The bad news is that the Bears lost at home to an inferior team that's been particularly bad on the road. And the offense didn't look good at all. Honestly the offensive line is going to have to step up and give Cutler some time. If they can't run and can't pass, they can't win long term. Hopefully Garza and Briggs are back soon because they team doesn't have enough depth to play hurt. And 0-12 on 3rd down conversions should clue them in whatever they're doing isn't working.
The good news is that after 6 weeks, the number of NFC team with a better record than the Bears is 0. There are 4 other teams at 4-2. And the Bears are one of only 8 teams fighting for 5 playoff spots. This assumes that only the NFC West champion will make the playoffs (likely but not a guarantee), the Cowboys at 1-4 are done (hard to see them going 8-3 and 9-7 probably isn't a playoff team anyway), and the Bucs 3-2 is simply an artifact of an easy first two games. And the 8 includes Washington and Minnesota, neither of whom are necessarily good.
Unfortunately there's a bad, bad side. The Bears next three weeks are Washington at home, bye, and at Buffalo. They should be 6-2 after that but the Redskins have shown some flashes; we can re-assess in another two hours. However the second half of the season is a nightmare. Except for one game at Detroit, they play potential playoff team every week. By the time they play the Vikings in week 15, Minnesota's goose may have been cooked but that still looks to be team you won't walk over. The good news is the Jets, Patriots, and Eagles all come to Soldier Field which means they're likely to win one of those. Still 3-5 or even 2-6 isn't out of the question.
You play the games one at a time, but basically the Bears have to beat Washington and Buffalo then home they can manage to go 4-4 the rest of the way and finish at 10-6, which almost certainly gets them in the playoffs. Or it's going to be a disappointing season that started 4-1 and didn't finish with a playoff berth, which would sadly mean the end for Lovie Smith.
Showing posts with label seattle sports. Show all posts
Showing posts with label seattle sports. Show all posts
Sunday, October 17
Saturday, July 31
July Update
It's pretty clear that my blog has been neglected the past month. Even without a 9-5 job July is pretty crazy busy. I looked at the start of the month and there were about 5 days where Monica and I were actually free in the evenings and two of them were last night and tonight. A couple others opened up, but it's busy, busy, busy.
Softball really becomes a dominant factor in July. We have weeknight games which are always challenging to field a team. The playoffs start and takes a lot of time to get my team RSVPs and get ready for games. As league commissioner there are a lot of little things to deal with -- questions, complaints, issues, players going postal on umpires, etc. Oh and then I actually have to play softball. We won our first two games, including knocking off the #1 seed which was a great start. But then a bit injured and a bit shorthanded dropped our next two to finish in 3rd place. 3rd out of 11 teams isn't bad but when you think you have a championship caliber team and there are only 4 real contenders, 3rd of 4 isn't that exciting. Still we had a pretty good year, had a lot of fun, and were well behaved. My team actually likes each other which is a good thing.
Mariners. Yuck. Still going to a lot of games and watching/listening to my team. Cubs, ditto though obviously I'm not going to games. Can baseball season be over yet? I can't recall a year where my teams had so much "potential" and were so terrible. Can't believe the excitement is the Cubs reaching for .500 and the Mariners trying to avoid 100 losses.
Busy around the house. Deck is done. Hardwood floors are done. I put in grout between the hardwood floor and the tile edges. Learned a lot and will be easier next time. Of course, "next time" will probably be 20 years down the road and I won't remember anything. Don't you hate when that happens. Have been watering plants and the lawn now that summer has arrived and it doesn't rain anymore. Sadly everything is too wet in May and June and then dies in July and August. Re-arranged the art with help from my parents.
My mom and dad visited for 5 days last weekend and I spent a lot of time running around town with them. We mainly spent time at the Belleve Arts Fairs. Monica and I bought a few things for our house and my parents found an anniversary gift for us -- though we have to pick what we want and order it -- but I'm not sure they actually bought anything despite hours of looking at arts and crafts. They also helped with hanging art as noted. They are helpful, but it's really more their presence inspires me to hang things up. And dad likes putting up pictures.
