by | December 31, 2011 · 1:26 pm

Insightful Quick Hits About Your Local Teams

A Good Guys Post!! Stop everything and read!! This only happens every couple weeks!! The Good Guys are also busy guys, and the blog has been quiet lately, much like a friend that you have not spoken to in a while. The Good Guys are your friends, let’s catch up!

My mind is swirling with sports crap, which is not irregular by any means. I think I’ll just spew things out in a “local teams quick hits” format, and hopefully you love it. If you don’t love it, you’re just bitter, or grumpy, but I’m neither so don’t blame me.

MARINERS!
At this point, the off season is clearly hinging on Prince Fielder. The M’s have been quiet this winter, but when Prince signs, I’d imagine a couple moves will soon follow. I want Prince in Seattle, for a lot of reasons, but honestly if we don’t get him, I won’t be devastated. I’ve invested a good deal of time following the rumors, and I just want it to end. Assuming Prince signs elsewhere, the likelihood of the M’s contending for anything in the next 2 years seems bleak, but I’ve learned to not assume much in sports. Joey Votto could be available in a month for all we know. My point is, I don’t want to see a fire sale quite yet (felix), regardless of Prince.

HUSKIES FB!
Keith Price out-dueled RG3 in the Alamo Bowl, I can say that without hesitation. He is so smooth, poised, and likeable. I can’t wait to see what he does over the next 2 years. Of course, some of his performance is being overshadowed by what has to be the worst defensive performance any of us has seen. I knew our defense was bad, and this game was a recipe for disaster, but I can’t say I expected to see 777 yards given up, nor did I expect to lose by double digits, despite scoring 56 points. It is embarrassing on some levels, like something we are ashamed of is now out in the open. It’s like when a married couple is having some issues at home, but then they go to a restaurant and start throwing dishes. It’s like, well, I guess the whole town knows now. That made sense in my head.

HUSKIES BB!
The Huskies will win the Pac 12, you can put me on record for that. We all know the conference is down, and the Huskies record is not what we are used to seeing, but I think this is Romar’s most talented squad. On paper, we are loaded. I’m excited for the next couple months of Husky bball.

SEAHAWKS!
Depending on Sunday’s outcome against Arizona, the Hawks could draft as low as 19, or as high as 10 in 2012. Either way, ready yourself for a heavy dose of QB chatter for the next few months on sports radio. Common topics will include, “should the Hawks trade 3 1st rounders to get RG3?” “is mark sanchez a viable option?” “could kellen moore, ryan tannehill, or brandon weeden be the guy?” I love the chatter, I really do, but it gets old pretty quick. Nobody knows what will happen, but I do know the Seahawks look to have a promising future. I should also note that I have some crow to eat, because I said the 6-8 wins Seattle gets this year will be the most meaningless wins in team history, but 2-3 wins would mean a top tier QB in the draft. Well, I have flipped my stance on this, because the 7-8 wins are the result of a lot of things starting to click, and this trumps the high draft position we’d have if everything went wrong this year.

SONICS!
The NBA is back, and I can’t resist watching it. I loved the Sonics when they were here, probably more than any local team. Every so often there is some new arena story that pops up in a local paper, just to get my hopes up. A new one surfaced a couple weeks ago, about a possible arena in SoDo, headed by a San Francisco businessman that recently purchased a valuable piece of property south of Safeco Field, for $21.6 million. An unknown Bellevue investor is on this too apparently, and a proposal could come out in the months to come, in hopes of acquiring more land to build an arena, then lure NHL/NBA. In the mean time, Joe and I bought tickets to a Blazers game in February, against the Clippers. Should be fun, although I told Joe rooting for Portland would feel odd, especially if the NBA returned to Seattle someday, and I had to remember that one night I rooted for the Blazers. Yuck.

SOUNDERS!
I’m sure you all know the off season moves SSFC have been up to. No? Oh, well let me recap. We signed an Austrian keeper, Michael Gspurning, a Swedish defender, Adam Johansson, and now rumors have surfaced that the Sounders have agreed to terms with a 23 year old DANISH! midfielder, Christian Sivebaek.

