I guess that since the NFL season began tonight I should get my annual prediction about the Seahawks record published so I can look back and see how wrong I was at the end of the year.

If I am right the Hawks will go 11-5 and win the NFC West once again. At home they will go 7-1 with their only home loss coming to the New England Patriots. On the road they will go 4-4 losing to the Giants, Buccaneers, Cowboys, and Cardinals. Hopefully if I am wrong it is in the losses column, and not with the predicted wins. Truthfully I expect that 11-5 or 10-6 is about how good they are this year.

I was listening to KJR-AM Sports Radio the other day. There was a discussion about what it means to be a true fan. Basically the question was if you are a true fan if you stop going to games when the team is bad. Being a Seattle sports fan  have seen my fair share of bad teams recently: Seattle Mariners, Washington Huskies, former Seattle Supersonics. There were a number of people making the case that you need to go to games no matter how bad the team is, or they might move, as the Sonics did.

I consider myself a true fan. I really do and I enjoy going to games, but I can't bring myself to spend money to attend games when the team sucks, especially if it has been a few (or more) years since they were good. When the Mariners were good back in 2001 I attended 9 games during the season, not a lot but I had a very young family. This year when the Mariners are truly awful I have gone to 1 game. To some people I guess this makes me a bandwagon fan.

Arguing that I'm a bandwagon fan though is ridiculous for a few reasons. Here are my thoughts on why you shouldn't go to games when the team is bad:

1. If you keep spending your money to attend games when your team sucks then what incentive does the owner have to improve the team? None! He or she will only care that you are continuing to pay without the team making a commitment to winning.
2. In what other endeavor do people pay over and over for a substandard product? If a band makes a lousy CD it is likely that their tour will generate a lot less revenue. Movie stars who appear in bad movies find themselves insignificant or unemployed pretty quickly.
3. Sports are not charities. I don't go to a game because I feel bad for the players. They are making millions of dollars or at least getting a free education to console themselves with when they are on a substandard team.

Even though I don't attend games when the team is bad I do continue to support them. I want to see them do well, and I hope that the players find a way to turn things around. I continue wearing the team apparel since that is a sunk cost anyway. The team does have to start winning before I will go back to the games though. Ultimately I feel like my money goes towards being entertained so I need to be getting my moneys worth. If that makes me a bandwagon fan then I guess that's what I am. In any case I really want to see the Huskies and Mariners improve and start winning again. As for the OKC Thunder (formerly the Sonics) I hope they continue to suck for all time. At least I'm not bitter...:-)

The All-Star game on Tuesday night was amazing. You don't expect to see games go into the 15th inning. While the game itself was very interesting I think there are a few steps Major League Baseball could take to improve the game.

1. Allow the fans, the players and managers, and the writers to each get 1/3 of the votes each for the players. In that way you would get a more reflective roster that reflects how players are performing during the season. Each group would then get ownership in helping select the team.
2. Eliminate the need for each team to have an All-Star representative. The only exception I might make to this is that the team must have at least one player from the team hosting the game. There are some teams that in a particular season really done have an All Star.
3. Extend the All-Star break. Let all of the teams play their final pre-break games on Sunday. Make Monday a travel day. Run the Home Run Derby on Tuesday, and the game itself on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday would be off days and all teams would resume their schedules on Saturday. In that way there should be no problem due to All-Star pitchers pitching on Sunday.
4. Instead of having current managers in charge of the game, appoint 2 legendary managers (I.e. Earl Weaver, and Tommy Lasorda) to manage the game. In that way there is no pressure on the managers not to play someone from a  rival team because of the impact on the rival for the rest of the season.
5. I would require the top 3 home run hitters in each league plus the career leader in home runs for each league to participate in the Home Run Derby. This is a spectacle for the fans and the players should have to participate unless they are on the disabled list.
6. Stop playing the game for home field advantage. Home field advantage should go to the team with the best record, like it does in every other sport.
7. Starting position players should be required to play at least 6 innings, and starting pitchers should go at least 3 innings. Once those requirements are met then back-ups should be brought in.
8. Unless a player is on the disabled list they should not be able to get out of the game. This is a game for the fans and they should get to see the stars that were voted in.