Tommy has been getting acupuncture twice a week and will start the underwater treadmill next week. We're trying to strengthen his back and legs or at least make sure they don't get any worse. Cocoa has horrible yeast infections in his ears that won't quite clear up. They're better especially in one ear, but we're still working on it. Hunny Bear is good. He's suddenly the easy one.
With all that, I really haven't played much poker. I active in online forums thinking about my game, but really need to find time to play. Hard to believe, but someone it never quite happens.
Softball really becomes a dominant factor in July. We have weeknight games which are always challenging to field a team. The playoffs start and takes a lot of time to get my team RSVPs and get ready for games. As league commissioner there are a lot of little things to deal with -- questions, complaints, issues, players going postal on umpires, etc. Oh and then I actually have to play softball. We won our first two games, including knocking off the #1 seed which was a great start. But then a bit injured and a bit shorthanded dropped our next two to finish in 3rd place. 3rd out of 11 teams isn't bad but when you think you have a championship caliber team and there are only 4 real contenders, 3rd of 4 isn't that exciting. Still we had a pretty good year, had a lot of fun, and were well behaved. My team actually likes each other which is a good thing.
Mariners. Yuck. Still going to a lot of games and watching/listening to my team. Cubs, ditto though obviously I'm not going to games. Can baseball season be over yet? I can't recall a year where my teams had so much "potential" and were so terrible. Can't believe the excitement is the Cubs reaching for .500 and the Mariners trying to avoid 100 losses.
Busy around the house. Deck is done. Hardwood floors are done. I put in grout between the hardwood floor and the tile edges. Learned a lot and will be easier next time. Of course, "next time" will probably be 20 years down the road and I won't remember anything. Don't you hate when that happens. Have been watering plants and the lawn now that summer has arrived and it doesn't rain anymore. Sadly everything is too wet in May and June and then dies in July and August. Re-arranged the art with help from my parents.
My mom and dad visited for 5 days last weekend and I spent a lot of time running around town with them. We mainly spent time at the Belleve Arts Fairs. Monica and I bought a few things for our house and my parents found an anniversary gift for us -- though we have to pick what we want and order it -- but I'm not sure they actually bought anything despite hours of looking at arts and crafts. They also helped with hanging art as noted. They are helpful, but it's really more their presence inspires me to hang things up. And dad likes putting up pictures.
Tommy has been getting acupuncture twice a week and will start the underwater treadmill next week. We're trying to strengthen his back and legs or at least make sure they don't get any worse. Cocoa has horrible yeast infections in his ears that won't quite clear up. They're better especially in one ear, but we're still working on it. Hunny Bear is good. He's suddenly the easy one.
With all that, I really haven't played much poker. I active in online forums thinking about my game, but really need to find time to play. Hard to believe, but someone it never quite happens.
Thursday, May 20
Day 11 and 12, Sports
Met a friend for breakfast at the Original Pancake House in Kirkland. On weekends this place is packed crazy, hard to find parking, and basically you give your name and walk around for 45 minutes. I was surprised that at 8:30 during the week I could park right in front and the place was empty.
Spent a bunch of time Wednesday trying to get my softball team in order. Everyone seems to be out of town this weekend and I'm trying to find subs to show up at 10 AM. Fun, fun, NOT. Also the floor guy came back to check on the hardwoods and how they're "settling". Can see the cherry wood getting darker already. We set the official date for him to finish and talked about doing the stairs as well. Will all wait until I'm back from Vegas.
Wednesday night went to the second Storm game of the season. I've been to two of two games so far and will likely make about two games the rest of the year. As I expected they were sloppy at times and looked great at times. They trailed most of the game but put in together in the last three minutes and won by 3. In the end it's a W not an L and that's all that counts.
Started some research on electric toothbrushes for Monica (why aren't these called teethbrushes?) and continued today. Down to a handful of choices. Basically got up today, had breakfast, did some misc stuff, tried to walk Hunny Bear until the drizzle turned to pouring rain and got ready to go to the Mariners game. When Aaron and I split up tickets before the season, I figured this would be a beautiful day to be outside and the Mariners would be fun to watch. Instead it was 50 and cold. The sun was out for a couple of innings, but then they closed the roof because storms were approaching. Then it was 50 in the shade and COLD. And the Mariners were terrible, down 3-1 going to the 9th. In the ninth they showed more life than they have in weeks and put together a great rally to win!! This was the first time I've seen them win in person this year (1-6). Aaron, who I share seats with, says they've won every game he's attended.
