Texas for second place our M's will slowly slide to a 6-9 GB position. I still see our guys winning 81-83 games, but there will be no reason to get stupid merely trying to catch the Rangers. Jack The Z Man will do what any decent GM (there are about one of them in Seattle history) should do. He will be prepared (i.e. what players are there out there that are worth a ____), sit back and wait for an offer that will be a difference-maker. A POSITIVE difference-maker.

So expect Seattle to sell and buy, but don't be shocked if little happens at all. It is very likely the offers will look a lot like Balentein or Hannahan or even Cirillo. That shiny Corvette can turn out to be a Pinto or a Vega.

View at the Break (All-Star Break)

2009-07-12T23:28:00.001-07:00

Remember last week when our Hall of Fame pal Dave Niehaus declared that Sunday July 5 "the numerical mid point of the season"? Well, it was, game number 81. And this Sunday we hit the All-Star Break or the bogus mid point of the season. We have just completed game number 88 or just over 54% of the season, at least for the Mariners. The real reason we treat this as the mid point of the season is that we have no real baseball for four days so everyone has nothing to do but scratch themselves while declaring winners, losers, over achievers, huge disappointments, ya know, the usual stuff.

So after much preparation, we will do the same. After more than five minutes of careful consideration I have concluded that only a very few teams have really been surprising disappointments. On the happy track side of things a number of teams have given fans some warm fuzziness. Through it all Baseball may be facing the heaviest dose of reality ever or at least in our time. While steroids cost the game some dignity and face, it did not cost the owners any money. This year we have seen a 6% + drop in attendance and likely a greater drop in the hidden goodies. Things like luxury suite sales and advertising revenues are way down. Even the Yankees have run out of rich people to fleece. All this will damper the usual trading stupidity that happens every July.

All that reality aside, the positive side of baseball has never been sweeter. The good stuff?

Two words; Albert Pujols. The guy with numbers like .330, 85 RBI, 72 Runs, 32 HR and .1170 OBPS makes Superman look like Pee Wee Herman. The other numbers are all zero, as in zero DUI's, criminal charges or sleep overs at Michael Jackson's.

Another nice National League story also qualifies as the top free agent signing of the past off season: Our own former M, Raul Ibanez. Despite missing 20+ games Raul hit .309 with 60 RBI, 22 HR with a 1.015 (3^rd in NL) OBPS. He is having his best season ever for the defending World Champions, the Phillies. $10 million a year is not cheap, but Raul is a bargain at that price.

AL Minnesota catcher Joe Mauer is racking up mind boggling numbers hitting .373 with 15 HR and a 1.069 OBPS. Only one other season had Mauer hit as many as 13 homers, with 9,9,7 the other high points. I will be really disappointed if the S word isn't raised if Mauer rings up 25-30 homers this season. We won't be shocked if Ichiro passes Mauer in batting. But Joe's kind of numbers coming from a catcher will be historical. The second half will be well worth watching.

The A L best-buy free agent? One Russell Branyan, his average has dipped to .280 and will likely finish near .2650-.270 but his 22 HR and .956 OBPS have been most of what is a nonexistent Mariner offense. At 41.4 million he has been the bargain of all bargains.

Pitchers? You want pitchers? When I consider starting pitchers I view ERA and WHIP (walks+hits per inning) as the most revealing numbers. The rest, (strikeouts, etc) is kind of flash. Bother leagues have a number of real deals going this year. The interesting point is many of the best are also young, or very young. The domination by the over 30 year old gang may be over for a while.

So how can you not like Zack Greinke of KC? The record of 10-5 to go with an ERA of 2.12 and a WHIP of 1.08 is top stuff. This is his first season at this level so he warrants attention for the balance of this season. The other really young AL pitcher who appears coming into his own is Felix Hernandez. The 9-5 record means nothing playing for the punchless Mariners. But his 2.53 ERA and 1.14 WHIP are all star quality. At 23 Felix should be in tall cotton for a long time. Another young pitcher in the process of settling in on the throne is Tim Lincecum of the Giants. His 10-2 record and 2.33 ERA and 1.05 WHIP not only come on the back of a poorly starting San Francisco team but this is following up his Cy Young season of 2008.

But folks, Dan Haren of the smelly Arizona Diamondbacks has a 2.01 ERA and a (GET THIS!!!) 0.81 WHIP!!! Read that again, 0.81. That figure for the whole season would be the fifth best in baseball history. That is not just good but epically good.

Teams? The good? Lots of them. The Dodgers are riding high and really look like the best. The Red Sox, Yanks, Rays and Detroit all are doing the expected in the AL. In the AL West the Angels get high marks for wining while players fall like bank stock. With most of the starting rotation and now Hunter and Vlad missing time the team keeps winning and leading. Sciosicia along with Texas Ron Washington and Seattle's Don Wakamatsu all deserve early manager of the year consideration in the AL.

In the NL in addition to the Dodgers the Phillies and Cardinals rest right where we thought they belong. Milwaukee is hovering and could move in the second half. The two teams unplugged from life support in mid May were Colorado and San Francisco.