I don't think any of these proposals are unreasonable. They might actually make the game more compelling and appealing to people.

Mayor Judas "Collecting Nickels" sold us for 30 pieces of silver, or accurately 45 million in today's dollars. He let Cowboy Clay buy his way out of the final 2 years of a lease for nothing. The Mayor tried to claim that we have assurances from the NBA that they will keep us informed about teams for sale and expansion opportunities if we work to upgrade Key Arena. As the Evil Lying Retarded Goblin has shown us, the word of the NBA is worth exactly nothing. You already have a league that has shown that it is willing to "fix" playoff games and we are entrusting them to assist us in getting a new team to replace the Sonic's. What a load of crap that is.

I am very sad to see the Sonic's go. I can't even wish Kevin Durant good luck in his career today. It's not his fault that his owner is a dishonest hillbilly of course, but I can't help but hope that things don't work out for Durant and the team in Oklahoma City. Let me put it this way, I wouldn't be devastated if Durant turned out to be a dud or ended up with a career ending injury. I know that's pretty petty, but through the incompetence of Caffeine Boy, the Wicked Witch of the Northwest, and the short-sighted dimwits from the state legislature and city council that's what I'm left with today.

Cowboy Clay couldn't even just give us sole possession of the Sonic's name, colors, records, and championship . Instead he claims we will have a shared history and will make copies of our championship banners, retired numbers, etc. Why would you do that Clay Clay? It must be because you know your no-talent NBA Developmental League team isn't going to be winning in the real league for years to come. You will have to convince the fans Oklahoma City to support your team while they continue to lose 60+ games per season. I hope the Oklahoma City Bandits, Thieves, or Robbers will suck bad enough over the next several years that you will end up having to try and move them again. Here's to 41 years of losing for you Cowboy Clay!!!

It should be pretty clear by now that I'm pretty ticked off. I do want to say though that I don't blame the people of Oklahoma City for this in any way. If I was in a city without a major league sports franchise I would want one as well. I can't wish you luck in seeing a young exciting team getting better though, as that would mean Cowboy Clay and his cronies would profit from this travesty, but I personally hold no ill will towards the residents of your fine town.

The Villains

Judas

Cowboy Clay

Evil Lying Retarded Goblin

Caffeine Boy

The Wicked Witch

Chopper

The Cultural Crusader

It is a sad day! I will miss this team. I will be voting against the Wicked Witch, Chopper, The Cultural Crusader, and Judas and will encourage everyone I know to do likewise.

I remember when Ken Griffey Jr. was just starting his career. The Seattle Mariners used to have a Single-A affiliate team in San Bernardino California named the San Bernardino Spirit. Griffey played there for 58 games at the beginning of his career. He of course moved up to play several years for the Mariners before leaving to go to Cincinnati to be closer to his family. Griffey never had the same success in Cincinnati that he had with the Mariners, but he still has had a Hall of Fame career and accomplished milestones that few other players have achieved.

When the news of his 600th home run was announced I have noticed how the milestone seems to be earned with a sense of regret for what Griffey might of achieved. If he had stayed healthy it is likely that he would be much closer to the home run totals of Hank Aaron or Barry Bonds, but overall I think Griffey has accomplished a lot in his career. He is one of only 6 players to ever hit 600 home runs. That is an amazing feat, especially since his name has never come up in the steroid or HGH reports.

In any case instead of looking at his career with regret I choose to celebrate this incredible milestone with him. Congratulations!!! You've had an amazing career.

With a season 20 games in it seemed like a good time to look at the Mariners and see how they are doing versus the expectations of the fans.

Positives

The Mariners are 10-10, which might not seem so good, except that they did get swept my the Baltimore Orioles in one series earlier this year. If they split that series (which they should of) they would be 12-8 and tied with the Oakland A's and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for first place in the American League West. The other good news is that so far the Mariners have a 7-4 record against the other teams in the west so that would help should we get to any tie-breaking situations. Considering that Ichiro is hitting about 100 points less than you'd expect and Richie Sexson is still struggling I am pretty happy with where the Mariners are in the standings.

