Caw, Feed the Hawks!

The 2007 Seattle Seahawks open their season officially with the first preseason game on national television this Saturday night against the San Diego Chargers. With the media and all of my friends predicting the San Francisco 49ers, Arizona Cardinals, and even the Saint Louis Rams to win the division, it is time for the Hawks to prove everyone wrong.

People write off the Seahawks despite going to the Super Bowl only two seasons ago and one overtime away from reaching the NFC Championship game last season. That all happened with Matt Hasselbeck and Shaun Alexander missing significant time throughout the year. What if Tom Brady and Laurence Maroney had missed the same amount of games last year? Or Peyton Manning and Joseph Addai?

Nevertheless people will believe what they wish. The fact remains that this team won three straight division championships and reached the playoffs the past four seasons. The only other teams to make the playoffs the past four years are the Indianapolis Colts and the New England Patriots. The Seahawks will win the division again and be a force in the NFC.

Is the division improved? Yes. Are the other teams better than the Seahawks? Absolutely not.

To further examine, let's take a look at the Seattle offense.

In a division packed full of high-powered offenses, the Hawks have the edge in experience if not explosiveness. Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck returns after a season full of injuries. After leading Seattle to a 4-1 start, E.J. Henderson tried to "Theismann" Hasselbeck and end his career. Fortunately it was only a MCL sprain, but nonetheless he missed almost five games. He returned only to break multiple fingers on his left hand, injure his ribs, and tear his labrum. Despite all of this, Hasselbeck threw for 2442 yards and 18 touchdowns. He returns healthy now and while missing his old favorite target in Wide Receiver Darrell Jackson, will now have a full season of chemistry with wideouts Nate Burleson and Deion Branch.

The silver lining of the Hasselbeck injury proved to be the play of Seneca Wallace. Even though the team only went 2-2, Wallace threw for nearly 1000 yards and eight touchdowns. Most teams will take that from a back up quarterback. Wallace proved he can be the back up quarterback and if (oh please no) Hasselbeck were to go down again, he can do the job. While he is no Steve Young, he certainly isn't Jim Sorgi either. David Greene will need to have a good camp to cement the third string position and thus far he is achieving that. If he ever plays in a game, the season is over anyway.

With the emergence last season of Frank Gore and Stephen Jackson, the running back position in the NFC West no longer belongs to Shaun Alexander as the king. Just don't tell him that. When asked on the radio where fantasy owners should draft him, Alexander responded, "it depends if the person wants to win." Laughing he continued, "if you want to win, draft me first." Never one to lack confidence or hunger for touchdowns, Alexander's foot now is healed and he seems hungry to return to his status among the elite. If statistics tell the story then watch out. But if age tells the story, then the Hawks may struggle to run the ball. He will be 30 years old this season and not many thirty-somethings do much running the football in the NFL. Yet it is hard to ignore these numbers when healthy.

In 2001, he put up 1318 yards with 14 touchdowns. He followed that up with 1175 and 16 touchdowns the next year. In 2003, Alexander racked up 1435 yards with 14 touchdowns only to trump that with 1696 yards and 16 touchdowns the next season. The MVP year of 2005 was simply ridiculous with 1880 yards and 27 TDs. Then 896 yards and 7 touchdowns last year in only ten games. Yet the biggest concern last season involved the yards per carry (3.6). Every other year listed above he carried 4.0 or higher per carry including 4.8 in 2005 and 5.1 in 2006.

The success of Shaun may rely most on the offensive line. His MVP year involved a great line that played together for years in left tackle Walter Jones, left guard Steve Hutchinson, center Robbie Tobeck, right guard Chris Gray, and right tackle Sean Locklear. Jones, Gray, and Locklear remain on the squad, but the other two positions now are held by youngsters. Center Chris Spencer is entered his third year and guard Rob Sims comes into his second year. They are both held in high regard and seem to be doing well in camp, but Hutch and Tobeck both made Pro Bowls so they have big shoes to fill. (Spencer wears a size 17 shoe, yes!) Ray Willis apparently is pushing Gray for time at the right guard spot, but his value may be best felt filling in as a back up at either tackle spot. When Floyd Womack remains healthy (never) he backs up both guard spots and Tom Ashworth provides a veteran presence as a back up also. A couple young guys provide depth but will never see the field if this team is successful.

