Almost Famous

After conversing with professional journalist and amateur midget Joe Tone, I came up with a good idea. Bill Simmons exchanges emails with author Malcolm Gladwell and posts it on ESPN.com, mostly because Simmons used to be really funny and Gladwell writes phenomenal books and has even more phenomenal hair. Since Joe is an author of some sort and I am a Sports Guy of some sort, I figured my blog is a perfect place for the Almost Famous version of this type of exchange. Thus from now until whenever we choose to stop, Joe and I will be exchanging emails and posting them here on anything and everything we choose to discuss.

The first question posed to Joe by me was: Which city is a better sports town, Cleveland or Denver? (In case you don't know, Joe recently wrote for a fake newspaper in Cleveland and currently writes for another fake paper in Denver).

Joe:
This was actually fun. You didn't ask, but both Cleveland and Denver are way better sports towns than the Bay Area, as sad as that is.

Cleveland and Denver, as sports towns and cities in general, are actually quite similar. Denver's like a bigger, better dressed, tanner, skinnier, and slightly less clinically depressed version of Cleveland. Both towns are pretty drunk; Denver was actually voted the drunkest city in the country by Men's Health, but that's because Cleveland got hammered and forgot to fill out the form. There's better weed in Denver, if you're into that sort of thing. Cleveland has more water, a lake and a river, but the river caught on fire and the lake is frozen for about 10 months a year. Denver has Red Rocks and about 47 times more jobs. So there's that.

As sports towns, both have teams in the “big three” sports, which has to be pretty depressing for you. (My apologies, by the way. I actually interviewed David Stern once, and have his phone number if you want to start leaving him harassing messages. No jury in the land would convict). But as volume goes, Denver's got Cleveland beat: This city's got like 47 pro teams, including hockey, MLS, rugby, two lacrosse teams – seriously – and even a lingerie football team.

As quality goes, it feels like a wash. The Nuggets and Cavs are both outstanding and anchored by young, exciting players who have both been dicks to me. The Rockies and Indians should probably be disbanded. The Broncos and Browns are both going to suck colossally, their suckitude magnified by their young, inexplicably cocky coaches. I'm pretty sure the Avs are woeful, but honestly, they could win a Stanley Cup title and I wouldn't notice. I'll pay attention to hockey when they don't have a team in Tennessee.

Both cities have great stadiums, actually. Denver probably gets the edge here because 1) the baseball stadium has buffalo dogs and a purple row of seats that's a mile high; the football stadium wasn't built on a lake that tends to produce gusts of frozen wind; and unlike Cleveland, the stadiums in Denver were were not, as far as I know, built entirely on the public dime by a mayor who was later found by FBI to be accepting bribes from more or less everyone involved in the stadium projects. But because Cleveland is shrinking like coked-up starlet, their games are much more accessible: parking, tickets, transportation, it's just easier to find yourself at a game in Cleveland.

Here's what it comes down to: The fans. Cleveland's are drunker, louder, more emotional. Not by much, but they are. (Especially in basketball and baseball). As a non-native, that emotion – and the history they have with their teams – makes rooting for Cleveland's teams feel a little more natural, and more fun, than rooting for Denver's. But again, not by much.

Wow, that was long and totally useless to anyone reading your blog, since it's highly unlikely any of your friends are wavering between moving to Cleveland or Denver. (If they are, they should ignore this and move to Denver). We should really change the subject. I'll give you two choices. You can answer either, both, or neither:

1. As you know, all the way through college, baseball was my favorite sport. I watched or listened to every Giants game, studied it like it was my major. But after I moved to Cleveland, while I gravitated toward Browns football and Cavs hoops, my relationship with baseball literally just stopped. Why?

2. This might be too painful, but: How has the Sonics' departure changed your relationship with the NBA?

Alright, go. I'm really depressed by the fact that I do this for a living and yet you're favored to outfunny me by 14.5 jokes.

Brian:

Clearly you are not aware that the "big three" have changed. The MLS has taken over for the NBA. Who would you rather watch, Fredy Montero or LeBron James? Of course we all know the answer. This will lead me to my answer to one of your questions later.

