Author Archives: Matthew

by | March 10, 2011 · 9:42 pm

Can I Complain For a Second?

It’s almost halftime in the UW-WSU game, and the Huskies aren’t looking too good.  I’m not sure what the problem is, but they just don’t have much at the moment.  The Cougars are playing a good game, but the Dawgs aren’t giving much fight right now.

I’ll leave game commentary until the game is over, but I’m having a hard time listening to the broadcast right now.  The main theme of the half has been how great it is that Klay Thompson apologized to fans before the game from which he was suspended.  I have a real problem with this.  I think it’s great that he apologized.  If it was his own idea, that’s commendable.  If Ken Bone or his dad made him do it, good for them.  Apologizing publicly doesn’t make Klay Thompson a hero, however, and that’s the feeling that the TV announcers are giving.

I don’t expect or want them to tear Thompson apart.  I don’t even care if they criticize him or not.  I don’t want them heaping on more criticism, but the truth is that he was selfish, broke the law, and set a terrible example for the young fans watching him.  He let down his team and possibly cost them a shot at an NCAA tournament berth.  The same goes for Venoy.  He had a part in bringing down this once promising season, and a public apology wouldn’t excuse that or his actions.

Good for Klay for apologizing and coming out tonight and playing hard.  I appreciate that FSN is trying to make a good story out of bad events, and they’ve done a good job of not focusing on Klay and Venoy’s troubles, but they’ve taken it too far the other direction.  I, for one, think it’s giving the wrong message.  Just had to get that off my chest.

-Matthew

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by | February 24, 2011 · 9:47 pm

Know Your Mariners: The Big Three

Every offseason, countless minor league prospect reports are released.  Media sources big and small release top 10 lists of prospects for every major league team, some good, some a little bizarre, all of them fairly meaningless except as a distraction until the season starts. 

For the Mariners, every list I saw has the same three prospects at the top.  Dustin Ackley and Michael Pineda are 1-2 in varying order, and Nick Franklin is pretty well always third.  Baseball America, easily the most well-known of all the prospecting media sources, just released their Top 100 Prospect list, and these three are the only Mariner guys to make the list.  That’s not a bad thing, as that’s about the average.  It’s the same amount as the Rangers and Angels, and one more than the A’s.  Furthermore, two of the Mariners are in the top 20 (Ackley #12, Pineda #16) and Nick Franklin is at #53.  Not a bad showing, overall.

So, what do the Mariners have in these three?  We’ve written to varying degrees on each, but to put it simply, they are, along with Felix and Justin Smoak, the foundation of the Mariners’ current rebuilding plan.  Here’s a quick rundown of each after the jump: Continue reading →

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by | February 23, 2011 · 8:27 pm

Know Your Mariners: Alex Liddi

Because of the Seattle snow, I had a whole day off today.  Unfortunately, there is still nothing whatsoever to write about in the Mariners spring training camp.  Luckily, Geoff Baker over at the Times has a feature up today about my favorite non-big leaguer, Mr. Alex Liddi.  Baker’s story provides a little insight into how a kid from the coast of Italy ends up as the top third base prospect for the Seattle Mariners.  I’m not generally a big fan of these profiles, but this one was good.  Go read it.

My love for Alex Liddi is based almost entirely on the fact that he’s Italian.  I should also say now that, like most minor leaguers, I’ve never seen him play, outside of a few video clips.  With that disclaimer, he’s a decent prospect, considered by most to be among the Mariners top 20 prospects, top 10 by some.  He’s 6’4″, 220 lbs with solid power.  He exploded offensively two years ago while playing at high-A, putting up some of the best numbers in all of the minor leagues.  Unfortunately, his home park, and the whole league to some degree, is probably the best place to hit in all of baseball, so everyone was waiting to see how he’d perform at AA in 2010.  His numbers took a hit, but he still gave a solid performance, far from the disaster some predicted.  Continue reading →

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by | February 15, 2011 · 8:45 pm

Beating The Odds, Part 2

As Dan mentioned in his post earlier today, spring has sprung on the 2011 baseball season.  The Mariners started training camp on Sunday, and we already have stories about Erik Bedard’s loyalty, Felix’s hair, and the return of Ken Griffey Jr.  Not bad for three days.