Got home, made dinner, and met with a photographer who's doing a family photo for us.
Spent a bunch of time Wednesday trying to get my softball team in order. Everyone seems to be out of town this weekend and I'm trying to find subs to show up at 10 AM. Fun, fun, NOT. Also the floor guy came back to check on the hardwoods and how they're "settling". Can see the cherry wood getting darker already. We set the official date for him to finish and talked about doing the stairs as well. Will all wait until I'm back from Vegas.
Wednesday night went to the second Storm game of the season. I've been to two of two games so far and will likely make about two games the rest of the year. As I expected they were sloppy at times and looked great at times. They trailed most of the game but put in together in the last three minutes and won by 3. In the end it's a W not an L and that's all that counts.
Started some research on electric toothbrushes for Monica (why aren't these called teethbrushes?) and continued today. Down to a handful of choices. Basically got up today, had breakfast, did some misc stuff, tried to walk Hunny Bear until the drizzle turned to pouring rain and got ready to go to the Mariners game. When Aaron and I split up tickets before the season, I figured this would be a beautiful day to be outside and the Mariners would be fun to watch. Instead it was 50 and cold. The sun was out for a couple of innings, but then they closed the roof because storms were approaching. Then it was 50 in the shade and COLD. And the Mariners were terrible, down 3-1 going to the 9th. In the ninth they showed more life than they have in weeks and put together a great rally to win!! This was the first time I've seen them win in person this year (1-6). Aaron, who I share seats with, says they've won every game he's attended.
Got home, made dinner, and met with a photographer who's doing a family photo for us.
Thursday, May 6
Day 2, Wednesday
As planned much of the day was pre-work on the hardwoods.
To replace the carpets in the living room and dining/piano room with hardwoods (thanks doggies), we need to get all of the furniture out of the way. For the most part Monica and I could move the items ourselves, but there's the matter of a huge, heavy piano so we hired professionals to store everything in our garage for a month.
Got in a quick workout before the movers were scheduled to arrive at 10 AM. Unfortunately there was a car fire on the 520 bridge and even more unfortunate they chose to take 520 instead of coming across I-90 which delayed them until 10:45. Other than that the move went smoothly. The wood delivery showed up at 11, but they kept out of each other's way though they were using the same space. Move was done by noon.
My little project for the day was to fix the outdoor light for our backyard. At least I thought it was little -- position ladder, remove bulb, replace bulb. That didn't help. The light is on a programmable timer switch and it turns out the batteries in the switch needed to be replaced. Had to go to Fred Meyer to get tiny watch-like batteries.. and now the switch works but the light doesn't come on. Working more on this today. Also picked up a programmable lock for the garage -- the kind where you can punch in a combination instead of using a key. Our garage is detached so we need to unlock it every time we go in there. This probably would have happened a year ago if there was room for my car in there.
Went to the Mariners game last night. Pretty good for 7 innings, but overall yuck. It's pretty painful to watch Griffey play. And without Bradley, that offense is terrible.
Off to play poker in the AM.
To replace the carpets in the living room and dining/piano room with hardwoods (thanks doggies), we need to get all of the furniture out of the way. For the most part Monica and I could move the items ourselves, but there's the matter of a huge, heavy piano so we hired professionals to store everything in our garage for a month.
Got in a quick workout before the movers were scheduled to arrive at 10 AM. Unfortunately there was a car fire on the 520 bridge and even more unfortunate they chose to take 520 instead of coming across I-90 which delayed them until 10:45. Other than that the move went smoothly. The wood delivery showed up at 11, but they kept out of each other's way though they were using the same space. Move was done by noon.
My little project for the day was to fix the outdoor light for our backyard. At least I thought it was little -- position ladder, remove bulb, replace bulb. That didn't help. The light is on a programmable timer switch and it turns out the batteries in the switch needed to be replaced. Had to go to Fred Meyer to get tiny watch-like batteries.. and now the switch works but the light doesn't come on. Working more on this today. Also picked up a programmable lock for the garage -- the kind where you can punch in a combination instead of using a key. Our garage is detached so we need to unlock it every time we go in there. This probably would have happened a year ago if there was room for my car in there.
