Seattle Sport Scene

The Sports Gods Put Seattle To the Test

noreply@blogger.com (SeattleSportScene) — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 05:39:00 +0000

What a horrible time for sports in Seattle right now! Or for Washington as a whole, for that matter. The Mariners have always been my #1, and I haven't been able to bear watching their games for over 2 months now. This is how you know it's getting bad: when you're watching a game, and every time your team comes up to bat, you go about doing things. Running to the bathroom, making a bite to eat, or whatever else you have going on. Then when you realize your team is back in the field, you start watching again. Or as my good friend Kelly explained to me the other day, he said "It's gotten so bad, that when I'm watching something else, I don't even turn back to the M's game during commercials of the show I'm watching." That's when you know you've packed it in. When you'd rather watch commercials than your favorite baseball team, hope is lost.
But lets not limit this to the Mariners. Has anyone seen the Seahawks lately? Wow. Week 1, the Hawks definitely looked like one of the worst 3 teams in the league. I watched just about every game on Sunday Ticket so I have a pretty good idea of how bad we just might be. What is the deal with the receivers?! I mean honestly... our top 6 receivers, all hurt? The bad karma is radiating from the Hawks. Did someone on the team kill a guy this offseason and get away with it?? Someone did something bad, because wow... the receivers are our bread and butter in the west coast offense, and without them we won't be successful. When you constantly put your defense out on the field with bad field position, you can't expect much.
Not that I'm blaming anyone within the organization. If we had Engram, Branch, and Burleson we would be a lock for the NFC West title once again. The fact is that we don't, so we had better find another way to win football games. The recent acquisitions of Koren Robinson and Keary Colbert are actually looking good at the moment. While I once hated Koren because of his inability to catch the ball, it now appears that he was most likely hung over or drunk most of the time during those games. The fact that he put up a 1,000 yard season during his alcoholic years is actually pretty impressive. If he has truly turned his life around, then why not give him another chance? He's got the ability to be a #1 or 2 wide receiver in this league. Keary Colbert I'm not so sure about, but I'm thinking he's an upgrade from Jordan Kent at the very least. I liked what he did at USC, and when he was given his chance in Carolina a couple of years ago, he did decent. He's a #3 receiver at best though, a possession guy who is pretty safe with the ball, not overly quick, and has above average hands. I'd say that he'll fit the Engram mold quite well until Bobby is back, and Robinson will be a good deep threat once he gets the offense down again. Julius Jones will never be the most consistent back in the league, but when you give him a hole he can break off some nice runs. Once he finally realizes he needs to hit the hole hard, and stops dancing behind the line of scrimmage every 3rd play... he could become reliable. He's a better runner than Maurice Morris. I like using Morris on 3rd down, but the runs up the middle aren't his thing.
As for the defense, they've looked pretty bad so far... but they just need to get some games in and gel as a unit again. One thing I noticed so far this season: Kelly Jennings is a good cover corner, but he's getting beasted at the line of scrimmage. It appears that teams are opting to attack him rather than Trufant, and he's getting picked on by opposing offenses. Josh Wilson may have to take over the #2 corner spot if this keeps happening. Jennings is just too small to deal with elite recievers, especially in one-on-one coverage. Jennings has really good ball skills, but the fact that he can't get off his blocks downfield is a big hit to our run defense as well. Maybe he can overcome it, but right now it's looking like something needs to be done.
Moving on to college football, the Huskies continue to get smashed. While I think they're not the worst team in the Pac-10, that totally depends on Jake Locker and whether his receivers and running backs can give him ANY help. Locker is almost always the most talented player on the field for either team, but once guy can't win a football game... especially when his primary option is running the ball. Defenses don't hesitate to put 8 or 9 guys in the box against the Dawgs because the receivers can't get open downfield... and even when they do it's basically a crapshoot as to whether Locker will throw a lame duck or a strike. He's talented, but his accuracy on the deep ball is still a work in progress.
Don't lose hope. Things could turn around for the Seahawks in a few weeks when Branch and Engram are healthy again... but I expect it will take another 2-3 games once they are all healthy for them to start clicking as an offense again. So much of the west coast offense is about timing, that it could take a while. I still think we have a very good chance to take the NFC West once again. The 49ers aren't better than us despite their victory, and the Cards always end up choking in the end.

Sexy Time Is Officially Over

noreply@blogger.com (SeattleSportScene) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 23:25:00 +0000

The Mariners released Richie Sexson today. Let's all pause for a moment of silence... okay let's not do that, but let's at least pause for a sigh of relief. Ok done. Thank God! I don't think you'll find many M's fans who weren't calling for this for the last 2 years now. I know it wouldn't have made sense, and financially it still doesn't really make sense... but I'm okay with that. The fact that we still owe Richie a little under $7 million for the remainder of the season stings a bit, but at least we'll be able to call someone up who can possibly not strand 7 base-runners per game for the last few months. Richie has been such a huge disappointment. Not that I was thinking he would be the savior of the franchise when we signed him. I've said since day 1 that it was a bad signing, but let's face it... if he'd been making even half of that enormous salary of his, he would have been sent down or released long ago. He was hitting .218 with 11 HR's and only 30 RBI. And that was an IMPROVEMENT from last year already! If you've hit 11 HR's and you only have 30 RBI to go with it, that's not good. That basically means you either hit a home run, or you strike out... and he's definitely striking out at a much higher rate than he's hitting jacks. The worst part is that he's been playing better lately. A few weeks ago I saw his stat line and it was like 10 HR's and 21 RBI. I'm not sure if he was just trying too hard to do well, or if his skill really just fell completely off, but he will be doing much more for the M's by not being on the team than he's been doing on the field the last 2 seasons. Richie seems like a nice guy, and I feel bad for him... I think if you asked him if he'd trade half the salary to get half the skills back that he once had, he'd take the skills. As a fan, I'm just glad that we can finally put this era behind us a concentrate on the future.

NBA: Where "Finding A New Team Because Mine Got Stolen" Happens

noreply@blogger.com (SeattleSportScene) — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:54:00 +0000

So the search for a new favorite NBA team has now begun for most of us Sonics fans. For me personally, this isn't a hard decision at all. The Kings have been my other team for years, and now they'll just move up a slot and officially take over. I'm now a part of the Sacramento Kings' fan-base. A #23 Kevin Martin jersey is in my near future... the home jersey of course. I'm not going to lie, I wouldn't be mad if the Kings decided to adopt a new logo and colors for the upcoming season. Or even if they went back to some of the throwbacks. I'm just not a big fan of the current color-scheme. That's alright though, it's more about the team than the jerseys.

