That's what we should call it.

The rumor mill is churning about the Seahawks potentially looking to trade a late draft pick for the New York Giants' Pro Bowl Tight End Jeremy Shockey.

The 'Hawks have already issued a denial, but they did the same thing when rumors about about cutting Shaun Alexander surfaced last February.

It's been a few years since the Seahawks had a reliable TE, but Shockey's also kind of a jackass.

That being said, he's apparently willing to do crazy shit like this:

So, for three 'Hawks fans who read Slog: should we try and pick up Shockey, or draft a tight end this weekend?

From the Seattle Times:

Liberty Mutual Group said Wednesday it has agreed to acquire publicly traded Safeco Corp. and take it private in an all-cash, $6.2 billion deal to create the nation's fifth-largest property and casualty insurer.

Boston-based Liberty Mutual and Seattle-based Safeco said the boards of both companies approved the deal, which is subject to approval by Safeco shareholders as well as regulators.

Liberty Mutual, which is owned by its policyholders, offered $68.25 per share for Safeco, a 51 percent premium to Safeco's Tuesday closing price of $45.23 per share.

This news prompted a friend to ask whether the Mariners will one day be playing at Liberty Mutual Field. The immediate answer appear to be no:

Monfried said Safeco would retain its 85-year-old brand name and continue selling policies through its national network of agents and brokers.

(Note: I tweaked the post after reading this post at Seattlest.)

Two seasons after being the NFL's MVP, Shaun Alexander is looking for work. The Seattle Seahawks released the franchise's all-time leading rusher on Tuesday, reports NFL Network's Adam Schefter.

Alexander has had two injury-filled and ineffective seasons since signing his [eight-year deal in 2006], including last season in which he ran for just 716 yards in 13 games. That was his lowest total since he replaced Ricky Watters as Seattle's lead back in 2001.

Hopefully Alexander hits the bricks better than he hit the hole last season.

Lots of sports-talk this week has revolved around the NBA's Dirk Nowitzki choosing not to bite when an opponent tried to pick a fight on Sunday afternoon's opening round of the playoffs. Seems like a no-brainer--fights mean penalties, and beyond that, the NBA's had enough of a thuggish reputation in recent years. Unsurprisingly, a bunch of NBA yokels disagree...but surely, one of those wouldn't be a WNBA coach like Michael Cooper, right?

If you look closely, you can see the guy straining not to upgrade his phrase to "slap a ho." The WNBA's regular season kicks off on May 17.

Gay men may have "messy forms" and generally suck at synchronized swimming, Graves, but at least gay men can float.

Medics rushed three members of the Seattle Synchronized Swim Team to area hospitals Monday evening after they passed out in the St. Edward State Park swimming pool during a drill, team officials said.

The swimmers, ages 11, 12 and 13, had been in the Kenmore pool about 15 minutes when they began having difficulty, head coach Julie Abel said.

"One of them was hanging on a rope and a coach saw her slip underwater," team president Craig Penner said. "The coach jumped in and pulled her out, then looked back and saw two other girls on the bottom of the pool."

Stupidest thing the Mariners did last year? Some might answer not snapping up a real-deal manager like Joe Torre during the offseason, but the real answer is something a little more menial--charging fans eight bucks to bring a DS to the game.

Nintendo's ballclub (and source of a zillion video games starring Ken Griffey Jr) introduced a seemingly cool feature to Safeco Field last year, proving that the team's demands for millions from taxpayers years ago were sound and prudent. In 2007, you could bring a Nintendo DS to the park and, through its Wi-Fi capabilities, use it to do all kinds of baseball-related things: Watch a muted TV broadcast of the game to catch instant replays not shown on the jumbotron, avoid lines by ordering beer and food to be delivered to your seat, and look up every matter of statistic about this game and any other MLB game that day. Trouble was, the money-grubbers wanted eight five bucks for the service per game--or you could buy an overpriced season pass and watch the savings melt away!