The Rockies got Clint Hurdle canned only to climb to five over .500 with Jim Tracy at the wheel. Tracy and Bruce Bochy of the Giants may be fro0nt runners for manager honors. If Bochy wins the Mariners get credit. On May 23 the Giants, losers of three n a row completed a 2-1 series win over the Ms in Seattle. From that point the Giants went 29-16 (.644). Now at .563 the Giants are in the Wild Card drivers seat.

The real tankers? Easy to spot and even easier to smell. We don't need to say anything about the Mets. Just try harder, get worse. The three games under .500 Mets and the Cubs are putrid. There is no reason for either of those teams to NOT be in the thick of things. There is nothing lovable about the Cubs. Lou won't like it but he deserves plenty of heat. If he wasn't Lou he might be gone now.

In the AL nobody ex0pected much from Oakland but Giambi and Halliday have been pretty much nothing. KC has disappointed after a promising start but not much was really expected. The down the toilette winner is Cleveland. Many felt this team was headed for the playoffs. Instead they are the worst team in the AL and maybe all of baseball. They are headed for about 63 wins, 2008 Mariner territory.

With 75+ plus games left lots can happen but look for the usual suspects at the finish. Yes we like the M's performance but they will finish with 80-84 wins. A good season but not a playoff season. Keep you eye on the Giants, Detroit and the White Sox. All of them could be at it in October. And most of all get back on the Red Sox wagon, they are going to do it again.

A nod to the great Roger Maris. On this day in 1985 his number 9 was retired by the Yanks.

On this day in 1946 the Indians lost to the Red Sox 11-10 despite four doubles and a homer by Lou Boudreau. Seems some guy hit three HR's with eight RBI for the Sox, some guy named Ted Williams.

The M’s, For Better And For Worse

2009-07-05T23:39:00.001-07:00

The other day our Hall-Of-Famer Dave Neihaus referred to the evening of July 5 as "the numerical mid point of the season". Huh? Yo, Dave!!! What other kind of mid point is there? At any right we find our boys of this perfect summer 81 games into things sitting at 42-39, roaring through 2009 at a .519 clip. Unreal, hard to believe, what does it mean? You have questions? We have answers.

The Mariners are doing really great, aren't they?

Well, yes, the Mariners are three entire games over .500 (not really, they are numerically 1.5 games over). Relative to what many predicted ( I had the M's winning 78, more optimistic than most) our Mariners are beyond respectable. The reality is that they have the seventh best record in the AL. But everyone on their feet, since June 1 our guys are 18-12, a blistering .600 clip. Should the Mariners merely play .500 ball the rest of the way we would see 83 wins at the wire. That is solidly in the not-bad range.

Branyan not an All-Star???

Russell has had an outstanding 41 games. Batting .293 with 20 HR, 15 2B, 45 RBI and 154 TB he has been the only productive offensive player on this team. To be an All-Star first basemen he needs to put up numbers like this all the time, but it has been a great 41 games. Want some concerning news? Ok, "The Muscle" has slipped into mortality the last few games. In the last 10 games he is hitting .231. Two HR and nine RBI are fine but….17 strike outs in 34 at bats is brutal. Well, it is beyond brutal A bad strikeout guy will average one K per four AB or so. Branyan has 87 this season in 263 AB or 3.02 AB per K. Ummmm, not good. But these last 10 games the whiffs are coming at a one every 2.29 AB clip. YIKES! The wind chill around home plate is getting noticeable.

More to come….lots of good to look forward to, and lots of other things to worry about….and on this day

1933 The very first Major League All-Star game was played at the real Comiskey Park. Nothing has changed as the AL won 4-2.

1956 The Cy Young award is inaugurated to honor baseball's outstanding pitchers.

1957 two teenagers meet for the first time in Liverpool, England. John Lennon and Paul McCartney go on to earn a rather good living together

HR’s, K’s, & Moonlight

2009-06-29T23:04:00.001-07:00

Over the last few months we have noted some of baseballs greatest hitters managed to rack up significant home run totals while striking out at rates astonishingly low. Some of the greatest hitters of any era including Stan Musial and Ted Williams hit hundreds of home runs while averaging less than 40 strike outs per full season for their careers. For relativity, Ichiro in eight full seasons is averaging 65 strikeouts per season, about 50% more than those sluggers. Why do we revisit this data? Because we have slighted "The No K King" and need to rectify the situation, that's why.

Ted Kluszewski played major league ball, mostly at first base for 15 seasons. During his career he hit 279 homers while whiffing only 365 times. Only a few hitters with over 200 career homers have ever had more homers than strike outs in any one season. Kluszewski not only did it four times, he did it four years in a row. From 1953-1965 he hit 171 home runs while striking out 140 times. Go look up every great hitter in history, you will not find anyone who comes close to this accomplishment. Klusweski, a legit star player finished second in the 1954 vote, a four time All-Star and was in the top 10 in NL batting seven times. It is no leap that if you hate strikeouts, you love Ted.