How does a river catch on fire by the way? That is amazing. Cleveland should win right there. Also, LeBron making fun of you seems so much cooler than Carmelo making fun of you. In fact, you could probably punch Carmelo in his face and he would start crying. LeBron would just buy your pride, make it into a puppet called Sad FakeJew (for help understanding, visit http://www.brandspankingjew.com/) and then have Kobe's puppet make fun of you just for giggles.

Agreed on the hockey. I think as long as Tampa Bay, Carolina, Florida, Atlanta, Anaheim, Nashville, and Phoenix have hockey teams, I will not watch. Then when they eliminate all those teams, I still won't watch. Unless Seattle gets a team, then I will probably get season tickets and advocate the return of the glowing puck. Why is Men's Health voting on drunk cities? Shouldn't they be voting on which cities read Men's Health so they can figure out where all the men with low self esteem live? Now on to the two questions.

It is quite disturbing that you seem as if you don't care about baseball anymore. But I have the answer for you. It is complex, so it might take you seven or eight reads to understand. I mean it did take you about a year to realize that Jen Kanne really was going to stay with the handsome ex-Stanford basketball player and not return to you (no offense).

First, you get distracted easily. I remember times in college where you would go get Bacon and Cheddar Potato Wedges rather than watch the Giants. Or play wiffleball (which is actually defendable and justifiable, especially considering you played in the juiced era where midgets like you and Brady Anderson could hit massive bombs off stud pitchers who were playing clean like me). Or do whatever it was that Stacey used to do. Dharma and Greg ring a bell? Jesus.

Second, your team is awful. I just watched the Giants play for three games in Seattle and my god, they are actually worse than the Mariners. The Giants website actually says, "Vote Bengie, Vote Giants". Bengie Molina is the best offensive player and bats clean up. That is atrocious. Tim Lincecum is obviously a stud, but his arm is going to fall of in the next 7-9 months. The Giants still owe Barry Zito $158 trillion and they feature such studs as Bob Howry, Rich Aurilia, and Juan Uribe (who is listed at 230 pounds, but must be pushing 350) to name a few. That makes the Giants irrelevant to those who live in the Bay Area. You live in Denver and you are a journalist, meaning no MLB extra innings package and no reason to watch the Giants. So some of your abandonment is natural.

In terms of your question about the NBA.....the NBA can eat poop.

I am watching the NBA playoffs and probably will for the rest of my life, but I watched almost no regular season action. I used to watch almost every Sonic game if it didn't conflict with my own coaching. Even with the horrid product put on the floor the past few seasons, I watched. And I was excited for the Kevin Durant era. When the Sonics left (despite my father and I, along with Spencer Hawes, joining thousands at a public rally outside the courthouse), I lost interest. I tried to root for the Blazers as both Brandon Roy and Martell Webster are there, but it didn't work. It wasn't natural and I didn't care.

But the weirdest part is how it doesn't really effect me that much. I like college basketball better and I really don't have any sadness or anger about the NBA being gone. Maybe it is because the Sonics were so bad for the last few years. Maybe it is because there is so much isolation and lack of energy in the game itself. Maybe it is because the Thunder are still irrelevant. I don't know, but it surprises me.

Not sure if any of that leads you in any direction, but thinking of not being able to go to NBA games anymore, I came up with this: What is your favorite sports moment you witnessed in person?

Thank You Bill Bavasi

Since the Seattle Mariners cannot score more than one run in any given game, I did not feel like they are worth mentioning. Yet I do have hope thanks to Jack Zduriencik. Although my hope may be false since I am comparing him to Mr. Bill Bavasi.

I spent much of the Bavasi years in strong denial. I tried to believe in what he was doing, even convincing myself in the 2004 season that the Mariners would be better than the Red Sox. I did a whole statistical analysis and everything. Of course the Mariners went on to lose 99 games and the Red Sox won the World Series. This was followed by Justin laughing in my face repeatedly.

