Thursday, January 27, 2005
SOUR NOTE
I know what you're thinking. How can I possibly keep going as a writer here at Sports and Bremertonians when The Learning Channel has axed Paige Davis as host of Trading Spaces? I seriously don't know how. But I do. Paige has gotten us a decent share of hits via Google over the existence of Sports and B's, or at least since she was first referred to on the page. Most likely, it was probably me saying that Paige is actually pretty tall; you have to really pay attention during any side-by-side shots to notice that yes, she is taller than any other female in the room, and just as tall as that guy over there scraping off wallpaper.
That said, I don't know how much more I can take on top of the indefinite delay of the third season of Chappelle's Show, or more importantly, the release of Season 2 on DVD, which also was delayed. But it's not all bad because Season 2 of Sealab 2021 is coming out on Tuesday. It's got the Bizarro episode, so I'll be waking up early on Tuesday.
I now refrain from that odd diatribe to bring you the usual...
MARINERS
Somebody stop the presses. Is it possible that Bob Finnigan has given up on his annual article on rumors of Griffey coming back to Seattle? It could be, if you consider the chance of Mike Cameron coming back within the realm of possibility. I'm thinking there's no chance in hell of it happening, but we can dare to dream. Ryan Franklin is probably praying for it to happen. Even if it did happen, he won't be the opening day starter, on account of that whole wrist injury.
Get Zumsteg. Today, it's an article on the tendencies of Mike Hargrove when it comes to using the starting pitchers. Though it's hard to draw conclusions from some of the stuff he did in Cleveland, Zumsteg introduces the P-I readership to Pitcher Abuse Points, and namely that Hargrove has rode his pitchers over 120 in a game on many an occasion. I like starters going deep into games and everything, but I think I start to freak out around 110 when I'm sitting there watching the game. When Melvin let Madritsch go for 133 last year, I couldn't believe it.
It's four years and $3.65M for Cuban refugee Yuniesky Betancourt. I might just call him "Yuno" just for the brutally obvious Extreme reference. To make room for Yuno on the 40-man roster, Aaron Looper was designated for assignment, which of course means Willie Bloomquist was not. BLAST! Bill Bavasi equates Betancourt to being a first- or second-round draft pick, presumably out of college since the Cuban is 22. In other Mariner news, Cha Seung Baek signed on for this year for $316k if he makes the big club.
SEAHAWKS
Hire a president and a vice president of football operations, please. Thanks in advance.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
Marvin Williams and the Tar Heels play at Virginia on Saturday (9a, ESPN).
Huskies
A little over a year ago, the Wildcats came to Seattle ready to face a Husky team that was tied for last in the Pac-10. Times have changed, of course, and Lorenzo Romar is, needless to say, no small part of it. He's laid the framework for a lot of what we're seeing right now, and he does give Bob Bender for not leaving the cupboard bare when Romar got to Seattle.
Does anyone feel like reading a semi-skeptical article on Salim Stoudamire? I knew you would. Here's a non-skeptical one from a national perspective. Earlier yesterday when I saw the message board thing at the bottom, the very first topic was "Tre Simmons." Of course, the SportsLine board has since gotten ridiculous like it always does. There are also some SportsLine message board contributions from user "duke_is_crap." Good times.
Yep, the Pac-10 is 2nd in the RPI. Or 6th. Who knows? Lute Olson doesn't quite say it, but we will here -- it's a conspiracy against the Pac-10, part of the bigger entity known as East Coast Bias. Ah, how we know it too well.
Former Husky player David Hudson, Jr., is still contributing to the team. How? "It Must Be Husky." There's a downloadable clip. I'll say this -- it's roughly 10000000 times better than "Who Let the Dogs Out?" which was probably the main thing I hated about the Mariners' 2000 run.
The Huskies play at Arizona tonight (5:30p, FSNNW) and at Arizona State on Sunday (12:45p, CBS).
Bulldogs
Erroll Knight is good. He's better when he's not hurt, which has been a lot. Coach Few says the team as a whole is also better with Knight on the floor. P-Mac probably isn't a total slouch, but the numbers he's been putting up haven't really been making people forget about Knight.
