Sark Dawg and UW Football Team Will Win 6 Games Next Year

By this time next year, new U-Dub football coach Steve Sarkesian will own this town.

Sark will be the darling of the Pacific Northwest as he will take the winless Huskies to a respectable 6 win season. You heard it here first.

Every idiot sportswriter in town is talking about 3-4 wins. B-O-R-I-N-G! I'm not going to be happy with what the so-called experts call "improvement." Even Ty might have gone 3-9 if he were coaching the 2009 team. (In fact, the Huskies arguably should've had 3 wins last year -- Stanford, BYU and WSU). Sark will do even better.

Why?

Because the cloud of hopelessness is about to be lifted over the program. You'll see the guys playing with enthusiasm and passion. You'll see guys actually look like football players and not the skinny, underfed and underdeveloped lopers you saw in 2008. The weight room is an amazing place sometimes. Guys will stop playing like robots. Jake will get tutoring from a successful college QB, not the worst of the three Huard Brothers (Luke - the shitty one who didn't play here).

In addition, the talent level of the football team is potentially better than that of every other Pac-10 team except USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Cal. Don't believe me? Go to Scout.com and look up the UW's recruitment classes from 2005-2008. The UW has gotten commitments from plenty of 3 and 4 star kids; and arguably has the most talented QB in the conference, the most talented pair of TEs, and a deep crop of WRs.

The road to 6 wins won't be easy, but here's how they'll do it:

By winning at home vs. Idaho, LSU, WSU, Cal and on the road against ASU and Stanford. (I'm chalking up losses at home against Zona and USC and away against Notre Dame, UCLA and the Oregon St.)

The biggest game of the year is the Stanford game. If the Dawg's win that game, they'll start the season 2-2 and 1-1 in Pac-10 play. Lose to Stanford, and the team's confidence goes out the window.

Here are my optimistic predictions:

*Jake will be even better than expected. He'll complete 60% of his passes and the UW passing offense will win some shootouts this season. He'll have at least one 4 TD passing game.
* Chris Polk is the answer at RB. Polk will go the distance on a few long TD runs and will remind fans of what it's like to have a home-run RB.
* The UW receivers will be very busy (Goodwin will crack the top 5 in WR yards in the conference)
* Kavario Middleton and Chris Izbicki will be the best 1-2 punch at TE in the conference
* The UW defense will still be awful (but not dreadful)
* EJ Savannah will lead an improved LB corp
* The D will double its sack total from 2008.
* The defense will give up 30-50 less yards per game. (Now that's a dramatic improvement!)
* The UW will get into several shootouts this season. (Think 45-35)

With Sark's youthfulness and recruiting savvy, the UWs recruiting classes stand to be even better going forward. Keep in mind, USC is about to be hit with major sanctions for their sports teams (Reggie Bush = Billy Joe Hobert). If SC loses several scholarships, that's just the ammunition Sark needs to rip off even more studs from So-Cal.

All in all, look for 2009 to be even better than expected. You heard it hear first.

Waking a Sleeping Giant

About three weeks ago, Mariner Manager Don Wakamatsu asked his star pitcher to "step it up" after his fourth consecutive lack-luster performance. The question was if King Felix was actually listening? There are times in the past where Felix Hernandez hasn't responded to his Manager's motivations. This was not one of those times.

Felix Hernandez has been lights out in his last 5 starts since Don Wakamatsu's statement to the media. He is 3-0 in that span and averaging over 7 innings per start. More impressively, Felix has allowed only 3 earned runs in over 37 innings, dropping his ERA from 4.13 to a staggering 2.77. That puts King Felix at 7th lowest ERA in the American League, and 13th in all of Major League Baseball.

Felix is not only winning games now, but he's actually pitching! Yes, there is a difference. Pitching is when you're thinking, using both sides of the dish, hitting your spots, and saving your out-pitch for a 2 strike count.

A lot of you are probably asking yourself what it means when pitchers aren't pitching. Well, just look at game tape of Jarrod Washburn in '07 and '08 to answer that question. There, you'll see no focus or itensity, a lack of competitiveness, no urgency to make good pitches or trying to outhink hitters.

Baseball is definitely a thinking game, and Felix is doing more than just that. He's two steps ahead of everyone in the box, and making hitters look absolutely foolish. The question everyone wants to know is how long it will last?

Shaq to Cavs? Bad Idea

Much has been made the past week of the hot rumor going around that Shaq will be traded to the Cavs to join LeBron. Some people even argue that a Shaq/LeBron duo would greatly enhance the Cavs' ability to win an NBA title in 2010. And in the process keep King James in Ohio.

I am not one of them.

If you are a Cavs fan you better pray this rumor doesn’t have any merit. Shaq to the Cavs would destroy the team.

LeBron would only get worse (if that’s possible) if the team acquired Shaq because his gigantic, slow-moving presence would plug the middle and take away LeBron’s nearly-unstoppable drive-to-the-hole capabilities.

LeBron doesn’t need an overpriced, over-the-hill, non-defender to help him win a title. What LeBron needs is a guard or small forward that can shoot from the outside and defend taller perimeter players.

No disrespect to Delonte West or Mo Williams who are both admirable players but LeBron needs a taller perimeter athlete that can defend bigger players and also be his wingman (a la Scottie Pippen).

The Cavs flat-out could not defend the Orlando Magic’s lengthy shooting trio of Rashard Lewis, Hedo Terkoglu, and Mickael Pietrus in the Eastern Conference championship series and lost because of it.

While Shaq is entertaining and provides great pre- and post-game quotes to the media, his skills have greatly diminished and adding him would only hurt LeBron.

Note to Cavs GM Danny Ferry: If you want to keep LeBron in Cleveland beyond 2010 try adding actual talent your roster to help LeBron—not crappy players like Ben Wallace and Wally Szczerbiak. Adding players in the twilights of their careers is not the answer.