T-BIRDS!
I went to a T-Birds came this past week, and saw a fight, 6,000 Kent Krazies, 2 zambonis, and at one point a hockey game broke out! T-Birds won 2-1 in a shootout, and I now follow some of their players on twitter. The players, by the way, are 15-20 years old, mainly Canadian, and all around good guys like us. As for the fight, here’s what Mitch Elliot tweeted that evening:

Mitch Elliot@melliot7
“Took more punches to the face then I had shifts tonight”

NORTHWEST EAGLES!
Last but not least, the NU Eagles Men’s basketball team is 15-0. Matthew and I are proud NU alums, and Andrew is currently attending. Matthew is the all time blocks leader at NU, and I hold the record for 8 consecutive triple-doubles. That was my test to see if you are still reading this. If you are, dang you have some serious spare time!

Finally, an Ichiro quote to wrap things up. This really should be how all posts conclude.

Nikkan Sports: There are some that think age may have played a part [in your rough season].

Ichiro: I admit that lately I find myself enjoying Enka music during Kohaku Uta Gassen. I am also more concerned about how young people are speaking and find that my skin is drier. So there are times where I feel like I am getting older.

HAPPY NEW YEAR.

-Dan

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by | December 17, 2011 · 1:20 pm

Sports! Be Jolly!

Sports are supposed to make us happy.  They slake our desire for competition.  They let us escape the mundane with moments of elation and transcendence.  They also make us extremely cranky, especially here is Seattle.

Seattle sports fans do have plenty to complain about.  We’re just a couple years past one of the worst sports seasons for a city in history, and things haven’t gotten dramatically better since.  Still, it’s all relative.  Outside of Greg Halman’s heartbreaking death, and to a much lesser degree, the absence of the Sonics, most sports complaints can only rate as inconveniences in the portrait of life.

So, in the spirit of the holidays, here are some of the sports-related things that just make me happy.  There’s nothing wrong with sports making you mad and frustrated, but hopefully the good times more than balance out the bad.

  • Curling on TV.  I’m watching it right now.  I love watching curling, but I really don’t know why.  It’s moderately ludicrous and I can’t even remember how the scoring works right now.  Still, I was thoroughly excited when I saw the Canadian channel was showing it this morning.
  • The weekly Terrance Ross 360 alley-oop.  Always surprising, always beautiful.  Ross might not yet have broken out to the extent we’d like, but wow, the highlights are amazing.
  • The continuing teardown and rebuild of Husky Stadium.  This is a no-lose.  It was already one of the coolest places to watch a football game in the world. Now, we’ll get a stadium that isn’t falling apart and hopefully has a few more concessions and restrooms.  As an added bonus, we have the good fortune of playing in another great stadium for a year.  Century Link might not be Husky Stadium, but it’s a whole lot better than stretching out the rebuild to be able to keep playing games, or looking for some other stadium option.  Finally, years down the road, we’ll get to wax nostalgic about all the great games we saw in the old Husky Stadium. Perfect.
  • Prince Fielder is still a free agent.  I’m kind of doubting that he wants to come to Seattle, but until he signs elsewhere, hope stays alive.  I’m not delusional enough to think that he’ll immediately take the Mariners to the World Series, or even the playoffs.  It’s just that, coming into the offseason, two, maybe three free agents excited me: Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder, maybe Jose Reyes.  The fact that the Mariners could be the favorite for Prince makes me happy.
  • For that matter, the Mariners future, at least until the season starts.  Right now, they’re a couple of years away from having a young and absolutely dominating rotation.  Throw in an all-star second baseman and a couple of young sluggers, and the future is bright.  It never works out how we plan it, but we can forget about that fact for a little while.
  • Tony Wroten. He’s maddening too, with the free throws and turnovers, but you can see him improve every game.  He’s the most explosive offensive player I’ve ever seen at UW.  If he sticks around next year, there’s no reason he can’t be an All-American.
  • Tim Tebow.  Love him or hate him, he’s provided one of the greatest stories we’ve had in a while.  Just enjoy the ride.  These types of things don’t come around that often.
  • The Huskies are in a bowl game for the second year in a row.  It’s even a good bowl game, and we get to watch the Heisman Trophy winner.  Sure, the Dawgs aren’t great yet, but after their recent history, I’ll never take a bowl game for granted again.
  • The universality of sports.  I just finished playing “The Purple Ball Game” with my niece, which consists of throwing a foam purple Husky basketball up and down the stairs.  Dan made up a basketball game called “The Flying Dutchman” (here and here) that has us continually laughing and doing ridiculous things. Kids on soccer fields throughout the world grow up to be Pele and David Beckham.  Sports are for everyone, in any form you want.  All ages, races, people of any intelligence or political or religious persuasions, anyone can enjoy sports, side by side.  To me that seems important.