Went to the Mariners game last night. Pretty good for 7 innings, but overall yuck. It's pretty painful to watch Griffey play. And without Bradley, that offense is terrible.
Off to play poker in the AM.
Sunday, December 20
Seahawks and Mora
I'm a firm believer that you need to give a coach a chance to build a team. But at some point there has to be a level of play where you conclude you have a PURE (previously undiscovered recruiting error) as a coach and should let him go.
Before the season, the Seahawks were talking playoffs. Obviously the absence of Walter Jones has hurt them. But this team has been terrible. They're 5-9 and just lost to a Tampa Bay team that hadn't scored a touchdown since November and might be the worst team in the league. Three of their five wins are against St Louis and Detroit. You could argue that the game against Jacksonville is the only time they've played well all year. Somehow when the team seems to underachieve every week and gets worse as the season goes on, you have to blame coaching.
I'd fire Mora. It's not all his fault, but it's hard to believe a good coach could get such a terrible effort out of this team.
Before the season, the Seahawks were talking playoffs. Obviously the absence of Walter Jones has hurt them. But this team has been terrible. They're 5-9 and just lost to a Tampa Bay team that hadn't scored a touchdown since November and might be the worst team in the league. Three of their five wins are against St Louis and Detroit. You could argue that the game against Jacksonville is the only time they've played well all year. Somehow when the team seems to underachieve every week and gets worse as the season goes on, you have to blame coaching.
I'd fire Mora. It's not all his fault, but it's hard to believe a good coach could get such a terrible effort out of this team.
Wednesday, October 7
NFL So Far
I figure it takes three weeks to really have any idea about the football season. Any given game can be an outlier and with two games it's hard to know which is real and which is the outlier. After four weeks, we have a really good idea.
The Browns, Chiefs, Raiders, Redskins, Lions, Buccaneers, Rams, and Panthers are terrible. Despite being 2-2, Washington has beaten Rams and Buccaneers, by five points total, and lost to the Lions. Incredibly they get the Panthers and Chiefs next and might make it to 3-3 or 4-2; but then they'll finish 2-8 or 1-9. If Matt Hasselback doesn't return soon, the Seahawks join that group. That's a quarter of the league that's horrible.
Giants, Ravens, Patriots, Colts, and Saints appear to be the elite teams. Despite being 4-0, I'm not convinced the Broncos and Vikings are better than average the rest of the way; of course 6-6 will get them to 10-6 and likely playoffs. Next batch of teams -- Bears, Bengals (maybe), Eagles, Falcons (maybe), and 49ers (maybe).
The rest of the league looks mediocre. Despite being 0-4, the Titans should be decent. Of course, you can't overcome an 0-4 start and make the playoffs.
Check back in 12 weeks.
The Browns, Chiefs, Raiders, Redskins, Lions, Buccaneers, Rams, and Panthers are terrible. Despite being 2-2, Washington has beaten Rams and Buccaneers, by five points total, and lost to the Lions. Incredibly they get the Panthers and Chiefs next and might make it to 3-3 or 4-2; but then they'll finish 2-8 or 1-9. If Matt Hasselback doesn't return soon, the Seahawks join that group. That's a quarter of the league that's horrible.
Giants, Ravens, Patriots, Colts, and Saints appear to be the elite teams. Despite being 4-0, I'm not convinced the Broncos and Vikings are better than average the rest of the way; of course 6-6 will get them to 10-6 and likely playoffs. Next batch of teams -- Bears, Bengals (maybe), Eagles, Falcons (maybe), and 49ers (maybe).
The rest of the league looks mediocre. Despite being 0-4, the Titans should be decent. Of course, you can't overcome an 0-4 start and make the playoffs.
Check back in 12 weeks.
Sunday, September 13
Maybe they need an exhibition season
The first half of the Rams-Seahawks game is the worst exhibition of pro football I've seen in a long time.
The Rams fumbled the opening kickoff and the Seahawks started the season on the Rams 19 yard line. Incomplete, incomplete, interception in the end zone. The Seahawks also turned the ball over on the first play of their third possession. Oh but it gets worse, check out the Rams next possession.