On this date, June 29, 1905 one Archibald Wright Graham appeared is his one and only major league game. He appeared once for the New York Giants recording absolutely nothing. No at bat, no out, no nothing. But yes, "Moonlight" Graham did indeed appear in one and only one big league game, as depicted in the movie Field Of Dreams. Well, not quite. Moonlight played right field in the bottom of the eighth and ninth innings for the Giants against the Brooklyn Suberbas. Graham was on deck in the eighth when the third out was made and never did come to the plate. That really cool part of the movie where he hits a sacrifice fly? Forget it, never happened. Oh yeah, and James Earl Jones, Amy Madigan and Kevin Costner doing the wave? How did that get in to what was otherwise a really cool movie??? But Moonlight Graham….he really existed and 104 years ago got into a game.

And……

-Happy 73^rd birthday 10 time All-Star Harmen Killebrew and 53^rd to Pedro Guerrero

-Five years ago Randy Johnson became the fourth pitcher all time to rack up 4,000 career strike outs. I know, I know, he passed Jay Buhner…

-On this day in 1969 Jim Northrup of the Detroit Tigers hit his third grand slam in seven days. Mariner fans won't see that many in…never mind.

CORRECTION !

2009-06-21T23:37:00.001-07:00

That should read "In 1957 he had a 24 strikeout, 18 walks"...

sory about that. DOn't want to give him too much credit!

Quit Waiting, Felix the Ace is Here, Now

2009-06-21T23:02:00.001-07:00

In 2005 Felix Hernandez joined the appeared with the Seattle Mariners as a 19-year-old starting pitcher. Felix was not dubbed "The King" for his rendition of Blue Suede Shoes. As those over weight, heavy drinking bald guys (scouts) say, "the kid could pitch". So in the autumn of 2005 millions of Mariner fans along with M's management and baseball press types all went on watch. With the vigilance and razor sharp vision of those Navy lookouts at Pearl Harbor fans, baseball guys and media watched for the arrival. What we were all watching for was the arrival of "The King"; Felix as Ace. Everyone knew it would come, just not when. Apparently no one even knew what he or she were looking for. See, Felix Hernandez "as ACE" arrived some time ago and almost nobody noticed. It slipped by most of us like one of those Felix 97 MPH down-and-aways. At least shortly before 8:00 am December 7, 1941 those eagle eyes at Pearl Harbor knew EXACTLY when "it" arrived. If they didn't see it, at least hey heard it.

Well folks, trust me, Felix the Ace has arrived and we have seen it, been seeing it for a while now. For the record after 15 starts Felix looks like this:

Record: 7-3 Innings Pitched: 101 (6 2/3 per start)

Strike outs 98 WHIP 1.21 (walks+hits per inning, top 10 in AL)

OK, so that is all good, right. Yeah, but is it really "Ace" stuff? As usual, a closer look is warranted. First, as is the case4 with any M's pitcher, win-loss record means little. The "wins" portion is contaminated by the "support" provided by the very worst run-scoring bunch in the game. If we all scored like the Mariners we'd all still be virgins and the birth rate would be zero.

First let's clean things up but viewing the three games Felix lost. These were without question three very bad starts. The three poorest of the total 15 started so far this season In these three games played May 4, 9 & 19 he racked up 15 2/3 innings (15% of 2009 total), 27 hits (28% of season total) 17 earned runs (55% of total). OK, so what does all this mean? This is what it means, for 12 of the 15 starts; those games Felix did NOT lose his numbers look like Bernard Madoff computed them:

Games Started 12 Innings 86 (7 2/3 per start) BB 25 (2.1 per start)

Strike outs 84 (7 per start) ERA 1.46

You like that ERA? Try this; in Felix' last six starts his ERA is 1.00. In New York the media is sucking up the $22 million CC by pointing out that in his last 6 decisions his ERA is 3.00. Get used to it folks. The King is not in CC Sabathia's neighborhood, he is way beyond it. Putting his age and experience in the mix Felix is simply the most valuable pitcher in baseball right now. With 119 starts at age 23 he is tough and already a veteran. And he is most certainly an ace.

In the gratifying and shallow world of spectator sports we mostly focus on the best and occasionally the worst performances. It helps ground us (what does that mean?) to revisit some of the most intriguing and even perplexing performances in sports.

We all know Randy Johnson. One of the greatest pitchers of any era he has been known for his strikeouts, his velocity and for most of his early years his lack of control. In a four-inning effort in July 1991 RJ gave up four runs on one hit…..and 10 walks. In 1992 he had another four inning, 10 walk outing. Even in his first no hitter in June 1990 he walked six. But when it came to strike outs and wildness Randy barely in Steve Dalkowski's back seat.

Well, for those who have never met him, or somehow forgot him, it is my honor to introduce you to Mr. Steve Dalkowski. The slight 5'11" 175 pound career minor leaguer was conservatively estimated at 5-10 MPH faster than any other pitcher in history. Although pre radar gun, the consensus was that this guy threw in the 105-110 MPH range pitching 1957-1965. In simple terms he was the fastest and the wildest pitcher maybe in recorded baseball history.

