Go Blazers! Why You Should Jump on the Bandwagon

Yes, Seattle, it’s time to embrace your inner Trailblazer.

And I’ll tell you why.

Since Howard Schultz, or as we like to refer to him, the anti-Christ, sold his soul and the Sonics to Oklahoma oil barons, we Seattle sports fans faced a tough decision: do we continue following the NBA?

So sickened by the league’s treatment of Seattle – the Napoleonic David Stern essentially called us bad fans who didn’t deserve a franchise and the other owners, aside from the refreshingly honest Mark Cuban, turned their backs on us – that I was more than ready to stay away from NBA hoops until either Seattle garnered a new franchise or my unborn son won a spot as a12th man on the Dallas Mavericks in 2032.

I’ve liked the college game better for years -- more defense, more passion, the Big Dance – and the NBA regular season is six months of crap anyway.

But the playoffs are different. That’s when the NBA comes alive, guys start hustling, games are actually close and there’s at least one or two games a night for what seems like three months. (That’s also a drawback, by the finals, it’s almost football season and we’re all more concerned with our upcoming fantasy drafts, but you get the picture.)

At the beginning of last year, I decided to become a free agent fan and narrowed my final choices down to the Blazers, Knicks and Celtics.

The Celtics because my wife’s from the Boston area, I fell in love in Ray Allen’s game while he was a Sonic and I’ve always been a Paul Pierce fan. The Knicks because I live in New York and would get to see them on TV and have them covered in the three big dailies in the city, plus I’ve been a huge fan of Nate Robinson ever since his Rainier Beach and UW days (great kid). The Blazer for reasons I’ll get to in a minute.

I never actually made a decision and secretly held on to the false hope that a miracle would save my beloved Sonics from thievery. But once the playoffs started, I threw myself like a ping pong ball into a red plastic keg cup, soaking in the cheap beer known as the Celtics and rejoiced when they destroyed the hated Lakers (probably second to the Yankees as my least favorite pro team) to win their 83rd, or whatever, NBA title.

Which brings me back to the Blazers, who have home-court advantage against the Rockets in a series that starts tonight.

After last season, I decided I couldn’t in good conscience give my full fanhood to the Celtics (though I’ll be rooting for them so my wife will continue to have sex with me). Their success doesn’t lend them to my underdog Seattle attitude. And there’s also the matter of their fans, a bunch of Massholes who’ve had a good run and don’t deserve any more success for the next few decades.

So, it’s NBA playoff time once again and I’ve decided to back the Blazers.

I ask you, Seattle sports fans, what’s not to like about them, besides their being from Portland? (Just joking, we love P-town: better beer, strip clubs and mass transit than the Emerald City.)

And besides, this version of the team actually has Seattle written all over it, from the owner, Seattle billionaire and Seahawks savior Paul Allen, to the coach, Sonic legend Nate McMillan, to the superstar, Garfield and UW alum Brandon Roy who's turning into one of the most dynamic clutch playmakers in basketball.

These are not your father’s Jailblazers, although that decade or so of delinquency was immeasurably fun while it lasted for Seattlites.

This team is fun to watch, plays hard almost every night and is loaded with talent. Pundits are saying they may be the only team with enough horses to upset the Lakers.

I say let’s jump on board.

Aside from their Seattle connections (Martell Webster, I’d mention you, but you fell off the face of the earth after you spurned the Huskies for millions of dollars and a disappointing NBA career), there’s also:

-The goofy and grandfatherly Greg Oden who’s gamely fighting Sam Bowie comparisons on a nightly basis.

-Rudy Fernandez who shredded teams last summer in the Olympics and who is like a skinnier Euro version of Dan Majerle.

-Travis Outlaw who’s last name is Outlaw. That’s just cool.

-Great coverage from the Oregonian.

And if that’s not enough, remember the strip clubs.

Apple Cup at Qwest a bad idea

The negative backlash from a proposed change in venue for the Apple Cup has been astounding.