Incomplete pass, offensive holding, defensive offside, timeout Rams, incomplete pass, timeout Rams, bad snap followed by Bulger throwing the ball in the ground to avoid a sack (marginally legal), punt downed at the 4 and the Seahawks waste a challenge. One set of downs, six bad plays and that doesn't count the three incompletions.
Oh, it keeps going. The Rams have third and one on the Seahawks nine -- false start, delay of game, missed field goal.
With the half winding down the Seahawks attempt a 49-yard field goal which the Rams block and run back for a touchdown. Then the replay official notices the Rams had 12 men on the field.
One half: four turnovers, 11 penalties (nine by the Rams), two botched field goals, an a bad challenge.
Maybe if they had an exhibition season like baseball where the starters got to play under game conditions, it would look like pro football out there.
The Rams fumbled the opening kickoff and the Seahawks started the season on the Rams 19 yard line. Incomplete, incomplete, interception in the end zone. The Seahawks also turned the ball over on the first play of their third possession. Oh but it gets worse, check out the Rams next possession.
Incomplete pass, offensive holding, defensive offside, timeout Rams, incomplete pass, timeout Rams, bad snap followed by Bulger throwing the ball in the ground to avoid a sack (marginally legal), punt downed at the 4 and the Seahawks waste a challenge. One set of downs, six bad plays and that doesn't count the three incompletions.
Oh, it keeps going. The Rams have third and one on the Seahawks nine -- false start, delay of game, missed field goal.
With the half winding down the Seahawks attempt a 49-yard field goal which the Rams block and run back for a touchdown. Then the replay official notices the Rams had 12 men on the field.
One half: four turnovers, 11 penalties (nine by the Rams), two botched field goals, an a bad challenge.
Maybe if they had an exhibition season like baseball where the starters got to play under game conditions, it would look like pro football out there.
Friday, July 4
Sonics gone
...or so it seems.
It was a sad day in Seattle sports. We've known almost from day one that Clayton Bennett's plan was to move the team to OKC, whether he admits it or not. But I really thought they'd play out the lease. It was a sweet deal for the city -- they pocket the lost revenue and then some, but the local (Queen Anne) businesses that benefit from 41 Sonics home days get squat. Actually they get less than squat, they get screwed.
There's so much blame to go around, it's not funny. Bennett is obviously a snake is best described by the old joke -- how do you know when he's lying; answer: his lips move. Howard Schultz, who is a smart businessman was incredibly naive in buying the Sonics and selling to an out of town owner. A lot of people want to blame the city, but I'm of two minds here. Sure the city could have done more for the Sonics. But really spending taxpayer money to subsidize improving Key Arena for the Sonics would have been a bad move. As a whole people are against it and economic studies show it doesn't make sense. And they've already spent a bunch of money on two stadiums that have better draws. So to me, the city is stuck -- they shouldn't get a penny to the Sonics owners, but if they don't the team leaves.
The Schultz suit is still out there, but to me this is one of those suits that has a lot of merit in concept -- it's pretty clear Bennett failed to act in good faith, but in the end he won't win because a court won't reverse a sale two or three years later, after some assets have been sold and the team has moved.
I'm 90% sure Seattle will get another NBA team. The Pacific Northwest is just too large to only have one team. I'm also 90% sure it won't happen in the next 5 years.
It was a sad day in Seattle sports. We've known almost from day one that Clayton Bennett's plan was to move the team to OKC, whether he admits it or not. But I really thought they'd play out the lease. It was a sweet deal for the city -- they pocket the lost revenue and then some, but the local (Queen Anne) businesses that benefit from 41 Sonics home days get squat. Actually they get less than squat, they get screwed.
There's so much blame to go around, it's not funny. Bennett is obviously a snake is best described by the old joke -- how do you know when he's lying; answer: his lips move. Howard Schultz, who is a smart businessman was incredibly naive in buying the Sonics and selling to an out of town owner. A lot of people want to blame the city, but I'm of two minds here. Sure the city could have done more for the Sonics. But really spending taxpayer money to subsidize improving Key Arena for the Sonics would have been a bad move. As a whole people are against it and economic studies show it doesn't make sense. And they've already spent a bunch of money on two stadiums that have better draws. So to me, the city is stuck -- they shouldn't get a penny to the Sonics owners, but if they don't the team leaves.