I tried this out one game last year, and you know what I got? Food/drink prices that were at least $2 more across the already inflated board; a splotchy, hard-to-view video of the game that was already right before my eyes; and stats about the Kansas City Royals. Oh, and glares from the mom one row up, five seats over, who stated with her eyes that she didn't appreciate me trolling for 12-year-olds on Pictochat. Not worth eight five bucks.

Anyway, as of today, the service has been upgraded to free. I'm not getting my hopes up about the "new features" that are being vaguely promised--maybe you can touch the screen and start the wave or something?--but at the price of $0, I'll admit that there's some fun in forcing a poor concession stand girl to stomp to the top of section 344 and deliver chicken fingers to fatties, and when I used the thing last year, I did get a decent instant-replay shot of a guy getting beaned in the stomach. So to my chubby, violent, fully-grown DS-owning comrades, I say this--descend upon Safeco in droves, stare at your tiny screens mid-game, and be satisfied!

(Apologies for the price error from last season. Even with the correction, the rip-off is still accurate.)

I had no idea bullfighting had such a doping problem:

Bulls will face tighter controls for steroids and other drugs at bullfights held next month as part of Madrid's San Isidro festival, daily Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported Monday, citing organisers.

Any bull that behaves in a suspect way in the ring during the festival, which will begin on May 11 and last for over a month, will undergo anti-doping testing after the bullfight, the newspaper said.

Bulls were tested at the festival before, but this time around testing will be quicker and more systematic since it will be carried out for the first time at a laboratory in Madrid, it said.

If an animal is found to have taken a banned substance, the rancher who supplied the bull can face a fine of up to 60,000 euros (95,000 dollars).

A sample paragraph:

When our difficult heroes (and all real heroes are difficult) self-destruct, watch us retreat and reassure ourselves that it's safer here close to shore, where we live. We distance ourselves from the disaster, but we gawk in glee (the cheers and champagne that spontaneously broke out on the floor of the NYSE when word came of Client Number 9). We want the good in them, the gift in them, not the nastiness, or so we pretend. Publicly, we tsk-tsk, chastising their transgressions. Secretly, we thrill to their violations, their (psychic or physical) violence, because through them we vicariously renew our acquaintance with our own shadow side. By detaching, though, before free fall, we preserve our distance from death, stave off any serious knowledge about the exact ratio in ourselves of angel to animal.

Also discussed: Spitzer, Bill Clinton, Richard Nixon, Greek tragedies, the 2008 University of Memphis men's basketball team, and those two most recent authors busted for fictionalizing their non-fiction books. There's also a little Freud and a little Kundera. It's awesome.

Isiah Thomas was just fired from his position as coach of the New York Knicks.
I don't really care, or anything, I just wanted to see what it felt like to be a sports blogger.

The Knicks are basketball, right?

NBA owners vote 28-2 (Paul Allen and Mark Cuban voted Nay) that the Bennett can move the Sonics to Oklahoma.

With just two starts under his belt, Mariners #1 starter Erik Bedard has joined J.J. Putz on the 15-day disabled list.

Ugh. April isn't turning out pretty for the M's.

It's out:

Sunday, Sept. 7 Seattle Seahawks at Buffalo Bills 1 p.m. FOX

Sunday, Sept. 14 San Francisco 49ers at Seattle Seahawks 4:05 p.m. FOX

Sunday, Sept. 21 St. Louis Rams at Seattle Seahawks 4:05 p.m. FOX

Sunday, Sept. 28 Bye

Sunday, Oct. 5 Seattle Seahawks at New York Giants 1 p.m. FOX

Sunday, Oct. 12 Green Bay Packers at Seattle Seahawks 4:15 p.m. FOX

Sunday, Oct. 19 Seattle Seahawks at Tampa Bay Buccaneers 8:15 p.m. NBC

Sunday, Oct. 26 Seattle Seahawks at San Francisco 49ers 4:15 p.m. FOX

Sunday, Nov. 2 Philadelphia Eagles at Seattle Seahawks 4:15 p.m. FOX

Sunday, Nov. 9 Seattle Seahawks at Miami Dolphins 1 p.m. FOX

Sunday, Nov. 16 Arizona Cardinals at Seattle Seahawks 4:05 p.m. FOX

Sunday, Nov. 23 Washington Redskins at Seattle Seahawks 4:15 p.m. FOX

Thursday, Nov. 27 Seattle Seahawks at Dallas Cowboys 4:15 p.m. FOX

Sunday, Dec. 7 New England Patriots at Seattle Seahawks 8:15 p.m. NBC

Sunday, Dec. 14 Seattle Seahawks at St. Louis Rams 1 p.m. FOX

Sunday, Dec. 21 New York Jets at Seattle Seahawks 4:05 p.m. CBS

Sunday, Dec. 28 Seattle Seahawks at Arizona Cardinals 4:15 p.m. FOX

Update: As commenters have pointed out, the Hawks are getting no love from Monday Night Football this season. Meanwhile, as Pro Football Talk points out, we'll all be able to watch the Cleveland Browns three goddamn times on MNF.

Last week, Seth over at Enjoy the Enjoyment wondered whether, given the evidence Sonics owner Clay Bennett never intended to keep the team in Seattle (file under: duh), previous owner Howard Schultz could sue and get the team back.

Today, both the Seattle P.I. and Seattle Times have stories reporting that Schultz is considering just that. From the P.I.:

A lawyer for former Sonics owner Howard Schultz confirmed late Monday that the Starbucks chief is considering filing a lawsuit to recover the team from Oklahoma City businessman Clay Bennett.

Attorney Richard Yarmuth confirmed Monday that his Seattle-based law firm, Yarmuth Wilsdon Calfo, is representing Schultz and plans to file a lawsuit against Bennett to get the Sonics back. Yarmuth did not say in which court he plans to file the suit.

Schultz sold the team to Bennett in July 2006.

It's a last-ditch effort (both to keep the team in Seattle and repair Schultz's image in town), and though it probably won't work, at least it's another lawsuit Bennett has to deal with before he can ship the team off to Oklahoma City.

The president of the Australian Olympic committee has suggested an end to the tradition of Olympic torch relays as a result of the anti-China protests, freak-outs, and blow-outs that have followed this year's torch from Greece to Beijing.

And while the flame's history is weird, having been transported by airplanes, underwater divers, and radio signals (which seems like cheating), it isn't particularly long or distinguished.

The torch relay got its start here, at the Nazi Olympics, in 1936, as filmed by Leni Riefenstahl.

From the UK Times:

The relay, captured in Leni Riefenstahl's film, "Olympia", was part of the Nazi propaganda machine’s attempt to add myth and mystique to Adolf Hitler’s regime. Hitler saw the link with the ancient Games as the perfect way to illustrate his belief that classical Greece was an Aryan forerunner of the modern German Reich.

And a bonus clip, from the 1936 opening ceremonies, in which representatives from countries march into the stadium and either do or do not salute Hitler.

On the don't-salute list: the U.S. and Japan. Among the Sieg Heil-ers: Italy, Austria, and, um, France:

Over the weekend, I mentioned to a group of friends the 200-word column by a National Book Award-winning author that runs every week on the back page of The Stranger, and one person in the group--a former editor at The Stranger!--had no idea what I was talking about.

Ladies and gentlemen, please enjoy the XIIIth installment of Sherman Alexie's weekly short story in a box:

These are my three favorite Sonics memories:

1. In 2002, during a home game, Gary Payton twisted his knee at an obscene angle. As he, screaming in pain, was carried back to the locker room, I wept, thinking that his career might be over. But a moment later, miraculously healed, Payton came running back onto the court. The home crowd exalted. We genuflected. We spoke in tongues.

2. In 2005, in the last seconds of the sixth game of a surprisingly competitive playoff series with the San Antonio Spurs, Ray Allen launched a jumper from the corner that could have won the game and sent the series back to Texas for a seventh and deciding game. As that shot hung in the air, suspended between the corporeal and mystic, I believed that my beloved Sonics were going to vanquish the evil Spurs. Allen missed the shot, but I will always carry with me the gorgeous hope of that moment.