If I was going purely on jerseys, I'd definitely become a Blazers fan. I just don't see how any long-time Sonics fan can just jump right on with the Portland Blazers. I was just discussing this with my buddy Art, who has been the biggest Blazers fan of all time, basically since birth. He was telling me how he's mad how everyone from Seattle is now going to jump on the Blazers bandwagon. For fans that are a little older and actually follow basketball closely, we both agreed that you can't jump onto the bandwagon with the rival, ever. If you're 18 or younger, haven't followed the NBA for too long and are only old enough to remember the Sonics as a bad team... then it's alright. But I've been around for a while. I remember when the Sonics-Blazers matchup was a heated rivalry. Lately we've been so bad that it hasn't been too competitive, and games at Key Arena between the two teams have been pretty lame. There is always this thing with the Blazers when they come to Seattle, where the Seattle fans have actually been cheering for both teams. Not only because we've been horrible, but also because Brandon Roy and Martell Webster, two home-grown Seattle products, both play for the Blazers. You know what I say to that? That's bush! Sure, I like Brandon Roy. He played at Garfield High, he played at U of Washington... but he's been on the Sonics' main rival. You can still like the player, but don't cheer for him while he's making buckets against your team. If you want to root for Roy and Webster while they're playing the Lakers, go right on ahead!

Of course, this is no longer an issue. The team is gone, and it isn't looking like Seattle will be getting it back any time soon. If Seattle ever gets another team, I'll be right there at the front of the line to get some new gear and tickets. And if the rumors of Sacramento moving come to fruition, and they don't move to Seattle, I'll have to formulate an entire new plan. But for now, I'm going to do everything I can to stay off the Blazers bandwagon. Those red jerseys sure are nice though!

The Breakup

noreply@blogger.com (SeattleSportScene) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 05:28:00 +0000

Dear ~~Super~~Sonics,

I'm sorry that things are finally coming to an end for us. We had a good run together. 41 years! That's longer than most relationships last in this day and age... although I am a little old fashioned. I don't really believe in splitting up. I know we had some bumpy times the last few years, but I tried to make it work! Remember how much we used to love each other? All those wild early years with Lenny Wilkins, Walt Hazzard, Bob Rule, and Spencer Haywood. We were young and still blossoming, but we did put a few good years together. I'll admit, a few rough and rocky years followed. But then there was that special year: 1979. We couldn't withstand those Bullets in '78, but '79 was a whole different story. Slick Watts, Dennis Johnson, Jack Sikma, Gus Williams... that's how we'll remember the '70's.

The '80's weren't anything special... by that time we were growing a little restless. Sure, we had a few memories... the trio of Tom Chambers, Dale Ellis, and X-Man Xavier McDaniel each averaging over 20 ppg in 1988-89... but other than that, mostly forgettable. To be honest, I was, for the first time, doubting that our relationship would hold up. But something happened toward the end of that decade: new life.

1989: With the 17th pick, the Seattle Sonics select Shawn Kemp.
1990: With the 2nd pick, the Seattle Sonics select Gary Payton.

See, we just needed that spark. I've always loved you, Sonics... but over time, the daily grind can get a little mundane. I just needed some excitement, some spontaneity. That wasn't too much to ask, was it? Of course not. We both enjoyed it. Of course, even then we were still fighting like a couple of savages. When we were good, we were real good... but there were those times when you would go and refuse to take your meds. You were doing so well all season, and then you ran into Mt. Mutombo. Relapse. We left our tears on the Key Arena hardwood, but we went straight to rehab and got you back on track for the next year. With a new lease on life, you knew what it would take to be the best. That 1995-96 season might have been our best year together. Sure, we didn't win it all... we ran into a certain tongue-wagging god in Nike's, in the midst of his prime... but I still enjoyed that year. Gary, Shawn, Nate, Hersey, Detlef, Sam... we all know them by their first names.

Those were the days, you know? I sometimes wish we could go back to that time, if only just to bask in the moment a little while longer. We knew what we had was special, but we didn't appreciate it enough. I guess we probably just assumed there would be many more years just like that. That the excitement would never cease... but eventually, all good things come to an end. I'm not saying this was the end, there were the Rashard and Ray years, which were fun but just weren't the same. We had that magical 2004-05 season where our love flickered back to life, but only momentarily.

We both saw this end coming long before now, but it seemed inevitable and I don't think either of us thought we could do anything to prevent it. Maybe we could have. Maybe we both should have tried a little harder. Nothing was ever good enough for you. I bought you that beautiful new $95 million renovation back in '95, and just 12 short years later: "This is unsuitable for NBA games. There aren't enough courtside seats. There aren't enough luxury boxes."

But then comes that moment when it finally hits you, that after 41 years together, this is really coming to an end. Up until now, it didn't seem real. Well it is real. This really is happening. So we make that last ditch effort, we see that there might be a future here after all. We're starting to see a little bit of why we got together in the first place bubble up again. Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Nick Collison, and now Russell Westbrook could all have been ours. Save our Sonics! Save our Sonics? Yeah, but it's much too late. Realization has come and gone, and it's time for acceptance. I'll accept the fact that you're leaving, but you'd better change your name. I can tell you you're not going to make it out there in Oklahoma, but you'll go anyway. You're stubborn, always have been. I'll find another Sonics someday... and when I do, I hope she's just like you.

Love,

City of Seattle
(Bennett Sucks!)

Rick Reilly's Latest "Life of Reilly"

noreply@blogger.com (SeattleSportScene) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:53:00 +0000

In Rick Reilly's latest column for ESPN (Life of Reilly), he delved into all of the different and extravagant ways professional athletes choose to waste all of their earnings. It's really funny because of the sarcasm that he brings with it... and it's really the only way to write an article like this. Don't pro athletes see their colleagues going bankrupt and think about it? My beef isn't just with the fact that they buy nice stuff... if you're making $10 million per year, you can buy very, very nice stuff. But if you have that kind of money, you can EASILY make much more. Put half of it in savings, invest it... something!

Take a middle-of-the-road MLB contract these days: 4 years, $30 million. You're making about $7.5 million per year. Now take half of that, $3.75 million, and throw it in an account where interest is accrued. Do that each year of your contract. When you have that kind of money in an account where it's gaining interest, just the amount of money you're gaining each year in interest is more than enough to live off of! Say this account gives you 5% interest per year. You're looking at making around $187,500 just the first year. The second year, you're looking at gaining $359,375. Third year $546,093. Fourth year $804,648.

I mean, come on! In just 4 years time, you've just made almost $2 million by just saving your money! And it's only going to keep going up from there... each year the interest accrued will be larger because the total sum is larger. Why don't professional athletes think about this? I know that being a superstar seems to be all about wasting money, making it rain, and spraying champagne... but when the career is over and it's all said and done, living off of a couple million dollars a year isn't a hard thing to do.

In staying with the sarcasm of Reilly's column, I'll say this: All pro athletes should look at Lofa Tatupu here. The man was arrested and served a DUI, but he was driving a very energy-efficient and value-priced Hyundai! Even with the DUI fines, and court costs... he's still saving money.