Statistics don't usually tell the complete story of a baseball player but in the case of the historic pitcher, they do a pretty good job. Most revealing is in his nine minor league seasons Dalkowski pitched for 27 teams. That is right. He had seasons with either three or four different teams four times. Seem a little unloved? Read on.

In 1960 pitching for Stockton in 170 innings Dalkowski rang up 262 strike outs AND 262 walks. Starting to get it? This guy was really special. In 1957 he had a 24 strikeout, 128 walk game. During his career 995 innings he recorded 1396 strike outs and 1354 walks. Let's add a local flavor. In 1961 he pitched for the Tri-City Atoms (Kennewick, WA) organization. His numbers;

W-L 3-12 ERA 8.39 games 31 games started 22

Innings 103 Hits 75 Walks 196 (1.9 per inning)

Career k's per inning 1.4 (R.Johnson 1.18)

Career walks per inning 1.36 (RJ was a pathetic 0.36)

Dalkowski spent seven of his nine seasons with the Orioles organization as they patiently waited for him to harness even a little of his amazing speed. It never happened. Today at age 70, Steve has trouble remembering much after 1960 due to high and constant alcohol consumption for decades. Steve Dalkowski never made it even close to the majors. But his history and career is as major as they come!

If

2009-06-10T22:39:00.001-07:00

In the entire English language there is no word shorter that can imply so much and really mean so little…than "if". If you cleaned the garage without being asked you would be a good husband. If your daughter / son just applied themselves in class they would be excellent students. If it didn't rain so much Seattle would be a great place to live. If Sarah Palin…OK, you get it. If we could really fill in all the ifs our lives and our world would be all that we want them to be.

Being sports oriented types (fans, if you will) in the Seattle area we have been drinking if-laced Kool Aid for quite some time, 2008-9 in particular. As in:

If only our 2008 football Huskies were coached up a little instead of misguided by TW things would have been better. WRONG!!! Coaching was only one of EVERY element that caused the Dawgs to fold like a bad lawn chair last year. A team that loses all twelve games, loses FIVE of those 12 games by 30 or more points and nine of the twelve by 20 or more points had wide spread issues. When a team has no facet of its game even average then no if can be applied.

If only Matt Hasselback hadn't been injured the Seahawks would have made the playoffs last season. WRONG!!! Offensively the Hawks averaged 274 yards per game, 28^th in the NFL, just behind number one New Orleans' 410 ypg. Seattle managed to score all of 18 points per game, good for 25^th and a little bit behind leader N.O. at 28. Of course what could we have expected with Matt out? Well, we might have expected the defense to step up (what does "step up" really mean?). Seattle came through, surrendering a 25^th best average of 25 points per game, trailing slightly the Steelers at 14 points. Reality must be at least noticed. And reality is / was that the Hawks 4-12 record was better than exactly three other teams. Again, no if's can be applied to the Hawks 2008 "performance".

We won't even talk about the memorable 61-101 2008 Mariners. So watch your ifs, they really can get the best of you. If Mr. Ed had been Secretariat and Wilbur had been Angel Cardero….. you get it, right?

A little history….

In 1944 on this day Joe Nuxhall at 15 years, 10 months of age became the youngest starting pitcher in major league baseball history.

0n this day in 1977 Seattle Slew won The Belmont Stakes wrapping up the Triple Crown.

Happy 58^th birthday to one of the few decent oregon ducks, Dan Fouts

On June 10, 1976 Paul McCartney and Wings drew 67,100 for the largest crowd ever to attend an indoor concert. The historical event occurred at Seattle's King Dome.

Greatest Dawg Ever & Other Stuff

2009-06-07T23:39:00.001-07:00

By now we are all well aware of the gr4eat Danielle Lawrie. The word "great" is as over used as any in sports. But Lawrie is not just great; in Husky lore she is the greatest. As in the front of the line. I know se never performed in front of Hitler but that is about all she has not done with one season still remaining. So Steve Emtman, Brandon Roy, Hugh McElhenny, Tim Lincecum et al take a seat. Danielle is clearly the greatest ever Husky athlete.

The 6'6" junior from Burnaby, B.C. was 42-8 with and ERA of 0.97 on the season. In this post season she batted .308, hit 3 HR with 14 RBI. Doing all that for a national championship team makes her number one. Oh yeah, Danielle was named National Player of the Year. Case closed. She is the all time greatest. No debate.

And congrats to the Husky Crew for grabbing the 107^th IRA Championship Regatta. That makes three national titles this year along with women's cross-country. If football can follow even a little bit Husky athletics may be able to pay the light bills again.