Not many people expect the Mariners to do much this year.  A .500 record would be a huge accomplishment, and that still might only get them last place in the division.  Luckily, the great thing about spring, and baseball in general, is that it’s easy to dream of everything going right.  Baseball players can be so unpredictable that there is always room to see playoffs in the future.  Does that hold true with a Mariner team that was worst in the league last year and lost two of its best hitters without adding any certain impact players?  Of course it does.

What if Erik Bedard is healthy all season?  He could be the second best starter in the league after his teammate Felix.  And what if Michael Pineda joins the team early and dominates the whole year?  Fister and Vargas might match their early season form from last year, or someone else might surprise, and suddenly the Mariners have one of the best rotations in the league.  It could happen. Continue reading →

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by | February 8, 2011 · 12:14 pm

Man, That Made Me Tired

One of my favorite things about sports is that there’s always something new to learn. I like to think I know quite a bit about a lot of sports, but I’m always coming across something about which I had never thought before.

Today’s random discovery that might only be new to me: man-to-man pass coverage in football is difficult to run because it is much more tiring for the defenders.  We always hear that a team doesn’t have the personnel to play man, but I’m not sure I had ever thought about the energy it would take.  With zone, there’s a decent chance your corner or safety, or even linebacker, will follow a receiver for 10-20 yards and the play is either over or they pass him off to the next guy.  With man, both corners might be running 60 yards down the field every play.  This means that good depth is also more important.

While actual player ability and scheme preferences are certainly a bigger part of whether a team runs man or zone, this is something interesting to keep in mind when we’re wondering why the Huskies don’t play more man or when you see a cornerback chasing someone all over the field.  Thanks to Mike Lombardi on Bill Simmons’ podcast for the insight.

-Matthew

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by | February 6, 2011 · 12:09 am

It’s Been A Good Year

Today marks one year of existence for the Good Guys blog.  It’s been a funny year in Seattle sports.  One of the first posts I wrote was about the Mariners resigning Erik Bedard.  I was excited, for good reason, saying that even in the worst case scenario, it was a great signing.  What I didn’t expect was that every worst case scenario (save for Felix and Cliff) would come true for the Mariners.  The future looks brighter now for the Mariners.  I can’t wait to watch Dustin Ackley and Michael Pineda develop, and it’s about time that a guy like Michael Saunders became a productive major leaguer.  Still, 2010 was about the most depressing year I could imagine for a baseball team.

Luckily, we got to cover the Huskies last minute run into the Sweet 16. It took three quarters of the season to get them rolling, but once they got there, it couldn’t have been any better. Quincy Pondexter was dominant, Matthew Bryan-Amaning turned into the guy we all were waiting for, and the Pac-10 tournament brought a championship and an amazing amount of unintentional entertainment. And it introduced the world to Beach Girl 5 and Unbreakable. Ultimately, the season ended a little short, but that tends to be the case for most teams, and this was one team that was worth cheering for.

I didn’t really realize it until just now, but the Husky football season somewhat mirrored the basketball season.  After high expectations to start the year, the team fell a little flat, sitting at 3-6 and needing three straight wins for their first bowl game in years.  They got them in dramatic fashion, on the shoulders of Chris Polk, Mason Foster and Jake Locker. More than a few people predicted a Holiday Bowl appearance when the year started, but no one thought they would slide in with a 6-6 record, and no one gave them a chance in a rematch against Nebraska. They surprised us all, with one of the great performances we’ve seen from the Dawgs in a long time. Jake Locker didn’t have the personal season most expected, but he improbably accomplished his goal of leading his team to a bowl game. He leaves Husky Stadium a legend and someone to be remembered for how he played the game and all he gave to the University of Washington. We’ll miss you, Jake.