Also, Derek Raivio is five away from breaking the school record for consecutive free throws made. He's on 36, and Geoff Goss had 41 in 1992-93. Raivio also nails half his three-pointers, 90.8% of his free throws, and has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.24:1, all of which lead the West Coast Conference.
The Zags are home against the Portland Pilots on Saturday (8p, ESPN2).
Sonics
For my take on last night's game, scroll down a post or click here if this is the only post on the page.
Yes, the first few minutes of that fourth quarter last night sealed the deal for Utah. Even with Rashard Lewis having an off night and Vladimir Radmanovic having the offest of off nights (as in zero points), the Sonics still had a chance to get this one, but they let it slip away. It wasn't Carlos Boozer that was beating them either; it was Raul Lopez and Raja Bell, who apparently scratched the hell out of Ray Allen, according to Danny O'Neil's piece. Allen said in the Percy Allen piece that the Sonics need either Nick Collison or Jerome James to take their game to the next level. I've been watching a few games on television this year, and I think I can tell you that Nick Collison is showing a better rate of improvement than James, who has only a height advantage and maybe some better shot-blocking ability.
Also, the whole unfulfilled contract negotiations thing is getting to Ray Allen a bit. They got to Todd Bertuzzi at the beginning of the last hockey season too, except he had a really weird year after signing his new contract, and that was even before he started suckerpunching people and piledriving them into the ice.
In a weird note, the Sonics won three of four in the now-finished season series with the Jazz even while being outrebounded in all four of the games.
Upcoming...
Friday at Golden State (7:30p, FSNNW)
Monday vs. San Antonio (7p, FSNNW)
Tuesday at Sacramento (7p, FSNNW)
HOCKEY
Tri-City beat Seattle 8-1. I'm thinking the Thunderbirds probably want a mulligan after this one. This stinker of a game gives Seattle their third loss in four games. Chris Durand tied the game for Seattle at 1-1 late in the first period with the T-Birds down a man. Needless to say, it got way out of hand after that. The Americans scored four times in the second period, and three more times in the third period. Bryan Bridges was chased from the Seattle net for the first time this season. Tri-City coach Don Nachbaur notched his 250th win in the WHL, and he got it in Seattle, where he got 201 of those wins as coach of the Thunderbirds from 1994 to 2000. Tri-City outshot Seattle 36-30. Bryan Bridges stopped 16 of 20 and Gavin McHale stopped 12 of 16 for Seattle. Carey Price, who is pretty damned good, stopped 29 for Tri-City. Amazingly, no one was worse than minus-3 for Seattle, a fact helped by the Americans scoring three times on the power play.
Kelowna beat Everett 4-1. You know the Silvertips have fallen on hard times when goaltender Mike Wall's record is suddenly at .500 (16-16-5). The 'Tips only goal tied the game at 1-1 in the second when Karel Hromas scored on Everett's second power play of the game. Shea Weber of the Rockets netted the game-winner just 43 seconds after Everett tied it. Kelowna got a power play goal in the second period as well, and they put the game away with a 6-on-4 shorthanded empty-net goal. The Rockets outshot the Silvertips 27-26. Mike Wall stopped 23 for Everett.
Vancouver and Kamloops skated to a 3-3 overtime tie. I've only got a boxscore for this one right now, and it looks like the Giants blew this one. All three of their goals came in the second period, and they went into the final period with a 3-1 lead, which later went up in smoke, with the hreatbreaker being Nathan Grochmal's goal with 26 seconds remaining in regulation to get the Blazers the single point for sure. Paul Albers tied the game at 1-1 for the Giants in the second period, and Mitch Bartley scored twice to stake Vancouver out to its lead. Vancouver outshot Kamloops 27-26, and Marek Schwarz stopped 23 for the Giants.
Upcoming...