Sonics Draft

noreply@blogger.com (stu) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:43:00 +0000

While the draft never goes the way fans want it to go the 2008 draft for the Sonics was in my view a success. Our roster is bad enough that we needed big help in almost every position. The only two that are somewhat reliable are the shooting guard and small forward which are covered by Kevin Durant and Jeff Green. Kevin Durant should be a small forward but weighing about one ninety at six nine makes him much too weak to guard anyone. So when the draft was beginning I thought that we should be looking for a center or point guard. We need help at four but it isn't one of our most pressing problems with Chris Wilcox being a pretty productive player. So when it came to the fourth pick my first thought was Brook Lopez, he may not be a superstar but I see him being a solid player from the start of his rookie season. I thought if they went big he would be the pick (even though later on in the draft Dicky V. was sure that the Sonics had made a huge mistake not picking Love), but I thought that if they went small they would pick either Jerryd Bayless, Russell Westbrook, or Eric Gordon. I heard that they were leaning towards Bayless but they picked Westbrook. While he isn't a pure point guard he is going to be a great addition for the Sonics with his athleticism and defensive abilities. With the 24th pick Seattle picked Serge Ibaka. This seems like another Sene but I like this pick. We had six picks and obviously not all of them could be on the roster so with drafting this player who is playing in Europe we not only get a pretty good player but we get someone who can play in Europe for a year or two without costing the Sonics anything. As long as he plays in Europe we have to pay him zilch. The second round was basically filled with us trying to find a center, something we have been doing for far too long. Robert Swift(Swifty McVeigh), and Sene aren't every going to be good. We got a center from California and Sacha Kaun from Kansas, but I heard that Kaun will probably play in Russia because he has been offered a ton of money. I am very excited that we traded For D.J. White, there is something to say for a four year player at a big school like Indiana. They know how to win much more than a soft 18 European player. I think that our draft was very good but we will be in the draft next year too and if we get the first or second pick who knows, playoffs in three years? With everything looking bad for the Sonics this draft was a small ray of light

Greg Oden: We'll Let It Slide

noreply@blogger.com (SeattleSportScene) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 15:14:00 +0000

Here is a captivating photo of Greg Oden playing beer-pong. Last I checked, he was like 19, right? Although, since he does look like he's about 43, I'm okay with it. I've found that beer-pong really helps with your form, especially the follow-through... so I'm sure the Blazers are cool with it. Although judging from the picture, he doesn't appear to have a follow-through. In a totally random sequence of events, I see this profile on Myspace of this really foxy lady, so naturally I clicked on it. I check out her pics, and BAM there's Greg Oden. She's his partner in the beer-pong, and apparently her name is Bridgetta Tomarchio. Check out her IMDB page, she's kind of gorgeous.

On another note: I'd call leaning on him every time. "Get outta your face, Greg Oden?? I'll get inside your face."

So now the question: Who are we bringing in to replace everyone that's been fired?

noreply@blogger.com (SeattleSportScene) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 14:11:00 +0000

With the recent firings of, well... basically the whole organization, it's time to put some serious thought into some likely candidates for the job openings. I'm not going to waste my time trying to figure out who we're going to hire to be our new 3rd base coach and new hitting coach... but we'll stick with the main two: GM, and Manager.

This is all just my opinion and I have no idea what the Mariners will actually end up doing, or who they like, but I'm going to give you some names that I think should be in the running for GM. Let's start with Pat Gillick. He's saying that after the season is over, he's going to retire from the Phillies and hang 'em up for good. I say we might have a chance to persuade him otherwise. He's always liked the Mariners organization, and he also has a home in the Seattle area... sounds like a possibility. And yes, I know he's the guy who traded Ken Griffey Jr... but he wanted out, I'm not blaming that on Gillick.

Personally, I'd give Steve Phillips an interview as well. The guy is magic on Baseball Tonight, and his insights and baseball knowledge on the baseball telecasts are really good. He was the GM of the Mets from 1997-2003 and he assembled their World Series team that lost to the Yankees in 2000. He was basically like the wizard of drafting during his time there too. David Wright, Scott Kazmir, and Jose Reyes were all drafted by Phillips. Not a bad record, eh?

Now for Managers. My favorite one out there right now, who I think would be a great fit for the M's current roster, is Joey Cora. He played for Seattle from 1995-1998 and was always a fan favorite. Not only that, but he's bilingual and since most of our players are of Latin descent, it would be great to have him around. Now if only he knew Japanese...
Some other guys who the M's might want to look at are Buck Showalter and Terry Pendleton.

As for the trade deadline, I know everyone wants us to make a move but I'm not sure if it's the smart thing to do right now. Bedard has been a disappointment, but he's shown signs of being dominant... and if we trade him right now we're not going to get anything close to the value that we gave up to get him. I'd much rather see Jarod Washburn hit the road. At least we know for sure that he isn't good, so maybe if we traded him to an NL team he would finish out the rest of the year good for them. NL hitting is much weaker, and it might take them some time to adjust to him since he's been an AL guy his whole career. PLUS he's making way too much money to be the #4 starter and have an ERA that's somewhere in the clouds. We're basically screwed for this year, but let's just wait and see if Bedard can't at least improve his value a little bit by stringing together 3-4 good starts in a row, and then pull the trigger. Otherwise we're just digging an even bigger hole.

As for the rumors that the M's are shopping Ichiro... that's too bad. He's been a great team player for us for many years now, he's never complained, but you get the sense that he's tired of losing. I'm sure he regrets that emotional decision last year during our improbable run at the wild-card to sign an extension... but what's done is done. The Yankees are always talking about how much they covet Ichiro, but doing a deal with them is probably not going to work either because they've basically completely depleted their farm system in the last few years... but maybe getting a guy like Shelly Duncan and Ian Kennedy would work... I just doubt the Yanks would give them both up.

McLaren Finally Gets Canned

noreply@blogger.com (SeattleSportScene) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 02:03:00 +0000

It was inevitable. When you have an underperforming team, you've just fired your GM and brought someone else in, and it doesn't seem that the team is getting any better... we all know the likely next step. John McLaren was fired today, with this season's record sitting at 25-47. His complete record for the two half-seasons combined ended at 68-88. Now all that being said, I still don't know if it was the right decision. I have no doubt that McLaren is a good manager, but would anyone have won with this team? Don't get me wrong, if Jim Riggleman comes in and directs this team to a winning record from this point on, it will be deemed the right decision. I just don't think it's McLaren's fault. Bavasi assembled this team, and he was fired last week. I think what we've seen so far is that the players that he brought in through free-agency just haven't been good. The guys we've brought up from the minor leagues haven't been all that good, and if you're going to miss in free agency every time, you need to have a good farm system.

