Far be it from me to tell Russell Wilson how to drop a dime on a receiver 40 yards downfield. But when Wilson steps off the the field and moves into the world of Seattle sports business, I'm a bit more comfortable in clearing my throat for a rousing, "Ahem . . . " when he throws into coverage.

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Aside from the usual passel of injuries that afflict every NFL team in August, the Seahawks have had a mostly quiet preseason. No holdouts, no real fights, few starting position contests or strategy shifts, and no off-field dramas or orations like those from the provocateurs of yesteryear, such as Marshawn Lynch, Richard Sherman or Michael Bennett.

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When the Kingdome was conceived in the early 1970s, the notion of a nine-acre roof made of concrete, unique in the world, seemed preposterous. It wasn't. At least, for 24 years and host to four major sports teams, it wasn't.

When in the middle 1990s the plans for a replacement baseball park were disclosed, they included a first-of-its-kind, giant steel retractable roof that ran on railroad tracks. How 1880s. How implausible. The project just passed its 20th anniversary.

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Disjointed as was the game Saturday night, the post-game delivered its own clank when Seahawks coach Pete Carroll disclosed that prized rookie WR DK Metcalf will need surgery to fix a knee problem that kept him out of the Seahawks' 25-19 exhibition loss (box) in Minneapolis. Carroll, however, said the surgery isn't major, and held out hope that Metcalf could return as soon as the Sept. 8 opener.

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Fans have always known that team sports have hierarchies, the haves vs. the have-nots, royals vs. serfs, titans vs. runts, Monstars vs. Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny, MLB vs. Mariners. In a way, it's part of the industry's charm, because everyone remembers where they were and what they felt when Cougars beat the Huskies in 1997 and went to the Rose Bowl for the first time since the continents rose from the seas and cooled.

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Garrulous and bombastic, Hollywood producer Joe Roth always wanted to win, always wanted to put on a show. As Seattle Sounders part-owner from the MLS beginnings, he could be a load to handle for his partner, the more reticent and self-effacing Adrian Hanauer. But at 71, Roth wanted to be bought out of his shares. So Hanauer found 11 Seattle wealthies eager to jump into pro sports ownership.

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When the Seahawks defense dials up a blitz for a cornerback or a safety, to say the DBs get fired up . . . it's a little like finding out Beyonce is suddenly single.

"I was definitely excited when I heard that call," said DeShawn Shead.  "Anytime we get a chance to get after the quarterback, we take it like getting a pick. We enjoy the opportunity."

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Mock, if you must, the NFL exhibition season. Go ahead and call fake football the worst full-price thing on the national sports calendar. Besides the fake football of the Pro Bowl, I mean.

The cruel rhetoric cannot shield the bright light of truth that was seen Thursday night at the Clink. I'm pleased to say I was there when Paxton Lynch rose from mud and leaves to overtake Russell Wilson as Seahawks quarterback, and stepped over the carcass of his former team to do it.

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Since the Seahawks the past season transformed from one of the NFL's worst rushing teams to its best, making for a potent offense -- over the final half of the regular season, the Seahawks averaged 30 points a game, trailing only Kansas City (34) and the Los Angeles Rams (32.6) -- the 2019 course should be obvious.

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Another day, another Mariners embarassment. This time, it's Tim Beckham. The 29-year-old shortstop was suspended for 80 games Tuesday by MLB for the use of stanozolol, an old-school performance-enhancing steroid on the sport's banned list. He's done for this season, and the punishment will linger into next season for any team signing him.

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My seminal cringe-worthy Mariners game was the 1992 season opener. It was the first game following the stunning news a few months earlier that, from out of nowhere, international man of mystery Hiroshi Yamauchi bought the franchise from Jeff Smulyan to keep him from moving it to Tampa Bay.

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BOTHELL -- Not that he doesn't have enough records already, but Russell Wilson accumulated an odd one Saturday afternoon -- the most effort to get to a football game at Bothell High School.

In a departure from training camp custom, that's where the Seahawks played their mock game. Wilson's route to sold-out Pop Keeney Stadium, not far from Lake Washington's north shore, went through Virginia.

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Turns out L.J. Collier's injury is one for the (medical) books.

A sprain coach Pete Carroll Thursday called "rare" will keep the first-round draft choice out indefinitely and cause the Seahawks to scrounge the marketplace for something else also rare -- a decent rush end who is unemployed.

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Mike Leake, 31, nearly pitched a perfect game two starts ago for the Mariners against the Angels and their Terminator, Mike Trout. Such is the wackiness of MLB that his value at the trade deadline Wednesday was a mere high-A infielder.

Jose Caballero, 22, was hitting .268 in the Diamondbacks system. He has 28 stolen bases, so if he does make the majors, it appears he's fast enough to keep the Mariners out of a few double plays. Incremental value, yes; but something.

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Tuesday was going to be DE L.J. Collier's turn at the Seahawks' training camp podium. With many clubs in the NFL, the first-round draft pick often is the first man up for interview requests. But in Seattle, lower expectations are built in.

Sure enough, Collier lived down to those expectations. It wasn't his fault, and the Seahawks hope it isn't his fate to extend the club's dubious first-round outcomes.

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Pete Carroll said something Sunday about Bobby Wagner that I never heard him say about a Seahawk.

"He’s a beautiful illustration and example of what a young man should be like,” Carroll said after Friday's news that Wagner had become the highest-paid linebacker in the NFL.

Whoa.

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The final major item on the off-season to-do list is done: Bobby Wagner will stay a Seahawk, and he will be the highest-paid linebacker in the NFL, after an agreement was reached Friday. NFL Network reported that the three-year contract extension through 2022 is for $54 million.

The $18 million average annual value exceeds the previous high, established earlier in the summer when the New York Jets paid C.J. Mosley $17 million.

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As much as coach Pete Carroll gushed Thursday about all that was fresh and glorious about the start of a new Seahawks season, there was no escaping the dubious news that trailed along, stuck like toilet paper to a shoe. Not a good look.

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Making the playoffs in 2018 for the seventh time in coach Pete Carroll's nine seasons, and for the 12th time in the past 16 years, was certainly a noteworthy feat for the 10-6 Seahawks, particularly given all the changes on the roster and coaching staff. The question after the draft and free agency is: Are they better in 2019?

As training camp opens Thursday in Renton, I'd say no.

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The furor over President Trump's racist tweets that four liberal congresswomen should pack up and leave has inflamed U.S. culture perhaps as no other reckless rhetoric in his tumultuous tenure. But on the eve of training camps for NFL teams, it needs to be pointed out that the vile attempt to dis-Americanize his critics didn't reveal itself just last week.

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