Because Jay Bilas’ commentary wasn’t good enough for you, we relive the highlights of the 2009 NBA Draft first round, and let you in on some of the insights you may have missed. Enjoy.
Pick No. 1: Don’t feel bad for Blake Griffin. Sure, he’s going to play for arguably the worst franchise in the history of pro sports, but think about this. The guy is going to be making millions of dollars while playing in front of fans who have zero expectations. He can focus entirely on where he’ll be playing after his rookie contract runs out, who he’ll be partying with after the game, and whether he wants to wake up to a blonde or brunette in the morning. He’s 20 years old, a multi-millionaire, physically fit, and living in L.A. Just point him to the nearest Costco and show him where they keep the Trojans.
Pick No. 2: The premise of the movie Major League is simple. Rachel Phelps, the vindictive widow of the deceased owner of the Cleveland Indians (nay, the deposed son of the king of Nigeria…just kidding, I just wrote the first part of that sentence a little weird), wants to run the franchise into the ground so she can move the team to Florida. She enlists the crappiest players and the worst coaching staff she can find to help her achieve the goal. Things turn tragic for Phelps when the cast of misfits starts winning in spite of their evil owner, and makes the playoffs, ensuring the team will remain in Cleveland.
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Langerhans should have an immediate impact with the M's.
Hours before a series-clinching victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday, the Mariners announced they had traded utility man Mike Morse to the Washington Nationals. In exchange for Morse, Seattle received minor league outfielder Ryan Langerhans, a left-handed 29-year-old who is a former top prospect of the Atlanta Braves.
Morse had been all but eliminated from the Mariners’ future plans after injuring his shoulder and missing extended time in 2008. The shortstop/third baseman/outfielder had spent all of 2009 at Triple-A Tacoma, where he had posted a respectable batting line of .312/10/52 in 66 games this season.
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Hampered by an ailing shoulder, Adrian Beltre was faced with a potentially career-altering choice: play hurt, or have surgery.
The Mariners’ third baseman opted for the latter yesterday, and will go under the knife in the coming week to remove bone spurs from his left, non-throwing shoulder. He will likely miss six-to-eight weeks recovering from the procedure.
Now, the biggest question facing Beltre’s employer is what to do with their injured employee.
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Facial hair doesn't make you a man.
Draft day trades are fun, aren’t they? You tune in to watch your favorite college players advance to the pros, and instead are treated to a smorgasbord of exchanges and acquisitions that happen so quickly you can barely keep up. Before you know it, seemingly half the players in the league are on new ballclubs, and all of a sudden your Shaquille O’Neal Suns jersey is considered a throwback.
We know it’s tough keeping tabs on the flurry of dealings, which is why here at Seattle Sportsnet we want to help you out.
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The Sacramento Kings are absolutely ugly at the forward position. That’s bad news if you’re a Kings fan, but great news if you happen to follow Jon Brockman. Naturally, you know which side of the fence we sit on.
The 2009-2010 Kings will feature a group of forwards that breaks down as follows:
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Brockman would be reunited with former Husky Spencer Hawes if traded to Sacramento.
Former University of Washington forward Jon Brockman was selected with the 38th overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft by the Portland Trailblazers.
Currently, a trade is pending which would send Jon from Portland to Sacramento in exchange for former Arizona State University forward Jeff Pendergraph.
Portland and Sacramento were rumored to be two of the likeliest destinations for Brockman, and he will have an opportunity to become an impact player with either ballclub as a rookie.
On behalf of Seattle sports fans, congratulations to Jon!
Call it a vintage SWAG list (Stuff We All Get). These days you’re more apt to see kids at the ballpark receive bobblehead dolls or tacky, cheap knick-knacks rather than the awesome SWAG we used to take home as youngsters back in the day.
That’s why we’ve come up with 11 of the greatest stadium promotional giveaways of our era and memorialized them in the following list. Like toys in Cracker Jack boxes or LPs on vinyl, they don’t make ‘em like this anymore.
11. Team Trading Card Day
Kids today still receive baseball cards at the ballpark. But unlike yesteryear, the baseball cards of today are a mishmash of brands and ballplayers that are often presorted into sealed grab bags out of some dude’s collection.
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Cody Ross could be the key to a playoff run.
It’s nearly July, which means there’s a great chance that you’ve left your fantasy baseball team behind and are now focused solely on your pending football draft. That’s okay, it happens to the best of us, but that doesn’t mean you need to give up all hope just yet.
Whether you’ve been a neglectful owner over the past few weeks, or you’ve been trying your hardest to remain in contention despite the fact that your best outfielder was suspended for steroid use (ahem, Manny), we have a few tips to help carry your made-up ballclub until the end of the season. And hey, you might even manage to win the league in the process.
Players You Need To Have (Hint: If you don’t have these players right now, and they’re on your waiver wire, you need to ADD THEM!)
Cody Ross, OF, Florida Marlins. Ross isn’t a big name, but for whatever odd reason the guy absolutely kills the ball in the second half of every season. A bonus for fantasy owners is that he decided to turn on the production once the calendar hit June, so if you’ve had him for the past few weeks, you’ve already benefited from the Marlins outfielder.
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Beginning today, you can find exclusive content from the SeattleSportsnet staff on Dawgman.com and Scout.com.
