Archive for July, 2008

There’s only a little space for non-Olympic sports in the current issue of Sports Illustrated, but that little space includes a nice bit of recognition for Felix Hernandez.

In a survey of 20 MLB officials (GMs, scouts, etc.), Felix was the top-listed pitcher on the question, Who would you pick first to build a franchise around? As you see from the image at right, Felix was #4 overall and the highest pitcher listed. Only Hanley Ramirez got more 1st-place votes.

Nice to see some confirmation of what we all know: Felix may not be the best pitcher in the big leagues (yet), but with his combination of youth and skills, he’s more desirable than anyone else.

Isn’t that a thing of beauty?

Training camp is underway. I am so ready for football season. Watching the Mariners has been utter torture. The Sonics are in Oklahoma City now. Our minor league baseball team is tanking its season. Hockey doesn’t do much for me (but I did enjoy the Flyers’ run through the NHL playoffs).

Gimme some football!

Eric Williams has a great recap of Holmgren’s comments today on the TNT Seahawks blog. The lack of experience at the receiving positions is my biggest concern for this year, so I was curious to read what coach had to say about that:

I think they’re a talented group, but we don’t have a lot of experience. Really. I’ve gone into seasons before with a lot more experience at those two positions. And you know, hopefully it works out just fine. And for us to reach our goals, it has to. But I would say, if you said, okay, what’s your biggest question going into now? It’s what I said in the mini camp, there’s a little uncertainty there as to how this is going to work. We could be very good. I think we’re talented enough to be very good. But, when you really start playing games and stuff, experience means a lot. It really does, and so, we’ll see.

My Favorite Days of the Year

1.) My birthday
2.) Christmas
3.) The Seahawks’ season opener
4.) My wife’s birthday
5.) The day when LOST starts a new season
6.) My anniversary
7.) The Seahawks 1st day of training camp
8. and 9.) My kids’ birthdays
10.) The first day of school

Now you know……

I absolutely love this Aquafina TV commercial with Lou Piniella:

Never fails to make me laugh.

As we inch closer to the trade deadline, everyone in baseball knows that the Mariners are selling. Raul Ibanez is on a lot of teams’ watch lists, as is Adrian Beltre and Erik Bedard at minimum. Those three — and many other Mariners — are strong candidates to be wearing another uniform on August 1st. Only Jim Riggleman doesn’t see it that way. The manager says injuries (not ineptitude nor lack of talent) has been the problem, and wonders how good the team could be if everyone was healthy:

“It would really be interesting to see what we could do if we have the whole group,” Riggleman said. “It’s been that way since April, and I don’t think we really know what we have this year until we get it all out here. You hate to abandon it too quickly.”

That’s a nominee for the dumbest quote of all-time. We all know what we have this year. We have the worst team in baseball, a team that hasn’t suffered enough serious injuries to be able to use that as an excuse.

Maybe he’s just saying that to be nice to his players. I don’t know. But he’s treating Mariner fans like a bunch of idiots if he thinks we’re gonna believe a word of it.