1) Cliff McCrath. Also known as Uncle Nubber, the former Seattle
Pacific University soccer coach will speak at the Kitsap Country
Bremerton Athletic Rountable meeting on Wednesday at Gold Mountain
Golf Club. You don’t have to like soccer to enjoy McCrath, one of
the best speakers you’ll ever hear. He’ll regale you with stories
about the past and about how he was unceremoniously dumped by SPU
officials last year after pulling within 10 victories of being the
all-time winningest soccer coach in college history.
Here’s a story I wrote about McCrath after he visited Kitsap County
for a soccer camp in April.
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2008/apr/05/chuck-stark-viewpoint-mccrath-one-of-a-kind/
2) The Mariners. To me, the most disappointing season part of
Seattle’s disappointing season has been its defense. The Mariners
have lacked focus on defense and made way too many errors for the
talent that’s out there. That said, they turned in three gems on
Monday against the Red Sox in what turned out to be a pretty fun
game to watch with a pro-Red Sox crowd (It seemed like more than 50
percent of the fans were pulling for Boston).
Yunieski Betancourt started it off by catching a diving blooper in
the first inning, Ichiro Suzuki made the catch of his career,
crashing into the wall to make an over-the-shoulder catch in the
fifth and third baseman Adrian Beltre diving stop that started a
double play in the ninth was a jaw-dropper.
Betancourt, Beltre, Ichiro are Seattle’s best defenders. It’s about
time they started playing like it. Defense, like hitting, can be
contagious, and defense has been as much of an Achilles heel to
this team as its hitting and pitching. Only two AL teams (Twins and
Tigers) have made more errors (36) than the M’s. This is a team
that’s been going through the motions. Monday, they looked ready to
play. They had a little more bounce to their step when they were in
the field.
Win or lose, it was worth the price of admission (and yes, I paid
my way in; contrary to what many think, we don’t get freebies to
ALL the games).
3) Artificial Turf. The Bremerton School District has formed a
committee to look into raising funds for artificial turf at
Memorial Stadium. I hope they don’t stop there. While they’re at
it, Bremerton should consider turfing the infield at Legion Field,
the baseball stadium that sits behind Albertson’s in East
Bremerton. It’s a community field that gets a ton of play, and
maintenance is a problem. Turf it.
If the opportunity ever arises, Kitsap County should turf the
fields at the Fairgrounds, too. South Kitsap? It’s time to turf Joe
Knowles Stadium and avoid the annual bog bowls in October and
November.
Yeah, it costs money, but it’s a good reason for a joint project
between community groups and school districts. Everybody
benefits.