The Schultz suit is still out there, but to me this is one of those suits that has a lot of merit in concept -- it's pretty clear Bennett failed to act in good faith, but in the end he won't win because a court won't reverse a sale two or three years later, after some assets have been sold and the team has moved.
I'm 90% sure Seattle will get another NBA team. The Pacific Northwest is just too large to only have one team. I'm also 90% sure it won't happen in the next 5 years.
Monday, May 19
Storm win home opener
The Storm won their home opener Saturday night. After playing even for almost three quarters, they finally figured out the Sky and went on a huge run. The Sky outscored the bench a lot in the final minutes so it was only a six point margin, but the game was essentially a blowout.
It was also a very emotional game as it was the first game since a local group of women calling themselves "Force 10" bought the team from Clayton Bennett. Not only were the fans thrilled to know the Storm would be here long term, but the players brought the new owners to center court to join the post game celebration circle.
The Storm have a chance to be something special this year. When Sheryl Swoopes and Yolanda Griffith are your fourth and fifth best players that's quite a team if they have something left.
It was also a very emotional game as it was the first game since a local group of women calling themselves "Force 10" bought the team from Clayton Bennett. Not only were the fans thrilled to know the Storm would be here long term, but the players brought the new owners to center court to join the post game celebration circle.
The Storm have a chance to be something special this year. When Sheryl Swoopes and Yolanda Griffith are your fourth and fifth best players that's quite a team if they have something left.
Tuesday, March 18
Long time, no blog
Eek. It's been a long time since I've blogged. Lots of stuff happening but unfortunately that leaves me little time to blog. I'll try to catch up with some short posts over the next few days.
Had a very neat experience at the end of February. In 2006 at the Jewish Day School auction, Monica won me the experience to go to a Sonics game with Seattle P-I writer Jim Moore. We finally got it scheduled for Feb 24 to see Kobe Bryant play. (Free tickets to a Sonics game isn't reason enough to go.)
Jim was kind enough to take me out to dinner before the game and we got to chat for an hour or so about Seattle sports, his background -- he actually grew up in a house not far from where we live -- and being a sportswriter. Then before the game, he had a press pass made for me and we got to walk around behind the scenes. I watched as he interviewed Jalen, a six-year-old kid on the Sonics boom squad, and the Jalen's dad. Well, at least I watched until the cheerleaders walked by about four feet away. I don't remember much of the interview after that though dad
was surprisingly level-headed and realistic about his son. The article never did run as far as I could see.
The game was a laugher and Kobe got tossed in the third quarter. But it was the most fun I'd had at a Sonics game in years.
Had a very neat experience at the end of February. In 2006 at the Jewish Day School auction, Monica won me the experience to go to a Sonics game with Seattle P-I writer Jim Moore. We finally got it scheduled for Feb 24 to see Kobe Bryant play. (Free tickets to a Sonics game isn't reason enough to go.)
Jim was kind enough to take me out to dinner before the game and we got to chat for an hour or so about Seattle sports, his background -- he actually grew up in a house not far from where we live -- and being a sportswriter. Then before the game, he had a press pass made for me and we got to walk around behind the scenes. I watched as he interviewed Jalen, a six-year-old kid on the Sonics boom squad, and the Jalen's dad. Well, at least I watched until the cheerleaders walked by about four feet away. I don't remember much of the interview after that though dad
was surprisingly level-headed and realistic about his son. The article never did run as far as I could see.
The game was a laugher and Kobe got tossed in the third quarter. But it was the most fun I'd had at a Sonics game in years.
Tuesday, July 3
Hargrove Resigns
In my years as a sports fan, I've seen a lot of strange things. But this has to be one of the weirdest. The Mariners manager resigned Sunday in the middle of an eight-game winning streak. I've seen plenty of managers/coaches quit when things were going poorly and they figured they were likely to be fired anyway.
Hargrove really didn't give a good answer why -- he said it was harder to give 100% than it had been in the past. There's lots of speculation but it boils down to two ideas -- one is Hargrove is battling with depression, two is with the last kid graduating high school his wife wanted/needed him home more and/or he felt the need to be home more.
