The only downside they’d have would be that they might get a career ending injury but they could easily get injured their rookie year also.  They’d have a better career if they stayed in school.  Brandon Roy did and before he got injured was having an All-Star career, possibly HOF.  Spencer Hawes has become a journeyman though.  And if it wasn’t for his height and work ethic might not even be in the league anymore.

Possibly each should have a sit down with Brandon Roy in order to understand how much more prepared he was for the pros by staying in the program.
Then they could look at the other UW players who left early and haven’t excelled.

No argument about skill and potential. Considering Washington’s roller coaster ride this season, the one missing element is maturity. These young men have superstar potential but it can only come with high level competition. 1-2 more years as division 1 starters beats 3-4 years as the 7th or 8th man off the bench in the NBA.

Moving in the fences is a silly, desperate idea that should never happen. The M’s have had problems hitting home runs mostly due to the fact that the majority of the players they’ve had for the past decade have been capable of achieving only slightly above the lowest levels of suck. Its hard to build a serious team with an upper management philosophy of primarily signing players whose names can be turned into cute nicknames that end in a long “E” sound. The dimensions of the stadium are the reason it is such a pitcher-friendly park. You win with pitching, defense, and manufacturing runs. The problem is that for more than ten years the upper management has acquiesced to Ichiro at every opportunity, while meddling, tinkering, and manipulating their merry-go-round of general managers into signing and promoting position players that were not only not suited to the ballpark, but consisted of an acrid and bizarre mix of cantankerous has-beens in their last days and milquetoast Dudley Do-Rights that had no business being on a major league roster in the first place. It appears, for the most part, that Choward Lincstrong is stepping aside and letting Jack actually run the show now, all by himself. I have pretty much been ignoring the M’s since about 2003 (I refuse to passionately follow something that clearly has no hope) but this season has me more intrigued than any in a long, long time. Now, if Lincstrong can just stay out of the way….

Thanks for the morning chuckles, always a good way to start the day.     Pre-draft press conferences are always good for blowing smoke and these two can blow smoke with the best of them. (Remember the twitter feeds with songs with hidden draft clues?)   I could see them trading down, picking up some picks and then drafting someone no one has ever heard of if they think the LBs or DEs are too risky at number 12.

Or maybe they weren’t blowing smoke, just making everyone think they were blowing smoke.   

Or maybe….

Loved the lead…I just about blew coffee all over my monitor.

Fun story. I learned very little, but I am not complaining. Do what you do best, Art. Be funny. The world is full of serious writers, especially in the sports field. I couldn’t wade through all your serious stuff while you were in Tokyo. I might have missed a few laughs hidden in there somewhere, but you seemed infused with a Japanese seriousness while in Tokyo. 

You have been ignoring the draft more than most sports writers, and I am hoping you will chime in with a Mock Draft. Or a Mock the draft story. Or maybe a sockem mockem draft story…..

Seems like the Vikings at #3 could be pushing the QB Guru Holmgren has him  under consideration rumor. Trade down with the Dolphins? Qbs 123?

You are absolutely wrong about that.  The M’s would average only about 1 game per season which would be rained out.  There would be another half dozen games or so each year which would be delayed by rain, and another half dozen played partly or mostly in drizzle.  These are the actual statistics.

Every MLB team has many fans who travel up to three hours to go to games.  Almost all MLB cities get far more rain during baseball season than Seattle gets.  Almost all MLB ballparks are open-air, without any roof over the field.  These parks are drawing much better than Safeco Field, despite the fact that those other parks do have rainouts, and Safeco Field never has rainouts.  A huge, ugly retractable roof does not help attendance one iota.

Look at Minnesota, and New York City.  There are three new ballparks in those cities (one in Minneapolis and 2 in NYC), none of which have retractable roofs.  And Minneapolis and NYC both get far more rain in baseball season than Seattle, and both those cities average far more rainouts per season than Seattle would in an open-air park.

Safeco Field was a huge mistake.  Just a tragic wasted opportunity.

Remember, even the Kingdome had great attendance when the M’s were winning.  The key to a ballpark, is what is attendance when the team stinks?

Are you implying that Pistol Pete is not telling the truth? A USC guy? What is the world coming to!

Next you will tell me hid recruiting at USC was not above board.

Good post.