Your Seattle Mariners (I am still not sure I want to call them mine) just passed the one-third point in the season with a record of 28-29. Nothing to score a Baseball Tonight lead story about but a bit better than most anticipated. What really makes this notable is that this team is one of the very worst run producing groups in Mariner history. While winning almost 50% of their games the punchless M's have scored three runs or less in 30 games or 52.6% of the time. Our fluffy boys rank as follows out of 14 American league teams:

Rank

Runs 14 3.77 per game, they have charities for numbers that pathetic

Total Bases 11

2B 10

HRE 11

RBI 14

OBP 14

SLG 12

Avg 11

Hmmmm, our guys are no better than 10^th in any offensive category. Not dramatic news but unusual for a team nudging .500. How do they do it? In pitching rankings in the AL the M's look a little better:

Rank

ERA 1 3.74

SO 6

Runs 1 4.21 per game, see above, scoring 3.77 per game

BB 3

Total Bases 3

OBP 3

Avg 2 .253

So our guys can pitch….and they can't score runs a all. The Mariners have won nine games, 32% of their total in games they scored three runs or less. Actually this really is good baseball. Winning 2-1 or 4-2 makes for dramatic and usually quick games. It would just be good to see a few balls leave the infield. And a few wins actually go to starters.

So take a breath fans. Scoring less than four runs per game means sliding downward by Independence Day.

Tidbits really not worth noting….

Bowling Green's school colors are orange and brown. On the other hand Brown's colors are brown, red and white. So Bowling Green has no green but Brown does have brown. Nothing looks good with orange but brown?

On this day in 1955 the great Tommy Lasorda was optioned by the LA Dodgers to make room for some guy named Sandy Koufax. Tommy never got his spot back. Koufax did OK.

And on this day in 1982 one of our favorites Satchel Paige died at age 75.

M’s Awesome…vs. Angles & A’s

2009-05-31T21:51:00.001-07:00

(Saturday May 30)

We are 50 games or 30.9% through the best season in all of sports, Major League Baseball season. And our Mariners are about where some of us thought they might be, somewhere just south of .500. The M's at this pace would rack up about 77 wins. Yes, some thought (fantasized) our guys would somehow win 85-88 games. Others, a more mainstream group I think, anticipated another sub .450 season and closer to 70-72 wins. So what do we know, what do we like and of course, what don't we like about this team so far?

Almost everything related to pitching is somewhere between very good and solid. Somehow the bullpen has generally been dependable and stable. With very few veterans and roles that shift like Arlan Spector the pen delivers winnable performances 75% of the time. Lack of a real closer puts the Mariners in the company of more than half the other teams in MLB. If the M's have serious shortcomings, that is not the worst. The starting pitching is down right good. With a healthy Rowland-Smith the M's starting five matches up with most. Yeah, it is the hitting that lacks (understatement). Not so much hitting but run production. This did not figure to be a run scoring machine, but so far the offense is under performing. Those that suffer along with the locals are well aware that 50% of the games see three runs of less scored by the M's. Even really good pitching wears down with that kind of constant pressure.

But all in all that 24-26 record at .480 looks OK, pretty good. Well, OK for now, but no, not that good. See, the fact is that Seattle is a mortal lock for the World Series, if the remaining 112 games are played against Oakland and the Angels. Seattle's record against those two "rivals" is a sparkling 12-8 through Saturday or a winning rate of .600. Wow, pretty good stuff. SO what does that say about the performance against the rest of baseball? Not much. The 12-18 record against teams NOT from California weighs in at .400. Slice it differently and we are shocked to see a 4-2 record against the East, 13-13 against the West, 2-1 in inter league and YUCK 5-10 against the Central. Not much else to say now, just that the Mariners at .600 are at their best against two thirds of the West and are, let's see, .000 (0-5) against the best of the West (Texas). We have four months and 112 games to see if this means anything. Let's hope it doesn't.

Today's history lesson….

Noting that on this day in 1937 the Brooklyn Dodgers ended Carl Hubbell's pitching winning streak at 24 I thought: WOW, 24 in a row!!! Now that is a record worth noting.

There must be millions of other records. Well there are, but a few will never be broken or we think they will never be broken. Name a few? No problem, but first, the record that will NEVER be broken that I hate more than any other record:

Cal Ripkin's perfect attendance record of 2,632 games. Yes, Ripkin was a perennial All-Star and is a Hall of Fame guy. But during the 17 seasons that made up that run Cal had batting averages .257, .257, .252, .251 and .250. During those four seasons of mediocrity (or worse) he should have been benched, at least rested for a game here and there. He wasn't, of course BECAUSE of the "record". SO that is not a record at all. It is just an attendance record. In my view it would be like the manager having the best penmanship filling out a line up card. Anybody out there really care? Not me.

Some real records….

Career records that will NEVER, ever be even approached:

- Cy Young 511 wins

- Nolan Ryan 5,714 strike outs AND SEVEN no-hitters

- Bill Russell playing on 11 NBA championship teams

- John Wooden coaching his way to 13 NCAA championships

And there are more…

Single season records equally unapproachable (maybe):

- Wilt Chamberlain season average of 50.4 points per game

- Rogers Hornsby batting.424

- Rickey Henderson stealing 130 bases

- Hack Wilson's 191 RBI's

- Nolan Ryan (again) 383 strike outs

- "Chief" Wilson 36 triples

I love this record as much as I hate Ripkin's. John Owen Wilson's 36 triples for the Pirates in 1922 is my personal favorite and will NEVER, EVER, NEVER be broken. Understand that 24 of the 36 three-baggers were hit in cavernous Forbes Field sailing balls deep over the outfielder's heads. With today's relative mini fields we won't see triples hit like that again, ever.