On a personal level, this is sad for Hargrove. On a baseball level, this is good for the Mariners. Managers simply don't matter much in major league baseball (unlike football or basketball coaches, they aren't making plays and minute-by-minute substitutions), though Hargrove was a lousy manager who should have been fired at the end of last season if not before. I don't know much about John McLaren, but if he doesn't cost us games that's an improvement.
Hargrove really didn't give a good answer why -- he said it was harder to give 100% than it had been in the past. There's lots of speculation but it boils down to two ideas -- one is Hargrove is battling with depression, two is with the last kid graduating high school his wife wanted/needed him home more and/or he felt the need to be home more.
On a personal level, this is sad for Hargrove. On a baseball level, this is good for the Mariners. Managers simply don't matter much in major league baseball (unlike football or basketball coaches, they aren't making plays and minute-by-minute substitutions), though Hargrove was a lousy manager who should have been fired at the end of last season if not before. I don't know much about John McLaren, but if he doesn't cost us games that's an improvement.
Saturday, February 3
Bulls beat the Sonics
(Note: don't miss my Super Bowl post below this one)
Monica and I watched the visiting Bulls beat the Sonics last night. This was another item we got at a charity auction. The game was on ESPN, so I imagine anyone who cares already saw it. It was a surprisingly good game in that it was close the whole way a relatively high scoring. This is likely the only NBA game I'll attend this season.
Many years ago I used to have a six or seven game plan for Sonics tickets. I watched them a lot on TV. I sat outside in line for tickets for the NBA Finals the year they lost game 7 in Houston. I went to the NBA Finals when they played the Bulls. Then they had their mid-90s implosion.
They became the first #1 seed to lose to a #8 seed in playoffs. The next season they tore down the Coliseum to build Key Arena and played in Tacoma. After making the fans trek to Tacoma (easily an hour in rush hour traffic), they rewarded them by being upset again in the first round of the playoffs after winning the first game. When they re-signed George Karl as coach after those two disasters, I decided they were hopeless and cancelled my ticket package and gave up on this team. I still look in the paper to see how they're doing and root for them to do well when they aren't playing the Bulls. I usually go once or twice a season when offered a free ticket, though I also turn down free tickets as often as I accept. To be fair, some of that is that the NBA in general is unwatchable at times -- when the final score is 86-79 I feel like they still owe us another quarter. I don't need to see 130-125 shootouts, but I'd like to see some offense. I believe I've bought tickets to one Sonics game in the past ten years, and that was to see Michael Jordan in his last season. Charity auctions don't count because the tickets are already paid for and neither the Sonics or the original buyer get any money.
For those who don't follow the NBA, the Sonics now have the fourth worst record in the league and are working on a 12-game road losing streak.
Monica and I watched the visiting Bulls beat the Sonics last night. This was another item we got at a charity auction. The game was on ESPN, so I imagine anyone who cares already saw it. It was a surprisingly good game in that it was close the whole way a relatively high scoring. This is likely the only NBA game I'll attend this season.
Many years ago I used to have a six or seven game plan for Sonics tickets. I watched them a lot on TV. I sat outside in line for tickets for the NBA Finals the year they lost game 7 in Houston. I went to the NBA Finals when they played the Bulls. Then they had their mid-90s implosion.
They became the first #1 seed to lose to a #8 seed in playoffs. The next season they tore down the Coliseum to build Key Arena and played in Tacoma. After making the fans trek to Tacoma (easily an hour in rush hour traffic), they rewarded them by being upset again in the first round of the playoffs after winning the first game. When they re-signed George Karl as coach after those two disasters, I decided they were hopeless and cancelled my ticket package and gave up on this team. I still look in the paper to see how they're doing and root for them to do well when they aren't playing the Bulls. I usually go once or twice a season when offered a free ticket, though I also turn down free tickets as often as I accept. To be fair, some of that is that the NBA in general is unwatchable at times -- when the final score is 86-79 I feel like they still owe us another quarter. I don't need to see 130-125 shootouts, but I'd like to see some offense. I believe I've bought tickets to one Sonics game in the past ten years, and that was to see Michael Jordan in his last season. Charity auctions don't count because the tickets are already paid for and neither the Sonics or the original buyer get any money.
For those who don't follow the NBA, the Sonics now have the fourth worst record in the league and are working on a 12-game road losing streak.
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