The year also brought the World Cup, another successful Sounders season, and a Seahawks playoff run that was improbable, controversial, and earth-shaking, literally. Now we’re a week away from spring training for the Mariners, just past football signing day (Andrew’s favorite holiday). If the Huskies can get rolling on the court again, we’ll be well on our way to a great year.

Aside from using this as an opportunity to shamelessly link all of my favorite posts from this year, I want to thank everyone who read anything we wrote this past year.  We started writing this mostly for ourselves.  Andrew (my brother), Dan (brother-in-law), and I thought it would be easier writing all of our sports thoughts than texting them to each other or waiting until we were together to talk about them, so almost on a whim we started this blog.  Joe joined up a few days later, and we’ve had a blast writing this past year.  While we’d probably be writing this whether anyone reads it or not, we’re still excited and honored that anyone takes the time to stop by.

You never know what a year is going to bring, in sports or in life.  This past year has seen Dan become a father, and I went back to school, where I’m about to start student teaching.  This time next year, hopefully I’ll be teaching high schoolers how to write.  Whatever comes along, I’d have a tough time without sports to follow.  It’s a diversion during bad times, and it can make the good times even better.  Hopefully this year brings a Final Four, a Rose Bowl, and anything good at all for the Mariners.  I won’t be picky on that. 

On behalf of all of us writers here, thanks for reading and sharing in the experience.  We’d love to hear from more of you this year.  Take care, and we hope this next year is a good one for all of you.

-Matthew

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by | January 21, 2011 · 12:41 pm

UW Recruiting Updates

After a quiet few weeks, UW Football recruiting has gone crazy the last two days.  Here’s a quick rundown of the developments:

The biggest news is two new commitments.  One is Marvin Hall from Dorsey HS in California.  I wrote a bit about him in my WR wrap-up, but Hall is a little guy (5’10”) who could end up at either WR or cornerback.  He’s supposedly lightning quick and is likely to make an immediate impact in the return game.  We seem to hear that every year for some player, and the Huskies have had a terrible return unit for years now, so hopefully Hall really is a difference maker there.  Either way, he’s a good guy to have and brings some different skills to the table for this class.

The other new commit was a big surprise.  That’s big in two ways, as Stephen Nembot is 6’8″ and 280 lbs.  He also was previously committed to WSU, and it’s alway fun to steal one from them, especially out of the blue like this.  He could end up on either line, but it sounds like UW coaches have told him they plan to start him at defensive tackle.  He’s a native of Cameroon and should be a fun guy to cheer for.

Other notes after the jump! Continue reading →

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by | January 16, 2011 · 9:20 pm

Raise The Roof

Can we put a stop to the discussion of who is the best player in the Pac-10?  I’d take Derrick Williams and Klay Thompson on my team any day, even though Thompson drives me nuts, but no player is doing more better right now than Isaiah Thomas.  He’s gone from a very good shooting guard to the best point guard in the conference, and one of the best in the nation, in what seems like the blink of an eye.

As disappointing as it was to lose Abdul Gaddy for the year, and it would certainly be nice to have him around, his injury could be the catalyst for this team to jump to another level.  With Isaiah running the point to perfection, that allows UW to add one of their rangy swingmen to the line-up, which no team in the Pac can really match.  Or they play Overton and IT together and they can wreak havoc on the perimeter and in the lane.

Following Gaddy’s injury, Thomas seemed to take it upon himself to carry the team, and he has, despite the loss to Stanford.  IT spent the day before the first game without Gaddy proclaiming on Twitter that he was going to start the movement to bring back the Raise the Roof.  That night, he got his first dunk of his college career and started the movement.  He kept it up two nights later to win his first Pac-10 player of the week award, and tonight he posted his first double-double with 27 points and 12 assists, with only 1 turnover.  If the Huskies keep rolling to the conference title and IT plays anywhere close to this level the rest of the way, I can’t see how he doesn’t win the conference player of the year award. 

Keep it up, IT.  I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have running these Huskies.

Some notes after the jump! Continue reading →

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