Have a good week and M's fans, strap yourselves in. Not until August 24 will the M's play the A's or Angels again. On that date the Athletics come to Seattle. It is "Half Price Fan Night". No, that doesn't mean you can buy a fan for half price. What it means is for the next 55 games the Mariners just might be in trouble. Like .400 trouble.

World’s Worst? Waitaminute!

2009-05-23T23:58:00.001-07:00

It is a 70 degree sunny Memorial Day Weekend in Seattle. Everything is not perfect? Something is bothering you? The Mariners score runs like the Coyote catches the Road Runner? Beltre hitting .213 with a slugging % of .308 while striking out 32 times in 169 at bats does not meet your expectation for reasonable return on $13 million? It makes you sit back on occasion and mutter "…he is the world's worst!" A little relativity should slice a little sunshine through those clouds.

Be somewhat happy you are not a San Diego fan, or at least associated in any way with Brian Giles. Right now for $9 million The Padres are getting a batting average of .166, "slugging" .238 and OBP of .262. So Beltre is struggling but he's no Brian Giles! Still don't feel so well? Ok, let's go back in time and meet John Gochnaur.

As a 26 year old Gochnaur made his major league debut with the Cleveland Indians in 1901. After 11 at bats that year he had a two-year career spanning the 1902-3 seasons.

In 1902 the every day shortstop in 459 at bats batted .185 to go with his 48 errors (that's right, 48 errors)! In 1903 Gochnaur again hit .185 but that season somehow managed to top out at 98 errors. For some mysterious reason 1903 ended his major league career.

His two plus season career numbering 908 at bats:

Batting Avg: .187

On Base: .258

Slugging: .240

In 264 major league games he committed 146 errors, an average of one official error every 1.8 games.

There are lots of ways to define bad and some individual players may have reached levels of horribleness that approach that of our pal John. It is doubtful in this day that any player could perform at that level and still march out every game for two full seasons. On the other hand, in this day and age just such a player could end up with a $9 million contract. And as we all know, $9 million in salary can override really bad performance.

Today's History….

1873 Canada established the North West Mounted Police. 90+ years later Dudley Doright entered the scene.

1935 At Cincinnati's Crosely Field the first night game was played , the Reds defeating Philadelphia 2-1.

1951 Willie Mays played his first game for the New York Giants

1960 The Everly Brothers recorded Cathy's Clown, which resided atop the charts at #1 for five weeks.

1962 Joe Pepitone hit two home runs in one inning for the Yankees.

2002 After a container is seen being dropped from low-flying plane hitting and bouncing off the stadium roof onto the street, Seattle hazardous materials crews close off the roads around Safeco Field for about an hour. The object turns outs to be the remains of an unidentified man's cremated ashes.

That is all for now folks….think runs

Spell Relief S – T – A – N

2009-05-14T20:22:00.001-07:00

With minimal respect to the NBA, mid May is settling in time in major league baseball. The good teams start acting like it as do the not-so-good teams. Five weeks into the warm, comfortable ride we start wrapping ourselves into baseball reality. On May 13 I took a quick look at our guys and reality looked horrifyingly familiar. Familiar as in a three game losing streak at the end of a 1-10 "stretch". Let's take a deep breath and….talk about Stan Musial. It is the 51^st anniversary of something special. On May 13, 1958 Stan the Man racked his 3,000^th hit in a 5-3 win over the Cubs at Wrigley. At 37 years old The Man became the youngest ever and the eighth overall to get to 3,000. Let's revisit the guy that I think is the most overlooked, under appreciated hitter in baseball history. And a lot of data tells me he was the best or at least next to Ruth, the best.

Where do we start? The basics: The Man played of 22 seasons. He didn't set lots of long lasting records; he just went out year after year and played better than everyone else, year after year. Stan Musial batted .331, hit 475 HRs, 725 2B.

Games played: Unlike Ripkin, Stan didn't just show up. However his 3,026 games (#6 all time) are slightly ahead of Cal' 3,001. Never mind Mr. Perfect Attendance's .276 batting average is beyond laughable against Stan's .331. The most over rated record in baseball (that consecutive game thing) would be a little more worthy if it didn't span some pretty ordinary batting stretches. Just for laughs, Ripkin never finished higher than fifth in the league in batting. Sit down, Cal.

Batting average: Stan Musial, a career .331 hitter led the league SEVEN times and finished either second or third another seven times. Listen carefully, this guy finished first, second or third in batting average in the National League 14 out his 22 seasons! Pete Rose with 4,256 hits batted .303 career.