Tomorrow: Kamloops at Seattle, Portland at Everett, Tri-City at Vancouver, Manitoba at Utah, Spokane at Puget Sound
Saturday: Everett at Seattle, Tri-City at Portland, Kelowna at Vancouver, Manitoba at Utah, Spokane at Puget Sound
Sunday: Everett at Tri-City
Monday: Grand Rapids at Manitoba
Tuesday: Grand Rapids at Manitoba
---
Have a great Thursday, everyone.
That said, I don't know how much more I can take on top of the indefinite delay of the third season of Chappelle's Show, or more importantly, the release of Season 2 on DVD, which also was delayed. But it's not all bad because Season 2 of Sealab 2021 is coming out on Tuesday. It's got the Bizarro episode, so I'll be waking up early on Tuesday.
I now refrain from that odd diatribe to bring you the usual...
MARINERS
Somebody stop the presses. Is it possible that Bob Finnigan has given up on his annual article on rumors of Griffey coming back to Seattle? It could be, if you consider the chance of Mike Cameron coming back within the realm of possibility. I'm thinking there's no chance in hell of it happening, but we can dare to dream. Ryan Franklin is probably praying for it to happen. Even if it did happen, he won't be the opening day starter, on account of that whole wrist injury.
Get Zumsteg. Today, it's an article on the tendencies of Mike Hargrove when it comes to using the starting pitchers. Though it's hard to draw conclusions from some of the stuff he did in Cleveland, Zumsteg introduces the P-I readership to Pitcher Abuse Points, and namely that Hargrove has rode his pitchers over 120 in a game on many an occasion. I like starters going deep into games and everything, but I think I start to freak out around 110 when I'm sitting there watching the game. When Melvin let Madritsch go for 133 last year, I couldn't believe it.
It's four years and $3.65M for Cuban refugee Yuniesky Betancourt. I might just call him "Yuno" just for the brutally obvious Extreme reference. To make room for Yuno on the 40-man roster, Aaron Looper was designated for assignment, which of course means Willie Bloomquist was not. BLAST! Bill Bavasi equates Betancourt to being a first- or second-round draft pick, presumably out of college since the Cuban is 22. In other Mariner news, Cha Seung Baek signed on for this year for $316k if he makes the big club.
SEAHAWKS
Hire a president and a vice president of football operations, please. Thanks in advance.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
Marvin Williams and the Tar Heels play at Virginia on Saturday (9a, ESPN).
Huskies
A little over a year ago, the Wildcats came to Seattle ready to face a Husky team that was tied for last in the Pac-10. Times have changed, of course, and Lorenzo Romar is, needless to say, no small part of it. He's laid the framework for a lot of what we're seeing right now, and he does give Bob Bender for not leaving the cupboard bare when Romar got to Seattle.
Does anyone feel like reading a semi-skeptical article on Salim Stoudamire? I knew you would. Here's a non-skeptical one from a national perspective. Earlier yesterday when I saw the message board thing at the bottom, the very first topic was "Tre Simmons." Of course, the SportsLine board has since gotten ridiculous like it always does. There are also some SportsLine message board contributions from user "duke_is_crap." Good times.
Yep, the Pac-10 is 2nd in the RPI. Or 6th. Who knows? Lute Olson doesn't quite say it, but we will here -- it's a conspiracy against the Pac-10, part of the bigger entity known as East Coast Bias. Ah, how we know it too well.
Former Husky player David Hudson, Jr., is still contributing to the team. How? "It Must Be Husky." There's a downloadable clip. I'll say this -- it's roughly 10000000 times better than "Who Let the Dogs Out?" which was probably the main thing I hated about the Mariners' 2000 run.
The Huskies play at Arizona tonight (5:30p, FSNNW) and at Arizona State on Sunday (12:45p, CBS).
Bulldogs
Erroll Knight is good. He's better when he's not hurt, which has been a lot. Coach Few says the team as a whole is also better with Knight on the floor. P-Mac probably isn't a total slouch, but the numbers he's been putting up haven't really been making people forget about Knight.
Also, Derek Raivio is five away from breaking the school record for consecutive free throws made. He's on 36, and Geoff Goss had 41 in 1992-93. Raivio also nails half his three-pointers, 90.8% of his free throws, and has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.24:1, all of which lead the West Coast Conference.
