Category Archives: Chris Petersen

What some are tweeting after Husky loss

Chris Petersen’s Mike Leach-like decision to not take a knee late in the game against Arizona is creating quite a post-game stir.  Here are a few tweets following the Huskies’ 27-26 loss:

Jim Moore @cougsgo · 50m 50 minutes ago
So it was a purple-and-gold version of the New Mexico Bowl. Wow. Hard to believe once, but twice? These guys make $3 million a year.

Dave Softy Mahler ‏@Softykjr 3m3 minutes ago Bellevue, WANo legit reason whatsoever for Petersen to not take a knee at end of game. Whatever his play chart says. burn it, How can you justify that?

Aaron Levine ‏@AaronQ13Fox 13m13 minutes ago

“@A_Jude: Chris Petersen said UW’s “chart” dictated that the Huskies needed another first down with 1:30ish left.” Hahaha. A chart!

Aaron Levine ‏@AaronQ13Fox 7m7 minutes ago
I’ll be first to admit I don’t know more about football than Chris Petersen does on his pinky. But I can do basic math most of the time.

John Blanchette ‏@JPBlanchette 25m25 minutes ago
He might even do his radio show RT @cougsgo: Just guessing, but I’ll bet Chris Petersen will at least take responsibility for his screw-up.

Jim Moore ‏@cougsgo 23m23 minutes ago
@JPBlanchette Always be a good sport, be a good sport ALL WAYS… unless you forget to take 3 knees, that is. #GoCougs

Steve Sandmeyer ‏@SteveSandmeyer 27m27 minutes ago
On the Cooper fumble, UW snapped the ball on first down with 1:33 left. Arizona had one timeout. 40 second play clock. Do the math.

Percy Allen ‏@percyallen 35m35 minutes ago
Rick Neuheisel says “it’s unforgivable as a coaching staff” for UW to mismanage last minutes. No need to run a play with 2:08 left.

Vince Dice ‏@Vince_Dice 60m60 minutes ago
I’m not a Husky fan, but good lord do I feel sorry for people who are. @davnelson @a_binion

David Nelson ‏@davnelson 52m52 minutes ago
@Vince_Dice @a_binion Feeling a little Cougish right now, actually. (How’s that as a coping mechanism?)

Ed Friedrich ‏@efriedrich 45m45 minutes ago
@davnelson @Vince_Dice @a_binion They had every right to lose that.

Steve Sandmeyer ‏@SteveSandmeyer 1m1 minute agoAnd just to make clear, anyone who thinks Petersen should be fired or was the wrong choice is brain dead. He had a bad game. He’ll own it.

Chris Daniels retweeted
Christian Caple ‏@ChristianCaple 14m14 minutes ago
If UW kneels on 1st down, UA likely calls TO with 1:30 left. That gives Huskies 90 seconds to kill with two plays/80 seconds of play clock.

 

 

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Tough road ahead for Hawks, Dawgs & links

OK, maybe we let our heart get in the way our our brains last week.

I didn’t pick the Washington Huskies to beat Oregon, but I thought the Dawgs were ready to give the Ducks a game. Surely, they’d cover the spread (20.5 points).

Wrong.

I thought the Seattle Seahawks would regroup and handle the Rams in St. Louis.

Wrong.

They did regroup, but it was too late. The Rams rode some special teams tricky to a 28-26 victory and the Seahawks are suddenly 3-3.

Seattle’s defense isn’t nearly as dominating as it was a year ago, but the biggest problem remains the Hawks’ offensive line. They allowed three sacks and had three holding penalties and QB Russell Wilson was running for his life, especially in the first half when the Seahawks fell behind 21-3 at one point.

At the start of the season, I thought these Seahawks might be even better than last year’s Seahawks.

Wrong.

Even after last week’s loss to Dallas, I thought the Hawks were still the team to beat in the NFC.

Wrong.