UW and WSU fans alike are voicing their displeasure over the idea as Bob Condotta of the Times wrote today, and you can count me in that camp.

Sure, I would love to be able to take a quick cab down to Qwest Field every year WSU is supposed to be the home team. I'd love to give the Cougs a taste of their own medicine when UW teams have to endure the near-equal WSU/UW ratio at any UW home game because Seattle-area Cougs love to hate on the Dawgs en masse. I'd love to experience the rivalry in-person every year, but it's just not right.

The Apple Cup is about tradition. It's about the potential of playing in an epic snowstorm on the frozen Pullman tundra in late November. It's about handing the Cougars their tails and sending their fans to the exits early so they can drown their sorrows at The Coug 'til close. Heck, even lately, it's been about "wait until next year, we'll be back in Seattle."

It's not about state-of-the-art facilities, Jumbotrons, Seahawk-painted fields and prefunking at FX McCrory's.

I realize these economic times are tough, and the state could desperately use the added revenue moving the game could bring. But the universities would be making a big mistake if this is approved.

It's Official: Griffey Pickup Good Deal for M's

Forget the nostalgia, forget the chemistry contributions. The signing of the Mariners' prodigal son Ken Griffey Jr. was good for the ball club, period. 

As I'm writing this, he's just collected his second hit of the night, the first being a bomb to right field, that classic Junior swing on full display and obviously as potent as ever. 

At 39, Griff Dogg is still a dangerous power hitter. Not a 50 home run power hitter like he was in his prime, but a threat to go deep nonetheless. 

Another writer on this blog asked me recently how many homers I thought Griffey would hit this year. I said the 18 he hit a year ago while enduring a plethora of injuries and a move across leagues at the trade deadline was the floor if given enough playing time. And I said, given his age and assumed reduced playing time, I'd say his ceiling was 28. So, being an optimist, I settled on 24 as the number of times Junior would turn on a pitch and watch it disappear into the seats. And I'd be happy with that. 

But now, I've seen Griffey and the rest of the team look good, look dangerous, and I'm adjusting my expectations. Why not 30 bombs? Why not the playoffs?

Holy Suzuki! Ichiro just went yard, bringing up another great point. With Ichiro healthy and Griffey's renaissance, we're looking at the two greatest Mariners of all-time joining forces. How can this possibly be anything but destiny? 

M's up and on their way to taking a series from the Angels for the first time since 2003! 

Count me on board. I'm a believer.  

Top 10 most embarrassing Seattle athletes

I thought it'd be fun to rank the top 10 most embarrassing Seattle athlete stories/rap sheets. Unfortunately when thinking of these people, I kept coming up with more and more UW football players. So I tried to keep it fairly balanced. Admittedly, some of these athletes committed their crimes/embarrassing moments before or after their time in Seattle, but we can all relate to these folks as they were all at one time prominent figures in our local area. Feel free to add/comment.

So without further adieu, my top 10:

1. Billy Joe Hobert: The man Husky fans love to hate. One of the greatest quarterbacks in UW history, led the 1991 team to a national championship. Accepted an improper $50,000 loan from a booster that got the program on probation and effectively derailed the UW football dynasty and arguably ended Don James' career.

2. Alex Rodriguez: Madonna, ugly divorce, alleged prostitutes, and steroids...need I say more. Former Mariner is front and center in the tabloids these days.

3. Shawn Kemp: Arguably the greatest Supersonic of all time, the Reign Man was the poster child for fathering illegitimate children. Was arrested in Shoreline in 2005 when found with cocaine, about 60 grams of marijuana and a pistol.

4. Jerramy Stevens: Standout UW tight end and former Seahawk has a long list of legal troubles ranging from assault with a deadly weapon in high school, to sexual assault and hit and run of a nursing home while at UW, to multiple arrests for DUI/DWI during his current NFL career.

5. Tonya Harding: Not exactly a Seattle athlete (currently resides in Clark County,) but I couldn't resist. Former olympic figure skater/Nancy Kerrigan attacker/porn star/celebrity boxer apparently has a new lease on life as a competitive angler.

