Archive for January, 2005

First it was Aaron Sele, now it’s apparently Jeff Nelson coming back to the Mariners. What on earth is going on?

Coming soon to a press conference near you: the return of Ken Cloude, Stan Javier, and Charles Gipson! Woo-hoo!

(Okay, seriously, both Sele and Nelson are long-shots to make the team, but still…..)

Quiet around here lately because my other (non-sports) online life has been utter chaos this week. But Phil tips me to Jayson’s Stark’s “Winter winners” column on ESPN.com, where the Mariners are No. 3, right behind the Mets and Marlins.

That makes the M’s the biggest winner in the American League according to Stark. In fact, the Yankees, Red Sox, and Angels are the only other AL teams mentioned. If time allows, we’ll do a lengthier division preview at some point, but on first glance — the Rangers and A’s don’t appear to be any better. Oakland could be much, much worse if those young arms let them down (as young arms often do). Still, despite Stark suggesting the M’s could be in contention this year, I still don’t see it. I’m thinking mid-80s for wins, at best.

Sometimes the best commercials are the ones we don’t get to see.

Bud Boob Spot Canned

I’m torn about this.

I grew up in Philly and lived there until I left for college in California. My whole family still lives back there, and I visit as often as possible. By no means are the Eagles my favorite team (10 years in the N’west changes everything), but there’s still that little tug on the hometown heartstrings — especially when it’s all my family can talk about.

I respect the way the Eagles do things. They’re always a great team, and they’re always comfortably under the salary cap. They don’t run into the same problems you see with recent powerhouses like Tampa Bay or Oakland, where they’re good for a year or two, then the salary cap stings them. The Eagles are smart. They ditch productive guys before their contracts become a problem — look no further than the cutting of Hugh Douglas and Jeremiah Trotter in recent years. Want some Seahawks content? The Eagles were more than willing to let Bobby Taylor walk, and look who came out better in that deal.

But the Patriots also do things the right way. They’re the very definition of a team. They play hard on every play — all 11 guys on the field. Nobody takes a play off. They all understand the idea of accountability. (Wouldn’t it be great for Koren Robinson to get that message….) They’re a joy to watch on both sides of the ball.

I’ve rooted for them both times they won the Super Bowl in the past three years. They have a coach who dresses on the sideline like I dress for a trip to the grocery store. They have a QB who draws comparisons to Joe Montana (whom I also love), but who has never had a receiver to throw to in the same league as a Jerry Rice. They have the best personnel guy in the business.

But both teams also have two of my least favorite players. I wish Terrell Owens would act like he’s been there before. I’m glad the Eagles have won without him these past couple weeks, because he’d be insufferable if they’d lost. Part of me hopes he misses the Super Bowl and the Eagles still win. Meanwhile, the Patriots have Rodney Harrison, a guy whom I consider the dirtiest player in the NFL. Watch him closely. Watch how he twists legs and arms as he gets off the pile or the player. Watch how hits defenseless runners and receivers, quite often leading with his helmet. He’s this era’s Jack Tatum, only he hasn’t paralyzed anybody (yet). I don’t know who I’ll be rooting for, but I know I’ll be rooting against these two.

I see the Pats are a 6.5 point favorite. I don’t think it’ll be that close. I’m figuring it’s a 10-15 point Patriots win. 35-21, maybe? Somewhere in there. Now if I only I could figure out who to root for…..

Oh, this looks so fun:

FO: Old faces in new places contest

Good luck!

I don’t know if the best analogy is the tortoise (Mariners) and the hare (A’s and others), or maybe it’s like a high school senior tiptoeing up to the pretty girl, trying to get the nerve up to ask her to the prom … regardless, the Bavasi-led Mariners are taking steps that would’ve never happened under Gillick and earlier mgmt. groups.

The Oregonian reports that the M’s have hired Mat Olkin as “player acquisition consultant”, whatever that may mean. Olkin says the job is “more sabermetric than the job title necessarily implies.”

He adds: “All I do is give him [Bavasi] information and an opinion and try to let him make a more informed decision.”

And, as expected, the stat-heads at USS Mariner have already weighed in with a thoughtful commentary on the hiring.

As I promised for 2005: more involvement and linking with other blogs that are also writing good stuff about our favorite sports and teams.

Blazers

I don’t generally have much to say about the Blazers, as you’ve no doubt noticed by now. Heck, I didn’t even bother using their colors or logo over in the “Sonics and Blazers” section on the left. But if you’re looking for that stuff — and we do get a few NBA-related searches in the referrer log here — don’t miss Blazer Talk for almost daily updates on all thingts Red and Black.

Mariners

The gang at Leone for Third have a good rundown of the players the M’s are signing or may sign as they look to fill the spring training invitee list.

Mariner Minors recaps some news from All-Baseball.com suggesting that Shin-Soo Choo is a higher-rated prospect than Jeremy Reed. (Can’t figure out how to link to the actual post, sorry….)

The Mariner Optimist is either starting or joining — I can’t tell which — a FREE BUCKY campaign to get Bucky Jacobsen in the M’s starting lineup as DH (after a trade of Randy Winn). Sign me up!

Alright, enough for this time.

Ed Macey has a good column at FO today about the debate over whether it’s better to play a rookie QB or let him watch. He offers a lot of stats and research and draws the conclusion that it’s better to keep ‘em on the bench.

“I went back to look at every quarterback drafted between 1993 and 2002, a ten year window that remains relatively modern and allows more recent quarterbacks to get some experience in the league. Roethlisberger’s success notwithstanding, it seems clear to me that when an organization has to choose between playing a young quarterback sooner or later, they should err on the side of later.”

But he also wisely points out that the teams which can afford to sit their rookie QBs are usually the better teams, and that’s probably a big reason why those guys are successful when they do finally play. Good stuff on the whole….

If you’re Jones-ing for baseball, or will be soon, might want to check out Bob Klapisch writing about Ichiro on ESPN.com. Nothing earth-shattering, but some cool numbers detailing Ichiro and Bonds and their success on 0-2 counts. My favorite: Ichiro only struck out 10 times in 48 at-bats when he was down 0-2 in the count. Pretty amazing.

Looks like it’s been around for a little while, but I’m just now discovering that the Times has a Husky Hoops blog, and I see a link that says they’re looking for contributors, too.

So I go looking for other Times’ sports blogs … nothing I can find for the Mariners or Sonics, but who knew they had a Seahawks blog for 2 months last summer? Why did they stop updating it?