Negatives

The Mariners have lost their number one pitcher Eric Bedard for at least a couple of starts, and their closer J.J. Putz for about 2 weeks. I'd also be worried since the Mariner's offense has been pretty anemic so far. We need Richie Sexson, Ichiro, and Jose Vidro to start hitting. We also need our starting pitchers to continue looking good and getting us far into games. The relievers will need to step it up though and start getting batters out. If we get Putz back this week we should be pretty solid from the first to sixth inning and in the ninth, but we will need to be able to cover the seventh and eighth in order to be successful.

Conclusion

I would like to see the Mariners winning a bit more, but considering the injuries that have hit them I think 10-10 is pretty good.

Dear Mr. Stern;

I want you to know that I am a huge fan of the Seattle Sonics and the NBA as a whole. In the past I have admired the job you have done as the commissioner of the NBA and I know you care about the health of your sport and how it is perceived by the public. Over the years you have made many important  decisions that have helped the league. Of course you are facing a challenge now as it is obvious that the NBA has fallen to 3rd or 4th among the major professional sports leagues (NFL, MLB, NASCAR). I blame most of that on allowing the rules to change to reduce the amount of scoring that can take place in a game. Seriously, look back to the 1980's or the Michael Jordan years. While people will claim to love defense the fact is people want to see games with a significant amount of scoring. While I believe the way the NBA has changed under your watch has made the game much less interesting I am much more concerned about your actions regarding the city of Seattle and the Seattle Sonics.

Mr. Stern you have been disingenuous regarding the desire of Clay Bennett and his ownership group to stay in Seattle. The recent publication of their email makes it very clear that they had no intention of keeping the team here. I don't understand why you can't just be honest and say, "They are the owners and they have a right to move their team wherever they want." Most people, fans included, understand capitalism. Don't try and pretend that the owners had any intention of keeping the team here though. The fans here in Seattle are not idiots Mr. Stern. Keep in mind that business sometimes makes for strange bedfellows.

I would also not make threats about Seattle never getting another team if the city continues to pursue it's lawsuit to enforce the Key Arena lease. The city has a vested interest in forcing the Sonics to fulfill their lease unless they come to a settlement with the city. Based on some of the financial's that have been released about other teams in your league I certainly wouldn't rule out allowing another team to move here if they chose to.

I want to remind you that it is in the interest of the NBA that you negotiate from a position of strength. Threatening a city with the loss of a team only works when fans are passionate about the team and will feel it's loss. Right now there aren't many passionate Sonics fans, but because the team has sucked for the last several years the casual fan isn't fired up about the arena situation. Since your hillbilly friend down in Oklahoma has removed all of the interesting players from the team not many people here care one way or another.

You need to examine your business model Mr. Stern. I will be very interested to see what happens to the Oklahoma City Sonics or whatever they are called once the novelty wears off, and fans realize they are seeing some pretty bad basketball with limited media coverage. You have also insulted one of the richest people in America with your dismissal of Steve Balmer's bid to purchase the team. It would seem to me that the NBA would want that kind of owner.

I am sick and tired of the dismissive nature of your comments regarding Seattle. Suck up your ego a bit and realize that there are fans here that want to keep the team, there is an ownership group that wants to purchase the team, and with a little time and pressure the politicians will eventually have to contribute money to remodeling Key Arena or building a new stadium. I recognize that the politicians in Olympia bruised your ego when they didn't bow down to you when you came out here. Maybe they just recognized what we all see. You are simply a little tyrant with a league in deep financial trouble, and you are fiddling while your Rome is burning away.

Apparently David Stern thinks there is no chance for Seattle to keep the Sonics here. It seems to me from his comments that he blames the city and state for that. Now I will admit that the city and state leaders have mostly shown little interest in keeping the Sonics it's not like the owner, Clay Bennett, has done anything to improve relations either. I also think some blame has to go to the NBA which has a financial model that is broken.

