Pacific NW Sports Report: Out Of The Sonic Void

It’s been a long cold winter in the Pacific Northwest for a sports fan. Rooting for Seattle teams has been like cheering on a root canal.

Let's count up the ways things have gone wrong: the Seahawks players broke, the Mariners spent the most money for the most losses ever in baseball, the Sonics … well, you know about that; as Bill Simmons said so appropriately, they were hijacked. College football was a joke as the University of Washington became the only Division I school to go winless before firing Coach Ty Willingham. Washington State University didn’t do much better. The only claim to fame they could make was beating the Huskies to keep them from getting a win.

Seasons change. The sun comes out and the air gets warmer which causes things to look up. UW men’s basketball just won the Pac-10 title for the first time in 24 years. The WSU Cougars men’s basketball pulled off major upsets over UCLA, Arizona and Arizona State before battling the Huskies down to the wire. Despite the departure of the Hijack City pro team, basketball is still alive, well, and loved in the Northwest.

The Seahawks, thanks to a revolving door on the medical room, have the 4th pick in the draft. There is a lot of buzz right now because fans believe, and I am one of them, that this team still has something left in the tank. Discussions are divided on whether to take a stud player along the lines of Michael Crabtree, the best wide receiver in the draft, out of Texas Tech or solidifying the line with Eugene Monroe, an offensive tackle from Virginia to slide in for Walter Jones should his knee not recover in time. There is even some talk on taking Matthew Stafford, the quarterback from Georgia, to learn at the feet of Matt Hasselbeck. I feel that they cannot really go wrong whichever way they do it. It’s exciting reading the blogs and news sites to pick up little tidbits on players, wondering how they would fit in the team and whether it would make sense to trade down for more draft picks. Whatever happens, there is a great feeling of excitement in Seahawks land.

Article Author: Russ Evenhuis

I am a writer in a mid-life crisis. My passions are Seahawks football, triathlons, rugby, sports in general, Guinness, reading, writing, television, music, computers, family, and movies.

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