3. In 2000, when my late father was still healthy enough to travel, I flew him over for a game against the Lakers. As my father sat beside me in row 14, he smiled and said, "These are great seats." In Alexie-speak, that meant, "I love you, Son."

As a Monday-morning gift to you, dear Slog readers, here is the XIVth Sonics Death Watch, which will be published in our print edition two days hence:

Emily Dickinson wrote, "Hope is the thing with feathers." As an undying Sonics fan, I'd like to amend that to "Hope is the thing with a good lawyer."

Due to legal circumstances, I have regained my hope that the Sonics will not be leaving our city. Being a Catholic, a Native American, and a fragile and finite human, my hopes are tidal.

Back in 1997, when the Sonics signed Vin Baker, a gifted low post scorer, I had torrential hope. Was this the man who was going to lead us to another championship?

A few weeks before that season started, as I paid for my pizza, the Domino's man told me he was delivering a large pepperoni pizza to Vin Baker.

"I'm so excited for the season," the pizza man said. "I wish I had a basketball or something for him to sign."

Just as excited, I gave the man one of my basketballs and a $20 tip. Of course, ten thousand pizzas and beers later, Baker turned into an alcoholic, obese failure who drank and ate his way out of the league. But even now, as I mourn for Baker, I also hope he's sober and slender. I want to tell him, "Hope is the thing with a talented therapist."

Previously: XII, XI, X, IX, VIII, VII, VI, V, IV, III, II, and I.

At last night's Sonics home finale, the fourth quarter began with the Key Arena jumbotron showing little kids talking to the crowd in "MAKE SUM NOIZE" fashion--"I can't hear you!" "Let's get louder!" etc. My friends and I kept hoping that as the crowd roared, the jumbotron screens would flash Sonics owner Clay Bennett, looking up after swimming in a pool of $120 million in OKC public money to say, "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought I heard something."

Throughout the game came chants of "Save Our Sonics!", along with a few less-fierce "Bennett Sucks!" chants (one of which I might've started). When the game's stunning upset victory over the Dallas Mavericks was prolonged by a ref video review, that former chant reached a painful peak, numbing the ears and throats of the thousands in attendance--and eliciting the claps and arm-raises of Kevin Durant and Nick Collison, no less (both of whom played their hearts out and, honestly, earned their stunning upset victory).

But who was the crowd shouting this at? The Key Arena staff, who'd been seemingly cut in half based on how many concession stands were closed at this particularly crowded game? The folks at the ticket booth who'd closed off cheap-seats sales at least 20 minutes before tip-off, in spite of hundreds of upper-bowl seats remaining barren? The players, who in action (and interviews) had already made their Seattle allegiance known? The police presence, descending onto the court at the final buzzer complete with Gestapo poses to prevent that Seattle-style riot, however unlikely?

This was an emotional game for plenty of reasons--Seattle's surprising comeback, Gary Payton's 2-minute standing-O when he showed up, Sasquatch dropping from the ceiling on a zip-line to play a drumset--and Sonics fans came out in large numbers to beg and plead the only way they knew how (other than, you know, attend most of the other 40 home games, which have often been so barren that I've been able to sneak into $100+ seats all too often). But Bennett was the man these roars were meant for, and you can guess how much of a blip they made in his portfolio. If anything, the incredibly odd concession stand and ticket sales issues I mention above indicate that the guy is not just a money-crazed scumbag but also possibly a passive-aggressive cretin, poking the Seattle homers who came to seemingly say goodbye.