Scout, as many of you already know, is one of the largest college recruiting websites currently in existence, and partners with Fox Sports and MSN. Dawgman is the Scout affiliate for University of Washington athletics.
Unlike some of our other partnerships, the content featured on Dawgman will be 100% exclusive to the Scout network, meaning it won’t be featured on these pages. So make sure to check out Dawgman.com from time to time and read up on our featured articles.
The first column on Dawgman will be appearing today and takes a look at Jon Brockman and where he’ll end up in the 2009 NBA Draft (possibly first round?). If you want to get an idea of where the former Husky will be selected on Thursday, check us out on the Scout network right now!
Of course, the irony here is that Jon was caught hitting a 23-year-old.
Hi there, and welcome to Wise Guy’s Uncensored Thoughts On Life, a collection of topical musings on subjects ranging from sports to pop culture to everything in between. Because it takes a keen individual to provide commentary on such a diverse array of stories, we sought out the wisest man we know to discuss the issues that truly matter to us. Enjoy the wisdom.
In case you missed it last night, Jon and Kate Gosselin (from the TLC TV show Jon and Kate Plus Eight) are finally getting a divorce and I couldn’t be happier. This is a victory for all mankind. We’ve been awaiting the spinoff series Jon Minus Nine for some time now, and the moment is finally upon us. Now all Jon has to do is date Madonna and admit to using steroids. In your face, Kate.
In other news, the San Antonio Spurs just acquired forward Richard Jefferson from the Milwaukee Bucks. This confirms what we already knew. That Richard Jefferson is arguably one of the 12 most boring basketball players in the NBA. He’ll look better by comparison alongside Tim Duncan, however.
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Have I ever mentioned how great Harold Reynolds is? He’s great. He really is.
Reflecting on my earliest memories of the Seattle Mariners, two lasting images come to mind: Alvin Davis’ moustache, and Harold Reynolds’ afro-jheri curl. You can’t deny that the man had style.
Once you factor in his termination from ESPN for giving hugs, as well as his penchant for providing commentary at the Little League World Series back in the day, you end up with an all-around good guy who is tough to dislike. That’s basically Harold Reynolds in a nutshell.
Now, however, there is a new reason to love Harold: He speaks honestly and truthfully about his disdain for sabermetrics. Particularly, the infamous OPS (on base + slugging percentage) stat.
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Ken Knutson managed the UW baseball team since 1993. (Baden Sports)
The team lacked a spark and the university knew it.
They failed to draw crowds, failed to make the postseason, failed to properly renovate an aging ballpark, and failed to land recruits that were leaving the area for greener pastures out of state. It was time for a change, and that change was made yesterday when University of Washington head baseball coach Ken Knutson was terminated after 17 seasons at the helm.
Though you never want to see anyone lose their job these days, Knutson had been underachieving for some time. His team was shut out of postseason play in each of the past five years. Two of those five seasons coincided with the rise of one of the greatest players in Washington history donning the Husky uniform. And even Tim Lincecum couldn’t carry this mediocre ballclub into the playoffs.
It didn’t help matters that Northwest rival Oregon State won back-to-back National Championships in 2006 and 2007, or that intrastate foe Washington State found their way to the NCAA Tournament this past season.
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Franklin Gutierrez and Yuniesky Betancourt celebrate after the Mariners' win.
A weekend sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks has brought the Mariners within 2.5 games of first place in the American League West.
On top of that, the team is one game above .500 for the first time since May 7.
After enduring a stretch of games in which they appeared to be losing their early-season lustre, the M’s have climbed back to relevance and have timed their winning with losses by first-place Texas. At the same time, the Mariners have kept pace with second-place Anaheim. The Angels and Rangers are now tied for first, with Seattle lurking close behind.
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One year ago, David Aardsma was a middle reliever for the Boston Red Sox who was most notable for being the first name in the alphabetical listing of Major League Baseball players.
A 6’4″, hard-throwing righthander, Aardsma had never recorded a save, nor been asked to assume the role of late-inning relief specialist.
A year later, Aardsma has become one of baseball’s better closers as a Seattle Mariner, posting 13 saves in 14 opportunities while maintaining a 1.74 ERA in the process. In 32.1 IP, the 27-year-old has struck out 39 batters, relying heavily on a mid-90′s fastball to overpower opposing batters.
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A combination of illness, a new puppy, and a good friend’s wedding (shout out to the bride and groom, have fun on the honeymoon, make babies) have made for a busy week with infrequent site updates. I want to take a moment to let you all know that everything is still gravy with the blog, and that we’ll be bringing you more updates and a fresh Top 11 in the coming seven days.
Also, just found out that Junior came up to the plate as a pinch hitter in Friday night’s M’s game and tied the game with a two-run home run. Nice. You gotta love that.
Finally, a friend told me that he wants to see an article entirely devoted to fans that wear random jerseys to sporting events. I gotta say, it wouldn’t be a bad choice at all for a column, and it’s been chronicled in brief in recent Top 11s.
Also just want to reference a site that pays homage to this phenomenon in photo journalism, StraightCashHomey.net. I’ve been checking out this blog for a long time and it will give you a good laugh if nothing else. So take a look if you haven’t before. Good times.
On one final final note, if you haven’t seen The Hangover yet, do yourself a favor and check it out this weekend. Possibly the best comedy ever. Rain Man saw it, and he’s a ruh-tard.
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