When looking back at the Bavasi years all I see is poop. Honestly, these could have been the worst four years in the history of general managers. I can’t believe how bad he was at his job. If I was that bad at teaching I would be living in a box right now on Cherry and 10th.

A blog commented in 2007 on the best and worst moves (this was pre-Bedard trade) in Bavasi’s era. These were the best trades:

Randy Winn for Jesse Foppert and Yorvit Torrealba
Dave Hansen for Jon Huber
Marcos Carvajal for Jose De La Cruz
Aaron Taylor for Sean Green
Shin Soo Choo and Shawn Nottingham for Ben Broussard
Chris Snelling and Emiliana Fruto for Jose Vidro

The best trades turn out to be in many ways the worst ones. The author assumed Vidro and Broussard would help the Mariners. Um, no. Take the Broussard deal. Choo is hitting .305 with five homers and 26 RBI this season. Of course no Mariner has as many RBIs as Choo does this season. He is a career .293 hitter. Great deal.

Jesse Foppert? Yorvit Torrealba? Not in the system.

The presence of Jose Vidro on my television for a year made me have suicidal thoughts.

Sean Green is the only player Bavasi acquired who did anything with his life.

Those are the good trades. THE GOOD TRADES.

Lucky for me, the Tacoma News Tribune’s Darrin Beane listed all the Bavasi transactions on his blog. You can see it here.

http://blogs.thenewstribune.com/mariners/2008/06/16/the_bavasi_years

The very first transaction Bavasi made was signing Raul Ibanez to a three year deal. Why didn’t he stop then? Just don’t make any other transactions and the Mariners probably would have won more games over those four years. Isn’t that amazing? Being a wall or a doorstop would have been more effective than being a human being in the case of Bill Bavasi.

In December of 2003, he signed Scott Spiezio to a three year deal. In January of 2004, he signed Rich Aurilia to a one year deal. Aurilia was gone in July. Spiezio somehow made it to 2005. Spiezio hit .215 in 2004 and .064 in 2005. Awesome.

Bavasi traded Freddy Garcia and Ben Davis for Miguel Olivo, Jeremy Reed, and Mike Morse in June of 2004. Garcia went 40-23 in two and a half seasons for the White Sox while Reed and others peed on themselves.

Hey in December of 2004, Bavasi signed Richie Sexson. (.244 hitter with 497 K’s for $50 million).

He also signed Pokey Reese (never played a game), Carl Everett, Matt Lawton, Fernando Vina, Kevin Appier, and Brad Wilkerson who all did absolutely nothing for the Mariners.

Hey in December of 2005, Bavasi singed Jarrod Washburn. (26-46 with 4.49 ERA for $37 million).

Even small deals like trading Matt Thornton for Joe Borchard or Yorman Bazardo for Jeff Frazier blew up in Bavasi’s face. Thornton posted a 2.67 ERA in relief last year for the White Sox and sits at 2.12 this year. Oh and he is left handed. The Mariners have no lefty relief right now. Bazardo is in AAA but has a 4-2 record with a 3.64 ERA while Jeff Frazier was later traded back to the Tigers. Incredible.

Or how about acquiring Eduardo Perez for Asdrubal Cabrera? He is hitting .320 with 25 RBI. Again those would be tops on the Mariners, but thankfully we have Jose Lopez who loves being mediocre. Oh and Eduardo Perez is horrible. At broadcasting. Super.

Cody Ransom? Staring third baseman for the Yankees before A-Rod stopped being a baby. Given up for cash by the M’s in 2006.

Horacio Ramirez? Acquired for Rafael Soriano on December 7, 2006. Released in March of 2008. One year – 7.16 ERA.

Hey in December of 2007, Bavasi signed Carlos Silva to a four year deal. (5-18 with a 6.77 ERA thus far in his second year, $24 million owed the next two years).

And of course the Erik Bedard trade. While Bedard has been good this year posting a 2-2 record with a 2.64 ERA, he only threw 81 innings last season. Meanwhile here are the players the Orioles acquired:

Adam Jones - .362, 9 home runs, 30 RBI this season. A stud.

