No, not me. I’m talking about Chuck Armstrong. The president of the Seattle Mariners.

Some have called for his head, saying it’s time for Armstrong to move on, and let somebody else operate the baseball team that just lost 101 games after entering the season with expectations to challenge the Angels for honors in the AL West.

But Armstrong, in an exclusive interview with MLB.com, says he’s not walking away and that he has confidence that he can make the right decisions to get the team back on track.

“”I trust my own ability to make good decisions,” Armstrong said. “I trust my instincts, both personal and business. I honestly believe that I am the best person to be the president of this club and to hire the next (general manager)].

“This is an extension of who I am, and I want to help find the right general manager, help put together a comprehensive plan, take that plan to ownership and then execute that plan.”

The M’s have also started the process of interviewing potential GM candidates. Tony Bernazard, who played for the Mariners in 1983 and is the New York Mets vice president of player development, reportedly interviewed today. 

Here’s a list of potential candidates, as reported by Larry Stone of the Seattle Times. For an outsider, you can’t help but be intrigued by Peter Woodfork, assistant GM with the Diamondbacks. Just 32, the former Harvard baseball player spent time in Boston as the director of baseball operations and assistant director of player development. He had to have had something to do with all the talent that’s been developed by Boston in recent years.

The NBA season’s fast approaching, and with the Sonics long gone, I thought you might want to read some of the stuff being written about Bremerton’s Marvin Williams, the 22-year-old who’s heading into his fourth season with the Atlanta Hawks. I saw Marvin before he left for training camp and he’s now carrying 245 pounds, up 15 pounds, on his  6-foot-9 frame.

–Is there an extension in Marvin’s future? Probably not, which means he’ll be a restricted free agent at the end of the season.

–In this preview about the Hawks, Marvin’s the Man on the Spot for Atlanta. There’s also a look at his value for fantasy basketball owners.

–In his quiet, smooth, deceptive way, this blogger says Marvin’s about to explode.

–Marvin’s one of the many NBA talents that’s coming out of the Seattle area. Check out 2-0-6 Hoops Hotbed here.

–Another writer suggests that Marvin will be using this season to determine his value going into free agency so we’ll see if his willingness to sublimate his game is trifled with at all as a result.

Coach Mike Woodson thinks Marvin, who has improved his 3-point shooting, could average about 18.0 points per game this season. 

The Kitsap Stampede, once again a nominee for PRCA rodeo of the year honors, found its way to a national audience this year when its Xtreme Bulls event was televised. If you missed the first delayed broadcast, don’t  worry, you’ve got two more chances: this Sunday, October 12 at 1 p.m. ( ESPN2) and Sunday, Dec. 14 at noon (ESPN).

Now comes word that the Stampede has been selected to be part of the 2009 Wrangler ProRodeo Tour. This was a tour that started in 2000 to showcase the top competitors and rodeos in the PRCA. It featured 27 stops in 2008 and culminated with four playoff rodeo followed by a Tour Championship.

It’s another well-deserved honor for the Stampede, particularly all the local people (Wranglers, Cowpokes and Kitsap County Fair officials) who make it happen.

The details are sketchy at this point, but we hope to deliver more news in our print editions this week.

In the meantime, hats off to the Stampede, a world-class event right in our own backyard.

The Washington Huskies/Seattle Seahawk were whipped by a combined 92-20 score this weekend.

Washington lost 48-14 to Arizona, on Saturday in the desert, which left the Dawgs 0-5 for first time sine 1969.

A day later, the Seahawks were manhandled 44-6 by the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants, a defeat that showed just how far the Hawks have fallen from NFL elite status. The Giants averaged better than 10 yards per play in the first half and rolled up 523 yards against a defense that was touted as one of the league’s best at the start of the season.

This is Mike Holmgren’s final season, and, yes, there’s still time to salvage it. But the Hawks (1-3 for the first time since 1997) have been shaky in all phases.

Meanwhile, there’s no hope for the Huskies.

Former Husky quarterback Hugh Millen, during the post-game “Husky Honks,” radio show on KJR radio, called the current Washington team the worst he’s ever seen.