I have written before that I believe the city of Seattle, King County, and Washington State should build the Sonics a new arena. At the same time I understand the objection when Key Arena was remodeled back in 1994, but is not being considered outdated for a state-of-the-art arena. At the same time, when you look around the league there are a large number of teams that are seeing attendance drop-offs and are having some tough times financially.

The fact is, Oklahoma City is not as good of a market for an NBA team as Seattle is. That is not a shot at Oklahoma City, but is simply based on the size of the media market, the income level, and the number of potential fans to draw from. Keep in mind that the Sonics draw fans from Vancouver B.C. to the north and Spokane on the east, and almost down to Portland on the south. Seattle also has a natural rival in the Portland Trailblazers which they won't have in Oklahoma City. This region has had the Sonics for 40 years. I really believe it would be a tragedy to lose them now.

I'm pretty ticked at David Stern right now. Over the last 2 years I have written to several of the state and local representatives and blogged about wanting the team to stay. Over the time I even changed my opinion on how important it is to have an NBA team in the city. I have also supported the work on Save Our Sonics and have even encouraged people to keep attending the games. The fact is that David Stern has done nothing...nothing to help the situation up here. I realize that he works for the owners and he has one of his bosses wanting to move the team, but the fact is that for the NBA it is much better to have the team in a city that makes the NBA seem stronger, not bush league.

I watched the Super Bowl on Sunday. Honestly I expected to turn it off at half time as I expected the New England Patriots to roll, and I had no interest in either team. Instead I ended up watching one of the most interesting Super Bowls of all time. I'm not sure I'm ready to claim it was the best as I have fond memories of the Bengals /49ers game back in 1989.

As the game ended I thought about how the fortunes of both teams might change going forward. Obviously the win was a tremendous one for the New York Giants, and will do a lot for the perception of Eli Manning to the New York fans, but it almost seemed like karma for the Patriots as well due to the cheating scandal from early in the year.

In any case it was a great game. Congratulations to the New York Giants on the championship, and enjoy it while you can since the Seahawks are taking the title next year. :-)

Since I was out of town for the holidays I neglected to write about the great season my Brigham Young University Cougars had. This is the second year in a row that they finished 11-2 which is a tribute to their hard work and the great coaching of Bronco Mendenhall. Unlike some of my fellow fans of the mid-majors I am glad BYU hasn't gone to a BCS Bowl recently because I'm afraid they might look more like the Hawaii Rainbows than the Boise State Broncos. Hopefully these two great finishes will help BYU take the steps to get to the next level though as I would like to see them play on the national stage.

I am really excited about this upcoming year as BYU will play a game up here in Seattle against the Washington Huskies. I am a bit torn because I believe the Huskies coach, Tyrone Willingham, is doing a great job with the team and an opening game loss to BYU will lead to his ouster as the head coach. At the same time, I would like to see BYU get some revenge for the only loss BYU suffered during the 1996 season when we went to the Cotton Bowl.

I hope Coach Mendenhall stays with the Cougars for a long time and continues to have a great success with my favorite college football team.

It took a few days for the pain of the recent Seahawks loss in Green Bay to subside so I could reflect on the season. Prior to this season I predicted that the Hawks would go 10-6 with a possibility of going 11-5. As it stands they did finish the season 10-6 by going 7-1 at home (yeah!) and 3-5 on the road (ugh!) As far as which games the Hawks would lose, I predicted them to lose to the Bears and Ravens at home so of course they won both of those games, but lost to the New Orleans Saints. On the road I thought they would lose to the Steelers, Rams, Eagles, and Panthers. I got 2 of those losses correct (Steelers and Panthers), but misfired on the Cardinals, Browns, and Falcons. At least we beat the Eagles which I had picked as a loss. In my defense though the Seahawks didn't try to win the Falcons game, and should of won both the Cardinals and Browns games.