Who knows if we’ll get anything else on this blog in the next week, so I’ll take this opportunity to wish you a merry Christmas, happy holidays, and whatever else you may celebrate.  We appreciate anyone who takes the time to read what we write, especially when the posts are often few and far between.  We hope you have a few items to add to my list above, and much more to be thankful for outside of the sports world.

-Matthew and The Good Guys

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by | December 9, 2011 · 3:58 pm

NBA Preview news and my brief thoughts on the CP3 trade that wasn’t, or was, or could be…

Those crickets you hear? Yup, there coming from this blog. So I’ll turn the key a bit to get the engine running again. The resident NBA writer (myself) will attempt to preview the upcoming 66 game NBA season. I know you are all excited about this. I was really pumped to write my Kobe + CP3 = Must See TV post, but a certain troll living in NYC who helped facilitate the robbery of my NBA team nixed the deal for “basketball reasons”. Uh huh, whatever you say Chairman. The rejection of a totally fair, and I would argue, slightly lopsided trade in favor of New Orleans (and Houston…), is unprecedented, and will mark the end of the Stern era as NBA commish. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s incredible. I run a number of fantasy sports leagues and I would never imagine flat out stopping and reversing any trade unilaterally at the request of the lousy owners of the league, and I am only talking about fake teams. This is real life, in a real life pro sports league. I’m still in shock at what occurred. The Sports Guy breaks the fiasco down nicely. Season preview forthcoming. Cheers.

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by | November 18, 2011 · 10:09 pm

UW vs. OSU Predictions

Can any state match the Oregon universities for region-appropriate but completely unthreatening mascots.  Beavers are super-cool, but what are they going to do on the football field?  Gnaw your leg off and wap you with their tail?  Slowly build a dam that will funnel the opposing offense toward a waterfall?  That dam defense bends but doesn’t break!

I have to admit, ducks are among my very favorite birds, and I really like birds.  They have a certain je ne sais quoi.  Mystery hides behind their bills and well-groomed feathers.  But put them on a football field and you just get this.

Joe

UW comes into Corvallis licking it’s wounds after two straight weeks of getting thrashed by superior conference foes.  Oregon and USC exposed so many weaknesses in the Dawgs top to bottom, I’d bore you to death with the details.  All you need to know is they got rocked.  Thankfully, they get Benny the Beaver this week, and he is not a superior foe.  OSU has struggled all year to be competitive (except for the beat down they administered to Wazzu), and I expect that to continue this Saturday.  It’s senior day at Reser, so emotions will be high, but that’s all they have going for them at home.  A porous defense that has given up over 800 yards on the ground over the past three games should be a welcome sight for the Huskies. With Nick Montana making his first ever start, I expect Sark to called Chris Polk’s number all day. I better see 30 carries from #1.  I have a good feeling Polk will deliver. Sean Mannion is a legit, strong armed, up and coming QB in the Pac 12. Even though just a freshman, coach Riley has handled the program over to the young signal caller. He’ll play with confidence and throw a lot to his stable of solid WRs.  Since the UW secondary is terrible, expect to see OSU throw and throw often.  In the end this game will be about tempo and ball control.  If UW expects to win, the ball must be in the best players’ hands, i.e. Polk, ASJ, Kasen. If Montana finds those guys, I like the chances of winning.