As our post-season nears, the only impact that can turn the tide will have to come from the rest of the country shining a spotlight on this mess, as Josh Feit has stated repeatedly. Perhaps repeated comments from Sonics players that they do not want to move will get the ball rolling. Do you hear that, OKC fans? Our team doesn't want to live in your dusty, cheap-beer-drinkin' city. But the rest of the press-fueled PR campaign isn't looking so good...here's what ESPN pointed out in their piece from last night:

Bennett estimated he lost $20 million last season and is allegedly losing many millions amid declining attendance this season on the team he and his Oklahoma partners bought for $350 million in 2006. The optimistic view in Seattle is that Bennett will tire of losing cash, and that the NBA will tire of the ugliness from what would be, if the court sides with Seattle, two lame duck seasons in town before Bennett moves them to Oklahoma.

This ESPN perspective avoids mentioning Bennett's bait-and-switch tactics of demanding an unrealistic amount of public funding and creating a toxic relationship with the city, and worse, the "optimistic view" isn't even all that accurate--no mention of the Key Arena renovation offer from last month? Instead, the fans are painted as the poison, not Bennett, which is the bullshit he's been selling all along. But what could be worse than putting it that way? The Times has the worst news of all:

The wait has forced Seattleite Jason Terry, who graduated from Franklin High, to send Dallas owner Mark Cuban on a mission for him — to bring Terry a KeyArena memento.

"We'll see what he comes up with," Terry said. "As a fan growing up and still being deeply rooted in the community, it's disheartening to hear all of those things [about the possible relocation]. To realize it may be a reality is going to be tough."

That sounds nice, doesn't it? Mavs owner Mark Cuban, the wild-and-crazy Internet billionaire who revitalized Dallas' team a decade ago, possibly doing his damnedest to help the Sonics? ... Google "David Stern Mark Cuban." The NBA's most hated owner acting as a Seattle diplomat and pleading with NBA commish Stern? Like our odds aren't bad enough.

And this? What words in our fallen state can grasp this moment in (this concept of) eternity?

Swept by the Orioles? Ugh. What an ugly weekend (and Monday). Still, Dave at U.S.S. Mariner points out:

...the team has been outscored by a whopping two runs in seven games. If you break an ankle jumping off the bandwagon now, it’s going to be harder to climb back on with a gimpy wheel when the breaks start going the M’s way.

Here's hoping those breaks start going our way soon.

...Seattle Sounders FC. From Seattle MLS:

We're not afraid to call it now - Seattle Sounders FC will enter MLS in 2009.

How do we know? Well, we've suspected it for around a month now, as we referenced in an earlier post. When the names to be voted upon were announced, we were confused - no mention of anything Sounders! At the time, the only available options to vote upon were Seattle Alliance, Seattle Republic and Seattle FC. They were registered trademarks and were also registered as websites by MLS Seattle. It seemed we were way off... but then the option to write in names was announced. And on March 31, last Monday, SeattleSoundersFC.net was registered by First and Goal (the operators of Qwest Field).

As of tonight, SeattleRepublic.net, SeattleAlliance.net and SeattleFC.net are all simply parked domain names. But SeattleSoundersFC.net gives us this message- "Coming Soon!

This site is under construction." Bingo.

Update: Press conference here.

(Via Metroblogging Seattle.)

This morning, the Cincinnati Bengals cut wide receiver Chris Henry after his most recent run in with the law, this time for assault charges. He'll probably be suspended but if he's not, he could be a worthwhile pick up during the off-season.

All afternoon, Brad Steinbacher and I have been arguing about whether the Seahawks should go after Henry or not. While Henry's off-field shenanigans make him a risky acquisition, the 'Hawks lost WR DJ Hackett to Carolina last month and we're hurting for another big, talented—and hopefully less fragile—receiver.

Still, there's this to consider:

From the AP:

Henry was accused of punching an 18-year-old man in the face and breaking his car window with a beer bottle.

[Henry] was in court last week after being ticketed for driving with expired Kentucky license plates. He paid $149 in fines and court costs, according to the Municipal Court records. He was ticketed a year ago for driving with a suspended license.

Henry was arrested four times between December 2005 and June 2006. He was accused of possession of marijuana in northern Kentucky, carrying a concealed weapon in Florida, drunken driving in Ohio and providing alcohol to minors in northern Kentucky. In that case, he served two days in jail in 2006 after pleading guilty to a charge of letting minors drink alcohol in a hotel room he had rented.