Arizona (5-1) might be the best team, even better than Dallas (5-1) and Philadelphia (6-1) and don’t forget about the Packers (4-2) or 49ers (3-3). The Seahawks are still in the mix, but they’ve put themselves in a precarious position. At 3-3, they don’t have a lot of room for error and the schedule is far tougher than it was a year ago with road games left against Carolina (Oct. 26), Kansas City (Nov. 16) and Philadelphia (Dec. 7) and home-and-home games still to play with the Cardinals and 49ers.

We were reminded that the previous eight Super Bowl champions didn’t win a playoff game the following year. So the Seahawks didn’t have history on their side when the season started, but to suggest they might not make the playoffs seemed pretty far-fetched.

Now? Well, maybe not so much.

Pete Carroll, interviewed on 710 ESPN radio Monday morning, said, “The story is not written right now.”

What about those Huskies?

The Oregon-Washington game was a total mismatch. Oregon’s 45-20 victory, their 11th straight over the Huskies, was far more convincing than I figured it would be. Washington’s defense, so impressive the week before while holding Cal to seven points, couldn’t stop the run or the pass. And Washington’s offense didn’t look so hot either against an Oregon defense that has struggled at times.

Quarterback Marcus Mariota played like a Heisman Trophy winner and the Ducks didn’t look anything like the team that barely beat Washington State 38-31 and lost to Arizona 31-24.

If Oregon runs the table against Cal, Stanford, Utah, Colorado and Oregon State, they should wind up in college football’s four-team national playoff. But in college football’s most unpredictable season, who can say for sure what’s going to happen from week to week?

As for Washington, it’s back to the drawing board, as a disappointed coach Chris Petersen pointed out after the loss.  The Huskies were also beat up physically in Eugene. QB Cyler Miles left with a possible concussion, and if he’s not available, it appears redshirt  freshman Troy Williams will be the starter. He won the backup job over Jeff Lindquist and played most of the fourth quarter after Miles was injured.

The UW has six games left, including a tough home game against Arizona State on Oct. 26 (7:45 p.m., ESPN), and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Huskies went 4-2 or 1-5. At the start of the season, I predicted Washington would finish 10-3, tied for second in the Pac-12 North. Now my brain tells me they’re looking more like an 8-5 team that will find itself playing in the Cactus Bowl (Jan. 2 at Tempe, Ariz.) or Las Vegas Bowl (Dec. 20).

Some links

The St. Louis Surprise. Mike Silver of NFL.com writes about Jeff Fisher’s call for a fake punt on fourth down, the play that sealed the Rams’ upset of the Seahawks on Sunday.

Mike Sando of ESPN.com writes about how the Percy Harvin trade hurts Seattle’s chances to repeat.

At 3-3, Seattle is not in desperation mode, but the Seahawks’ flaws are showing, writes Don Banks of SI.com.

Percy Harvin trade makes sense for Jets.

Art Thiel of Sportspressnw.com puts the latest Seahawks loss on coach Pete Carroll and GM John Schneider.

Remember Steve “Bye Bye” Balboni? Well, if you’re old as dirt, like me, you do. He was the slugging first baseman for the Kansas City Royals’ 1985 World Series champions. Now? He’s an advance scout for the San Francisco Giants. It’ll be a strange, trip for Balboni when he returns to KC this week for the start of the World Series.

Hard to believe but Tim Lincecum, only 30, is now a bit player with the Giants, the backup long relief pitcher as San Francisco heads to the World Series.

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Harvin, Ducks, Dawgs, Villopoto & more

Links, notes, thoughts:

There were warning signs: Don’t know for sure, but it sure seems like Doug Baldwin’s post-game rant after the Seattle Seahawks’ loss against Dallas might have been aimed at Percy Harvin. You might have read or heard about the trade that sent Harvin to the Jets on Friday. Sounds like Harvin was a pain in the you-know-what. Remember the stories when the Seahawks gave him a guaranteed $25.5 million after acquiring him from the Vikings? Harvin, according to some in the media, was described as a head case, a time bomb, and a diva. One report coming out Friday had Harvin punching former teammate Golden Tate, now a Detroit Lion, in the week leading up to the Super Bowl. He also, reportedly, had an altercations with Baldwin in the preseason and refused to re-enter the Dallas game late in the fourth quarter, according to a Seattle Times report.