If the starters at the line positions can remain healthy and play together, Alexander can have a good season. And if he does well, we shouldn't see too much of Maurice Morris. He remains a decent change of pace back and can run after the catch, but it is doubtful the Hawks' coaches want him playing too much. Meanwhile Mack Strong returns for his 87th season as fullback, but Leonard Weaver may get some time there as well. Coaches, fans, and players alike all rave about the ability of Weaver and he may even see some split back action with Alexander.

The receiving corps remains talented and should be a strength even with the trade of Jackson. Deion Branch enters as the primary receiver and will run the same routs that D-Jack did the past few years. It wouldn't be suprising for Branch to put up 65-70 catches this season in the West Coast offense. He runs precise, quick routes and has good hands (a big downfall of Jackson). Either Nate Burleson or D.J. Hackett will start as the other receiver. The camp battle thus far has been fantastic as Burleson apparently has been catching everything. Hackett remains a fan favorite and has both size and "deceptive quickness" according to those who know these things. Either way, both receivers will be on the field a lot as Head Coach Mike Holmgren and Offensive Coordinator (puppet) Gil Haskell love the three and four receiver sets. Of course Bobby Engram remains the best threat on third down plays as he simply does not drop balls and Hasselbeck loves to find him over the middle. With those four receivers, it is easy to love the depth at the position. The fifth and sixth receivers will be a combination of Ben Obomanu (who is almost a lock to make the team and maybe see playing time), Jordan Kent (please no), and Courtney Taylor.

The question mark aside from the line is the tight end spot. Marcus Pollard comes in at 35 years old, but a good receiver. Whether he puts up good numbers or not, it seems hard to believe he could be worse for the team then Jerramy Stevens. Aside from the arrests and idiocy, the man dropped a lot of balls the past couple years (nice Super Bowl buddy) and had trouble staying healthy. The most he ever caught in one season was 45 balls in the Super Bowl run and clearly he was a threat. Pollard will need to catch between 30 and 40 passes to be a real threat to other teams and hopefully he does because back up Will Heller sure as hell isn't going to do it.

With age and some question marks, it would be easy to write off the Seahawk offense. Yet they still have one of the top three left tackles in the game, a top ten quarterback, a top seven running back, and depth at receiver. So will they score points? Yes and it will be a lot. So will the other NFC West offenses, but will they be able to stop anyone? Will the Hawks?

Soon to come....

Charlie or Ty?

The national debate ended awhile back as the country fell in love with a chunky offensive guru. No one cared anymore whether the African-American successful college coach had been wrongly let go. All was good again at good old Notre Dame because the Fighting Irish posted a 9-3 season followed by a 10-3 campaign.

All hail Charlie Weis.

Except for me.

Bob Davie posted a 21-16 record in his first three seasons and did not get fired. Tyrone Willingham went 21-15 in his first three seasons and lost his job. Davie is white. Willingham is black. Hmmm. I searched for more answers.

The big knock I repeatedly hear involves Willingham's ability to attract the top flight talent that Notre Dame needed to succeed. Interesting theory, but simply not true. According to scout.com, Coach Willingham posted the #13 overall class in the country in 2002 and the #5 overall class in 2003 while Coach Weis posted the #27 class in 2005 and the #5 class in 2006. The one class Willingham failed with was 2004 where they landed #30. He finished the year being fired. One poor recruiting class apparently gets you fired at Notre Dame. Some say that is fair. I say let's look closer.

The expected depth chart for this upcoming season (Weis' third with Notre Dame) will still have three offensive starters recruited by Willingham and six defensive starters. Last year's 10-3 squad that everyone raved about so much featured nine offensive starters recruited by Coach Ty and all eleven defensive starters. So he can't attract enough talent but his players can go 10-3 with another coach? This fails to include that fact that eleven other players left the Notre Dame program sinced Tyrone Willingham was fired on December 1, 2004, due to their loyalty to him.

This isn't too say that Weis cannot recruit as he certainly can. He had the #11 class in the country for 2007 and thus far has the best class of committs in 2008. But would Willingham have done any worse?

It was Willingham who recruited Brady Quinn, Jeff Samardzija, Darius Walker, Rhema McKnight, Anthony Fasano, Maurice Stovall, John Carlson, and Tom Zbikowski. That talent looks pretty good to me.