George Sherrill – 31 saves last season, 9 saves this year with 2.89 ERA

Chris Tillman – 5-0, 2.13 ERA, 44 K’s in eight starts. (#2 prospect in the system).

Kam Mickolio – 1-2, 5.65 ERA as a reliever in AAA

Tony Butler – 3-4, 4.42 ERA in A as a starter

Wow, that was depressing. Hey look, the Mariners are on TV soon. Oh. Dear. God. I just realized I didn’t even include the signing of Jeff Weaver.

Sounders Recap (5/23)

- The Colorado Rapids according to their website apparently live with the motto, “Heart. Pride. Honor.” I think their marketing department watches a bit too much Gladiator.

- With a name like Rapids, I would assume the mascot would be some sort of tidal wave, yet I see a fox of some sort. And it is taunting the Sounders fans in attendance by waving a scarf. After doing some research, I learned a lot of disturbing mascot information.

First, the fox is Franz the Fox. From the website:
The fourth, and newest member of the Rapids Mascots, Franz is a Vulpes vulpes, or as they are more commonly known, a red fox! Franz is a defender, and will wear the Rapids' third kit, as well as the #5 on the back of his jersey. The red fox is native to Colorado and tends to make its habitat near human-populated areas, such as the Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Refuge, which is adjacent to Dick's Sporting Goods Park! The Rapids chose Franz to be part of their mascot crew for the reason that red foxes are very territorial, very loyal, and extremely quick on their feet as part of their nature.....the same qualities that make a superb defender!

Are you serious? They make him sound like a God. Yet according to National Geographic the red fox will eat pet food or garbage. Enjoy eating garbage Franz. And why is his name Franz? Is Franz a common name in Commerce City (more to come on that later)?

It gets worse.

The Rapids have four fricking mascots. Along with Franz the Garbage Eating Fox, they feature Edson the Eagle (a midfielder), Marco Van Bison (a forward), and Jorge El Mapache who is a stupid raccoon. What is going on?

It gets even worse.

Again from the website.

What Happened to RapidMan?
RapidMan, the club’s former mascot, made the 4th of July, 2007, his official retirement date. After being part of the club since the team's inception in 1996, RapidMan announced plans to pursue other ventures. The Rapids held a Testimonial Match in RapidMan's honor at halftime of the Rapids' July 4 game. In the soccer world, it is traditional to hold a testimonial match in recognizance of a player who gives 10 years or more of service to his club, and as RapidMan had served the Rapids organization for 12 seasons, the Rapids invited in several of RapidMan's fellow mascots from around Denver and the world to participate in the game.

Do they know RapidMan was a mascot? This is really pissing me off. Foxes cannot grip scarves. This is a poor representation of animals for the children.

On to the other notes.

- Steve Zakuani looked overmatched for most of the game. Without Ljundberg and Alonso (who left one minute into the match), he was constantly pressured, double teamed, and beat up. He didn’t respond for much of the match, but did have a couple opportunities late. Makes sense as a rookie.

- Early in both halves, the Sounders had very little possession. When they did, they looked pretty good. And they possessed the ball for most of the last twenty minutes where they had numerous chances but couldn't convert.

- James Riley is very valuable. He wins balls, serves great ones down the sideline and created both goals with awesome crosses.

- Montero scored and assisted the other goal, but he is really a scorer only in my opinion. He lacks the ability to possess the ball and dives way too much. With that said, I am glad he is on the Sounders. Confusing? Yes. Why? I am an idiot.

- Nate Jacqua doesn’t do much, little skills with feet. Never seems to get his head on the ball despite that being his strength. At the same time, he scored the game tier when the game looked all but over. So what do I know? More confusion. Awesome.

- Colin Clarke – I hate. No confusion there.

- Cummings running wild and free down sideline in the first half. Crossing everywhere. Similar to how RapidMan would play I assume.

- Keller – two ridiculous saves. One on Conor Casey header. The other with foot one on one with Mastroeni. Then says, “What the f are we doing?” Except he didn’t say “f”.