More Harvin: Despite modest statistics (he caught just 27 passes in eight games during his Seahawks’ career), everyone was singing Harvin’s praises after the Monday night game at Washington less than three weeks ago. Harvin had three TDs called back in that one. That was a strange game, but Friday’s trade trumped that for strangeness.

What’s a conditional mid-round draft pick? it depends on how Harvin plays with the Jets. If he plays a certain number of games, the mid-round pick (fourth, fifth) could turn into a second rounder, according to an NFL.com report.

The Ducks, the Ducks, the Ducks: Washington has lost 10 straight to Oregon, and the Huskies are 20.5-point underdogs on Saturday. I was in the stands at Berkeley last week, and the UW defense was impressive against a pretty good Cal offensive, good enough to give Husky fans hope that maybe, just maybe, this could be the year Washington upsets the Ducks. Danny Shelton and Shaq Thompson are part of a front seven that could be really nasty by the end of the season. The secondary has come a long way in a short amount of time. Prediction: Marcus Mariota is the difference and the losing streak reaches 11, but it won’t be a double-digit victory, and that’s an upset in itself since Washington has never kept it close in the last 10 years. The closest margin of defeat has been 17 points.

Did you know? Mariota and Washington QB Cyler Miles have not thrown an interception.

Did you know II? Chris Petersen, coach of the Huskies, was 2-0 against Oregon when he was at Boise State.

Saturday night plans: Dylan. Bob Dylan. Never seen the man live. I’ve been told not to hear or expect the Dylan I think I’m going to hear at the Paramount. Doesn’t matter. I can’t wait.

Marvin update: Bremerton’s Marvin Williams is five games into the preseason with the Charlotte Hornets. Here’s the average line for the starting power forward: 5.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.6 steals while playing an average of 26 minutes. Charlotte likes his ability to hit threes, although he’s made just 6 of 19 attempts thus far.

Historic decision for RV2: Poulsbo’s Ryan Villopoto talks with Transworld Motocross about his decision to race in Europe for a world championship instead of going for a fifth straight Supercross championship. For Villopoto, 26, this will be his last year as a competitive racer.

Wild Series: It’s the Giants and Royals in the World Series. Two exciting wild-card teams. The Royals are 8-0 in the postseason and the darlings of baseball. The Giants are the Giants. A different players seems to step up every game. Travis Ishikawa of Federal Way is the latest hero after hitting a walk-off home run to clinch the NLCS against St. Louis. They’ve been here before, winning it all in 2010 and 2012. If they can do it again, manager Bruce Bochy should be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

Speaking of Giants: If San Francisco prevails, does Todd Linden get a World Series ring? The Central Kitsap grad, a one-time Giants’ prospect, was the hitting coach for San Francisco’s Class A team in the South Atlantic League — the Augusta GreenJackets.

Elton Goodwin Foundation: The foundation is holding a spaghetti dinner fundraiser for the late South Kitsap coach on Friday, No. 7, at the Port Orchard Eagles. Tickets are ($20 single/$35 couple) are available at Cruise-N Car Wash and Espresso through Oct. 31. Tickets at the door will be $25 single/$40 couple. All Profits will benefit the foundation for scholarships and/or facilities at South Kitsap High School.

Rangers back in the hunt: Olympic College’s volleyball team is 18-5 and ranked No. 2 in the NWAC Coaches’ Poll behind Blue Mountain (34-1). Blue Mountain, from Pendleton, Oregon, beat OC in the NWAC championship match a year ago. OC handed the Timberwolves their only loss, but the defending champs hold a 2-1 advantage over the Rangers this season.

