Hallelujah! I thought for sure that his fumbles in the last two preseason games had cost him a spot on the 53-man roster. It’s well known that Holmgren has no patience for fumbling, so I’m shocked to see him on the active roster. I wonder if special teams coach Bruce DeHaven, or maybe even future head coach Jim Mora, pushed hard for Forsett to stick around?

Anyway, it’s great news. I love watching the little guy.

GO SEAHAWKS!

If Justin Forsett doesn’t make the final, active roster, it’s a crime. No practice squad, nothing like that — I’m talking the 53-man roster that plays each game. That’s where he belongs.

At minimum, he’s a punt and kick returner. But he might also be great as late-in-the-half substitution when you can get his fresh legs and moves against some tired defenders.

I still have an old #37 Seahawks jersey, and now I’m wondering if I can turn that 7 into a 0. Gotta be a way….

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.

This is the best news I’ve heard in a looooooong time. So good that I had to figure out the log-in and write about it here on my otherwise inactive sports blog.

Seattle Times: Mariners fire GM Bill Bavasi

What this means: I can watch the Mariners again. Not that I want to, but I can.

There’s a bit of a party happening over at USS Mariner. And Lookout Landing just got their post online. Celebration sure to ensue….

About two years ago, I wrote this:

Either way, it can be done. And I can’t help but wonder why it hasn’t been done already. The fact that MLB.com and MLB TV offered live coverage is a step in the right direction, and I would bet we’ll see ESPN (or someone else?) doing the MLB draft live within the next 3 years.

Well, would you look at this….

Matt 1, Phil 0

Heheheheee……

I just came back Thursday night from a quick trip back east, and tomorrow I’m off on another trip. I’ll miss the Seahawks game, so no open game thread and no game recap, either.

And, I’m not even sure The Fan is going to continue too much longer. There are too many other things pulling me in all directions, and since this blog never really managed to start a community as I had hoped, it’ll be easy to walk away. Probably won’t make any decisions until the holidays or soon after…..

GO SEAHAWKS!

40 carries. 201 yards. Forty carries. Forty! This from a guy who’s just in his 2nd game back from a broken foot, and who plays on a Mike Holmgren offense. Amazing, surprising, and the key to winning a Monday Night Football game over the Packers in Qwest Field conditions that looked more like Green Bay than Seattle. Let’s just hope Shaun Alexander feels fine in the morning.

It’s obvious Matt Hasselbeck was rusty: 3 INTs on the first 4 possessions, and a fumble later in the 1st half that led to a Packer TD. He was 10-22 for only 88 yards in the first half. Meanwhile, Shaun Alexander had already passed 100 rushing yards by halftime on 19 carries. So, what do you do when you have a rusty QB and you find yourself down 21-12 in the opening minutes of the 3rd quarter?

You don’t put the game in your QB’s hands. The next two Seahawk TD drives, which put them up 27-21, were a near perfect split: 10 passes and 9 rushes over the two drives. Great play-calling, perfect balance, and 59 yards on the ground from Shaun Alexander. All of that seemed to calm MattHass down, and he had a much better 2nd half — 7-14, 69 yards, and 3 TDs.

I thought the defense was solid overall. The Packers first two scores were on a short drive after an INT and a fumble return. The only other TD Green Bay scored was the one defensive breakdown Seattle had — letting Donald Driver take a short slant 48 yards for a TD.

The weather didn’t seem to be much of a factor. There weren’t a lot of slips that I saw. Probably the biggest impact was dropped passes — slippery when wet, perhaps?

In any case, if you’re a Seahawk fan you have to love what you saw in the 2nd half and hope that is the Seahawk team we’ve been waiting to see all year.

Link: NFL.com Recap

Game ball: Shaun Alexander, but honorable mentions go to DJ Hackett, Nate Burleson, and Josh Brown. Hackett just seems to catch everything thrown his way. I hope he still sees plenty of action after Bobby Engram comes back. Burleson made 3 catches and had a great night returning punts and kicks. And Josh Brown kept the Hawks in the game during that sloppy 1st half.

Play of the game: MattHass to Darrell Jackson, 4-yard TD, putting the Hawks up 27-21 early in the 4th. It was the game-winning score, but it was also a perfect throw and an amazing catch. Charles Woodson got a hand on the ball, and kept his hand in D-Jack’s face, but Jackson still held on and got two feet down.

Next up: Sunday night at Denver. The Broncos are 7-4, have dropped 2 straight, and just named rookie Jay Cutler their starting QB for the rest of the season. Raise your hand if you want John Marshall to turn the defense loose on Cutler they same way he did on Oakland’s Andrew Walters….