- Apparently Keller likes mascots more than I do.

- The Sounders miss Alonso and Ljundberg a lot. And I am Captain Obvious.

- Somehow the Sounders tied this match. Despite the fact that they know have drawn in four straight matches, this was a good result. Without Alonso, Ljundberg, and Evans, this was what they needed.

- On June 20th, the Rapids will be featuring the “2009 Festival of Women”. Do they know how that sounds?

Sounders Preview (Eat it Joe)

Despite pleas by Joseph Tone (a.k.a. The Shortest Man Who Buffalo Hates), I am here to give a preview of the match tonight between the Sounders FC and the Colorado Rapids. You see despite my shortcomings as a player, I grew an affinity toward soccer (or futbol) throughout the years. This fondness (I wouldn’t go as far as say love) of soccer grew even if my knowledge friend Luis did not. He stayed 5’7.

When Dana said she wanted to get season tickets to something, I didn’t hesitate. Thus I am a season ticket holder, next to Luis, behind the goal at Qwest Field. Amazingly so are 21,998 others. 22,000 season ticket holders and a sell out every game. Unprecedented in MLS history including Toronto who has about 16,000 season ticket holders. Then on our trip to London, Dana and I stayed at a flat only blocks away from Emirates Stadium, home of Arsenal. Everyone loves soccer in England. It was infectious.

So the Sounders head into a match tonight in second place in the Western Conference behind the mighty Chivas. With a 4-2-3 record, the Sounders have 15 points while Colorado sits right behind with 12 points (3-2-3). Unfortunately for the Sounders they have a few things going against them tonight.

Freddie Ljundberg, international hottie (holler! Oh uh, nothing, ignore that), still has migraines (seriously? migranes?) thus he did not travel with the boys. National hottie Brad Evans (what? stop), recently featured as a hot player by Cosmo Girl (what an honor), also will not be traveling. Neither will Zach Scott but who cares? He isn’t even hot.

On to heterosexual commentary.

These losses will hurt the Sounders obviously. The return of John Legend (or James Riley as he is normally known) should help and without anyone getting a red card for this first time in weeks, the Sounders should have everyone else available.

Yet after starting the year 3-0-0, the Sounders lost two in a row before winning a match and then pulling out draws in the past three. Obviously any result on the road is a good thing, but those who saw the second half of the last game against FC Dallas spoke of the putrid nature in which Los Sounderos played. The Sounders need to step it up from the level of play they have shown the past few weeks. They need Fredy Montero to be a threat again. They need LeBron to play like 6th year LeBron. (For those wondering….LeBron is Steve Zakiuani, #1 overall pick from Akron….nuff said).

Maybe the Sounders will get some solid play from Peter Vagenas (I will resist the comments), who will be starting and appearing in his first game this year. A veteran of eight seasons with the LA Galaxy and brief appearances with the national team, Vagenas could provide a little of what Ljundberg does. Maybe not, but he along with Alonso could provide some good ball control in the midfield.

The X factor for the Sounders continues to be Kasey Keller. No matter how poorly they play, the Sounders will have a chance to earn points because of the dominance of the Lacey native. He will be up against some formidable foes tonight as the Rapids are led by ex-Portland Pilot Conor Casey (and former awful U.S. soccer mistake), who is 2nd in the MLS with five goals in just eight matches. Colorado also features Pablo Mastroeni and Cory Gibbs, who both earned time with the national team.

And guess what? Tonight is Asian-Pacific Heritage Night! The first 2,000 fans get a free poster of Kosuke Kimura! Holla! Kimura is the first Japanese player in the history of the MLS. And of course he attended Western Illinois University, home of the Leathernecks. And how do they honor Kosuke? By not starting him. Awesome.

Prediction? Since I hate Conor Casey…..2-1 Seattle.

$20 Chinese Food!

Is there anything better in this world than LeBron James?