 

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UW 2-0, but what does it mean?

Played in the Keith Carden Memorial Handball Tournament today at the Bremerton YMCA, so I missed the UW-EWU football game.

Between matches, I followed updates on Twitter and the outcome didn’t really surprise me that much. I figured Eastern was the most dangerous of Washington’s first four opponents — Hawaii, Eastern, Illinois and Georgia State (in that order). The Eagles’ offense might be the best Washington faces all season. And, yes, I’m including Oregon.

Still, the 59-52 victory raises questions, just as Washington’s 17-16 win over Hawaii did the previous week. For the second week in a row, we’re left wondering if this team is any good. As I type this, Oregon State is leading Hawaii 38-14 in the fourth quarter. (Update: Hawaii came back to make a game out of it, losing 38-30).

The Huskies have got some serious work to do on defense, which is where they were supposed to be strong. Linebacker Shaq Thompson, who didn’t make much of an impact in Hawaii, defensive lineman Danny Shelton and cornerback Marcus Peters were all preseason Pac-12 first-team selections. Defensive end Hau’li Kikaha joined that trio on the Bronco Nagurksi Award list, which goes to the nation’s top defender.

Peters was hit with a 15-yard penalty for taunting that led to an Eastern Washington touchdown and 45-44 lead for the Eagles in the second half. UW coach Chris Petersen benched Peters for the rest of the game.

“That was easy,” Petersen told the media after the game. “I’m not into stupid penalties. That wasn’t even a decision (to bench Peters).”

Ten wins (my prediction) doesn’t look good right now, but college football is a funny, unpredictable animal. By Week 7, when Washington travels to Eugene to play Oregon, the Huskies might be a different team. Thompson did have 14 tackles and a sack against Eastern. He also had a 57-yard rushing TD. Shelton had 12 tackles, including four sacks, and Kikaha had six tackles and a sack. The secondary remains a work in progress.

Give Eastern credit, though. Coach Beau Baldwin, the former Curtis HS/Central Washington QB who seems ready to parlay his offensive wizardry into a Division I head-coaching job, might be coaching one of the top quarterbacks in the country in Vernon Adams, Jr. Adams torched the Huskies for 475 yards and 7 touchdowns.

Oregon must be licking its chops in anticipating of their Oct. 18 game against Washington in Eugene.

Hell, Illinois and Georgia State are probably drooling, too.

Illinois sophomore QB Wes Lunt passed for 3 TDs and 456 yards in a 42-34 win over Western Kentucky on Saturday. He threw 4 TDs passes in a 28-17 win over Youngstown State the week before. Georgia State (1-1) lost to New Mexico State 34-31 after slipping past Abilene Christian 38-37 in a game where QB Nick Arbuckle passed for 4 TDs and 413 yards.

Sure, Washington put up 59 points and didn’t commit a turnover against Eastern. But Sam Houston State, which lost 56-0 to LSU on Saturday, scored 35 points against EWU the week before so you need to put things in perspective.

The Dawgs might be off to a 2-0 start, but even the biggest UW fan has to admit that it’s not the kind of start that gets you dreaming about big things down the road.

ALSO

Olympic High grad Larry Dixon got his senior year at Army off to a good start, carrying 20 times for a career-high 174 yards and 2 TDs in the Black Knight’s 47-39 win over Buffalo. Army is at Stanford next Saturday (2 p.m., Pac-12 Network).

Bremerton’s Jim Wainwright and Loren Schaller of  Gig Harbor beat Port Townsend’s Chris Cardinal and Bremerton’s Jane Erlandsen in the finals of the Carden Memorial Tournament. Yours truly and Gil Mendoza, the deputy superintendent of schools in our state, won the consolation bracket after getting out butts kicked by Wainwright and Schaller in the first round.

A foursome that included Connor Robbins and Scott Sargent (sorry I missed the other two guys) shot 19-under in a scramble format at Gold Mountain’s Cascade Course on Friday during the Yacht Club Broiler’s tournament. The round included three eagles.