UW 31 – OSU 24

Andrew

These next 2 games will define the season for the Huskies.  If they beat OSU and WSU, which they should, then the season will be seen as a success and another step forward for the program.  If they drop one of these games then it’s hard to be as excited about this season.  So, this game means more than just playing a team with 2 wins.

To be perfectly honest, I don’t know why the line on this game is so low.  The Huskies are clearly a better team even if they have their backup quarterback.  Oregon State isn’t very good, but they will play hard and will play with emotion.  If the Dawgs are able to get their running game going and play decent defense they should win this game by double digits, but it’s hard to know if that will happen after the last couple of games.  I’m thinking that Chris Polk will make sure his team is ready to go.  As for Nick Montana, I think he’ll be efficient and will wow us and then make us scratch our heads every once in a while.  This game has me nervous, but not nervous enough to pick against the Huskies.

UW 38, OSU 27

Dan

My emotions are swirling heading into this game tomorrow. That’s not terribly unusual, but this game in particular has me anxious. A month ago, the Huskies were rolling and the Beavers were playing like the Beavers we remember from the 90’s. As it stands today, UW has lost 2 in a row, and coming out of its toughest stretch of the schedule, the team is beat up physicially, emotionally, and most likely mentally. The Beavers are not exactly surging having lost 3 straight, but they are as healthy as they’ve been, and from what I’ve heard the team is practicing hard, and in no way resembles a typical 2-8 football team. No matter how you dice it, the Huskies are better at nearly every position, on both sides of the ball. The offensive line’s struggles have been well documented, but the truth is all 5 starters would probably start for the Beavers. The talent gap is large, but that has never prevented the Beavs from competing well, especially in November. I expect a heavy dose of Chris Polk tomorrow, but then again I expect that every week, and sometimes it doesn’t happen. For me, the 2 factors that scare me most are the Keith Price injury, paired with the weird juju that often occurs at Reser in November. I smell an upset, and a frustrating afternoon.

Beavers-38, Huskies-31

Matthew

With Nick Montana getting the start and the Huskies’ recent swoon, this game had me pretty worried.  Then I realized how bad the Beavers have been most of this season.  I guess I’m so used to the Beavers being a tough game, especially late in the season, that I just assumed the Huskies would end up with the loss.  I could still see that happening, but OSU isn’t a major threat.  The rushing numbers are so heavily in UW’s favor that they should decide the game.  We’ve heard things like that before, of course, and it often doesn’t work out.  I have a feeling that this time, it will.  Montana should be good enough to keep the defense honest, and Polk should have a huge day.  Go Dawgs!

UW 34, OSU 20

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by | November 18, 2011 · 3:51 pm

Nick Montana’s Passing Style

I’m all for unorthodox traits, but imagine how good Nick could be if he positions his hand on the laces?!

-Dan

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by | November 16, 2011 · 5:48 pm

Does Prince Fit? The Mariners by Position

Prince Fielder has dominated Seattle Mariners offseason talk thus far, which is saying something since their offseason really started back in June.  Offensively, it’s hard to imagine a better fit for the Mariners than Fielder, but there are other issues besides his bat, including but not limited to: money, weight, defensive position, and possibility of the Mariners contending in the forseeable future.

Every Mariner writer (and there are many good ones) has weighed in on the issue.  Other than those people who think that Fielder is going to fall apart next year, its hard to argue with any objections to signing Prince.  It’s going to cost a fortune, he’s not a great fit for the current team defensively, and there’s a decent chance that he could be breaking down by the end of the contract.  Most people agree on all of these issues to varying degrees.  Some are willing to accept them and still make a deal, others aren’t. Both viewpoints are completely understandable.

