Husky Coaches Need to Go

Okay, I'm officially hoping that Jim Mora jumps ship from the Seahawks and comes over to Montlake to coach the Huskies. After the game today, it just appeared that we were yet again outplayed and outcoached. And to make matters worse, this current recruiting class is looking sketchy. Granted, four or five big-time players will ultimately decide if this upcoming class will be worth anything. But still, things aren't looking up overall. Thankfully, Jake Locker's touch passing the ball looks much improved. Tyrone Willingham really needs to re-evaluate how the team is preparing on the defensive end of the ball. We're breaking defensive records, but unfortunately their not the type of records to be proud of...

Finally a Win!

Well, the Seahawks won a game. The Dawgs got whipped. I guess one for two isn't so bad. Still watching the Dawgs in their current state is pretty darn depressing.

So Close, But Two L's

Darn, the Dawgs and Hawks both choked up and lost. Just when we had a chance to get things rolling...well, there's always next weekend. By the way, if you turned off the Alabama/Arkansas game like I did (I did see the game winning TD however), you missed out on a hell of a game.

Good Football

Man, this last weekend was a really good one for Washington State football. First, the Huskies put a whoopin’ on Boise State. Then, the Seahawks beat up the Bucs. To knock a quarterback and running back out of the same game is a beat down and then some. It’s been a while since both teams have dominated their respective opponents during the same weekend. And to top it off, the weather was absolutely perfect. I was at the Husky game and Montlake could not have been any nicer. By the way, did anyone see Rampage Jackson’s post fight interview Saturday night? That was one of the funniest interviews I have ever seen.

Weekend Events

This weekend should prove eventful. The Taste of Tacoma is going on and that’s always a good time. Also, the Mariners are making things interesting enough to continue to follow them during the baseball season. Even if you’re not a baseball fan, everyone should go to a game at Safeco Field at least once. The bar area in left/center field is one of the funnest places to hang out in Seattle. You won’t be bored, trust me. Speaking of summer sports, I’m playing some softball and man, my body aches. Workouts can’t quite prep you for the actual practices and games. Needless to say, my defense needs some work. I need to get to a batting cage as well. I hear there’s a good one in Puyallup that’s pretty cheap. Also, it sounds like Capers in downtown Tacoma is a pretty good new restaurant. I may have to stop by. Do they allow cleats I wonder?

The World Is Ending-Crazy Wrestler Goes Crazier

You know the world is ending when a professional wrestler goes wacky and then kills his family and finally, himself. Man, I grew up watching Chris Benoit so this story is all a little strange. Sadly, professional wrestlers seem to have shorter lifespans than canines. If you grew up watching professional wrestling or even know a few names of professional wrestlers, chances are that most of those names belong to people who are deceased. And chances are they didn’t die of natural causes. It’s too bad, many of these wrestlers are great athletes and performers. Something should be done to help clean up professional wrestling. It’s like watching Superman die every few years. If you want to know a little more about what I’m talking about, click the link below.

CNN.com

What’s Up? Sports, Tacoma, Etc.

Well, things have been pretty quiet recently. With summer, there’s not a lot going on in sports other than the Mariners. And unfortunately, it looks like our division is pretty tough this year. Anaheim and Oakland are looking pretty good. It’ll be a tough race all year long. In Hilltopia, not much else happening other than it appears that construction is still full steam ahead. On Yakima and Tacoma Avenues, the condos and townhouses are popping up almost instantaneously it seems. If you’re looking for a new home in an urban area, it may be worthwhile checking out what’s available in our end of town. With the previously vacant blocks filling up with new construction, I can’t imagine if it will be much more than another year or two before major commercial construction begins to pop up in our former ghetto. So, don’t say I didn’t tell you so, but take a look around Hilltop on Yakima and Tacoma Avenues. Things are going to be drastically different fairly soon.

Sports-Go Cavs!

Not that I’ve watched every game of the NBA Playoffs, but I did manage to watch some of LeBron James’ masterful work. I don’t recall seeing someone dominate like that in quite a while. LeBron is playing great playoff basketball and is showing the world that he truly is an all-time great. LeBron has shown an ability to work for every basket. He has also shown that he can take over a game without alienating his team. Despite the number of shots, his teammates don’t seem to show any resentment. I’m hoping the guy carries his team all the way to the title. Besides, Cleveland deserves it after what Jordan did to that team for who knows how many years. And lastly, I just don’t get the feeling that LeBron is a jerk; as a matter of fact, he seems likeable. Go Cavs!

UFC-Great Night!