“Percy Harvin is so fast it looks like he’s playing in a video games compared to the other guys on the field.” — Evan Somerheiser of the Bremerton rock band Power, and a huge Seahawks’ fan

 

 

 

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Kitsapers in the Pros & More

KITSAPERS IN THE PROS:

Jason Hammel, a 2000 South Kitsap grad, has struggle since being traded from the Chicago Cubs to the Oakland Athletics. Hammel is 1-5 with a 6.75 ERA with Oakland. He gave up three home runs in three-plus innings in a loss against Atlanta on Friday. He was 8-5 with a 2.98 ERA with the Cubs.

South Kitsap grad Willie Bloomquist is done for the year after undergoing micro fracture surgery on his right knee. The Mariners utility player hit .278 in 47 games, playing seven different positions.

Drew Vettleson is hitting .230 with seven HRs and 23 RBI for the Double-A Harrisburg Senators, an affiliate of the Washington Nationals. Vettleson, 23, an outfielder from Central Kitsap, has hit two HRs in his last six games but is only hitting .204 in his last 10 games. The left-handed hitting Vettleson is hitting .280 vs. lefties and .198 vs. righties. All seven of his HRs have come against right-handers.

South Kitsap grad Aaron Cunningham, an outfielder, is hitting .255 with 0 HRs and 31 RBIs for the Reno Aces, the Triple-A club of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Cunningham, 28, has hit .323 (10-for-31) with 5 RBI in his last 10 games.

Brady Steiger, a first baseman/third baseman, is hitting .167 for the Staten Island Yankees, a short Class A club in the New York-Penn League. The former South Kitsap and Lewis-Clark State star just returned from injury and has played in just two games since July 21.

SAYING ALL OF THE RIGHT THINGS:

Rhode Island Little League coach Dave Belisle, following an elimination loss at the World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, puts things in perspective for a bunch of kids. Great speech.

SPEAKING OF LITTLE LEAGUE:

How can you not pull for Mo’ne Davis? She’s the talk of the Little League World Series.

CONGRATULATIONS:

To the Bellingham Bells, who won the West Coast League championship on Monday night, winning the deciding game of the best-of-three series against the Corvallis Knights. Good buddy Jim Clem is the pitching coach of the Bells and we had the pleasure of hosting the team twice this summer on trips to Bremerton to play the Kitsap BlueJackets. Classy bunch.es

NOT SO CLASSY:

Johnny (Finger) Manziel threw as many obscene gestures as he did touchdown passes in Monday night’s exhibition game. Not a good sign for the Browns.

READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL:

Aug. 23: FCS No. 1 Eastern Washington vs. No. 17 Sam Houston State in college football’s season opener in Cheney. Kickoff 12:30 p.m. on ESPN.

Aug. 28: Washington State Cougars vs. Rutgers, in Seattle (CenturyLink), 7 p.m., FOX Sports. Thursday game is intriguing. Cougs looking to get off to a good start against Scarlet Knights, now a member of the Big Ten.

Aug. 30: Washington Huskies vs. Hawaii in Honolulu, 7:30 p.m., CBS. Chris Petersen era begins.

Sept. 4: Seattle Seahawks vs. Green Bay Packers. Thursday night game on NBC (5:30 p.m.) kicks off NFL season. Doesn’t get much better, does it?

Sept. 5: Friday Night Lights has a delicious opener. South Kitsap vs. Central Kitsap at Silverdale Stadium, 7 p.m. Biggest game in the county.

Sept. 5: WSU at Nevada, 7:30 p.m., ESPN. Nevada not what it used to be.

Sept. 6: Washington’s first home game under Chris Petersen vs. Eastern Washington at Husky Stadium, 1 p.m. Washington barely pulled one out, 30-27 over EWU in 2011 at Husky Stadium.

 

GOLF JOKE:

Mike, an avid golfer, was teeing up for a very difficult shot.