Considering all factors though, I am pretty happy with the season. The Seahawks made the playoffs for the fifth straight year. They also won their first playoff game this year, and played hard, even though they got beat up by Green Bay. The Hawks had several injuries this year, and only had their 2 starting receivers on the field for 1 game, and had Shaun Alexander playing all year with a broken wrist. They also lost two of their starting defensive tackles during the preseason.

It's hard to predict how the Hawks will do next year of course, but I hope they shore up their offense, and make some significant progress with their running game. Also, we really need coach Mike Holmgren to come back as I believe he is key to our chances. I'm sure Coach Holmgren isn't reading this, but if he does for some reason this Hawks fan wants to see you come back, and try and get us back to the Super Bowl, this time for a win.

Go Hawks!

I had the opportunity to go to a Sonics game on Friday night and sit in the Microsoft Suite. Normally I am not a huge basketball fan, but I have been to a number of games over the years. Unfortunately the Sonics were beaten 90-70 by the Dallas Mavericks, but I had some time to think about the arena situation and why the locals aren't getting behind Clay Bennett in his request for a new facility.

1. From a fans perspective, Key Arena seems perfectly functional, and doesn't look in need of replacement. I realize that I was in a suite, but I have been out in the normal seats as well for other games and concerts. I think if the arena looked more run down then it would be easier to get a new building for the team, but Key Arena looks to be in great shape so it's hard to drum up support for a new arena just to line Bennett's pockets.
2. There was no energy in the crowd Friday night. Last year I had a chance to take my daughter to a Storm game and even with half the fans there was much more energy in the building. I think most fans realized that we were in for a rebuilding project when Rashard Lewis and Ray Allen departed and we drafted Kevin Durant, but the team just isn't that interesting to watch. There has been a lot of speculation up here that the reason Safeco Field got built was due to the playoff run of the 1995 Mariners. A team that is 9-29 as of this post just doesn't generate a lot of interest or excitement.
3. It doesn't help that the owner, Mr. Bennett, seems to come across so badly in his dealings with the media. They have done a good job painting him as a villain, but he also brought a lot of this on himself. It seems like there is no room for Bennett to negotiate with the city of Seattle to find an option that works for both parties.
4. Even though the argument is completely baseless the politicians have done a great job in pointing to other infrastructure improvements such as the 520 bridge and Highway 99 viaduct to claim the city/county/state can't afford to build a new arena. This is false of course as the tax that was put in place for Safeco and Qwest Field could easily pay for a new basketball/hockey arena with no additional taxpayer cost.

I am not a Seattle native. I grew up down in southern California, and moved up here about 11 years ago. In my time up here though I have gotten quite attached to the local sports teams and would really hate to see this area lose it's NBA franchise. I hope that Mr. Bennett and the politicians can "pull their heads out" and find a way to get a new arena built that can be a world class facility for the Sonics to play in. If not I am afraid it will be a long time before this area has a chance to get another NBA team. In fact I can't see it happening at all since the state has shown tremendous resistance to the opportunity to bring other sporting events here (NASCAR anyone?).

It's a few days before the Seattle Seahawks first game of the season. Like last year, I thought I would take a crack at determining their won-loss record. Last year I predicted that they would go 11-5 with a possibility of them getting to 12-4 if they caught a few lucky breaks. They ended up going 9-7 due mostly to injuries, but gave the Chicago-Bears all that they could handle in the Divisional round of the play-offs. Once again I will predict each game, and see how I do at the end of the year.

If this plays out as I think it will, the Seahawks will end up with a 10-6 record (6-2 Home, 4-4 Road). I believe that they could win either the Chicago or Baltimore game to take them to 11-5, but I don't think that is likely this year. Hopefully I am wrong on the low side this year!

Congratulations to Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr. for getting voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame yesterday. They are two of the best players I was priveledged to see during my lifetime, and I am very happy to see them enter the Hall of Fame as two of the best players of all time.

I was very interested in seeing how badly Mark McGwire did in the voting yesterday. It is interesting to me how the Baseball Writers have convicted McGwire of not being worthy of the hall due to unproven allegations that he took steroids during his career. Now don't get me wrong. I believe that Mark McGwire took steroids, I also believe O.J. Simpson is a murderer, and Michael Jackson molests children, but at the end of the day none of the people mentioned have been convicted of the misdeads they are associated with. To his credit there is even less evidence towards Mark McGwire then there is for Barry Bonds (clear or cream) or Jason Giambi (leaked grand jury testimony).