Municipal Court Judge Bernie Bouchard set bond at $51,000 on charges of misdemeanor assault and criminal damaging. Noting Henry's previous arrests involving drugs, guns and alcohol, the judge called Henry "a one-man crime wave."

Click away to compare Henry's stats to Hackett's.

So, we put it to you, Sloggers. Is Henry worth the (potential) trouble?

Welcome Carlos Silva: seven innings, three hits, and just one run (off a Ben Broussard home run in the sixth). Nice work.

Vidro and Lopez (who seems to like the #2 slot) both homered, Sean Green pitched a perfect inning in the eighth, and #5 starter Miguel Batista stepped up in the closer role and finished things off. As for Richie Sexson, DMZ over at U.S.S. Mariner broke down his night at the plate and...well, it wasn't pretty. Still, Mariners take the series -- and would have swept if not for Tuesday's rare combustion from J.J. Putz.

Speaking of Putz: He's on the 15-day DL with mild costochondritis, which Seth Kolloen at Enjoy the Enjoyment found is an "inflammation of the cartilage that connects a rib to the breastbone (sternum). It causes sharp pain in the costosternal joint — where your ribs and breastbone are joined by rubbery cartilage. Pain caused by costochondritis may mimic that of a heart attack." The closer role will be platooned his absence.

Next up: A trip to lowly Baltimore on Friday. Game 1 is at 4:05 pm.

Texas 5, Seattle 4 thanks, freakishly, to J.J. Putz who, after blowing just two saves all of last year, managed to hork it in just the second game of this year, when Rangers' center fielder Josh Hamilton (who badly misplayed a fly ball from Ichiro early in the game) absolutely shellacked the first pitch Putz threw him into left center field—after Seattle had battled back in the 8th to a one run lead.

Ichiro, by the way, had three hits. Felix didn't look super sharp, but he only gave up one unearned run--and made up for it was some great fielding (5 assists to just 3 strikeouts: weird). Oh, and Richie Sexson managed to strike out swinging on a bad 3-2 pitch with the bases loaded. All told, he struck out three times. Sigh.

Tonight Carlos Silva makes his Mariners debut. Hopefully he can help deliver the series.

So said Ichiro after yesterday's opening day win over Texas. Bedard struggled to find the strike zone (106 pitches in five innings), but outside of coughing up a first-inning homer there was little damage. Even some boneheaded plays (might want to scale back on that aggressive base-running, McLaren) weren't enough to sabotage the W. Beltre hustled to kill a double play, Lopez nailed a perfect hit-and-run, and in a truly weird sight (outside of snow falling), Sexson battled back from an 0-2 count to earn a walk.

Tonight it's Felix on the mound. Hopefully the M's bats will shake off the chill and give him some help.

...I'm already about to fall asleep. Should lead TV commentator Dave Niehaus get any slack just because he's covered Mariners games since opening season, just because he's being inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame this year, or even because he might've been tired from throwing today's first pitch? If he's going to continue slowly hemming, hawing and sighing like this all season, then no, I'm voiding the slack. Baseball's already slow enough, Dave--why you gotta make it feel even more like I'm watching a public access TV fishing show at 8:30 a.m.? You were way better in the Ken Griffey Jr. game on N64.

As of now, top of the fourth, Texas is up 1-0. Mariners pitcher Erik Bedard is already throwing way too many pitches, and Beltre just blew a double-play by bobbling a grounder that he picked up, but the team has otherwise been doing well against Texas' powerful bats. Not so much against their porous defense, sadly.

UPDATE: Niehaus just stepped out of the booth, replaced by a guy with a pulse. Do baseball commentators get tired the same way pitchers do? Weird. Whatever--thanks, FSN!

Yesterday, though, was kind of better, as President B**h was loudly booed at the Nationals' home opener:

After a long, long winter, baseball is back.

Texas vs. Seattle, 3:40 pm. Bedard takes the mound for the M's, Millwood for the Rangers.