6. Ruben Patterson: Former Supersonic entered a modified plea in 2001 to an attempted rape charge involving his children's 24 year old nanny whom he forced to perform a sex act on him.

7. Jeremiah Pharms: Standout UW linebacker served 27 months after entering a plea on a robbery charge -- not admitting guilt, but acknowledging there was sufficient evidence for a conviction. Was recently charged in Sacramento with two felonies: illegal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and discharging a firearm in a grossly negligent manner that could harm or kill. Those charges are still pending.

8. Koren Robinson: Two-stint Seahawk repeatedly violated the NFL substance abuse policy, getting him a one-year suspension. Was sentenced to 90 days in jail in 2007 for fleeing police in August 2006.

9. Scott Greenlaw: Former UW defensive back and founder of the former Merit Financial, once one of Washington's largest mortgage brokerages with an impressive history of shady business practices that left a trail of angry ex-employees, expensive lawsuits, unpaid taxes, and government investigations.

10. Scott Spezio: One-time Mariner battled substance abuse throughout his MLB career, was also charged with misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence, hit and run, aggravated assault, and assault and battery.

Sark's grade thus far: A+

Those Husky fans who demanded a seasoned, top-tier head coach with at least some salt in his beard assume the massive rebuilding project known as UW football got a big surprise when the man hired was probably trying to pass driver's ed in 1991 when UW last won a national championship.

Fans wanted a big name, and were left scratching their collective heads when coaches like Jim Mora, Mike Leach and Gary Pinkel were either not pursued aggressively enough or said, "No thanks."

Husky fans have always had a sense of entitlement. The national championship is recent enough that if you can recite the lyrics of "Ice Ice Baby," you can vividly recall the likes of Emtman, Brunell and Bailey dominate the national college football scene.

Most fans (young included) can clearly remember the 2000 season when a UW team rallied from the emotionally-devastating loss of Curtis Williams who was paralyzed on a helmet-to-helmet hit in rainy Palo Alto against Stanford, nearly lost the game, and then came back with less than a minute remaining to beat the Cardinal on a Tuiasosopo-to-Robbins pass in the back of the endzone, then went on to win the Pac-10, Rose Bowl, and finish #3 in the nation.

It hasn't exactly been that long ago that UW fans could plan on booking air and hotel to either Los Angeles or San Diego for the holidays, not that long ago when Planet USC took over the universe.

So when 34-year old Steve Sarkisian was hired, many UW fans felt like the program deserved a higher profile coach, somehow to reward them for 11-37 and no bowl games over the past four seasons. Not exactly a dream job for just about any established head coach, unless a "challenge" is what you're seeking.

Husky Football A.D.J. (After Don James) has been searching for another Dawgfather, a program-changer. The head coaching revolving door since James has consisted of two loyalty promotions (assistants Jim Lambright and Keith Gilbertson) and two (at the time) trendy picks in the briefly-successful-but-rules-compliance-nightmare Rick Neuheisel and altogether disastrous Willingham.

But if grades can be given out for effort alone thus far, Sarkisian gets a big fat A-plus.

Forget about prominence, Sarkisian is attempting to return the Dawgs to mediocrity, at least in the short term. And even in attempting that, he will have his hands full.

Nonetheless, "Coach Sark" as his blog is appropriately named, has done just about everything right considering what he inherited.

How has he done it?

• He made it clear from day one the barriers created with alumni, boosters, fans and the media Willingham worked so hard to enforce would be eliminated. He's opened practices, he's used technology to communicate - the aforementioned blog, use of Twitter and Facebook - to get Husky Fever approaching Tylenol time from fans trying to rally around a program that didn't even sniff winning last season.

• He convinced USC Defensive Coordinator Nick Holt, a Bill Goldberg lookalike and a guy I'm convinced could step into a college football game without a helmet and de-cleat the first person he sees, into leaving the comfort of working with perennial All-americans and NFL first rounders and taking on one of the nation's worst defenses statistically.
  