If you watched the Ultimate Fighting Pay-Per-View, you may be as shocked as I was on Saturday night. I really didn’t think Rampage Jackson was going to destroy the Iceman like that. I was wrong, really wrong. Rampage Jackson rolled through Liddell like he was nothing. I couldn’t believe it. After what the Iceman has done to Randy Couter and Tito Ortiz, I at least figured the fight would go for more than a round and with Chuck Liddell winning. Well, that didn’t happen (not by a long shot) and Rampage has all of my respect. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson is a true stud. By the way, the under card fights were great if you missed those as well. Houston Alexander? Who the heck is that guy? Well, apparently he’s a monster; you’ve got to see it. And Din Thomas is still looking like a really good fighter. Overall, it was a great night for fights.

Sports-Boxing was Good Again (For a Night Anyways)

What’s up everybody? The Mayweather vs. De La Hoya fight was great. One of the best fights I’ve seen in a long, long time. Expect a rematch, no one really got hurt and it was pretty close throughout although I felt Mayweather should have won in a unanimous decision. Boxing needed some good PR. Unfortunately for boxing, I think the UFC will continue to steal boxing’s long lost thunder. Also, it looks like Clemens is a Yankee again. His announcement during the game against the M’s was all that was really worth watching on Sunday.

NFL Draft and Darrell Jackson Gone

Well, the NFL Draft was what I expected for the most part. After the draft started, I thought we might hang on to Darrell Jackson. When I heard the trade, I thought maybe we could have gotten more for Jackson. But after seeing that the Patriots got Randy Moss for a fourth rounder, I thought that we actually did ok. Of course, I would have preferred if we had traded Jackson outside of our division, but I guess we’ll have to live with defending against him. The assumption now is that Jackson may have been getting ready for a long nasty contractual battle or that he would simply walk once he became a free agent and go to another team with no compensation for the Seahawks. Thankfully, I don’t know how much more Jackson has left in the tank. He’s been a little injury prone and he’s not getting any younger. And with our stacked receiver corps, we should be just fine. I also didn’t think we would go after a cornerback with our first pick. But again, I’m ok with that since injuries killed us at that position last year. Afterwards we drafted in bulk size and I’m happy to have seen that. I think we may have done ok with our picks. I didn’t see anything too worrisome and when you consider that we really got Deion Branch as a part of this draft, we may have come out of the deal with a pretty good grade. But we’ll have to see how the later picks contribute on the field to really see how well we did in making these picks.

Good Times Now

What a great time to be in Washington. Other than the Sonics leaving and the Mariners sucking it up, things are good. There is the possibility that the governor will sign into law a bill that will force other counties to begin accepting their own felons back into their own communities as opposed to the usual standard of dumping them in Pierce County. If this bill passes, it will be a huge win for Tacoma and Pierce County. Why this hasn’t been done ages ago is beyond me. But “Fair Share” is a hot button now thanks to numerous local residents fighting for who knows how long for equal treatment in the corrections and legal process. I can’t stress how important it is that Tacoma no longer be the final destination for the entire state’s felons and violent offenders. Spreading the offenders out to the communities where they originally hail from has many other benefits. It places less stress on one community. It forces other communities to confront their own issues involving crime and justice. It also can help the recidivism rate if there is adequate supervision of the felons under an effective type of supervised release program. Overall, this could a huge win for Tacoma. Now on to other issues…

Weekend Review in Sports

This weekend was a great one for sports. There were some upsets in the NBA Playoffs that I just didn't think would happen in game 1. Both the Mavs and Spurs lost their opener. The Heat loss doesn't surprise me since I think that they're really old and basically are a one man show (and Shaq isn't that guy). I think the Bulls are a better team than many people think. That Heat/Bulls series will be really good. Baseball put on a show as well with the Red Sox and Yankees battling it out. That series didn't disappoint either. Homers, come from behind wins, it had it all. Overall, a great weekend to be a sports fan.

End of Sonics?

Well, it’s looking pretty grim for the Sonics. It doesn’t appear that there will be any sort of action towards building an arena in Renton. That’s too bad although this isn’t totally unexpected. Unfortunately, I don’t know that anyone really put much effort into creating an arrangement that all parties could agree on. Sonics’ ownership made the arena issue all about their needs only and local politicians did nothing while straddling the political fence. Hmmm, local politicians unable to get anything done or make a big decision? Somehow I think I’ve heard this before… It’s too bad Charles Schultz of Starbucks fame royally screwed the state and the residents by selling to an out of state group already looking at moving a team to their home state. Somehow I just don’t think there would be so little done if an ownership group from the Northwest had bought the Sonics. Who knows how things will ultimately turn out, but it’s currently a sad state of affairs for a team that’s meant so much to the Pacific Northwest.