At that moment a funeral procession went by.

Mike stopped, stood still with his hat over his heart, and bowed his head.

His golfing partner looked at him and said, “Mike, that was kind and decent of you to show such respect for the dead.”

Mike replied, “Yes, we would have been married twenty-six years come tomorrow.”

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Hot links: Husky togetherness; Joe’s record run; The Boudreau Shift; Rory chasing Jack

Sounds like it’s hotter back home than it is in Cabo, where I spent most of the day turning my brain to mush before putting down a little wager on King Felix and the Mariners. Hey, if the KC Royals can find their way to the top of the AL Central this late in the season, surely the Mariners can find a way to beat a Toronto team that is coming off a 19-inning marathon the day before.

Also found some time to do a little reading. Here’s some links to consider:

* Husky football coach Chris Petersen brings a unique philosophy to Washington. According to this SI.com story, it’s all about building team unity. Well, not ALL about team unity, but it’s a big part of what he believes in. It dates back to his playing days at UC Davis and the philosophy of Tao Te Ching.

A sample from the story:

When he arrived at Washington, Petersen set up the leadership groups made up of players from different classes, positions and backgrounds. The groups have swim nights at a lake, play paint ball and hold barbecues. During team meetings, Petersen will have a player stand up and quiz others about his high school, hometown and siblings. Players’ lockers and seating arrangements at meals are organized so players would be near guys they may not interact with normally.

“I’d say that the bonding has tripled since he got here,” Washington senior linebacker Washington senior linebacker Hau’oli Kikaha said. “I can tell it worked. There are guys that never held conversations, and now they’re hanging out together off the field.”

* I wrote about Seattle runner Joe McConaughy a couple weeks ago. He was in the middle of running the Pacific Coast Trail. He ending up covering 2,663 miles in a record time of 53 days, 6 hours and 37 seconds. “The Run for Colin” — a cousin who died of a rare form of cancer — raised $27,000.

“I immediately broke down,” McConaughy told NPR writer Tom Banse after finishing. “I was switching between laughing and crying — thinking of all these incredible tales and trips we’d had day in, day out and all the pain.”

* Shifting defenders to stop opposing hitters has become a trendy, and effective method of stopping some of baseball’s dead-pull hitters. Until hitters start taking the ball the other way, the shifts will be here to stay. I’m not here to debate the merit of the defensive strategy, but did you know that Ted Williams had to deal with The Boudreau Shift? Joe Posnanski writes about it in his blog.

Posnanski writes:

The genius of the Boudreau Shift is that it LOOKS easy to beat. The fielders are ALL OVER THERE. All you have to do is hit the ball OVER THERE INSTEAD. I mean seriously, this is TED BLEEPIN’ WILLIAMS we are talking about here. You telling me he can’t just hit the ball to the left side anytime he wants?

Only, he could not — not with regularity, not with force, not with that beautiful swing he had honed since childhood. He crowded the plate, and he challenged pitchers, and he pulled mistakes with ferocity. This was how he hit. The fans fury poured down on him every time he beat a futile ground ball to the loaded right side, something he did with regularity. …

* It’s silly to call Rory McIlroy the next Tiger Woods, but right now the numbers say he’s a bigger threat to Jack Nicklaus’ record for most major victories (18) than Woods. McIlroy, 25, has won the last two majors and four of the 15 he’s entered.

Benjamin Morris of ESPN’s FiveThirtyEight website writes:

It may not look like much, but that four-major start by McIlroy is firmly in Woods and Nicklaus territory — they are the only players to have won four majors through age 25. Winning those four majors in a 15-tournament span is also a rare accomplishment. There have been a number of similarly meteoric rises in golf, but they usually come at a more mature age (see, for example: Nick Faldo, Arnold Palmer, Ben Hogan). And some early starts aren’t so meteoric (Seve Ballesteros).