• He wasn't afraid to rescind Willingham's offers from high school seniors like Grant Cisneros, who had no other Division I offers and ultimately committed to Central Washington University, a statement that less-than-Pac-10-caliber talent was not acceptable, no matter how dire UW's situation.
  

• He had a giant "W" painted on one of the upper deck roofs at Husky Stadium, and "Go Dawgs" on the other so that blue chip recruits flying in from Southern California he's trying to steal from Pete Carroll can see the stadium on descent into Seattle.

• Perhaps more importantly, he's locked the border around Washington State thus far, receiving verbal commitments from three of the top four in-state recruits for 2010, and has the state's and quite possibly the nation's top recruit, Jake Heaps, jumping up and down with Jake Locker in the Dawg Pack at UW basketball games and standing in the cold rain observing spring football practices.
  

• He's reportedly in the process of working with Nike to redesign the uniforms to reflect a more classic look, bringing back the glory days of Husky football at least from an aesthetics standpoint.

In all, aside from a couple of minor recruiting violations (heaven forbid UW uses a fog machine again!) Sarkisian's missteps have been minimal, all coming from a 34-year old who has never head-coached a second of college football.

Compare that with public relations train wrecks like Lane Kiffin, another candidate UW fans clamored for, and it underscores how truly impressive Sarkisian's first few months on the job have been.

UW may win one, two, four games next season. But in the process of rebuilding a once-great program, Sarkisian understands the importance of controlling what he can control, and the fan support, talent, and ultimately wins will follow.

Team Chemistry – Fact or Fiction?

I am tired of the baseball hacks who get suckered into writing about team chemistry as if it means something. Today, an unnamed Seattle sportswriter whom we all respect, wrote an article which discussed team chemistry, accountability, and the new veteran presence on the ballclub. “Wakamatsu called it chemistry. Zduriencik called it trust. In spring training, they both talked about character.” Whether team chemistry causes winning or whether winning causes team chemistry is a classic chicken-and-egg debate between scouts and sabermetricians, “baseball guys” versus “stat guys.”

Numerous Seattle sports writers wrote about the bad chemistry reeking from the 2008 Mariners and blamed that in large part for the team’s failure on the field. However, often overlooked were the horrific starting pitching, pathetic bench, bad defense, or failure to walk or hit for power. If everyone on the Mariners was having a bad year, why blame chemistry? Why not blame the weather, the glare from center field, the jobs the batboys are doing, or the food in the clubhouse? All of those are equally good reasons as team chemistry, since there’s no evidence whatsoever that any of them is at fault.

What is team chemistry?

Anytime you get 25 people together, there are going to be cliques. Some players will like each other better than others. Players with common interests will gravitate towards each other. Pitchers tend to stick with pitchers. Hitters tend to be friendlier with hitters. Cliques can be formed on the basis of anything: race, religion, music, geography (country versus city, north or south, west or east coast), and so on. Also, there will be players who don’t like each other – which is a reality of having different personalities that must spend time together day-after-day in close quarters.

What is good chemistry?

The 1995 Mariners had it. The 2001 Mariners had it. The 2008 Rays had it. The Red Sox of recent years had it. Team chemistry is the different between a great team on paper and a great team on the field.

Does chemistry breed winning or does winning breed chemistry?

They say that if bad chemistry can make you lose, then good chemistry must help you win. If you win, you have good chemistry, if you lose, you have bad chemistry. Rigorous analysis offers a better explanation – teams that lose just aren’t very talented. Chemistry is probably dependent on field-success as anything else. The correlation is that they help each other. Good morale will help productivity and vice-versa. Obviously, putting together a team full of players who can’t stand each other is a poor formula for winning ball games. However, team morale and performance aren’t always related. There are plenty of baseball examples to draw from where teams won without great chemistry; winning teams who hate each other and losing teams that get along great. To quote the immortal Bill Lee: “Give me 25 assholes and I’ll show you a pennant winner.”