The Zags are home against the Portland Pilots on Saturday (8p, ESPN2).
Sonics
For my take on last night's game, scroll down a post or click here if this is the only post on the page.
Yes, the first few minutes of that fourth quarter last night sealed the deal for Utah. Even with Rashard Lewis having an off night and Vladimir Radmanovic having the offest of off nights (as in zero points), the Sonics still had a chance to get this one, but they let it slip away. It wasn't Carlos Boozer that was beating them either; it was Raul Lopez and Raja Bell, who apparently scratched the hell out of Ray Allen, according to Danny O'Neil's piece. Allen said in the Percy Allen piece that the Sonics need either Nick Collison or Jerome James to take their game to the next level. I've been watching a few games on television this year, and I think I can tell you that Nick Collison is showing a better rate of improvement than James, who has only a height advantage and maybe some better shot-blocking ability.
Also, the whole unfulfilled contract negotiations thing is getting to Ray Allen a bit. They got to Todd Bertuzzi at the beginning of the last hockey season too, except he had a really weird year after signing his new contract, and that was even before he started suckerpunching people and piledriving them into the ice.
In a weird note, the Sonics won three of four in the now-finished season series with the Jazz even while being outrebounded in all four of the games.
Upcoming...
Friday at Golden State (7:30p, FSNNW)
Monday vs. San Antonio (7p, FSNNW)
Tuesday at Sacramento (7p, FSNNW)
HOCKEY
Tri-City beat Seattle 8-1. I'm thinking the Thunderbirds probably want a mulligan after this one. This stinker of a game gives Seattle their third loss in four games. Chris Durand tied the game for Seattle at 1-1 late in the first period with the T-Birds down a man. Needless to say, it got way out of hand after that. The Americans scored four times in the second period, and three more times in the third period. Bryan Bridges was chased from the Seattle net for the first time this season. Tri-City coach Don Nachbaur notched his 250th win in the WHL, and he got it in Seattle, where he got 201 of those wins as coach of the Thunderbirds from 1994 to 2000. Tri-City outshot Seattle 36-30. Bryan Bridges stopped 16 of 20 and Gavin McHale stopped 12 of 16 for Seattle. Carey Price, who is pretty damned good, stopped 29 for Tri-City. Amazingly, no one was worse than minus-3 for Seattle, a fact helped by the Americans scoring three times on the power play.
Kelowna beat Everett 4-1. You know the Silvertips have fallen on hard times when goaltender Mike Wall's record is suddenly at .500 (16-16-5). The 'Tips only goal tied the game at 1-1 in the second when Karel Hromas scored on Everett's second power play of the game. Shea Weber of the Rockets netted the game-winner just 43 seconds after Everett tied it. Kelowna got a power play goal in the second period as well, and they put the game away with a 6-on-4 shorthanded empty-net goal. The Rockets outshot the Silvertips 27-26. Mike Wall stopped 23 for Everett.
Vancouver and Kamloops skated to a 3-3 overtime tie. I've only got a boxscore for this one right now, and it looks like the Giants blew this one. All three of their goals came in the second period, and they went into the final period with a 3-1 lead, which later went up in smoke, with the hreatbreaker being Nathan Grochmal's goal with 26 seconds remaining in regulation to get the Blazers the single point for sure. Paul Albers tied the game at 1-1 for the Giants in the second period, and Mitch Bartley scored twice to stake Vancouver out to its lead. Vancouver outshot Kamloops 27-26, and Marek Schwarz stopped 23 for the Giants.
Upcoming...
Tomorrow: Kamloops at Seattle, Portland at Everett, Tri-City at Vancouver, Manitoba at Utah, Spokane at Puget Sound
Saturday: Everett at Seattle, Tri-City at Portland, Kelowna at Vancouver, Manitoba at Utah, Spokane at Puget Sound
Sunday: Everett at Tri-City
Monday: Grand Rapids at Manitoba
Tuesday: Grand Rapids at Manitoba
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Have a great Thursday, everyone.