I am not an athlete idolizer by any means, but it seems as if anything LeBron touches right now is pure gold. The Olympics. The NBA regular season. Announcing he will be in next year's dunk contest. That State Farm commercial where he dances like Kid N' Play. And now the puppet commercial. Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtzQ0eXVoJo

And then the ridiculousness of LeBron got a little more ridiculous tonight. With one second remaining, LeBron hit a fadeaway three to snatch victory away from the Magic.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4200792

Simply insane.

And it made me wonder a little more what I already debated and thought about in terms of LeBron and the Black Mamba. Not necessarily who is better, but who would you rather have at the end of a game?

I always made the argument that LeBron is now a better player than Kobe, but when it comes down to needing someone to hit a game winner I would choose Kobe. Is that the right choice?

After looking at the fantastic website http://www.82games.com/, I learned some interesting stats. They break down game winning shots for the following seasons: Regular Seasons: '03-04, '04-05, '05-06, '06-07, '07-08, '08-09 (thru 2/4) and playoffs: '03-04, '04-05, '05-06, '06-07, '07-08. Game Winning Shot Opportunity = 24 seconds or less left in the game, team with the ball is either tied or down by 1 to 2 points.

Under this definition, the league leader is LeBron James. He is 17-50 (34%) while Vince Carter is second with 16 (31.4%), Ray Allen with 15 (38.5%), and Kobe Bryant with 14. Here is the shocker! Kobe is 14-56 for a shooting percentage of 25%. He has the most missed game winners in the league!

82 games also looks at clutch players. For these stats "Clutch" is defined as: 4th quarter or overtime, less than 5 minutes left, neither team ahead by more than 5 points.

The top 3 at the end of the 08-09 regular season? Kobe at 56.7 points/48 minutes, LeBron at 55.9 points/48 minutes, and Carmelo Anthony at 54.4 points/48 minutes. No suprise that these three are still playing. Yet how about these other numbers for LeBron per 48 minutes in clutch time? 14.3 rebounds, 12.6 assists, and 3.5 steals. He just takes over the game in all aspects.

So who do you take? Hard to argue with this:

The Hometown Nine: A Diagnosis

There is something about baseball that lures me in with its sweet tenderness each spring. I am not sure if it is because it was the first sport I loved or maybe the way the Kingdome tiles tantalized me with their ever-so-constant threat of falling. Either way I love baseball season and inevitably find myself watching almost every game if I can (meaning if my wife allows me).

This season has been frustrating, shocking, surprising, and disappointing all in one. When Jack Z and Don Wakamatsu took over the reigns this winter, I gained a great deal of hope. I believe in these two guys and their philosophy. They preach small ball, defense, pitch selection, and playing smart. They believe in building a great farm system and not overpaying for crappy players (like Bavasi did for the past however many years). Jack Z was honored in 2007 as Baseball America’s Executive of the Year after building an infield consisting of all Brewer draft picks (Fielder, Weeks, Hardy, and superstud Ryan Braun). Yet with ridiculous contracts still on the books for Jarrod Washburn, Miguel Batista, and Carlos Silva, we all knew it would take some time. So when the Mariners started the season 15-10, it was a pleasant surprise to say the least.

Now the Mariners sit at 19-22. So where do they stand? Let’s take a look.

The Good
Russell Branyan - .305, 10 HR, 20 RBI, 1.004 OPS all for $1.4 million on a one year deal. The no risk, all reward signing is proving to be great thus far.

Ichiro - .318, 4 HR, 13 RBI. Despite the fact that he refuses to dive, he still gets hits by either slapping it to left or hitting it off the plate. Also his UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating) is 3.8, meaning he records that many more outs than the average fielder.

Franklin Gutierrez - .258, 3 HR, 17 RBI. Clearly not very good numbers. Yet his defense in centerfield is awesome and most fans wouldn’t even know it. His UZR is 5.7. Not to mention he costs $440,000 and is under club control for another three seasons.

Mike Sweeney - .246, 2 HR, 9 RBI. Not his numbers but his levity and leadership have helped. I don’t think he is the reason they win or lose, but I do think he helps the team be in the right mindset when things go poorly. Of course they have lost 12 out of 16 so not sure this matters much.