I’m pretty firmly on the “Sign Prince” side, but I thought I’d step back to see where the Mariners stand, both for next year and the future.  I’m going to work through this positionally, probably out of order.  I’m not going to make an effort to talk about how to improve the position, unless I feel like it.  I’m just going to lay out what’s there and what is in the system that might help soon. Continue reading →

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by | November 11, 2011 · 12:37 pm

UW vs. USC Predictions

Hello, Dawg fans.

In 2006, the UW Huskies started 4-1 with their only loss to Oklahoma.  It seemed a return to a bowl game was imminent.  Then they lost a few tough ones, Isaiah Stanback got hurt, and they didn’t win another game until the Apple Cup.  They finished 5-7, missing a bowl game.  Two years later they were 0-12.

This year, they Huskies started 5-1.  Three weeks later, they’re 6-3 and facing a tough USC squad in L.A.  It’s easy to think this season is sliding away, especially in light of the beatdowns from conference powers Oregon and Stanford.

Entering the season, however, most people were expecting a 7-5 or 8-4 season.  A few people were hoping for 9 or 10 wins, but even they admitted they were being very optimistic.  Even with the disappointing losses, the Dawgs are right on target.  They’re not anywhere near being elite yet, but they’re a solid, young team, just like we thought.  They should finish with 8 wins, with 7 or 9 being realistic possibilities.

Even if they don’t win another game, they’ve secured a bowl game.  I don’t want to be at the point where Husky fans are just hoping for a bowl game, but it’s a start, and it’s where the team is right now.  They’re making progress, and while we want it to happen quicker, it helps to take a step back and remember what could be happening instead.

Joe

Nothing about this game feels right.  USC is taking this game personally.  The Nick Holt comment, which was harmless and not a slam on USC if you read the context of the question, is plastered all over the USC football facilities.  Coach Sark complimenting Matt Barkley saying he’s better than Luck is being taken personally somehow.  Lane Kiffin today on Softy was clearly annoyed with the fact USC has lost two in a row to the Dawgs (Hey Lane, cheer up, you got a few extra timeouts from last year you might be able to use Saturday…).  The Trojans want revenge, and I think they’ll get it.  USC is playing at a very high level right now offensively, and that concerns me for obvious reasons. Robert Woods and his WR running mates will simply torch the UW secondary, and if the UW pass rush continues to be M.I.A., Barkley will have all day to throw.  This could get ugly quick.  I do think the Huskies will bounce back on the offensive side, but it’ll be too little because of the inevitable drops by the receivers will kill some drives. I expect Polk to have a tremendous game back on his home turf of So Cal.  In the end though, the Trojans roll.

USC 49 – UW 31

Matthew

I think the Dawgs are capable of pulling this one out, but they are moving in the complete wrong direction.  If this were the fourth game of the year, I would have picked the Huskies.  Since then, the Huskies are floundering a bit while USC is playing great football.  If the Dawgs play anything like they did against Oregon, they don’t have much of a shot.  Still, it feels like this team could click at any minute, so maybe this will be the week.  I’ll believe it when I see it.

USC 45, UW 34

Andrew

The Huskies have a tough fight up against them on Saturday.  USC has been playing well after starting their season a little lackadaisical and the Huskies will have to play a really good game if they want to avoid losing their 3rd out of their last 4.  Sark and company have had the Trojans number the last 2 years though and I think that means something.  This game means a little more to the coaching staff and they will be prepared (not that they aren’t usually prepared).  USC probably has a little better athletes but I don’t think the gap is that far away, as Bob Condotta pointed out with some stats the other day (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/huskyfootballblog/2016734593_comparing_uws_and_uscs_confere.html).  I think that points to a close game.  My hopes aren’t too high for this game and I don’t know why.  Maybe it’s because I thought the Huskies would finish 8-4 all along and this game would be the last one they lost.  I know I’ve been preaching that we should start expecting to win but I don’t feel that heading into Saturday.  I’m guessing that it’s about time USC wins a close one against us and so I’ll go with that.