Basically McGwire has been set-up as the fall guy for a bunch of players who took steroids in an era when baseball wasn't testing for them. What seems to get neglected here is that pitchers were on the "juice" as well as has been proven pretty conclusively since baseball has started testing. What this says to me is that even if McGwire wasn't taking steroid his homerun numbers would still have gone up because pitchers would be throwing with higher velocity, for a longer period of time during a game, and would recover from the stress that throwing a baseball causes to the human body quicker. If McGwire did indeed take steroids then this effect would be magnified since he did get bigger and stronger during his career. The truth of matter is that we don't know though, and unless he choses to admit it we will never know.

To me the ultimate hypocrisy of denying McGwire of enshrinement in the Hall of Fame is that baseball, more than any of the other big sports (Football, Basketball, Hockey) ignores, or in many cases encourages cheating. Keep in mind the things that are considered part of the culture of baseball. Baseball has ignored at the least, or some would argue embraced such things as scuffing or spitting on the baseball, corking the bat, using too much pine tar, spiking opposing players, throwing at the batter, and stealing signs just to name a few. If any of the previous are cheating (which they are), then how is taking a chemical to help your body to get stronger quicker and recover from injuries quicker really any worse?

The funniest part to me is that there are legitimate arguments to not vote for Mark McGwire into the Hall of Fame. One could pretty easily show that he was very one dimensional, not a great defensive player, produced too many outs, had a low batting average, and didn't produce enough runs to be considered a truly great player. On the other side though he did hit 583 homeruns and with Sammy Sosa brought a lot of fans back to the game during their chase of the homerun record.

I realize that I am just a fan and not the experts that the baseball writers are. Maybe they will realize that the fact that they don't like history is no reason to ignore it.

When I got home last night I had the unpleasant experience of dealing with a Kirby salesperson diligently cleaning our stairs. I really hate sales people of all kinds, but people who come to my door have a special place in hell. At the end of his cleaning of course he had a special offer for me. I could purchase a brand new Kirby vacuum for the low, low price of $1300. Who do they think they are kidding? Why would I make a snap decision to spend over $1000 on a vacuum without doing some research first and considering the cost/benefit of such a purchase. The other thing that makes me laugh is the claim that "you can only get this special price today only." Whatever! Look if I decide I want to purchase an overpriced vacuum I am sure I can find a way of contacting a salesperson who would be happy to make me a special deal.

In fact it took me less than 5 minutes to find a contact number if I want to arrange for a home demonstration or if I want to contact a distributor.

The other major thing I hate about these high pressure sales people is the technique of playing family members off of each other. The manager pointed out that both my wife and daughter wanted the vacuum. It seems to me that the real power a consumer has is that for the most part they don't have to buy an item right at that moment. We are so conditioned in our instant gratification society to get what we want now though, that it almost seems like we have lost the ability to walk away from a deal. In any case, the salespeople left and I do not have a new vacuum.

Now, on to other happier thoughts. Congratulations to the Florida Gator's on their national championship. While it wasn't a great game like the Fiesta Bowl the week before  we saw that Florida definitely deserved the opportunity to play for the national championship. Still I can't help but think about how interesting it would be to see a play-off. Consider this for a second. The NFL had 4 playoff games this last week with 2 coming down to the last few minutes. The BCS on the other hand had 5 games of which only 1 was interesting, although of course it was one of the most exciting finishes of all time. I wonder if a playoff system where 8 teams were invited might produce more regularly exciting games. Just a thought on this Tuesday morning.

While I relaize it depends on which teams you like it seems to me that this has been a great week to be a football fan, especially if you like crazy, exciting endings to games. With the amazing ending to the Boise State - Oklahoma game last Monday and then seeing the Dallas Cowboys fumble the snap of a short field goal to lose to the Seattle Seahawks, and then the Philadelphia Eagles kicking a field goal on the last play of the game to beat the New York Giants last night it has been one of the more interesting weeks in football.

