Seahawks fans: Be you doomsayers, or pollyannas?

Doomsayers believe the predations of free agency left the roster vulnerable, beyond off-season repair and likely consumed in the fall by the hellfires of the NFC West. Pollyannas believe that the losses were mere flesh wounds, easily salved by the potions of Pete Carroll and John Schneider, who have nearly divine knowledge of football talent scorned by others.

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The Seahawks' darling neighbors to the south, still bitter about missing an NFC championship and probable Super Bowl triumph by a foot on the final pass of their season, are moving toward locking up the thrower of that pass, Colin Kaepernick. The 49ers apparently figure that next season, $20 million should buy 12 inches.

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When did Gonzaga become Washington State?

Or is the better question: When did Arizona become the San Antonio Spurs?

Arizona's 84-61 obliteration of the non-competitive Zags Sunday night in San Diego was the last and final rivet that popped on the one of the most astonishing weekends in the madness of March, as defined by NCAA basketball.

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Pulling together a soccer team on the seasonal fly appears a difficult task, the Sounders' 2013 debacle being Exhibit A. They're doing it again in 2014, an awkwardness compounded by a World Cup year when, for the first time, Seattle players -- along with players from other MLS teams in notable numbers -- are called to training as well as Brazil "for club and country," the marketing phrase deployed to help diminish the discontinuity.

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I wish Golden Tate had taken the money and run. Just run. Say nothing. G'bye.

But he didn't. Just as he couldn't resist taunting Rams defenders when he caught a game-winning, 80-yard touchdown pass in October, he couldn't resist taunting the Seahawks after his departure to Detroit for a five-year, $31 million deal as free agent.

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Despite comments from NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman that three groups expressing interest in owning an NHL franchise in Seattle have contacted him, there is little likelihood that the agreement between Chris Hansen and the city and county will be changed to accommodate hockey ahead of an NBA team.

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Despite some growing interest in expansion by the National Hockey League to Seattle, it won't happen without a green-lighted plan for a new arena. But the next step in Chris Hansen's proposed arena project for SoDo is months away from its next crossroads -- a final environmental impact statement mandated by state law.

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Cheering for big-time college basketball in this state lately is a little like pulling for the cook from Denny's on "Iron Chef." Good for him, but there's only so much to be done with chicken fried steak, even with country gravy.

The only team from the Evergreen State to make the NCAA tournament Sunday (bracket here) was the inevitable Gonzaga, but the Bulldogs were a modest No. 8 seed in the West, a comedown from No. 1 a year earlier.

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Clint Dempsey claimed his strike to an opponent's groin was an accident. Coach Sigi Schmid seemed to think the "really soft" goals surrendered were odd mistakes. And all of the Sounders were certain they had control of the run of play Saturday.

But the Clink scoreboard read Toronto FC 2, Sounders FC 1. In a match that seemed to count for more than one result, the Sounders came away from a home game with zero points against a celebrated team featuring World Cup talent.

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To help understand the Seahawks' moves in free agency, it's useful to keep in mind three names who aren't free agents: Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman and Russell Wilson. Nearly every move the Seahawks are making in this year's free agent period is influenced to some degree by the plan to retain the three stars with contract extensions over the next 12 or so months.

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Unsurprisingly, the Super Bowl champs are proving popular in the NFL's free agent bazaar.

RT Breno Giacomini, who started nine regular-season games and the three playoff games, signed Wednesday evening with the New York Jets, where John Idzik is general manager after several years in the Seahawks front office. Giacomini is the second starter departing the Seattle offense, following WR Golden Tate's move to Detroit.

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The Lorenzo Romar basketball coaching tree may be close to a little spring pruning. As conference tourney time goes full blast this week, two of his former assistants, Ken Bone at Washington State and Cameron Dollar at Seattle University, are in jeopardy of unemployment.

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When Michael Bennett was asked recently whether in his free agency he would give the Seahawks a hometown discount to re-sign with the Super Bowl champions, he responded rather defiantly in the negative, saying no, "This isn't Costco."

I thought at the time, "Well, actually, it is like Costco. The Seahawks buy their defensive linemen in bulk. They use a lot of them, so the cost per unit purchased is less expensive. If a manufacturer thinks he has a high-end appliance worth more per unit than Costco would pay, he can sell it to Albert Lee. But if he wants to move product . . . "

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After the dishevelment that ended the previous season, the Sounders Saturday tidied up a bit to start 2014. The fans did their part, providing another sellout and another spectacular pre-game tifo while chanting through an afternoon-long waterfall.

The players did their part, getting what amounts to a walk-off score in the 94th and final minute that broke with last season and broke the hearts of Sporting Kansas City, the defending MLS champion. It all came together in the Seattle sports tradition -- audibly.

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To little surprise, DE Michael Bennett, the Seahawks' top free agent, will enter the NFL market starting Saturday rather than accept the team's pre-market offer. He played on a one-year deal worth $5 million last season, when he led Seattle with 8.5 sacks.

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On a trip to Minneapolis Wednesday to scout for a future outdoor game, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman threw in the direction of Seattle another tease about expansion.

“There’s a lot of interest," he told the Star-Tribune. "We’re hearing from multiple groups in Seattle . . .  in Vegas, in Kansas City, in Quebec City. We haven’t decided to engage in a formal expansion process, but as we always do, we listen to expressions of interest.

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CB Brandon Browner, a key figure in the Seahawks' "Legion of Boom" now a free agent, wrote on his Twitter account Tuesday that he was reinstated by the NFL after receiving a suspension late last season that would have lasted through 2014.

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Give Chris Petersen the Oscar for spring football practice candor.

"Spring ball is usually pretty ugly," he said Monday. "It really is. All it takes is one or two guys to not be on the same page and everything looks terrible."

And he was talking about practice play, not QB Cyler Miles or WR Damore'ea Stringfellow, who allegedly did their own special version of ugly.

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Now that David Stern has retired, perhaps the NBA is oozing toward the unfamiliar ground of honesty when it comes to Seattle. During an interview Saturday, new commissioner Adam Silver offered a quick retort to his questioner, author and noted contrarian Malcolm Gladwell.

"It has been said that keeping Seattle open was the stick to keep other teams in line . . . " Gladwell began.

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Ken Griffey Jr. and Lou Piniella usually would wait until the baseball season began before complaining that the Mariners needed another bat. But times have changed, and a new tradition has begun. Newcomer Robinson Cano is playing general manager right from spring training, lobbying specifically for the return of DH Kendrys Morales.

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