I’d have to agree, and I started watching Husky football in 1968. After the 28-27 loss to BYU, I thought the team had a chance to win four or five games. The team has regressed every game since. Saturday, it looked like the varsity (Arizona) was playing the junior varsity (Washington).

Columnist Greg Hansen of the Arizona Daily Star wrote: “… if the opposing team’s helmet wasn’t adorned with a big purple W, you’d have sworn the Wildcats were playing Idaho or Toledo. That’s how bad the Huskies were. That’s how bad the Huskies are.”

He later compared the Huskies to “those 1-10 Oregon State teams of yesteryear, the 1-11 Stanford team of 2006 and the 1-10 Cal team of 2001.”

Athletic director Scott Woodward went on record, saying he wouldn’ fire Ty Willingham in midseason. Should Ty resign? And if you think he should, who do you replace him with? Who would you like to see running the Husky program in 2009?

The national media’s starting to wonder about the Seahawks, too. Mike Banks of SI.Com writes this:

“Another couple game days like Sunday’s 44-6 shellacking at the hands of the Giants and Seahawks head coach Mike Holmgren might not make it through his entire swan song season in Seattle. At 1-3, with his team surrendering 33 points or more in three of four games, this can’t be fun for a guy who has led his Seahawks to the playoffs five years in a row.

“Maybe Holmgren will just prematurely toss the keys to Seattle secondary coach Jim Mora — who has already been named his successor in 2009 — and call it an early retirement. Doubtful, but could you blame him if this keeps up?”

As announced this week, the Kitsap Soccer Club has launched an online name the team contest for its new United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League franchise.

Port Orchard’s David Falk, who operates the GOALkitsap.com site — a sister site of his popular GOALseattle.com site — has come up with a unique name that I kind of like.

The Kitsap Kayaks.

Whaddya think?

Go to www.KitsapSoccerClub.com to vote. Check out Falk’s site — and some other name suggestions — at GOALkitsap.com.

Also, the USL hasn’t officially announced that Kitsap owner Robin Waite has been awarded a team, but Lee Cohen of the USL PDL told me Thursday that the deal “is not finalized yet, but it’s something we feel will be done shortly. There’s a few things we’re trying to finish up.”

Kitsap will play in the Northwest Division of the league, which features 67 teams spread across the country and one in Canada. That team (Thunder Bay, Ontario) beat Laredo, Texas, in this year’s championship game.

The PDL is considered an amateur circuit, but professional teams can compete against amateurs. This past season the Vancouver Whitecaps introduced a program where the team paid its PDL players. Waite also plans to pay his players.

Cohen said the franchise fee for PDL teams is $75,000. Franchise fees for USL Division I teams, like the Seattle Sounders, was $350,000 in 2008, but will increase to $750,000.

I talked to Cohen about some of the model franchises in the PDL. He mentioned Fresno, Laredo, Des Moines, Iowa and Carolina.

We’ll delve more into this new league and try to let you know more about it in the near future.

In the meantime, until I hear a better name, go Kayaks!

People think European soccer fans are nuts, but NFL fans might be the biggest nutcakes of all. You ever jumped on a ferry packed with Seahawks fans? You feel like you’re going to a Halloween party on New Year’s Eve.

Of course, these proud, loud fans have a right to express themselves any way they desire. Most of them are harmless. They just want to have a little fun and they love their Seahawks. But there’s always a few bad apples in the crowd.

Here’s a Seahawks’ fan nobody can be proud of. I hope he doesn’t live in Kitsap County. Read all about this loon in this blog post. What was he thinking?

Rodeo fans, you read it here first. This won’t hit the papers until Friday:

Silvedale’s Randy Corley, a 10-time PRCA Announcer of the Year, has been selected to call the action for the eighth time at the 50th Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, Dec. 3-14, in Las Vegas.
The man who calls the action at the Kitsap Stampede will work side-by-side with ProRodeo Hall of Fame inductee Hadley Barrett of Kersey, Colo., who happens to be Corley’s father-in-law. Barrett is a four-time Announcer of the year with four previous NFR selections to his credit.
Boyd Polhamus of Brenham, Texas, will call the action during the 10-day event for the 13th time.
Haley Schneeberger of Ponca City, Okla., who works the Kitsap Stampede, will serve as assistant rodeo secretary.