The obvious reasons are there. Sexson has had a horrible career as a Mariner. Every time there is a tight situation in a game, it seems like Sexson is ALWAYS up to bat. You basically know he's going to strike out when a pitcher is pitching him tough in a tight situation. Vidro is no longer a .300 hitter, and he has little power to be hitting where he is in the lineup. The catcher position has been horrible this year. Johjima lost the ability to get hits, for what reason I don't think anyone knows, so we responded by signing him to a 3-year extension. The thing I don't understand is that Johjima puts the ball in play very consistently... it just seems like he always hits it directly to someone. Jamie Burke has done little at the plate when replacing Johjima. Wilkerson was a bad signing too. Jose Lopez has THE WORST range I've ever seen from a 2nd baseman that's in the major leagues. I'm serious here! We've got to have someone who can play 2nd base in the minor leagues! We need to bring someone up who can field the position, and put Lopez at the DH. Every game I see someone get a hit on a dribbler past Lopez because he just can't move laterally.

I don't think the manager has as much to do with the success of a team as coaches do in other sports. Any manager who is in the big leagues obviously knows the game, and they know how to set a lineup. If there was something that you could point to that made McLaren a bad manager, I would like to hear it. Did he make any bad decisions to do with when to bring a pitcher out, or did he make bad substitutions? I don't think it really mattered what he did, because whenever he's gone to the bullpen this year, it's been a total crapshoot. Our bench contains the likes of Willie Bloomquist, Miguel Cairo, and Jamie Burke. Mike Morse would probably be starting somewhere by now, but he got hurt in the first month of the season and he's out for the year. I just don't think this is a winning team, regardless of who is leading them.

Clay Bennett Pulls A Roger Clemens

noreply@blogger.com (SeattleSportScene) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:54:00 +0000

So maybe they changed the rules and I didn't hear about it or something, but isn't lying under oath, like... a crime? In a few moments that brought me back to Roger Clemens' straight-faced lies he told to the judge in his congressional hearings... Clay Bennett is claiming that by saying he was "A man possessed!" he was, in fact, possessed to keep the Sonics in Seattle. Haha! Is he serious? Did he just think that the lawyers weren't going to present the rest of the email before the court? It's pretty obvious that there is no truth to his claims, which he was making under oath. Barry Bonds lied under oath, and now he's facing possible prison time. Roger Clemens definitely lied under oath, although he hasn't yet been charged. Now Bennett. Is it just because these men are rich and think that they can get away with whatever they want? If so, well alright... but rich people only get away with murder and violent crimes, not lying under oath.

For a complete recap of his testimony, visit this link: The Seattle Times

So... the Lakers suck then, right?

noreply@blogger.com (SeattleSportScene) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:15:00 +0000

I hate to say it, but the Lakers really looked horrible in the NBA Finals this year. Going into the start of the series, I went against my relative hatred of the Lakers and decided to root for them to beat the Celtics. My main reasoning behind this was that I'm a Sonics fan, and they're in the Western Conference too... so I should root for the Western Conference representative. I shouldn't have done it! I actually like more players on the Celtics than I do on the Lakers, even though Los Angeles does employ MY BOY... former UCLA standout Jordan Farmar. I've always been a Ray Allen fan. Seeing him leave the Sonics was slightly saddening, but I knew he'd be better off than just wasting away the end of his prolific career on a losing Seattle (or possibly Oklahoma City) Sonics team. I've also been a Rondo fan since his Kentucky days... I was hoping the Sonics would draft him (or any other capable point guard) and not Johan Petro, Muhammad Sene, or Robert Swift--but we all know how that turned out. Earl Watson, still running the ship. I have to say though, Petro, Sene, Swift, and Watson could have a great NBADL team if we went ahead and threw Gelebale in there. Just sayin'.

Here are my main beefs with the way the Lakers played in this series: First off, Lamar Odom played like he should be playing in the WNBA. Heck, Lauren Jackson would probably body him and scare him out of the paint. I just can't believe how bad both he and Pau Gasol played, and how soft they looked down the stretch of every big game. Everyone is constantly comparing Lamar Odom's game to Scottie Pippen... it's time they stopped doing this. Scottie Pippen was three times as physical as Odom, and he was an All-NBA defender who could guard positions 1-4 at any given time. Gasol was still a great steal, I mean, they only had to give up Kwame Brown and Javarris Crittendon... but until Andrew Bynum gets back healthy and frees the middle up a little bit, those guys aren't effective. They looked pretty good all season long, because nobody in the NBA plays defense until the playoffs. And that, folks, is why they suck.

One more thing: These Kobe Bryant-Michael Jordan comparisons have got to stop. I'm not like all these guys on TV feeling sorry for Kobe because he's constantly compared to Jordan... I just don't think it's even a legitimate comparison. He's the best all-around player in the NBA today, yes. Who cares? Jordan was the best player to play in ANY era. Go buy the Michael Jordan DVD set and watch his best 5 games. It's not even close! And the reason I don't feel sorry for Kobe isn't just because I hate the Lakers... it's because when people started comparing him to Jordan early in his career, he would always say something like, "Don't compare me to him. I'm not the next Michael Jordan. I'm the first Kobe Bryant. When I'm done playing you're going to be measuring players based on what I did in my career, not Jordan's." And isn't that a bunch of crap? I know he's insanely competitive, but come on. Jordan is a legend, keep your mouth shut Kobe.

Donaghy: Kings Got Screwed

noreply@blogger.com (SeattleSportScene) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 10:08:00 +0000

In a rare moment when one of my many pro sports conspiracies actually looks as if it may be true, Tim Donaghy submitted statements through his lawyer saying that the 2002 series between the Kings and Lakers was, indeed, somewhat doctored.

I'm a Seattle guy, I've always loved all the home teams... but I'm also a guy who likes to have a second team (except for in baseball). For pro football I'm a Seahawks guy, but ever since I was a little kid I was raised to be a 49ers fan. Growing up watching Joe Montana, Steve Young, Jerry Rice, Brent Jones, Roger Craig, Merton Hanks, Ricky Watters, and Eric Davis has had a lasting effect on my sports life. I first learned what a "bust" was by being brokenhearted that J.J. Stokes didn't pan out. If the two teams go against eachother, I'll usually go for the Seahawks, but ultimately I go for whichever team has a better chance in that given year. Usually they aren't both good in the same year, and actually one team is usually really good and the other is horrible, so it works out nicely. But back to my point...

The Kings have always been my "other" NBA team, after my first love, the Sonics. A lot of it had to do with the fact that two of my favorite college players of all time ended up there together at the same time: Mike Bibby and Chris Webber. I also really liked Doug Christy, Peja, and even J-Will once in a while. For about 2-3 years, this was a legitimately GOOD team. In 2002 they were even possibly a GREAT team. All year, I knew that this was going to be the year that we overtook the Lakers and went to the Finals. Of course the ultimate goal was to win the NBA Finals, but for me, beating the Lakers was even better than that. The Lakers were easy to hate, with arguably the two best players in the league both sharing the spotlight. Throw in homers like Rick Fox, Robert Horry, Devean George, Stanislav Medvedenko, and Mark Madsen in there... how could you not hate them?