UW 35, USC 38

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by | November 11, 2011 · 12:30 pm

A Few Thoughts Before the Weekend

The blog’s been a little quiet this week, as it usually is after a Husky loss.  Matthew and I will be away this weekend, I think he’ll get a predictions post up before we head out but I thought I’d throw up a few thoughts before we left.

Obviously, the big story of the week has been the scandal at Penn State.  I’m not going to write much about it, not because it’s not worthy of being discussed but because it makes me sick to my stomach.  Two things that have stuck out to me from the story this week.

One thought is how much good has come out of a horrible situation.  Both radio stations in the Seattle area have had counselors and people promoting help-lines for sexual abuse on the air throughout the week.  This has gone on throughout the country, and I believe that helps.  The more people who hear the horrifying statistics and tales of sexual abuse, the more aware our society will become.  Good job to the radio and TV stations in doing the right thing this week.

As Penn State students were protesting Joe Paterno’s firing on Wednesday night, there was a tweet flying around saying something like, “In the 60’s and 70’s a generation protested wars and civil rights, now students protest over a coach who did wrong.”  Then the tweet was usually met with a hash-tag that stated something about the current generation being lost.  I saw the tweet in numerous places.  The sentiment is right; the Penn State students were ridiculous in protesting this and they were in the wrong.  But, please rethink what this tweet is saying if you agree with it.  In the 60’s and 70’s groups of people from everywhere would protest wars and civil rights.  Please don’t take a few thousand students from Penn State as a representation of a whole generation.  I guarantee you that most college students around the country thought that Penn State did the right thing in firing their coach, I know I do.  People all over the world have been over-reacting or reacting wrongly to things since time began (see the Crusades, Nazi Germany, and even some of those protestors in the 60’s and 70’s just as an example).  Again, please don’t take those protestors as a representation of my generation.  We may be lost, but that ugly night didn’t signify what most of us believed.

I’m not going to say much else about this situation.  Please keep the victims in your prayers and thoughts.  Also, keep the offenders’ families in your prayers and thoughts, as I’m sure it’s a trying time for those families.  It’ll be great to get back to football tomorrow, to take our minds off such a terrible situation.

A few more random thoughts:

  • The Husky basketball team starts their regular season tomorrow afternoon against Georgia State.  We’ll have a more complete preview of the season in a couple of days.  Matthew and I were at their exhibition last week and they seem to be a young and very exciting team.  This is probably the most athletic team Romar has had, if you can believe that.  With that being said, I don’t know if it’ll be his best team or close to it.  They need to find dependable scorers and some leadership.  They are extremely young and will probably play like it sometimes.  Tony Wroten will awe us with some plays and then will leave us scratching our heads with others.  It’ll be an exciting year and fun to watch.  If they lose at some point this weekend, then something went extremely long.
  • Oregon and Stanford face off tomorrow in the game of the year in the Pac-12.  If any of you care, I think Stanford will win this game.  I don’t have a ton of conviction in that thought and wouldn’t be surprised if I was wrong.  I just think Stanford is more consistent and their offensive line is the best unit on the field (aside from their quarterback).
  • If Stanford wins, they should have a fairly good shot at the national championship.  That would mean that the Ducks, if they didn’t lose any other games, would probably end up in the Rose Bowl.  If that happens the Dawgs have the inside track on playing in the Holiday Bowl.  The Alamo Bowl is a possibility but not a very high one.  If the Dawgs slip up at all and finish below 8-4, the Sun Bowl is the most likely scenario.  San Diego sounds a lot better than El Paso to me.

That’s about it for today.  The predictions will be up in a few minutes.  I’d like to say thank you to any and all Veterans who read this blog.  Thank you for your service and thank you for our freedom.  Stay safe and God bless you!  Have a great weekend everybody, go dawgs!

Andrew

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