Thanks to a wonderful wife and great kids I was able to watch the majority of all of the above mentioned games. Just so no one will think I was shirking my parental responsibilities though I should point out that I made dinner last night while the Eagles/Giants game was in progress and was doing laundry during the Seahawks/Cowboys game. Since tonight is family night in our house though, I don't think I will see much of the Ohio State/Florida game. My head says that Ohio State will win, but I would prefer for Florida to win, not because I like Florida more, but because I hate the BCS and anything that creates more chaos in the system makes me happy.

Before I end this I want to leave with my prediction for the Seahawks this next week:

Seahawks 24 - Bears 14

Back before the season began I blogged on what I thought the Seahawks final record would be, and how that would break-down game by game. The final record I projected was 11-5 and hopefully a number 2 seed in the NFC play-offs. Of course none of these projections counted on losing both Matt Hasselbeck and Shaun Alexander for significant portions of the season.

As it now stands the Hawks are 8-6, and are likely to be the number 4 seed in the NFC if they can win one more game and clinch their division. At this point I would kind of like to see them miss the play-offs because they really have no chance once they get there. As I have reviewed the games the Hawks have played this season I see a tea with no heart and no direction. The NFC doesn't have very many strong teams in it, and there is no reason that the Hawks shouldn't of been up at the top of the conference with the Bears and the Saints.

I am not sure who to blame for this whole mess. Of course the team didn't plan on the injuries to Matt and Shaun as well as Jerramy Stevens, and Darrell Jackson. It does seem as if the team has been on cruise control all year, and has forgotten that if you don't put in your best effort than teams like the Vikings, Cardinals, and 49ers will beat you. I hope this team doesn't just think they can cruise to the play-offs and then turn on the intensity. It just doesn't work that way.

This week will be a good test for the Seahawks. The San Diego Chargers who are the number 1 team in the AFC and of course are former rivals of the Hawks from their days in the AFC West will be coming into Qwest Field. By any measure the Hawks will be underdogs in this game, and nobody will expect them to win. I would like to see the Haws step up though and show if there is any reason for the fans to have hope going into the playoffs. I would like to see a close hard-fought games that the Hawks find a way to win. I doubt this will happen, but at least we might earn some momentum going into the playoffs and not make it look like we will go out in round 1.

I have been following the story of Matt Leinart who as of today is still unsigned by the Arizona Cardinals. While I can certainly understand why Leinart would want to get as much money as possible, especially in the NFL with the non-guaranteed contracts I have to question the decision a bit. It is apparent that the weakness of the Cardinals is in their offensive line which may be part of the reason for the signing delay, but in many ways the situation looks like a great for Leinart. Consider the following:

1. Kurt Warner hasn’t played for a full season since 2001. This would lead me to believe that Leinart could get in pretty quickly and get some quality playing time. At the same time having a former MVP like Warner on your team could certainly help in adjusting to playing quarterback as a pro.
2. Look at the offensive tools that Leinart will have around him. He will have Edgerrin James at running back; who is not only a great runner, but can catch passes out of the backfield. He will also have Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald, two of the better young receiving duos to throw passes to.
3. He has one of the better coaches for an offense in football in Dennis Green. Remember that 15-1 Minnesota Vikings team. They had one of the better offenses in NFL history. Having a coach like that could certainly help Leinart’s career.

As a fan of the Seahawks, I of course am happy the longer it takes to get Matt Leinart signed. That means he has less time to learn what he needs before the games count. On the other hand, he had such a great career at USC that I would love to see what he could do in the pros. Hope you sign soon Matt!!!

Ahh, it’s almost that time of the year again when the weather turns cooler and the thoughts of men turn to…fantasy football. As should be evident to anyone who reads these blogs I am a huge football fan, and I’m not just talking about my weight here. I am a fan of both the Seattle Seahawks and the Chicago Bears, which must come from the 1985 team with the great defense and the horrible video. In the college ranks, otherwise known as the NFL minor league I follow the BYU Cougars, the Washington Huskies, and the Florida State Seminoles.