Setting: Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals
I remember this game like it was yesterday. You know when something horrible happens, and you remember it in detail and exactly where you were when it happened? Well I was watching this game in my living room, with one of my best friends who is a Lakers fan (bandwagon). The Kings thoroughly outplayed the Lakers, and honestly they really were the better team on the court for the entire game, even though they were getting absolutely screwed for basically the whole game. Vlade Divac and Chris Webber were both in foul trouble all game long, and both were issued technical fouls in the 2nd quarter when Kobe Bryant obviously should have been the one to get T'd up. Then comes the 4th quarter. The Lakers shot 27 free throws, making 21. Now let's put this in perspective: If they had shot free throws at that rate for the entirety of the game, they would have been issued 108 free throws. Say they would have maintained that average, they would have scored 84 points just off of free throws. Thats ludicrous! The only other time I've felt this slighted in a professional sporting event was Super Bowl XL when the Steelers had the Lombardi trophy handed to them on a silver platter.

Which brings me to my main point. I know that Donaghy is facing prison time, and I know that it's possible that the more info Donaghy gives the prosecutors, the lesser his sentence will be. But I also know that pro sports is a business, and a very lucrative one too. If someone wants to tell me that the NFL, NBA, or MLB have never had any influence on what happens in the outcome of a single game over the years, I'll tell you you're dreaming. Game-fixing has been happening as long as sports have been happening. Shoeless Joe Jackson and the "Black Sox Scandal" in which 8 members of the 1919 Chicago White Sox fixed the World Series? Yes, that happened. And that's long before pro baseball was a big business. Why would the NBA want a game 7 in the Western Conference Finals that year? Because they stood to make truckloads of money if there was one. And you think they didn't want the Lakers to go to the NBA Finals that year? LA's market is probably at least 10 times the size of Sacramento's market. Not only are we talking about TV ratings, we're also talking about how much merchandise will be sold. The ideal matchup in the Finals on any given year would be Lakers vs. either the Celtics, or the Knicks.

I'm not saying that David Stern would have personally told these refs, "Hey look guys, we need you to fix this game. Do it however you think is best, make horrible calls, I don't care... just make sure there is a Game 7." But through intermediaries, there are ways to do this. Maybe Stern knew nothing about it? There are plenty of NBA executives who would benefit. If you were an NBA ref and some NBA execs approached you saying "Hey, we've got $100,000 for each of you if the Lakers somehow win this series. If you do your job and promise to never say a word about it, the money is yours." --do you think they're going to tell anyone about it? Not a chance. Maybe your conscience would take a toll on you, but you've still got that boatload of money to think about. My lips would definitely be sealed. And it's the same for the NFL. When the Steelers were in the Super Bowl 3 years ago, the TV ratings were the highest they had been in 10 years... since the last time the Steelers were in the Super Bowl. The NFL stood to make ten times as much money if the Steelers won, and someone made sure that would happen. I'm not mad at Steelers fans, and I'm not mad at Lakers fans, I'm just mad at the leagues. Yes pro sports is a business, but you're going to make money either way. Let the games play out and let the best team win.

The Kid Knocks Number 600

noreply@blogger.com (SeattleSportScene) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 11:59:00 +0000

Adding yet another landmark achievement to possibly the first unanimous Hall of Fame career, Ken Griffey Jr belted his 600th HR of his career into the stands in Florida yesterday. Having grown up idolizing Junior, not only was this a big moment in the history of baseball, but it was a huge moment for me personally as well... and probably for most Seattle Mariner fans. Although we're celebrating a huge stat today, Griffey's career can't be measured by stats alone. Baseball is the biggest "stats" game, but the impact that The Kid had on baseball in the Seattle area and probably the whole country can't be measured. Say what you want, read off Bonds' numbers or read off the number of world championships that Derek Jeter has... but let me say this: Ken Griffey Jr was, by far, the best baseball player I ever saw in my lifetime. Even if A-Rod can avoid injury and goes on to break the all-time home run mark someday, I don't think I can say that he's more talented than Griffey. And I'm one of the few M's fans that absolutely loves Alex Rodriguez.

I was 6 years old when Griffey broke into the league, which is absolutely awesome. It's the perfect age for a player like that to come onto the scene for your home town team. You're just getting to the point where you can actually comprehend the game, and you start to form allegiances with players and teams. I was actually just busting onto the scene for my t-ball team in the same year. Our team name: the Mariners. I don't think I can legitimately explain the fight everyone had for the right to wear the number 24 jersey. Literally every kid on the team wanted it, and in the end I settled for 14, but I didn't go down without a fight.

I never saw Willie Mays play. His numbers are slightly better than Junior's, and everyone who saw Willie Mays play say he and Griffey are the two best athletes to ever play the game. I would have loved to have seen Mays play, but since I didn't I will just list the numbers.

Mays career numbers are as follows: .302 BA, 660 HR's, 3,283 hits, 1903 RBI, 338 SB's, 21-time All Star selection, 12-time Gold Glove winner, 1951 NL ROY, 2-time NL MVP, 2-time All Star Game MVP.

Griffey's career numbers: .289 BA, 600 HR's, 2615 hits, 1730 RBI, 184 SB's, 13-time All Star selection, 10-time Gold Glove winner, 1997 AL MVP.

Now let's remember, Griffey is still adding to these stats. I'm not saying he'll pass up Mays in many of them, because nobody is quite sure how much he has left in the tank... but if he had been healthy his entire career, I think it's a pretty safe bet that he gets the nod in HR's, RBI, hits, Gold Gloves, and probably MVP's as well. Until his departure from Seattle, Griffey's projected HR total was well above Bonds, and it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 800 HR's. I think Bonds was always a great player, and he benefited from the weaker NL for quite a few years... but there's no ignoring the fact that he juiced. The numbers that Griffey put up during his prime (or what time of it that he was healthy) are staggering. Year by year, here are the numbers of the crazy 5-year tear Junior went on from 1996-2000. HR's: 49, 56, 56, 48, 40. RBI: 140, 147, 146, 134, 118. Griffey is between 26-30 there. Looking at the same age numbers for Bonds, good, but not as good. HR's: 33, 25, 34, 46, 37. RBI: 114, 116, 103, 123, 81. It wasn't until much later in his career, when he was around the age of 36 that he started putting up crazy, off-the-chart numbers. Coincidence? Uhhhh, YEAH. Bonds was nowhere near on-track to set the all time home run mark before this amazing explosion in power, and Griffey was on track to blow it away... and without steroids.

The thing that stands out about Griffey to me, besides the fact that he's got the world's most perfect swing and was one of the most fearless centerfielders to ever roam the outfield, is his personality. When I was about 6 or 7 years old, my dad took me to my first Mariners game. Now we didn't have the best seats, we were somewhere in one of the upper levels of the Kingdome, but we got there early enough to catch batting practice and get some autographs from the players. Junior stood signing for kids for longer than anyone else on the team. I waited about 30 minutes before I finally got his signature, but the entire time he just stood there cracking jokes with fans, smiling, and being a great guy. He's always had this aspect about his personality that draws all the attention to him, but without actually being full of himself or arrogant. He's just one of those guys with an electric personality and charm. If you know him personally, you probably consider him to be one of the best guys in the world. If you've only met him in passing, you probably wish you could have gotten to know him better.

