Archive for March, 2006

No surprise. Clayton story…

So the offense is set. Jurevicius has been replaced. Hutch has been replaced. The RBs have all re-signed. One guess which side of the ball gets the attention at the draft….

(and a bit of the past….)

Len Pasquarelli takes stock of Mike Holmgren’s future on ESPN.com, with a lot of the same quotes you may have read locally. You’ve heard Holmgren say it might be a couple weeks before he knows what he wants to do — but the coach adds a bit more clarification to that in LP’s piece:

“…it’s possible a decision might not come until after the season.

“It could be as simple as, ‘How about we go through next year and if you’re happy and I’m feeling good then we’ll meet.’ I really don’t know,” Holmgren said.”

Also a lot of talk about the (crap) Super Bowl officiating, which includes a note late in the article that the NFL was prepared to fine Holmgren for his comments at the Qwest Field rally a day after the game, but chose not to send that letter.

Okay, I think I’m done. The entire blog has been categorized now, and you’ll notice the addition of several new categories on the left — NFL General, MLB General, etc.

Font sizes are fixed, link colors, and various other coding stuff is all done. For now…..

My bet is that the Vikings’ contract for Steve Hutchinson, plus the way the Seahawks turned around and made a similarly ridiculous offer for Nate Burleson, will live in infamy. It’s the contract that people will be referring to for years to come as this issue takes center stage at the league level.

We said when the Hawks passed on Hutch that something would have to be done about the “poison pills,” and this week at the NFL owners’ meetings, Paul Tagliabue has come out and said exactly that.

Meanwhile, Mike Sando has a terrific arficle in today’s T-N-T with quotes from around the league about the Hutch contract, and almost no one is pleased with what happened.

“I don’t think it’s good for football when a terrific young player like Steve Hutchinson gets involved in a poison-pill contract where a team that drafted him and invested in him (found) it impossible to proceed,” Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie said. “That was not the spirit of restricted free agency at all and it wasn’t the spirit of the (franchise and transition) designations at all, either.

“It’s a shame. I hate to see that.”

Great article, well worth the read.

And as long as we’re pimping for Sando, two notes from his TNT blog:

Seahawks have permission to talk to Harrington

Holmgren still deciding if he wants to stay past next season

This can’t be for real…

Guy named Tom Kowalski, who appears to be writing for a smaller-sized newspaper in Michigan, lists the Seahawks as a “front-runner” to get Joey Harrington.

“The Kansas City Chiefs, Miami Dolphins and Seattle Seahawks appear to be the frontrunners, but other teams have shown interest, too. Harrington has never hidden his desire to return to the Northwest — he was born, raised and played college football in Oregon — so the Seahawks would have the upper hand.”

The Lions want to trade Harrington, but no one wants his contract. Other teams will wait until he’s cut and get a much more favorable FA deal done.

As for me, I’m perfectly content with Seneca Wallace as the backup QB. Thogh, I suppose if you can get a guy with starting experience at a bargain-basement price, there’s no harm in what would be an upgrade, at least in terms of experience.

Mike Sando caught up with Tim Ruskell in Orlando over the weekend and has a nice piece in today’s News-Tribune. No surprise – Ruskell says the decision not to franchise Steve Hutchsinson or match the Vikings offer came down to money.

“The number that you have to put on a franchise guy is not the number that we were trying to get negotiated in terms of where all the other guards are in the league,” Ruskell said. “(Hutchinson and his agent) went out and they found somebody that would do the number and they also came up with a poison pill to keep the Seahawks from matching.

“Good for them. We appreciated Steve, thought he was a good player, and these things happen.”

I sense there’s a dig at both Hutch and the Vikings in that last sentence when Ruskell says “…thought he was a good player….” The message there is, “He may be the best G in football, but that doesn’t make him a terribly important piece of the bigger puzzle. Certainly not important enough to justify the contract Minnesota gave him.”

Ruskell also says he thinks Chris Spencer may help fill out the starting OL.

And last but not least for tonight, what about the future for both the UW and Gonzaga basketball teams?

Don Ruiz covers the Huskies in today’s TNT.

And the TNT has an AP article focusing on the Bulldogs’ future.

Thanks to Phil for pointing me to this recent Washington Post article:

Recruiters Now Go Way Out West to Washington

Eric Prisbell covers what us locals have come to realize over the past few years: There’s some good prep basketball being played in this state, and thus, some good talent reaching the Div. 1 level.

It’s couched mostly in terms of the success that both UW and Gonzaga are having in recent years, with both schools having established themselves somewhat firmly as Top 25-caliber teams. Eastern Washington even gets a mention. (Sorry, Coug fans, WSU is nowhere to be found….)

What the article eventually addresses on pg. 2 is how long will it last, and I’m in the same camp with the recruiting analyst that Prisbell quotes:

“All this stuff is very cyclical,” said Dave Telep, a North Carolina-based recruiting analyst. “I’m sure Washington fans feel it would be great to get used to, but this ebbs and flows.”

Of course it will ebb and flow – everything does. Twenty years ago it seems like every great college player was coming from DeMatha High School and the D.C. area, but you don’t hear so much about them anymore. I say the spotlight will eventually shift somewhere else, so enjoy it while it lasts.

In case you’ve been glued to the NCAA hoops tourney, JM Romero has a good Seahawks / free agency update in today’s Times.

(Aside: Has this been the best NCAA Tournament or what? I can’t recall a year with so many close games and incredible finishes.)

The Good, pt. 1: Again, I have to begrudgingly recognize the coaching job that Lorenzo Romar did. I said just about this time last year that Romar never impressed me much, but he was terrific tonight — a puppet-master pulling strings to get as much as possible out of a lineup that was saddled with all kinds of foul trouble.

The Good, pt. 2: Jamaal Williams was a man. I had no idea he was that good. So natural around the basket.

The Bad, pt. 1: Brandon Roy played a terrific game, but when the most stoic guy out there loses his cool, that’s bad. And it killed the Huskies tonight, with UConn going on their big run as soon as Roy got to the bench with four fouls.

The Bad, pt. 2: Mike Jensen, what on earth are you doing fouling Marcus Williams in the final 10 seconds of regulation? Dumb, dumb, dumb.

The Ugly: And you thought the Super Bowl officiating was bad?