There's been a lot of talk on the blogs the past few days about whether this Vogue cover photo of Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James and model Gisele Bundchen is racist.

Some are saying it looks a little too much like this:

Personally, my first thought when I saw the cover was "Wow, Gisele looks really healthy and happy - what a great departure from the corpselike makeup and rail-thin models you usually see in Vogue." But an awful lot of people seem to think otherwise.

So, Slog readers, what do you think? Is this photo of LeBron James and Gisele racist or not? (LeBron, for the record, likes the cover.)

Yet another "kiss the Sonics goodbye/I hate NBA commish David Stern" article, this one courtesy of the Associated Press. Sonics owner Clay Bennett put on the dog-and-pony show in OKC yesterday, wooing NBA owners and reps with a show of OKC's support for an NBA franchise. The usual tripe gets trotted out--dismissive comments about Steve Ballmer's plans to renovate Key Arena, dismissive comments about the vastly lower marketshare of OKC compared to Seattle, and so on.

But the bludgeoning of misinformation turned from the usual hokey stuff to downright insulting. Take it away, New Jersey Nets owner Lewis Katz (part of an NBA subcommittee mulling the whole OKC deal):

"My hope is that we'll find a settlement with Seattle that will give them the opportunity to have a replacement team. Seattle should have an NBA team, and I think David [Stern] expressed that in the meetings. We all feel that way. My guess is you haven't heard the end of the Seattle story."

Reeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally. Mr. Stern, didn't you say something about this in November of last year?

"I'd love to find a way to keep the team there," he said, "because if the team moves, there's not going to be another team there, not in any conceivable future plan that I could envision, and that would be too bad."

Let's not sugarcoat this, guys. We've seen the commish and the owner in cahoots all along to get out of town at any price, to solidify the league's demands for bigger arenas, more suites, more ways to charge fans and fewer costs for the league and its owners. They'll do whatever it takes--in this case, alienating a top-tier American sports market--to scare other cities into succumbing to Stern's will when renovation plans come up in the next decade or two. But the notion that Stern needed to be wooed by his Okie-pal Clay Bennett, on top of everything else, is really testing the gag reflex. Thankfully, there appears to be someone in Oklahoma who is noticing the Bennett/NBA tactics that turned our city off, though this bit is strangely buried at the bottom of the AP report:

Former Oklahoma state Rep. Wanda Jo Stapleton voiced concerns to the council that the lease leaves the city in position to pay for any cost overruns on the Ford Center renovations and the construction of an approximately $24 million practice facility funded by the sales tax extension.

"It's in black and white there that the city will pay for the cost overruns, and there could be tens of millions of dollars in cost overruns because they've given the team owners free rein to make any changes, whatever they want, during the entire construction period," Stapleton said. "It's just a blank check, that's all it is."

The city's response? They'll keep their eyes on it. I can't wait to see how that turns out for OKC.

It may be spring, but there is still plenty of snow on Northwest hills. Stevens was fantastic last week—no lines, sun, nicely groomed runs and dreamy powder patches in between. It's not too late to partake in this year's fantastic snow season: Crystal and Stevens are both open daily through Sunday, April 13. Summit Central and Alpental are planning to remain open at least through April 6. Mt. Baker is your best bet for this weekend with more than two feet of new in the last three days, with more snow and unusually low temperatures in the forecast. (Operations switch to Friday-Sunday after March 31.)

Marcus Trufant is sticking with the Seahawks.

The Pro Bowl cornerback and the Seahawks have agreed to a $50.2 million, six-year deal that will keep Trufant under contract with Seattle beyond 2008.

Carry on.

Obama officially became my candidate back in January when I saw this ABC News bit asking the (then much larger field of) presidential hopefuls about his/her "guilty pleasure." The answers were pretty lame and predictable (Fred Thomspon--cigars; Hillary Clinton--chocolate; Joe Biden--ice cream), but then came this gem from Obama:

"Well, now that I have stopped sneaking the occasional cigarette, which made me feel tremendously guilty and my wife was constantly on me about it, I suppose it's SportsCenter. I know I should go to sleep. But somehow I find myself being able to watch highlights over and over again."