I'm a Mariner through-and-through, and watching all of our best players leave over the years was a bit painful, but I understood it. It's a business. When Griffey was nearing free-agency, whatever he was going to sign for was about to be the largest contract in baseball history and the M's weren't going to be able to fork it out. Something funny that I remember from the M's-Reds trade talks was that the only player that the Reds absolutely would not part with was Pokey Reese. It almost brought an end to negotiations because that was the guy that the Mariners wanted. What a difference a few years makes, huh?

I would rather have seen Griffey hitting 600 with a Mariners jersey on, but that doesn't make it any less special to me. He ignited my love for baseball as a kid, and I'll never forget the great moments watching him. All the diving catches, most notably the one where he went crashing into the Kingdome wall and still made the catch. When he scored from 2nd base on Edgar's base-hit to win the division, and the ensuing dog-pile at home plate. The 8-game home run streak in 1993. All the great moments watching him and Jay Buhner ham it up in the outfield. Congrats Junior. You might never win a World Series, you might never get that HR record, but you're still the best player I've ever gotten to see play the game.

TV Roundup: Wednesday, May 21

noreply@blogger.com (SeattleSportScene) — Thu, 22 May 2008 04:53:00 +0000

I watched some good ol fashioned television tonight. Below are the shows/events that I watched and what I drew from my observations.

2008 UEFA Championship - Manchester United vs. Chelsea
This was a very, very good match. As exciting as it was, it's really annoying to watch all these soccer divas taking dives and acting as if every time someone bumps into them that they are dying a horrible death. Is this really necessary? They're all incredibly fit, can run almost non-stop for 90 minutes (or in this case, 120 minutes) and give everything their bodies will let them. Then you see Ashley Cole get bumped in the head and he's down on the ground motionless for 3 minutes before finally getting to his feet and... it turns out, he's completely fine. I'm a big soccer fan, I enjoy watching the good teams play... but this aspect of the game really annoys me. I can't stand watching the Spurs because they act like a soccer team on the court. Manu constantly flopping, Tim Duncan constantly complaining about every call... anyway, enough of that. The match turned out going into two extra periods, and finally ended in a 1-1 tie. A shootout determined the URFA Championship, and Manchester United came through victorious after John Terry missed the clinching goal for Chelsea wide-right.

American Idol
I only watched this episode and one other episode the entire season, because, well... I think it's really stupid. Now, that being said... I don't blame people for watching it. There's nothing else on Wednesday nights to watch, and I'll go ahead and assume that most people who aren't crazy about sports like I am are probably watching it. I just have one question for this show: why do you think most of the people who are on American Idol aren't already famous singers with bands selling millions of albums? Because they aren't creative. There are plenty of very good vocalists out there, as evidenced by the show, but only a select few can put together that vocal talent with the kind of creativity that makes for good music. Look at most of the really good bands out there... most of them have good lead singers, but I guarantee that most of them wouldn't be able to win the American Idol contest. Take some of the best lead singers off of some of the most popular bands of all-time and they don't make the cut for American Idol. Anthony Keidis? Nope. Brandon Boyd? Maybe, but probably not. Paul McCartney? He actually might, he does do Disney songs. Mick Jagger? Nooo freakin' way. Point is: they are famous because they have an incredible amount of creativity. Every once in a while you get someone like Blake Lewis who has the kind of creativity that you need to be successful... but most of the people who become famous because of American Idol are only famous because of that. All 12-17 year old girls will buy their albums, because they're SOOOO cute and they will be called successful. Most of the people who are good in the show sound like they're singing a Disney song... and they'll probably be no-names 10 years down the road because eventually people will forget about them being on the show, and they don't have the personal creativity to sustain a successful career. Anyway, David Cook won which is a whole lot better than if that little boy had won. At least David Cook is old enough that he can possibly put out something decent.

NBA Western Conference Finals: Spurs @ Lakers
Kobe finished the 1st half with 2 points and 5 assists, on only 3 shot attempts. The 2nd half was another story. Kobe scored 25 in the 2nd half, and just completely dominated the end of the game. He made Manu look especially bad on a few plays, but for the most part he just made Bruce Bowen look bad. I'm crossing my fingers and counting my lucky charms that the Lakers can win this series. The ratio between how much I hate the Spurs and, conversely, how much I always have to watch the Spurs come playoff time is off the charts. The only team that even competes with the Spurs as far as most boring to watch is probably the Jazz, with the Jazz taking the title. At least Manu does some nice between-the-legs stuff that would be a much bigger deal if he wasn't the one doing it. The Lakers took game 1 by a score of 89-85 and I'm happy, for now.

10 Biggest Disappointments In Recent Memory

noreply@blogger.com (SeattleSportScene) — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:29:00 +0000

The 2008 edition of the Seattle Mariners have been the biggest disappointment for me in quite some time. We can go back pretty far here, if need be. I'm compiling a list of my biggest disappointments, in order of least disappointing to most disappointing, and it's all just off the top of my head so if you think I missed something then comment and let me know. I'm sure I did. Anyway, let the list begin!

10) American ~~Gangster~~ Wankster: I stood in line for two hours on opening night in a packed Seattle theater to see this movie. It looked so cool in the previews... a gangster flick with Denzel. You kiddin' me? What more could we ask for? Well, turns out it sucks. After about 30 minutes (and that's including previews) I wanted to leave, and it turns out that my buddy who was with me felt the same way, but neither of us said anything until afterwards because we both knew how much we had gone through to see this movie. It's like they took the movie Blow, took out the good parts, and made it more boring.

9) 50 Cent's "Curtis": What a horrible CD! All this talk about whose album sales would be higher, 50 Cent's or Kanye's? Well since I've been a fan of both of them for quite a while, I decided to partake in the game and find out for myself which was better. Plus both CD's were only $9.00 at Target the first day they were out, so I figured, why not? Terrible. I can't even think of a word bad enough for it. The only decent song is "Ayo Technology" and it shouldn't even be on the album. 90% of the song is Justin Timberlake and Timbaland, basically with 50 on a piece of the hook and a short verse. JT should have just put the song on his own album.

8) Seahawks vs. Steelers - Super Bowl XL: Going into the playoffs, neither team was a Super Bowl pick, but they both played very well throughout the playoffs and made it. Seattle played exceptionally well, although some might say the NFC was much weaker that year than the AFC. Either way, once the game finally started it didn't matter. Watching that Super Bowl will forever be one of the worst things I've ever done, and one of the least enjoyable games I've ever had to witness. I will say one thing, aiming at being impartial: it was the most boring, ugliest Super Bowl I can ever remember watching. That being said, as a huge Seahawks fan, I was extremely mad. While I won't rant on and on about how we got screwed, I will say that we did, in fact, get screwed. I'm a big believer in conspiracies, and with the NFL set to profit ten times as much from a Steelers victory as it would from a Seahawks win, I will forever believe that it wasn't completely fair. I don't blame the people of Pittsburgh, or Steelers fans... and I won't be spitting in anyone's food because of it. Don't be surprised if you find me arrested one day for spitting in Jerramy Stevens' burger, though.