I am also a huge fan of Fantasy Football, and will be playing in 4 leagues this year. Early this morning I read an interesting article. ESPN.com’s Bill Simmons writes about the rules he would change to make fantasy football even better in his most recent column. I liked several of his ideas, but decided to make a list of my own. That being said here are the things I would change to improve the game.

1. Make the rules the same for every league. This is also Simmons first suggestion and I agree with him. Deciding on what number of players you must have how many starters at each position and the scoring would sure make the game much easier. For those of you who want to argue about the strategy I have some suggestions later on that might help.
2. Modify the scoring to make each position more equal. In most fantasy football systems it is far more valuable to have great running back than it is to have great receivers, quarterbacks, defenses, or kickers. Since you can win in the NFL with a great passing game like Indianapolis, a great running game like Pittsburgh, or with defense like the Bears why shouldn’t you be able to do the same in the fantasy game. Think how it would change the dynamic if you could pursue a draft strategy based on your “coaching” philosophy. That would make the strategy of your draft that much more important.
3. Implement a salary cap. I realize some leagues do this, but based on my first suggestion design something that works across the board. I like this for two reasons. It places more strategy on the actual drafting of players, and it makes for some difficult decisions when it comes to free agents and waiver wire pick-ups. If you draft someone you are still on the hook for a cap penalty which adds a lot of strategy to mid season pick-ups. 
4. Make starting line-ups more like a real NFL team. This sort of goes with item 2. Basically I would set the number of starting players you must have with some required minimums, but allow for flexibility. So for example, most leagues require you to play 1 quarterback, 2 running backs, 2 or 3 wide receivers, 1 tight end, 1 defensive team, and 1 kicker. What if instead you only had to have 1 quarterback, 1 wide receiver, 1 defensive team, and 1 kicker, but for the rest of the positions you could go with your team strategy. That way you could base your team on your philosophy. A running team could play 2 or 3 running backs, 1 receiver, 2 tight ends, etc. As long as you met the required minimums and played the right number of players the mix was more up to you. You could play a team with 2 great running backs and 2 tight ends against an opponent playing 4 wide receivers. I think that would add a whole new impact to the game.

These are just my suggestions. I’m sure there are other ideas just as valid. I will continue to play and enjoy fantasy football as I do now, but it would be fun to see what the dynamics of making these changes would be.

I guess I should say something about the recent sale of the Seattle Sonics to a group in Oklahoma City led by Clayton Bennett. Honestly I am having a hard time feeling too strongly about it one way or another. I can see the Sonics case in this. The city did build a new baseball and a new football stadium in the last several years. Key Arena is a dump and of my least favorite venues in the city for sports or concerts. On the other hand, like many I am not convinced that cities should spend tax dollars support these multi-million dollar franchises, while getting so little in return.

At the end of the day I suspect that the Sonics will leave and go to Oklahoma City. I am not sure they will be greatly missed as while they have great players, they are not terribly interesting. At this point in our city we are caught up in the prospects for the Seahawks, planning for another Washington Huskies NCAA Tournament run, and hoping that the Mariners pick up some players at the trade deadline for an attempted, although misguided attempt to make the play-offs. Also, even though the team is a bit tarnished these days, there are still plenty of Washington Huskies football fans who hope that this is the year Tyrone Willingham starts to turn the team around. Ultimately the Sonics are losers in this equation as they were never a championship caliber team with Howard Schultz at the helm, especially after losing Nate McMillan as a coach, and never being good enough or bad enough to truly capture a following.

As I prepare for possibly the last season of the Sonics in Seattle I wish them well. I am no more or less interested in them today than I was prior to the sale. I hope that the NBA will realize that as a group the league faces serious challenges. In an increasingly crowded sports landscape it is critical for you to make your league stand out and follow an economic model that is successful for all. The NFL has mastered this, and the results show it. Hopefully the new owners of the Sonics will be more successful than the last.

Go Sonics!