The Kitsap Stampede (top medium rodeo), Corley (announcer) and Schneeberger (secretary) are all up for the PRCA awards in their respective categories. They will be announced Oct. 1 in Vegas.

I’m not saying the Huskies should terminate their head football coach, but there’s a number of Washington fans calling for his ouster after an 0-4 start.

If the Huskies do fire Willingham, or if the embattled coach opts to step down, who becomes the interim coach?

Defensive coordinator Ed Donatell is the highest-paid assistant in Husky history, but at the rate the Dawgs are giving up yards and points, he seems an unlikely choice. Tim Lappano’s in his fourth season as offensive coordinator and has been an assistant head coach (1992-95 at Cal), but never a head man.

Chris Tormey, a popular assistant who worked under Don James, was head man at Idaho (1995-99) and Nevada (2000-03) and would seem to be the logical choice if you wanted somebody off the current staff. Tormey’s coaching linebackers and is also serving as the current recruiting coordinator, which might be the most important position on staff.

And one Husky booster tells me the name Lane Kiffin, currrent head coach of the Raiders, has been tossed around. ESPN reported that Kiffin has expressed interest in the UW job. And if you believe what you read, the former USC assistant will be available pretty soon because he’s headed toward the unemployment line.

It seems highly unlikely that you’d bring in a new coach at midseason, but these are dire times at Huskyville

Three thoughts on three people:

1. Jake Locker.

The more you watch Jake Locker, the more you start to wonder if he shouldn’t be playing another position.

I started thinking about this before he broke his thumb in Saturday’s game against Stanford. I’m not saying he shouldn’t be a quarterback. While throwing on the run he’s still wound up tighter than a vice presidential candidate getting grilled by Katie Couric – ya gotta relax Jake – but I think he’ll figure it out.

Besides quarterback, maybe he should be starting at free safety? If there was ever a football team that needed to get its best athletes on the field, it’s the Washington Huskies. If there ever was a defensive team, that needed somebody to make a play or hit somebody, it’s the Washington Huskies. If there ever was a defense that needed a quality safety, it’s the (yeah, you’re right) Washington Huskies.

Unfortunately, Locker’s out with a thumb injury. Too bad, because he’d be a helluva two-platoon player. At the very least, the Huskies should consider putting him on defense on third down situations when he returns. Heck, he could even play in a cast.

Admittedly, it would be a bit out of the ordinary. Pretty soon, I’ll be calling for high school athletes to play a minimum of two sports and major league teams to have their pitchers throw every fourth day.

Come to think of it, maybe Locker should play baseball for Washington this spring (he does have a better professional future in that sport).

2. Ichiro Suzuki.

Thousands of baseball fans, young and old, can mimic Ichiro’s pre-swing pose.

Everybody knows about this hit-producing machine.

But nobody really knows him.

This week, the Seattle Times, citing “a clubhouse insider,” reported that a teammate threatened to knock Ichiro out. Jeff Baker, the reporter, stands by his source.

It’s created quite a season-ending storm for a team that’s been sailing in choppy waters all season.

Nobody faults Ichiro’s preparation or results. How could you after he’s put together eight straight 200-hit, 100-run seasons, matching a record held by Lou Gehrig. But he’s a singles hitter who happens to be a lousy baserunner who lays low in the clubhouse. No crime against that, but with the M’s facing a major rebuilding project, the debate is on: Trade Ichiro or keep him? What do you think? The face of the franchise is 34 years old. Would the M’s have lost more than 101 games or finished more than 39 games out of first place without him this season? We know he puts fannies in the seats, but what’s his on-field value to this team? What do you — the people who put their fannies in the seats — think?

3. Paul Newman.

In honor of the legendary actor who passed away over the weekend, I’m going to find time to re-watch one of the classic sports movies ever made – the hilarious “Slap Shot.” Newman, played the role of a carousing minor league hockey player-coach. Newman, who grew up playing hockey, said it was the most fun he had on a movie set. Trivia: What was the name of Newman’s character? First person to respond with the correct answer doesn’t win anything, but at least I’ll know somebody’s reading this stuff. Mom, you don’t count.

UPDATE:

We have a winner. It was e-mailed to my personal e-mail. Newman’s character was Reggie “Reg” Dunlop.