7) Microwavable Hamburger Helper: This came out about 6 months ago, and when I saw it I was instantly ecstatic. So, you mean to tell me that I can have Hamburger Helper, but I don't have to spend 30+ minutes cooking it, or even really do anything but put it in the microwave? I'll take ten! Turns out it isn't very good... they come in individual servings, which are really only about 3 bites each. So the challenge is figuring out the right ratio of other ingredients to put in when you're cooking 4 packets at a time. It's impossible, it always either comes out like slop or the noodles aren't fully cooked. Don't buy it!

6) Having the 5th pick in my fantasy football league this year: The 5th pick this year was a horrible spot to be in. The first 4 picks were all pretty basic stuff. You would have been crazy to pass on LT, Larry Johnson had been a beast the previous year, Frank Gore had an amazing year with a mediocre team, and Stephen Jackson is... well, he's predator. So that leaves me at the 5th pick. There's only one back left who was consensus 5th pick range, and that was Shaun Alexander. I figured he'd bounce back big from his injury-riddled previous season, and it would turn out to be a smart move. Not so. Not only was he horrible, but I couldn't even trade him for someone decent halfway through the season because there was a trade block on each team's first 2 or 3 picks.

5) Any concert at the White River Amphitheater: After going to concerts my whole life at another outdoor venue in Washington, the Gorge Amphitheater, I was expecting so much, and got so little. The Gorge @ George is beautiful, it's somewhat personal, and the camping is off the chain! If you go to White River expecting anything close to that, save yourself the time. In fact, it sucks so much that you can't even find a picture of it on the website... so I'll give you a pic of The Gorge instead. It's huge, which means that paying for general admission (grass) ticket is horrible. The stage is like a mile away, you can barely hear the music, and the bands just look like little ants jumping around. Basically you're watching the big screens that they have hanging on each side of the stage. Not fun for me, and I don't see how it could be any fun for the band playing.

4) That time freshman year of college when I lost in the NCAA College Football '04 Tournament to my roommate Kyle. We had 4 roommates, and only 3 bedrooms. This meant that the winner of the tournament got the nice room with the personal bathroom, while whoever lost would have to share a room with our roommate Andy. It was an epic battle, going into double OT... but in the end, Notre Dame prevailed over Texas. I had to spend the whole year sharing a room with another guy, and had to sleep on a twin bed because we couldn't fit both of our full size beds in the room. Twin beds aren't cool, by the way.

3) Assorted other music disappointments: Kurt Cobain committing (alleged) suicide, Rage Against the Machine's fallout, and Chris Cornell's career post-Soundgarden (mixture of Audioslave's 2nd album, along with his own solo album). Now I still don't think Cobain committed suicide. If you believe that, then do a little research and then try to convince me otherwise. Experts have said that he had enough heroin in his bloodstream to kill a full-grown horse 12 times over. And he pulled the trigger on a shotgun after that? And the shotgun was still sitting on his lap in his hands afterwards? I don't think so. As for RATM, it was sad for many years for me, but now that they're back touring again I'm holding out hope of another album in the next couple of years. And Cornell... well let's just say I'm no longer a fan. He's got a good voice, and it fit Soundgarden perfectly... but I don't think I'm stretching it to say that now that the smoke has cleared, he wasn't the creative force behind that band.

2) The 2008 Mariners: In Seattle, there were talks of a possible World Series team residing in the 206 this year. After last season where a young, unheralded team made a run at the division for about 95% of the season before the starting pitching finally fell apart, things were looking very good in the preseason. Our starting pitching need had been addressed, trading for ace Erik Bedard while signing Carlos Silva through free-agency. The young guys who were on the brink of making the big leagues last year were another year along, so depth wasn't a concern entering the season. Since the actual games started, however, things are a bit different. While Bedard has been a good addition so far, the M's can't score runs. It's hard to get wins when you score ZERO every game. Putz got hurt, then Bedard got hurt twice, then Silva went down for a week, Richie still sucks, Vidro is looking old and past the point of even being a contributor, Wilkerson was a huge flop (he's now on the Blue Jays), Johjima is playing down to the level of the rest of this vaunted lineup, Betancourt appears to have digressed from the huge improvements he made last year both defensively and at the plate, and Lopez did his usual hot-start then go back to being bad routine. The only players who have been doing their part so far are Ichiro, Beltre, and Ibanez. The pitching has been good for the most part, but when you're losing 12-13 to the Texas Rangers in extra innings, after scoring ZERO about ten games in a row previously, things just don't seem to be looking up. We recently were shut down by Vincente Padilla. Nothing against him, he may be a very nice guy... but he's not good. He's horrible, we should shell him every time he throws a pitch anywhere to the strike zone. Add to my frustration the fact that we have journalists in the Seattle Times saying that we shouldn't be pursuing Ken Griffey Jr. Why not? Because we don't want to screw any of this great success up? Are we going to give someone away that is a future star? I'll gladly take Griffey's $12-million salary for a year, we're paying Richie Sexson $15 million this year to hit .200 and strike out every other at-bat. At least Griffey would put people in the seats and give us Seattle fans something to look forward to. If he is only a shell of the player he was the last time he put on that M's uniform, I don't care. He's still the face of the franchise, even after an 8-year hiatus.

1) The Oklahoma City ~~Sonics~~ Raiders: This one is self-explanatory. I could rant for days about this, and I doubt anyone would stop me, but I digress. If David Stern honestly thinks that an NBA team is going to do just as well or better in that market, he's the small-minded one here. He's buddies with "Cash-Us" Clay Bennett, and he's pretending like everything he's doing is okay. Give them an expansion team! Am I supposed to believe that Stern thought that Bennett & Co. were really going to stay in town? Our arena was remodeled only 12 years ago, and we're still paying for it. Why would we build them a whole new one? I'm proud of Seattle for not giving in to the pressures of Stern, because now the professional sporting world is seeing what happens when you try to pressure a city into building a new stadium when you don't need one. Why should we buy those jerks anything?! Nobody wanted to buy Howard Schultz a $500 million new arena, and he was a Seattle icon a few short years ago. Why would we change our minds in the face of pressure from bunch of jerks from OKC and David "Sell-Em-Out" Stern? I'm sad we aren't going to have the Sonics any longer, especially now that I love Durant. We're going to have a top pick again, and the odds favor us getting the 2nd pick in the draft this year: either Beasley or Rose. Watching them play in OKC isn't going to be easy, because I'll always know that they're my team, but there's no way I'll support them. Giving any money to Clay Bennett is out of the question, so I guess I'll be an NBA widow for now.

