*The Whitworth Pirates men's basketball team swept PLU and UPS on the road for the first time since the Loggers joined the NWC. It was such a huge sweep that head coach Jim Hayford broke down on the air during a post-game interview following Whitworth's win at UPS. As a long-time Pirate fan listening to the game on the radio, I was...well, speechless. To think that the Pirates, the defending NWC champs who lost four starters (including NWC MVP Bryan Williams, sharpshooters Jon Young and James Jones, and the best rebounder on the team in Kevin Hasenfus) could travel to Tacoma, and beat PLU and more importantly UPS (who was ranked No. 7 in the nation before the game) was unreal. Ryan Symes (above, celebrating win at UPS) led all scorers with 24 points in the win. I thought Colin Willemsen's comments in the Spokesman the other day were interesting:"In the past, I think maybe the seniors told themselves it was a tough place to win and they had to get at least one. So in a way -- with a bunch of new guys -- no one knew the history and just tried to go in and play well. ... The sweep in Tacoma was big, and it gave us a lot of momentum."
A lot of momentum indeed. The Bucs head into the second half of the NWC season in first place at 7-1 in the NWC, and all their tough road games are over. Now if they can hold serve against PLU, UPS and Linfield at home the NWC title should be theirs for the second year in a row. It's great to be a Whitworth Pirate.
*The Patriots and Giants will be meeting for the second time this season in the Super Bowl. The Pats won the first meeting 38-35 in Week 17 to cap off their perfect 16-0 regular season, but the Giants certainly played the Pats tough. I think the Pats will win, but I don't think it will be a blow out. Somewhere around 27-24, as I think both defenses will be better this time around.
*The Sonics ended their 14-game losing streak by beating the San Antonio Spurs 88-85 Tuesday. Good news all around. The Sonics were looking average for a while (which, for this season, I'll take), but that was right before this long losing skid. But I'm glad it's over and it's time to look forward.
*Mike Holmgren is coming back for one last hurrah. And I couldn't be more thrilled. I think next season is the last hurrah for a lot of Seahawks: Holmgren, Shaun Alexander, most of the offensive line, and maybe Matt Hasselbeck. I'm one more disappointing playoff loss away from saying, "screw it, let's blow this team up and start over." Especially on offense. What a terrible effort in Green Bay. The key positions to fill out in the offseason are, in order: Tight End, Offensive Line, Defensive Line, Running Back.
*Johan Santana is a Met. That obviously makes the Mets the team to beat in the NL on paper, but we all know how the Mets do in reality. However their Santana-Pedro Martinez one-two punch if they can stay healthy is a scary one--especially facing them each two or three times in a seven game series. Wow how the NL has changed.
*Not to be outdone, the Seattle Mariners finally make a trade. Kind of. The Baltimore Orioles-Mariners trade has not yet been approved by the Orioles' owner Peter Angelos. The trade involved the O's sending 28-year-old pitcher Erik Bedard (2007: 13-5, 3.16) to the M's for potential star prospect Adam Jones (2007: .246, 2 HR, 4 RBI) who would probably be the M's http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifstarter in right field next season, reliever George Sherrill (2007: 2-0, 2.36, 3) and an undetermined number of Seattle minor-leaguers, according the the Seattle Times.
As far as I can tell, this trade would work both ways. The O's get potential help in the bullpen, as well as a few prospects who could pan out. The Mariners get a solid starter who would probably become their No. 2 starter, meaning they'd throw out a rotation of: Hernandez-Bedard-Washburn-Batista-Silva. This would put the Mariners in a position to push the Angels for the AL West crown. The M's were a pitcher short from claiming the crown last year, as the rotation (aka Weaver) broke down in September. This could put them over the edge. Who would replace Jones in RF? Probably Willie Bloomquist or Mike Morse. Though it'd be nice to pick up a free agent to fill that spot. Would it have been nice to sign Jose Guillen? Sure, but that's history now. Shawn Green and Bobby Kielty are still free agents, so are Kenny Lofton, Shannon Stewart, Reggie Sanders and Corey Patterson. My vote is for Patterson, but at this point Lofton will do too. But, knowing the M's, they'll probably settle for Morse. The life of a Seattle fan -- always expecting the worst-case scenario.
Well, that's all I got for now. I'll continue the countdown to signing day which is a week from today (Wednesday). Be on the lookout for the next recruiting classes.
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