Chemistry is a misused term because it’s nearly impossible to measure. How do you define what constitutes “good chemistry” and how can you compile enough evidence to conclude that good chemistry cause team success and not the other way around? Being nice and friendly and getting along is great, but winning is decided by on-the-field talent than any emphasis on team chemistry. Good chemistry simply a byproduct of winning, not a cause.

An average team will have some people who exceed, meet, and fall short of their talent level regardless of what that talent might be. If you have a team where most of the talent has fallen short of their expected production, the fault doesn’t like with the players. It shows the Manager and coaches aren’t doing their jobs. Isn’t the manager paid to be the guy responsible for creating a winning atmosphere, filling out lineup cards, and putting his people in a position to succeed? The 2008 Mariners had a lethal combination of both: poor managers/coaches and poor talent that underperformed.

A good manager creates a winning atmosphere and puts his people in position to succeed. I think it's fair to call that chemistry. How do you build a great team? Draft well, trade veterans for prospects, buy low and sell high on players; in other words, stock a team with talent.

I’m not saying that chemistry isn’t real; I’m saying it’s a result, not a cause. Unfortunately, the team Chemistry debate takes the attention away from the real issues and ignores the fact that the 2008 Mariners were an ineptly put together club with declining veteran players (Richie Sexson, Jose Vidro) or overpaid veterans (Carlos Silva, Jerrod Washburn, Miguel Bautista, Kenji Johjima). Chemistry suggests that nine Willy Bloomquists behind five Ryan Rowland-Smiths can win the World Series if only they can get together for Parcheesi, sing Kumbaya together, or felt some love in the clubhouse.

The notion that you can field a team of scrappy players who like each other and play well enough together to defeat a more talented team, is appealing, sort of like Davis versus Goliath or the Bad News Bears.

Team chemistry is a meaningless term. No one ever talks about the great team chemistry of a sub. 500 team whose players all love to play for one another. It’s hard enough to make judgments about baseball players but when you start building in irrelevant factors such as “team chemistry”, the process of evaluation goes from difficult to impossible. The lesson learned for 2009 and beyond should be that you need a good nucleus of young players together and allow them to grow and improve. Guys like Felix Hernandez, Brandon Morrow, and perhaps Jose Lopez, Ryan Rowland-Smith, and Franky Gutierrez are a good start in that direction. If the front office can keep them together and add to that core, then the 2010 or 2011 Mariners might finally have a chance to truly compete.

Rough Seas Ahead for M's

All is happy in the Mariner nation after an improbable 5-2 start on the road and suprising 1.5 game lead in the AL West. Like giddy schoolgirls, the fans are calling into talkshows and raving about Jack Z's changes, or Wak's philosophies. You'd have to be an idiot or complete pessimist to complain or find fault on what has happened so far. Thanks, but I'm neither.

There are some discouraging signs that the bubble may be about to burst. As a club, the M's still can't get on base. In fact, no Mariner has cracked the top 20 in OBP in the American League. Although Ken Griffey Junior has walked 6 times (tied for 4th in the American League), the M's as a club have the 5th lowest OBP in Major League Baseball. While Yuni Betancourt leads the team in at-bats (27), he hasn't drawn a single walk. No other Mariner has more than 2. Should that matter? In 2008, the top three teams in runs scored were also the top three teams with the highest OBP. Three of the four worst teams in OBP (San Diego, Seattle, Pittsburgh), were teams that finished last in their respective divisions. That year, the M's lost 101 games, and had an OBP of .318; good for 28th out of 30 teams. In 2009, the M's OBP is eerily similar at .320.

Let's face it, the pitching has been better than expected. The M's are 5th in ERA (3.42) and opposing batters are only hitting .227 against them; good for 3rd in the Majors. Kudos to the King, Bedard, Washburn, and the bullpen.