Sonics Gone?

Well, it’s looking pretty grim for the Sonics. It doesn’t appear that there will be any sort of action towards building an arena in Renton. That’s too bad although this isn’t totally unexpected. Unfortunately, I don’t know that anyone really put much effort into creating an arrangement that all parties could agree on. Sonics’ ownership made the arena issue all about their needs only and local politicians did nothing while straddling the political fence. Hmmm, local politicians unable to get anything done or make a big decision? Somehow I think I’ve heard this before… It’s too bad Charles Schultz of Starbucks fame royally screwed the state and the residents by selling to an out of state group already looking at moving a team to their home state. Somehow I just don’t think there would be so little done if an ownership group from the Northwest had bought the Sonics. Who knows how things will ultimately turn out, but it’s currently a sad state of affairs for a team that’s meant so much to the Pacific Northwest.

Mariners Surprise

Well, the Mariners are looking better than what I thought they would at the beginning of the season. Our batting averages are down, but they certainly helped themselves yesterday. We’re holding up pretty well considering at the beginning of the season we were facing some really good pitching. If the bottom half of our starting pitching rotation holds up and we continue to swing the bat well, we may be able to get some wins. But again, it’s early and we need to get our batting averages up. In basketball, I was bummed to see the Lakers make the playoffs. Kobe just doesn’t get me excited. Hopefully they make an early first round exit.

Mariners Looking Good

The Mariners had a sold outing today. The pitching was decent and the offense produced plenty of runs. Now if we can only show that consistency throughout the season. I think we have a chance to compete in our division, but some of our guys need to show consistency and produce hits. The bottom of the lineup and our fourth and fifth starting pitcher really have to contribute. I don't think we have enough star power for only a few guys to be able to carry the team. Everyone will have to play well. But then again, this is why we play the games.

M’s and Ethnic Food

Will we ever see the Mariners play a few games in a row without being rained or snowed out? Just as I’m getting into my baseball watching mode, Mother Nature decides she’s not ready for winter to end. Enough about that, let’s talk about food. I think it’s pretty cool that people I know are getting into trying different ethnic foods. When I was growing up, people seemed much less likely to visit a Vietnamese restaurant or to go somewhere outside of the typical comfort zone. Thankfully here in Tacoma we’ve got plenty of good ethnic and regional varieties of food. Whether it’s Greek, Thai, Indian or whatever else, there’s so much to try out there. I think food is really a great way to break down cultural barriers. Trying new things opens people up to seeing how other people live and eat. Hopefully the open-minded trend continues. Our town is so diverse that people will truly miss out if they don’t try to eat and live a little like their different neighbors. So if you’re stuck in your typical rut, get out and try something new for dinner. You’ll be surprised at how good you feel after adding something spicy to the old routine.

It Was Sunny, Doh!

After my oh so fun dentist appointment today, I decided to take the afternoon off so I could go for a walk and enjoy the afternoon sun. Guess what happened as soon as I got home? That's right, it started to cloud over and rain. What the hell? So I went to Borders instead and got a book. If it's any good, maybe I'll recommend it later. What else? Not much other than the Mariners got blasted yesterday after their non-playing snow vacation in Cleveland. Could this be a sign of our season? I hope not.

Should the People Pay for the Sonics to Stay?

With news that the Sonics’ ownership has reserved the right to purchase land in Renton, it appears that plans are progressing somewhat to move the team to Renton. Honestly, I like the idea of a suburb getting a major Washington attraction. I don’t think it’s necessary that all of the Washington professional sports teams be located in Seattle. And, it doesn’t appear that the residents of Seattle are willing to do anything to keep the team. With the Seahawks’ headquarters and a new arena located in Renton, the city will undergo a massive facelift. This is great for the region and it helps spread some of the tourist attractions throughout the region as opposed to having everything of major interest in Seattle. Residents in Western Washington are quite aware that there is so much more to the region than just one city. If the new arena is built, this will help solidify that belief and showcase more of the region (as well as spread tourist and entertainment dollars further throughout the area). Also, I wish more would be done by the Sonics ownership group to prove that there will be other events or sports teams based out of the new arena. I think residents would be much more receptive to building a new arena if they felt that more than just the Sonics and their owners would actively use the arena. If there were to be a soccer or hockey team based out of the facility, I think locals would be much more likely to accept taxation for the project. People are wary when a singular group of wealthy owners comes to the public requesting cold hard cash. If there were more to the project or more benefits shown, I don’t think the cynicism would be quite as strong. Renton and Western Washington deserve more than just a basketball arena. Hopefully these new owners will realize this and offer more than just basketball to those stuck with the bill.