Some Good Key Arena Happenings

noreply@blogger.com (SeattleSportScene) — Sun, 11 May 2008 07:15:00 +0000

So this first one is a video where David Stern praises Key Arena for the quality of the facility.

Next, we have video of the Seattle crowd chanting "Bennett sucks!" at the final Sonics home game. Awesome!

A Celtics-Pistons Fight For the Ages

noreply@blogger.com (SeattleSportScene) — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:40:00 +0000

Came upon this video via TheBigLead, via The Commission. Probably the worst takedown I've ever seen, and I think it's awesome how Bird just launches the ball back at him. A classic!

Boom, LOST! "Cabin Fever" thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (SeattleSportScene) — Fri, 09 May 2008 13:31:00 +0000

Okay, look... nobody in their right mind can actually think they know what's going on right now--but that doesn't mean I don't wanna talk about it. Here are my random thoughts, in no particular order, about what occurred last night on Lost.

-So it seems to me that there are two separate teams: Team Widmore, and Team Ben/Richard. Obviously they are both trying to influence the future, most notably the future of John Locke. The tricky thing to figure out here is who works for whom.

-In my humble (and most likely wrong) opinion, Christian Shephard is working for Charles Widmore. The reason that I don't think he's on Ben/Richard's side is that Ben had a list of people that he had apparently "chosen" and Claire, Ana-Lucia, and Sawyer weren't on it. So they must have been on Widmore's list then, right? Christian influenced the lives of Jack, Claire, Sawyer, and Ana-Lucia... and those are just the ones we know of. So staying with the trends of Lost, it leads me to believe that it wasn't just fate that led Christian to conversing with Ana-Lucia at the airport. I don't think it was just by chance that he ran into Sawyer at the deserted bar in Australia either. Some way or another, Christian has influenced the lives of all of these people, making sure that they were all on that flight, and that they all ended up on that island.

-I think Matthew Abaddon (tall black dude helping Locke in physical therapy; also visits Hurley in the mental institution earlier in the season) is on Widmore's team as well, because while Richard is trying to influence Locke toward one thing, Abaddon is influencing him in the exact opposite. Richard wants him to be the scientist (not wanting him to choose the knife), while Abaddon wants Locke to choose the super-hero way of things. It appears that both sides know that Locke is special and if he can be influenced at all in their direction, he will be a huge asset... which is why Richard seems to be upset when Locke chooses the knife and basically gives up on him. He knows that his fate will still lead him to the other side of things, and possibly overthrow them eventually? (Just a thought)

-It seems pretty clear that Locke is going to be a deciding factor in how this whole thing ends. Ben seems to know from the outset that Locke isn't what they want him to be, and he isn't their man. Richard continues to have hope though, and hopes that he can either start to show promise, or that they can change him. Ben knows that he's going to eventually be the downfall of them though, and that's probably why he shot Locke and left him for dead last season, even though he knew that Locke probably wouldn't die. I think he was just hoping that he would, somehow.

-I'm waiting for a reappearance of Walt. If John Locke is going to be on the Widmore/Abaddon side of things, Walt is probably going to play a role as the savior of the Ben/Richard side. They said from the beginning that Walt was "special" and I don't think this was for no reason. Walt and Locke are both going to be each side's respective "special savior" of sorts.

False Advertisement? I Think So

noreply@blogger.com (SeattleSportScene) — Thu, 01 May 2008 06:57:00 +0000

I've been thinking quite a bit lately about how much false advertisement I see around me on a daily basis. About 100 times a day, I see commercials on TV that claim their show is "The #1 Show On TV", and sometimes it's a show I've never even seen before. Not only that, but I don't think I know a single person that HAS seen this show. So what exactly makes this show the best one on TV? Did one person say that? And... isn't that, like... your opinion, man?

Take for example: The Closer. I've been watching WAY TOO MUCH TNT lately, because the NBA Playoff games are on their network. Now for about 95% of the year, I don't watch anything on TNT, because I don't think there's anything good to watch. I don't know anyone that does watch a show on TNT. Yet every commercial I see on TNT proclaims that The Closer is "TV's #1 Drama." Okay, now maybe it is, and maybe it isn't... but what about CSI? Now I don't like CSI, and I won't ever watch The Closer, but I'm pretty sure that CSI is viewed in more homes nationally than The Closer. It's on one of the big 3 networks.

Another example: Tyler Perry's House of Payne. Now this looks like the crappiest show of all time, and I can tell all of this purely from the previews. What is with this Tyler Perry guy? Why does everything affiliated with his name suck? And an even better question: Why does everyone keep putting"Tyler Perry's..." in front of the name of the show? I've seen the previews for a couple of movies that he's written, or produced, or whatever he does to get his name on them... and they are crap. Pure crap. That's like being a butcher, and naming your business "The Donner Party Meats" or something. Not gonna buy that one. One more point. Tyler Perry has to have a record for the most ad's I've seen that call his shows "TV's #1 Comedy" without anyone ever seeing the actual show. Honestly.

Now I'm going to go in another direction: Ads on websites. How is it legal to put a giant ad in the middle of someone's page that says "sign up for this, and you get $500" or "do this survey and you get $250" and such. I mean, you know those companies aren't giving out money to anyone. All that happens once you click on them is you enter your email address and suddenly you're bombarded by thousands of companies sending you a bunch of crap in your email. And if you dare to open one of these emails, you're in even more crap. You'll never see a penny, and your entire email will be ruined and you'll need a whole new email address. Why do they do this? Are there people that actually sign up and buy things from them? I mean, there must be, right? I don't know anyone who has ever done this, and I know quite a few people. Seems fishy.

David Letterman's Top 10 George Bush Moments

noreply@blogger.com (SeattleSportScene) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 21:15:00 +0000

Derrick Rose Fights For Love, Loses

noreply@blogger.com (SeattleSportScene) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:10:00 +0000

It has come to light recently as to why Memphis phenom Derrick Rose didn't have a news conference to declare that he is entering the NBA Draft. Apparently, he was in a scrap with a Memphis football player over a girl. Most thought it was because he is extremely shy and avoids the cameras as much as possible. But apparently the fight didn't turn out how Rose had hoped, and he was a little too nicked up to show his face to the national media. Read the full story here (CBS Sports).

Save Our Sonics

noreply@blogger.com (SeattleSportScene) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 22:24:00 +0000

Someone Give Bogut Some Love!

noreply@blogger.com (SeattleSportScene) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:03:00 +0000

Andrew Bogut with another example of how crappy it must be to play for the Bucks.

If They Were From Idaho...

noreply@blogger.com (SeattleSportScene) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 18:09:00 +0000

Drawf Team, Assemble!

noreply@blogger.com (SeattleSportScene) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 02:07:00 +0000

Never say you've seen it all. There is a new Brazilian futbol team, and it's completely full of dwarves. Check out Team Gigantes De Norte!