This is guy is so real, I remember thinking.

My respect and affection for the Senator from Illinois swelled even more when I read his first book, Dreams from My Father, which was originally published in 1995. If you thought his recent speech on race was nuanced and complex, it's nothing compared to what he does in this book, a satisfying and dense unpacking of his own racial identity and views. (Also, the section on the years Obama spent working his ass off and questioning his ability to change things as a community organizer in Chicago is powerful.)

So, imagine my dismay when I discovered Obama's NCAA bracket, in which he picks UNC to be the champion. UNC?! Sure, they're a great team, but it's a such a predictable choice. Further examination of the bracket reveals that Obama's vision of this tournament cherished for its upsets, limitless possibilities, and, dare I say it, audacious hope, is safe and uninspiring. Out of the 32 games in the first round, he predicts only 5 upsets. (And Washington voters, it should be noted that two of these upsets are against Gonzaga and WASU, the only two Washington teams in the tournament.)

Am I left to believe his NCAA picks are just political pandering? Barack and I will just have to agree to disagree on the Final Four.

I turn my attention now to the Georgetown v. UMBC game. Hoyas all the way!

Gay fans of the Rangers are upset about—wait a minute. There are gay hockey fans? Apparently there are. And they're upset. More here.

One thing I should've learned from my years of being single: Never put your trust in a Trojan. Christ!

...Seattle Alliance, Seattle Republic, or Seattle FC. So reports the Seattle P.I.'s Big Blog by way of MLS Rumors (brought to my attention by way of Slog-tipper Will.)

My choice is Seattle FC. People can vote March 27-31 at mlsinseattle.com.

How bad are the Sonics? Last night they lost to the Denver Nuggets -- by 52 points.

Denver scored 168 points--a new franchise record, and the third-most points scored in regulation in NBA history--while Seattle mustered 116 points of their own. It was like a Harlem Globetrotters game.

Thankfully, baseball Opening Day is just two weeks away. Rangers vs. Mariners, March 31, 3:30 pm. About friggin' time.

I went to a public high school in Santa Barbara with Christian Love, son of Beach Boy Mike Love. He hung with the surfers and I didn't really know him except as "that son of a Beach Boy". I think we had a Spanish class together.

His first cousin, Kevin Love, currently plays basketball at UCLA, my alma mater. I went to just one UCLA basketball game during my four years of college, spending my Saturdays instead building grand pyramids from cans of Coors Light.

Today, America is on the cusp March Madness, a three-week college basketball extravaganza which will cost U.S. employers a SLOGesque $1.7 billion in worker productivity. The UCLA Bruins should be the West's #1 seed when match-ups are announced this Sunday.

These are lofty times for the Bruins, but the shot clock winds down on UCLA's legendary coach, John Wooden. The 97-year-old Wizard of Westwood recently spent two weeks in the hospital, recovering from a fall he took at his home. One wonders how much time the old coach has left. Can this year's Bruin team, playing with a Woodenesque mixture of unity, toughness and poise, give the Wizard one last taste of March Madness glory?

Down in my basement is stored a small yet cherished sports card collection left over from my childhood. This was my favorite:

In the late-70s Ralph Kiner said, "Two-thirds of the earth is covered by water, the rest by Garry Maddox." When I was 11 years old, I wanted to look like Garry Maddox, instead I looked like this:

In the mid-'70s, Topps Chewing Gum humanized NFL players by including personal trivia along with seasons played, yards gained, touchdowns scored, etc, on the back of their football cards. In the days before multi-million dollar salaries some of these factoids were pretty mundane: "Joe sells insurance in the off-season," "Bill lives on a ranch in Montana." But none in my collection is less remarkable than New York Jets cornerback Ed Taylor's:

The meatball pitcher has been released by the Mariners.

After 750 seasons in the NFL, Brett Favre is officially retiring. ESPN's round-the-clock coverage begins now.