The other knock on Willingham involved his ability to win on Saturdays. Everyone loved him up until Saturday. Well in his three seasons, the Fighting Irish posted a 7-8 record against ranked opponents beating Michigan two out of three times. Under Weis, the Irish hold a 3-5 record against ranked teams (beating Pittsburgh, Michigan, and Penn State). Both coaches hold 0-2 records in bowls at Notre Dame.

I understand that 9-3 followed by 10-3 gives Weis an upper hand. But again he did it with Tyrone's players including Brady Quinn who Willingham never got to go the battle with as a starter. Tyrone went with Carlye Holliday and many other Bob Davie players.

Could Willingham have gone 10-3 with his players at Notre Dame last year? Unfortunately we will never know as the Irish administrators decided that Coach Willingham didn't "produce" enough. Wonder what they would have said if he was white.

Big Win

As I subject myself to torturous Wednesday evenings attempting to make shots or even get the ball, I missed the first six innings of the Mariners game yesterday evening. The game stood 5-2 when I commenced my viewing/laundary. As I took a load or two down to the hell room of clothes washing, Felix decided to give up a two-run jack to Garrett Anderson as he hung a slider completely.

Uh oh. Felix meltdown time.

In Toronto two starts ago Felix battled toe-to-toe with Roy Halladay for about five innings and then he imploded. After putting a few on base, Felix needed a strikeout. And he got it. Only the umpire didn't call it a strike. Felix looked so visibly upset that Kenji Johjima actually went out to the mound along with Adrian Beltre. The next pitch led to a two run single. The next pitch? A slider hung for the longest home run Troy Glaus had hit since 1997.

So when Felix hung one to Anderson, I expected the worst.

Only Felix got better. He started dominating. Two strikeouts and a ground out to end the seventh. Strikeout. Strikout. Ground out in the eighth. Felix looked great and with the insurance runs, the game was over. J.J. time.

Not only has J.J. converted 31 out of 32 saves with a sub 1.00 ERA, he also got closer music. Like all awesome closers, J.J. needed a signature song. Thunderstuck. Awesome.

Only something weird happened. J.J. blew it. Big time. After a Orlando Cabrera single and advancing to second on indifference (uh, why is it indifference if he scores on a hit?), Vlad knocked him in. A double play on the next at bat and the game appeared over. But a single and Gary Matthews two run homer later and the game was tied. Awful.

7-7 and feeling as if the loss was inevitable.

K-Rod for another inning and then Shields. The Angels also had Justin Spier back from the disabled list and I knew this battle of bullpens would be difficult. While the Mariners bullpen is strong, the Angels just worried me.

1-2-3 in the 9th. Uh oh.

Sean Green faced two on and one out only to retire both Cabrera and Vlad. Wow.

Then the Mariners had it. After a double by Johjima and Willie Fing Bloomquist (pinch running) advancing to third on a wild pitch, Jose Lopez only needed to hit the ball hard. Or as it turns out, just hit the ball.

John MacLaren put the squeeze on and Lopez missed a fastball right down the middle. If he simply bunted the ball anywhere, Willie Fing would have scored and the game would be over.

Now the M's were destined to lose.

With two on and one out again, Brandon Morrow entered the game. Of course he walked someone and the bases were loaded with one out. Strikeout. Whew. Reggie Willits time. So annoying. Morrow goes 3-2 and I figure there is no way out. Willits just fouls balls off, he never strikes out apparently. And he keeps fouling. Morrow can't throw strikes this many times in a row. Yet he does and Willits grounds out! Huh? I don't know but I will take it.

Two on and two out for the M's. Raul Ibanez is up. Time to get laundary. No way he gets a hit. Yep. I hate him.

After Morrow and Eric O'Flaherty retired the Angels in the 12th, the M's got another shot. And they won in maybe the cheapest way possible.

With two strikes, Beltre hits a grounder in the hole that Cabrera can't do anything with. Nice start. Big Richie Sexson strikes out and the crowd boos. Eat it Richie. Then Jamie Burke turns into a pitch and gets hit. Best case scenario. Two on, one out. Jose Lopez with a chance to redeem himself. And he promptly hits the ball of the plate for an infield single. Bases loaded and Yuni time. Single. Win. Joy.