More Hitting: Musial's career OPS is .976 leading the league seven times, finishing 14^th all time. 12 times in his career he finished in the top four in the league. The same goes for SLG at .559. He led the NL six times and finished top four 12 times in his 22 seasons.

Stan's 725 doubles are third all time, one ahead of Ty Cobb. He stands second all time in total bases, sixth in RBIs and third in total extra base hits.

Honors: As the numbers reflect, Stan Musial won something or other most of the time. He was an All-Star every season he played. He was NL MVP three times and ML Player of The Year twice.

My favorite statistic can only be appreciated AFTER digesting all of these numbers. Stan Musial struck out every 15.760 at bats. What does that mean? Until his last two seasons (1962-3) Stan NEVER struck out more than 40 times in a season. In 1962 and 1963 he whiffed 46 and 43 times. Relativity: In eight full seasons with our M's Ichiro with a nearly identical average of .330 has only had fewer than 60 Ks in a season once. Pete Rose? He K' ed 50 times or more in 12 seasons. Oh yeah, neither of these guys approached or will approach 475 HRs.

We won't go on. But you should. Next time the Mariners have you clutching your gut (could happen frequently) take a break and visit Stan. You will feel better for it.

A little Baseball only history…..

1904 The Senators started the season 0-13 and were 11 games out by the time they won their first game.

1920 Walter Johnson won the 300^th of his career 417 wins.

1967 Mickey Mantle hit his 500^th homer. Think that stuff Bonds used might have helped this guy?

1996 Dwight Gooden became the eighth Yankee to throw a no hitter. The accomplishment stands even though it was recorded against the Mariners.

Happy Birthday Little Joey, Joey Cora is 44 years old.

1998 Crooner Frank Sinatra cashed in his chips. There must be some baseball connection, go find it.

Silva Least of M’s Problems

2009-05-06T22:30:00.001-07:00

Some days just don't go well. We all suffer through those cold, windy, rainy days. And I am not even referring to the weather. And when we stagger through the day what do we look forward to when we get home? Kicking the dog? Fighting with our spouse? Having the dog kick us? All of the above? Hey, how about kicking Carlos Silva? Now that feels good!

Sure why not? After all, this guy is making $8+ million per year and his performance has fallen a good three zeros short of earning that figure. The Mariners have won only three of his six starts, Yes, his last two starts were so bad that the seventh inning stretch was taken by most Ms fans in the third inning, when Silva left the games after giving up SIX runs. Yeah, six runs in three innings, two starts in a row. And all 12 of those were earned, the only thing Carlos is earning lately. But let's take a break from piling on Silva. After all, in three of those starts Silva gave up 2, 4 and 3 earned runs. Even then the M's managed to score more than three runs once. That is why on April 14, when our anti-hero Silva went seven innings, giving up only FOUR hits and two earned runs, he was rewarded with….nothing. No decision. See, for all of Silva's really bad pitching and the shakiness of the pen, it is the M's run production (as in none) that kills this team. Fact is if a team can win half the games started by their worst starter, they will be standing in tall cotton.

The Mariners through May 6 have played 28 games, winning 15. On that day they fell out of first place, scoring one run in the process. Part of me feels the only worse possibility than Silva's pitching performance would have been had he gone seven innings, giving up 7 hits and three runs. Why? He would have lost, that is why. This Mariner team appears to be almost as meek in producing runs as last season's team. And that is meek. In exactly 50% of this seasons 28 games the M's have scored three or fewer runs. And somehow our guys managed to win all of four of those games. So the story goes the M's are 4-14 when scoring three or fewer runs and 10-4 when scoring four or more. Or 50% of the time our team may only win about 25% of the games played. And that will never get much better. What DOES need to get better is that 50%. Unless the Mariners become the 1971 Orioles over night they need to score some runs. At least more than three more than 50% of the time. Had the M's scored four runs in just three more games their record could now be 18-10. A run or two more once a week will change everything.

So Mariners hitters better have Silva's back. He is the only reason someone isn't burning those bats.

Footnote the 1971 Orioles: Each pitcher in the four-man rotation logged at least 225 innings that season.. Oh yeah, Cuellar's 3.08 was highest ERA of the bunch.

Today's history brief…

Happy birthdays to Dick Williams (80) and Johnny Unitas (76)

1959 "Roy Campanella Night" at the L.A. Coliseum was attended by 93,103 to see Sandy Koufax beat the Yankees 6-2 in an exhibition game.

1972 The Lakers beat New York four games to one to win the NBA Championship.

WHAT??? The NBA Championship playoffs were competed on May 6 ??? True story.

Baseball Equals Happiness? M’s Still in First!

2009-05-03T22:59:00.001-07:00

So Easter, Passover and May Day have all come and gone and our Mariners are still in first place. That's right, they aren't just in first place, they are STILL in first place! . Leading the American League West is still considered being in first place. Is it OK for us to be really happy, even excited? After all, Kansas City is leading the AL Central and Toronto with the best record in the AL is leading the East. Does baseball still work or will it just take another month or so for some sanity to settle back into the best game? For over 100 years baseball has needed no excuses and none are needed now, regardless of how bad the Angels may be. But are we happy?