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Quick Hits: Kelly, Seahawks, Hammel & more

QUICK HITS AND THOUGHTS

Wonder if the PGA tour will ever get around to correcting the info on Troy Kelly’s bio? It still says he’s a graduate of West Sound Academy in Poulsbo, where he was a first-team all-league guard. Kelly was a first-team all-league guard … at Central Kitsap. Kelly, coming off knee surgery after playing in just 10 PGA events a year ago, gets his 2014 season started next week at the Web.com Tour’s Pacific Rubiales Colombia Championship in Bogota, Columbia. Kelly gets five Web.com Tour tuneups, and will have 14 more PGA Tour tournaments to earn $577,828 to keep his full-time playing privilege.

I’m looking forward to listening to Bremerton’s Bree Schaaf, who will be covering the skeleton competion at the Sochi Olympics for NBC. Follow her on Twitter @BreeSchaaf. Skeleton will be held over four days, Feb. 13-16. Schaaf was a bobsledder in the last Olympics, placing fifth at Vancouver.

In case you missed it, as I did while playing in Vegas last weekend, South Kitsap grad Jason Hammel several national media outlets reported that he had signed a one-year deal for a reported $6 million with the Chicago Cubs. The right-hander, who spent last season with the Baltimore Orioles, could earn an extra $1 million in incentives, according to the Chicago Sun Times. The Cubs have not confirmed the report, pending Hammel passing a physical. Hammel, 31, was 7-8 (4.97 ERA) in 23 starts and three relief appearances last season. He missed time with soreness in his right elbow.

I still can’t get that first play of the Super Bowl out of my head. Might have been the earliest turning point in the history of big sporting events. Denver’s mistimed snap ended up as a safety for the Seahawks. It was only 2-0, but you had a feeling, at least I did, that it was going to be Seattle’s day.

My buddy, Don Lay, and I chatted with one of Richard Sherman’s proud cousins at the Palace Station sports book on Super Bowl Sunday in Vegas. Yoseph (didn’t catch his last name) grew up in Compton and works for the schools in Las Vegas. He sported a braided pony tail (says long hair is a family trait) and was decked out in Seahawks’ gear. Asked if he thought Sherman would ever be a national figure, Yoseph shook his head. “I thought he might make the NFL, but as a wide receiver,” he said. “That’s what he played in high school.” Yoseph’s phone was full of photos Sherman was sending to family members and friends, some on the day of the game.

How amazing would it be if Hawks’ owner Paul Allen could become a two-time world champion this year? His Portland Trail Blazers have a legit shot.

Anybody looking forward to seeing what Percy Harvin can do for a full season if he’s healthy?

The first recruiting class of Husky football coach Chris Petersen wasn’t highly rated but the coach landed six in-state recruits, including the two best in Bellevue’s Budda Baker and 6-8, 285-pound lineman Kaleb McGary from Fife. That’s huge. Baker, a defensive back, will likely return punts and kickoffs and don’t be surprised to see him on offense, too. I’d envision the Huskies using him on fly sweeps and in other situations where they can take advantage of his electrifying talents.

Willie Bloomquist wore No. 16 the first time around with the Mariners. It wasn’t his choice. The South Kitsap grad was assigned the number when he was brought up at the end of the 2002 season. He wore No. 18 in Arizona, but that number was already taken by Hisashi Iwakuma, so he settled on No. 8 for his second tour of duty.

Speaking of Iwakuma, let’s not go to sleep on this guy. Based on last year, you could make the argument that he could be Seattle’s best pitcher. Yes, even better than Felix Hernandez. Iwakuma was 14-6 in 219.2 innings with a 2.66 ERA and 1.01 WHIP (walks plus hits per innings pitched). Hernandez was 11-10 in 204.1 innings with a 3.04 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP.

The Alex Rodriguez circus won’t be doing business this year. A-Rod dropped his lawsuits against MLB and the players’ union. It’s pretty much an admittance of guilt. Now the only question is: Will he come back to play in 2015? He’s got to sit out 211 games, so he would be eligible to join the Yankees sometime in May of ’15. He’ll be 39, but there will be plenty of incentive. Rodriguez is scheduled to earn $61 million for the 2015-2017 seasons. 