A loss would have changed the season, I am convinced. Five games back, a blown game. Too much to handle. Now only three games back and momentum. Adam Jones changes everything. Time for the World Series.

The Summer of Sport

Late this past spring Dana and I went out to play a little tennis at Magnuson Park. While witnessing some evasive manuevers from high school students attempting to avoid cops while still holding onto their kegs, we started hitting back and forth. I quickly realized that despite Dana's athletic ability in many areas (she still stands number six in Western Washington history in the steeplechase), a rally in tennis proves to be difficult for the two of us. So I set out to find some good tennis.

I signed up for some adult intermediate tennis lessons with a local pro at Greenlake on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This made the middle of the week quite active for someone who loves being inactive as Wednesdays already featured high flying men's rec league basketball. How is that going you ask?

Well our men's team changed the roster with the summer session. We finished the spring with really only five players (Butler, Tim, Harry Tang, Airy, and myself). The summer brought in new blood as I documented before with Terry the point guard, Nelson the good, and Jeremy the awful. Eight players with me losing far too much playing time. But as summer goes, people didn't show up (Jeremy for three weeks thankfully) and my playing time increased.

We won a game with only four players as Butler re-injured an ankle and I poured in ten awesome points. We lost a heartbreaker last week where Airy went about 2 for 87 from three point range including a potential game-tying shot. My only three of this season carried me that week. Yesterday we won by twenty with only five players and my six point effort. The highlight of the night came as Harry Tang and I exited the building. I asked him about the hot chicks at his work and how it was going. He said that he didn't think hot white girls liked Asian dudes. So no luck.

Needless to say the games are fun sometimes and not others. I don't get to handle the ball as much and my overall numbers are down although my scoring is actually up. Yet I guess best of all, I can play nearly a whole game without wanting to die (my original goal). I feel like I am in better shape despite no loss of actual weight, which leads me to tennis.

I think I like tennis more because it is all up to me. Win or lose. Dominate or suck. No one else gets to make the difference between Agassi-like victory cries and Nadal-like Capri winning second place trophies. So I went to my first class rocking a 1997 Prince Synergy racket with the original strings and grip. That meant flaking black grip in my hand all class and almost no power. But I loved it.

(Note: I also invented a sport this summer called battle running when Dana asked me to run with her. I just started pushing her into things as we ran. Whoever does it the most wins. I dominated).

The volleys were better than I remembered. The groundstrokes stroking. I felt good. My coach gave me a tip on the serve and all of a sudden no one could stop me. But I needed more.



I needed the Federer racket.

So I took a couple rackets out on demo (a Federer Wilson and a Yonex). There was no choice. It only delayed the inevitable. I needed a Federer. And I got it.

All of a sudden I became a man with a racket full of lasers. I beat two people by myself 6-0 in a set. I aced people with serves. I never lost. Never came close. I played a junior in high school and smoked him 6-3, 6-4. Who wants a piece of Debo?

The new racket, the old love. Tennis and me were reunited again. And it feels so good.

Thank You

It's weird when you write an involved blog entry and then what you ask for comes true. Instantly.

On the post game radio show apparently they announced the Jason Ellison will be released and Adam Jones will be called up.

I am either a genius or logical.

Either way, I am tasting a little bit of heaven.

Love you Adam, see you soon.

The Pessimism and the Love

When the Mariners started playing better in May and June, it made baseball relevant in Seattle once again. Despite the fact that last year's version of atrocity stood only five and a half games back in early August, that squad never had a shot at it. They flirted with .500, but not much else. The division struggled along and the Mariners played nice until a 0-11 stretch to spell their annual doom.

This year the Mariners decided to make things interesting heading into the All-Star break. They took three out of four from the Athletics with Jason Kendall and were only one game back in the Wild Card race and two and a half out of the division lead. After splitting a four game series with powerhouse Detroit and taking two of three from Baltimore, the M's headed out to the land of Joe Carter home runs and Maple Leafs. After a series opening win against Toronto, somehow Josh Towers dominated the Seattle line up and the M's lost 1-0. But with Felix going against Doc Halladay, everything could be ok.

But it wasn't.

And it continued to not be ok.