LeBron is a beast and deserves a ring but it won’t be with Shaq.

Monday Morning Musing, June 15

Can't bring myself to even acknowledge this past weekend's Mile High debacle for the M's, so...

Let me first just say this: I hate Kobe Bryant (and the Lakers, as all Seattle sports fans should), but there was no team preventing his maniacal quest for a fourth NBA championship and his first without the Big Aristotle.

It's a shame. One, because Kobe won another championship. Two, because of what might have been if the Celtics were healthy.

There were only three teams with enough firepower to prevent Kobe from reaching the mountain top: The Magic, Nuggets, Celtics and Lebrons.

The Magic and Nuggets obviously weren't ready and their coaches flat-out failed them. Our old buddy George Karl, who I still stupidly defend as being a good coach (quick question: am I alone as Sonics fan who does this?), by refusing to make adjustments and not having an in-bounds play. Seriously, he didn't have an in-bounds play and it cost him at least two games. Stan Van Gundy, by refusing to play Courtney Lee and Rafer Alston during key stretches.

But aside form the coaching catastophe, really, these teams didn't have the high-pressure experience necessary to deal with Kobe's crew. Both will be back next year.

The Lebrons turned out to be just Lebron, despite all the Mo Williams hyperbole throughout the regular season, which they absolutely dominated. This, by the way, reinforces what we already know about the NBA: the regular season doesn't mean shiite. They were also let down by a coach, Mike Brown, who despite an aesthetic attempt to look smart (his Gucci glasses), failed to make any strategic adjustments throughout the Magic series. He gets the Donald Rumsfeld award for "staying the course" for absolutely no reason.

And, finally, the Celtics, oh my poor Celtics. After treating us to the two best series of the entire playoffs (against the Bulls and Magic), they simply ran out of gas after game 5 of the Magic series. And the yawning void, especially on defense, left by the injury to Kevin Garnett, completely did them in.

So, we're left with a sad "what-if" scenario with the end to this exceedingly disappointing finals. What if Garnett had come back, healthy, midway through the Magic series? What if he had provided an answer and challenge to Dwight Howard? What if the C's took out the Magic and then the Cavs and we were treated to a rematch of the 2008 finals: Lakers-Celtics, the modern version, Round 2?

Last year, the Lakers appeared just happy to be in the finals again, after a three year run of mediocrity and Kobe/Zen Master-inspired drama. Plus, they ran into an on-a-mission Celtics team with three in-their-prime superstars, including our boy Ray-Ray. The Celtics beat them like Brandon Marshall's girlfriend.

Now, to quote Bush (the band of mid-90s brief fame, not the former Idiot-and-Chief): Everyhthing Zen in the city of Angels. And like all of Phil Jackson's championship teams, the Lakers are loaded: Kobe, one of the best guards ever; two 7-footers, Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol, with great all-around skills and Inspector Gadget arms; another 7-footer who isn't terrible, Andrew Bynum; playoff breakout player of the season, Trevor Ariza (aka the new Boris Diaw); gritty playoff vet, the neck-less Derek Fisher; and a bunch of other serviceable NBAers like Jordan Farmar, Luke Walton and Shannon Brown.

The new peaking Lakers vs. the grizzled defending champs would have been great drama for NBA fans and an enormous boost to the league. Think about it for a second.

The Celtics lost Kobe-stopper James Posey, but that's it. They gained an improved Rajondo (my nickname, which I trademarked during the Bulls series while watching games under the influence), and two improved Bigs, in Big Baby Glen Davis and Kendrick Perkins, to go into battle with Garnett against Gasol/Bynum/Odom. There would also be Pierce vs. Kobe. And Ray vs. nobody. (By the way, it would have been incredibly interesting to have seen if Kobe would have continued with his newly adopted chin-jutting, lip-clenching, I'm-going-to-kill-a-small-animal-with-my-bare-hands scowl, which he obviously stole from Garnett.)

Those matchups, combined with the history of four decades of memorable matchups would have pushed the NBA back on top of the American sports scene. Plus, the Sports Guy's head would have exploded.

Instead, we just got Kobe celebrating for himself, on the road, against a crappy, inferior opponent. Did I mention I hate Kobe?

The NBA: where boring, predictable championships happen for self-absorbed, unlikable superstars. I just vomited in my mouth a little. I'd rather watch hockey.

Big Win For Sounders FC

The Sounders came out firing Saturday night at Qwest Field and it couldn't have come at a better time. Winless in their last 6 matches, and slipping to 3rd place in the West, the Sounders were desperate for 3 points. And they go it.

You could see the intensity on the players' faces. Fresh off a grueling practice, where head coach Sigi Schmid pounded the players with finishing drills, the team looked sharp. From kick-off the Sounders applied relentless pressure on the San Jose Earthquake defense.

Rookie forward Steve Zakuani was playing like a man possessed and consistently snuck behind Earthquake defenders for scoring chances. Sebastien Le Toux supplied numerous tireless runs creating havoc and mismatches all over the field. And the oft-injured Swedish refugee Freddie Ljungberg was magnificent with the ball at his feet, serving Fredy Montero and the rest of the front line with clean goal scoring opportunities.

It was obvious the Sounders were the superior team. All they needed was a goal to show for it.

Finally, with a few minutes to spare in the first half, Ljungberg broke free and chipped the Earthquake goalkeeper for the Sounders' first goal. Montero then made it 2-0 off a corner kick in the second half, where he found himself all alone at the far post for a wide open net. This was all the Sounders would need to cruise to an easy victory.

D.C. United is up next for the Sounders, this Wednesday, June 17th. It should be a great match between 2 of the top 4 teams in the MLS.