Jarrod Washburn – it probably won’t last, but it seems hard to get upset over these numbers. 3-3 with a 3.86 ERA.

Much of the Bullpen – David Aardsma is now the closer with 1.37 ERA and 9.15 K/9 IP. Mark Lowe is hitting 99 consistently on the gun. Shawn Kelley was great before he got hurt. Even Miguel Batista has been good.

The Bad
A lot.

Adrian Beltre - .200, 2 HR, 15 RBI, .231 OBP. Pathetic at the plate right now.

Yuniesky Betancourt – numbers are fine. He sees no pitches, hacks at everything, and makes untimely errors. And he is fat.

Jose Lopez - .224, 3 HR, 19 RBI. Looks lost.

Felix Hernandez – only dominant randomly. 4.14 ERA. 4-3 record. He is 0-3 with a 6.75 ERA in May. He really only looked good one time. He is getting lit up.

Erik Bedard – he has been great, but he randomly gets hurt all the time.

Carlos Silva – worst pitcher ever.

Brandon Morrow – oh I have diabetes, I want to be a reliever. Oh I suck at closing, I like to give up home runs. I think I will just be a middle reliever who used to be the #5 pick overall when my team could have drafted Tim Fricking Lincecum.

So What Can One Look Forward To?
The Mariners, despite having maybe the least potent offense the side of Oakland (SNAP!), are still in the race with a sub .500 record. Felix should rebound at some point. Ryan Rowland Smith should be back in under a week and a half. Silva is hurt so we don’t have to watch him. Chris Jakabauskas and Jason Vargas are actually pitching well for now. And the Tacoma Rainiers are slowly building the most power ever assembled by a AAA team that doesn’t have any players who will play in the majors.

Oh and remember that Ichiro may just say something like he did on June 11, 2007:

"To tell the truth, I'm not excited to go to Cleveland, but we have to," Ichiro said through an interpreter. "If I ever saw myself saying I'm excited going to Cleveland, I'd punch myself in the face, because I'm lying."

Why Would I Return?

Or maybe more appropriately….why would you care?

I can answer the former, but probably not the latter. I am not sure why you would care and by you I mean the four of you who read this.

My return to writing about sports involves a variety of reasons. First, it is extremely therapeutic for me. It allows me to get out all the frustrations that boil inside of me on a daily basis involving my favorite sports teams. Second, I often times wish I could write about sports, but not really in the formatted newspaper format. I like breaking down stats more and injecting my opinion. Thricely (is that a word?), Seattle sports have finally, at last, after a year of disappointment….given me hope again.

It has been documented in many places how horrible the Seattle sports scene was last year but….

Washington Huskies football 0-12
Seattle Seahawks 4-12
Seattle Mariners 61-101
Washington Huskies basketball 16-17
Seattle Sonics 0-infinity

No postseason.

No glory.

No joy.

No NBA team in town anymore.

What an absolutely horrific year.

Then the joy started to return.

It began with the Husky basketball team achieving new found heights with a Pac-10 championship. Then the Mariners made some very smart personnel decisions with Don Wakamatsu as manager and Jack Zduriencik as General Manager. They quickly changed the direction of the Seattle Mariners. It isn’t likely that the team will be very good any time soon, but they are headed in the right direction for the first time in awhile.

The Husky football team got a new leader from the conference’s best in Steve Sarkisian. He already has nine commits for next year’s class, including 4 out of the top 5 from the state of Washington. And the Hawks signed WR TJ Housmanzadeh, DT Colin Cole, CB Ken Lucas, traded for DE Cory Redding, resigned LeRoy Hill and drafted a stud in Aaron Curry. Hope!

Of course with the Oklahoma City Thunder potentially drafted Spanish stud Ricky Rubio, they could be building a fantastic nucleus with Jeff Green, Russell Westbrook, and Kevin Durant but Clay Bennett decided he would rather stab me in the eye with his rich stubby fingers.

I guess not everything is well, but it is a start.