What makes it feel like baseball is working so well in Seattle? The local economy is sinking like the sun in the west. Coming off a 101 loss season the 2009 M's were anticipated like the second coming of Legionnaire's Disease. With WAMU, Microsoft and Boeing shedding employees like Elizabeth Taylor did husbands ticket buyers would certainly become scarce. So where are we now?

The Mariners so far are about 1,700 fans per game ahead of last year, when they were coming off an 88 win season. M's base runners have already gone from first to third on singles more this April than they did in all last year (it seems). Yikes, they may have a little speed. The team even leads the American League in batting average with runners in scoring position. The bottom line right now is that our picked-to-sink (and stink) Mariners are 15-10, lead the AL West and are one of only five teams in both leagues to be at or above .600. Of course all this good news just reinforces how entrenched baseball is here. Well, what really reinforces our attachment to the best game is how many of our best, most committed fans are unhappy with the team right now. When our team defies all expectations, plays .600 ball, is in first place and we are really aggravated, THEN baseball really has us in its grip.

Forget negative and positive, consider this. In some how winning 15 of 25 games our mashers have scored three runs or less 12 times, losing eight of those games. That is right folks, when the M's have scored four or more their record is 11-2. Our champs have scored three runs or less 48% of the games so far. So how did our guys win 60% of the game so far? It absolutely doesn't matter. This is baseball. Baseball provides joy and misery, quite often at the same time. The Mariners somehow won two of three against the A's over the weekend. The three one run games were so ugly that if they had been prom dates we would have destroyed the pictures. Leaving runners on base, wasting good pitching then blowing leads allows us all to stomp and snort and cuss even while our guys go 7-4 in one run games.

So get used to it. Don't even worry about whether this team is any good. And worry even less about how attractive they are when they play the game. This bunch will win no swimming suit competitions. Just focus on winning. Whether the winning continues or not, it is OK to keep complaining, to be unhappy and dissatisfied. This is baseball, it is expected.

Today's History Lesson….

1929 Lou Gehrig hit three consecutive homers in a game

1963 Bob Shaw recorded five (5) balks in one game

1980 Mike Squires of the Chicago Whit Sox became the first left-handed catcher to play in the majors in 22 years

1984 Dave Kingman hit a fly ball that stuck in the roof of the Metro dome.

The NFL Draft Works Like a Soup Sandwich

2009-04-26T23:27:00.001-07:00

In the last 25 years the NFL Draft has become a cottage industry. And as meaningful and logical as cottage cheese. There are "professionals who don't actually do anything but write and talk about the draft…for a living! These people are not actually involved in anything productive, they do not actually draft anyone. They do not advise football teams or players. They spend the entire year talking and blogging and generally BS ing about "the draft". There are entire television shows and magazine articles and even pools / brackets dedicated to the NFL Draft. And with all that fanatical attention and hype, guess what? The draft is like that stuff you wipe off your boots when you come indoors on the farm. It is not so much that the draft doesn't work, or that it is stupid. It doesn't and it is. It simply would be ridiculously easy to fix and should have been years ago.

We all now know that losing lots of games and ending up with the first pick or the third or second is a curse that usually is financially crippling to already staggering NFL bottom dwellars. Regardless of who is drafted number one, it will cost about $40 million guaranteed, period. Doesn't matter who you draft. By definition that player will become the number one pick and will automatically take about 5% of the value of the franchise in signing bonus guaranteed bucks.. Sign Sherman Schmuck and it is $40 million, Curley, Moe or Larry…$40 million. An untrained cocker spaniel…$40 million. Incredibly stupid? Yup. Is there a fix? Easy, that cocker spaniel could have figured this out.

Assign draft pick positions as we do today. THEN draft the draft picks in that order. Detroit, you get to pick first, what do you want? OK, Detroit needs a qb so they decide to pick #1. Next is St Louis. The Rams have no interest in torching top ten money so they choose the 20^th pick in the draft. Next Kansas City likewise decides to hold its dough and grabs the 17^th pick. Get it? How easy is that? There could be no argument with the process. Fix this draft. The best run (most profitable) league in sports proves every year it can be as stupid as the best / worst of them. C'mon guys, fix it.

P.S. No real reason to pay any of those rokkies even $20 million let alone $40 million, is there?

And today's shot of history…

According to Johannes Kepler, German mathematician and astronomer on this date in 4977 BC the UNIVERSE WAS CREATED! C'mon, this "date" did not even exist back then. "Back then" didn't even exist. I think we need to challenge this one.

1956 The great Rocky Graciano retired as the undefeated heavyweight champion of the world with a record of 49-0. Think he could do some clock cleaning with those doughboys fighting at The Emerald Queen?

1983 Nolan Ryan passed Walter Johnson to become the all time strikeout. Ryan retired with a career 5,714 strikeouts mark.

And Happy 77^th Birthday to both Chuck Knox and Meadowlark Lemon. They both played with the hands they were dealt.

And that is all for now…