Congratulations to the Bremerton Knights for winning a Class 2A state bowling title, and good luck to the rest of the local prep athletes and teams as they head into the postseason.

I jumped the gun on that last one. Bremerton leads the state bowling tournament after the first day. Good luck Knights! Same for the rest of our teams and athletes who will be starting the postseason in the near future.

 

 

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Super Bowl plans? Sherman rates NFL’s QBs & more

Made plans this week to go to Las Vegas for Super Bowl weekend.

Now, if the Seahawks can only take care of business and make it to the big game. Here’s a guide to Super Bowl parties in Las Vegas. Got any recommendations on where I should I belly-up for the game? Where will you watch the game from?

SB prediction: My preseason prediction had the Seattle Seahawks beating the Houston Texans in East Rutherford, N.J. The Texans disintegrated after losing in overtime, 23-20, to the Seahawks in Week 4.

New Super Bowl prediction: Seahawks 27, Patriots 16.

Speaking of the Patriots, quarterback Tom Brady didn’t make Richard Sherman’s list of top-5 smartest quarterbacks in the NFL. In his MMQB column for SI.com, Sherman listed (in order): Peyton Manning, Drew Brews, Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson and Andrew Luck.

More NFL predictions: If I was betting a three-team parlay this weekend in Vegas, I’d take the Chargers, Eagles and 49ers. If you wanted to make it a four-team parlay, throw in the Chiefs.

If I’m right, that also means that the Seahawks will face the 49ers on Saturday, Jan. 11, at CenturyLink. Seattle gets the lowest remaining seed and it’ll be the Packers (No. 4), 49ers (No. 5) or Saints (No. 6). A Niners-Seahawks rematch for the right to move on to the NFC Championship game could be better than the Super Bowl. These guys don’t like each other, and there’s a lot of similarities between the two NFC West rivals.

UPDATE: Of course, I meant to say I’d take the Chargers, Saints and 49ers for that three-team parley. And the Colts, not Chiefs, for the 4-teamer.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Seahawks favored by 8 points to beat the Saints. It was 5 1/2 the last time when Seattle won 34-7.

Some thoughts

Bainbridge’s Scott Orness keeps showing why he’s one of the best high school basketball coaches in the state. His Spartans, with just one senior, rebounded from a 16-1 deficit to give unbeaten and nationally-ranked Rainier Beach a pretty good battle on Friday.

I was surprised former Husky great Marques Tuiasosopo left Washington to become the tight ends coach at USC. He was offered the same position by new Husky coach Chris Petersen. It was later reported that Steve Sarkisian also gave Tuiasosopo the title of assistant head coach. Maybe there’s enough additional responsibility there to make it a no-brainer for Tui, but I think his decision caught a lot of Washington Husky fans off-guard. Getting Tui was a big get for Sark, and a loss for Petersen, who brought six assistants with him from Boise State and two more former Boise coaches who were at Florida.

The Kitsap Admirals are hosting the ABA All-Star game on Sunday (Jan. 5) at 3 p.m. at Olympic College. There will be a dunk contest and more. Could be a fun afternoon. Wonder if Dr. J,  George Gervin, David Thompson, and Artis Gilmore will show up?

I think the Seattle Mariners should sign Brady Sizemore to a minor-league contract. The Everett native has been out of baseball since 2011 because of a long list of injuries. But he’s only 31. He was arguably one of the top two or three center fielders in baseball from 2005-08, hitting .281 with 107 home runs and 115 stolen bases. Why not bring him in and let him compete against Michael Saunders, Dustin Ackley, Abraham Almonte and oft-injured Franklin Gutierrez? Corey Hart and  Logan Morrison are listed as infielders on the 40-man roster, and will likely play some OF, 1B and DH.

 

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