Seven losses later, I was officially worried. Since I spend most of my time being completely pessimistic about this team, I expected the worse. Thank God the Jason Kendall-less A's are worse than the previous version. Three out of four again from the A's and a big series with the Angels. The series finale ended about 14 minutes ago and the M's took two of three to now stand only three games out of first place in the West and only one half game out of the Wild Card with a 59-47 record.

So everything is great again. Not so fast.

This team still worries me. They made a great decision in not trading a top prospect or even major league talent for mediocre relief pitchers such as Al Reyes, Octavio Dotel, or Dan Wheeler. Yet the could have used a starter like Jon Garland. No one knows if the White Sox would even trade him, but the M's need something.

The top three currently are ok. Felix Hernandez (7-6, 3.89 ERA) is pitching better and better with a 4-3 record and 3.44 ERA in his last ten starts. Yet if you look closer, there are some disturbing numbers. Against winning teams, Felix holds a 2-3 record and 5.04 ERA. That doesn't reflect an ace of the staff. He pitched pretty well tonight against the Angels and stood in line to win before a rare blown save by J.J. Putz.

Jarrod Washburn (8-7, 4.11 ERA) seems to look great one night and awful the next. He also struggles against top competition with a 1-4 record and 4.53 ERA against winning squads. With only two starts at seven or more innings in his past ten starts, you can only count on him for 5-6 innings per start.

Miguel Batista (11-7, 4.23 ERA) certainly stands out as the surprise of the staff. With his dominance of the Angels two games ago, he stands 4-4 with a 4.31 ERA against winning teams.

This trio concerns me in a potential playoff match up with the Tigers (Verlander, Bonderman, Rogers/Miller/Robertson), Red Sox (Beckett, Schilling, Dice-K), Yankees (Clemens, Pettite, Wang/Mussina), or Indians (Sabathia, Carmona, Byrd). The Mariners would not have an advantage in any match up.

Yet with a powerfully strong bullpen, the recent concern involves the offense. In the seven game losing streak Ichiro hit .233, Guillen hit .250, Sexson hit .230, Ibanez .167, Kenji Johjima .136, and Lopez .207. Awful. Going outside those seven games, the big time issue centers on Richie Sexson and Raul Ibanez.

Ichiro .347, 75 R, 30 SB
Vidro .306, 3 HR, 35 RBI
Guillen .282, 13 HR, 62 RBI
Beltre .274, 16 HR, 62 RBI
Ibanez .253, 6 HR, 61 RBI
Sexson .200, 17 HR, 54 RBI
Johjima .269, 11 HR, 39 RBI
Lopez .261, 8 HR, 49 RBI
Betancourt .281, 5 HR, 35 RBI

Would it be nice to get more power from Guillen and Beltre? Of course. Would it be great if Lopez and Betancourt could raise their averages a little? Yes. But look at Ibanez and Sexson and this doens't involve splits, OPS, or any other fancy baseball stats.

Ibanez has six homers and he sits in the middle of the line up. I never expect a long ball from him anymore. Sexson simply stinks. The homers mean nothing. In fact, the two homers in July simply don't do much. And Sexson has sucked all year. .145 in April, .232 in May, .235 in June, and .165 in July. Wow. What a joke. How bad is it when Seattle fans boo you? This isn't Boston or New York. You have to be absolutely atrocious to get booed in Seattle. I love it.

Raul's .184 July average to go with no homers also sucks. The answer to the issues? Adam Jones.

How long do we have to wait for this? Bring the man up.

Jones .309, 24 HR, 82 RBI, 73 R in AAA Tacoma.

And don't give me that he hasn't proven anything against Major League pitching. If that proved to be a valid argument, you would never bring anyone up. And under that premise, Big Sexy hasn't proven anything this year either.

Put Jones in left. Ibanez can DH some with Vidro. Broussard needs more playing time and Sexson needs to sit the bench. I asked for this at the All-Star break and the newspapers reported it would happen. Then it didn't. My theory involves Jason Ellison. I think they were going to release him and bring Jones up, but when J-Ell stood up for Ichiro and wanted to fight, they couldn't do it.

Now time is removed a little and no one remembers that Ellison exists, so it is time. The addition could mean playoffs where it will give me an opportunity to worry about pitching match ups. Otherwise I will be pissed off and upset when they don't make the playoffs and will be fully into Seahawks mode.

Get it done.