However, despite the all the media-induced hype about "Jerod learned to throw a changeup" and "Silva lost 30 pounds", most players' stats regress to the back of their baseball cards. In other words, Griffey will stop walking and start hacking, Endy will come down to earth, Washburn is due for a fall, Bedard is a fragile, 100 pitch weakling who is good for only last 6 innings, the bullpen isn't very good, and Silva is a fat tub of goo.

Unless the M's either continue their amazing pitching, or learn how to get on base at a higher rate, their hot start may be an aberration.

Wetland Sports Blog Manifesto

Ladies and gentleman, welcome to Wetland Sports, a blog about Seattle sports. Hopefully, you've been enjoying or hating the marginally consistent and remarkably coherent, if not always grammatically correct, Wetland writing. 

I could tell you that I chose the 13th post to lay out our blog manifesto (which every blog is required to produce within the first 30 days of existence or risk sanctions from the ubiquitous blog regulators, or as we like to call them, blogulators) because that was the plan. But that would be a lie. The truth is we don't have a plan. 

I should now probably tell you exactly what this blog will be about, who we are, what kind of posts and features you can expect and so on. Well, the fact of the matter is that we haven't really gotten that far yet. 

Here's what we do know: We're a group of guys who love sports and love talking about sports. Seattle sports in particular. So this is going to be us opining, hopefully somewhat coherently, about Seattle sports and following all the compelling story lines. 

Already, we've written about the M's chances in 2009, Griffey's clubhouse presence, Sounders fever, the new sports radio showdown and the Hawks draft. 

The backdrop of all those sub-plots is the most compelling story line of all: Hope is in the air Seattle sports fans! 

In the fall of 2007, when it became clear those evil, soulless cowboys from Oklahoma had indeed managed to get their fat greasy palms around the throat of our beloved pro basketball franchise and that any hope for a rescue was out of the questions, we began a truly precipitous slide into sports fan hell. Single tear. 

Last summer, the Sonics left and M's floundered. By the time baseball season had come to a merciful end, both football teams, the Seahawks and Huskies, were already doomed to lost seasons filled with heartache, misery. By the time, the recession hit, Seattle fans were saying, thank God we have something else to take our minds off our horrible, poorly managed, poorly coached sports teams. [Cue view from above of us collectively screaming into the stormy night: "WHY!?!?!?!?!"]

It got to the point where I'd go to a party in Manhattan (full disclosure: I'm a Seattleite at heart and grew up there, but now live in New York where [shameless plug alert] I write and edit a small newspaper in the Bronx called the Norwood News) and  people would ask me where I'm from. I'd tell them Seattle and they'd immediately give me a hug, like my grandmother had just died. "It must be tough to continue waking up in the morning," they'd say, or at least, that's what I heard, and then immediately rush to get me a really strong drink. 

Seriously though, people around the country, I feel, have been very empathetic to our plight. Knick fans especially for some reason. But that's because what we've endured has been historically and absurdly depressing. 

Still, like any train wreck, especially one you've been experiencing over and over again for most of your entire life (M's one of only three teams, including the Nationals to never make World Series, in case you forgot), I couldn't look away. (It's also because following Seattle sports is more like an involuntary tick for me, rather than a conscious decision.) And slowly, like a slug going up a downtown Seattle hilll, things started to turn around. 

The hiring of Jack Z and Wakamatsu looked well thought out at the time and looks like a stroke of rare Mariner front brass genius now. 

Sark was an after-thought hire, but looks like just the ambitious, energetic, rule-stretching head coach who could succeed in at least making the Huskies not a complete walkover next year. 

And, by all accounts, the Sounders have been built from the ground up into what could be a perennial soccer juggernaut complete with rabid fan base. (Soccer is the new Sonics. Get on board now.) I even liked the Hawks offseason moves (TJ in the Housh!). 

Now, obviously, we're not sure how this is all going to play out, but we'll be here writing about all the twists and turns whenever we feel like it. So tune in. 

Feel free to rant, rave or just say hi. We'll let you know when we have more about what we're actually doing. For now, enjoy the hope. The Mariners are 5-2!