John Schneider came up with a new metric for draft analysis: Ethan Pocic was a two-shirter.

So worried was the Seahawks general manager Friday afternoon that he wouldn't get the 6-foot-6, 310-pound offensive lineman from Louisiana State with the draft's 58th choice that he had to switch to a fresh shirt.

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It may be some sort of religious ritual, or perhaps a superstition, possibly a simple bar dare, seeing if the Seahawks can stay in contention by avoiding convention. Or maybe the first round has cooties that only the Seahawks see. But they did it again. Twice.

After trading down and then out of the first round, coach Pete Carroll fought hard to contain a snicker of glee.

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Removing from the conversation all of the relocation threats that soured the franchise's first 20 years, the game in Detroit Tuesday had to be among the top five most dispiriting moments in the Mariners' 41 years on the planet's surface. But the Mariners Wednesday night came back with a statement, beating the Tigers 8-0 behind a four-hit, seven-inning masterpiece from starter James Paxton (box).

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Marshawn Lynch passed a physical exam Wednesday in Oakland and will join his hometown Raiders. Oakland will swap late-round picks in the 2018 draft with the Seahawks to complete a trade for the 31-year old running back, who signed a two year contract. Both teams confirmed the deal, and Lynch will host a block party Thursday to celebrate his homecoming.

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He didn't yell at anyone to get off the Clink's artificial lawn, but John Schneider did sound a tad cranky when talking about how the darn kids play college football these days.

"When you watch college football, the majority of it looks more like basketball on grass,” the Seahawks general manager told reporters Monday. "Things are just not quite as clear as they used to be, and that’s just my personal belief. There’s not a forest of offensive linemen trees out there that you can just run out to the back yard" and pluck a couple of big'ns.

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For those Seahawks followers weary of the Richard Sherman trade story, here is what general manager John Schneider said in his annual pre-draft media briefing Monday at team headquarters:

"Right now we kinda moved past it."

Well then, that's it, right? Not exactly.

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John Schneider said something peculiar the other day. He said CB Richard Sherman might need a spark.

That's right -- a guy making $13 million, widely considered among the best in his position, playing on a team that's claimed a Super Bowl and has won playoff games five years in a row in a city that adores him, working for a coach with more tolerance for eccentricity than Dumbledore at Hogwarts, needs a spark.

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The arrival of Ichiro among the visiting Miami Marlins this week was coincidentally timed with the unveiling of the statue of Ken Griffey Jr. in front of Safeco Field's main entrance. The intersection of the Mariners' two greatest players inspired some conversation that included the inevitable questions:

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Turns out that both bidders seeking to turn KeyArena into a premier concert/sports venue have requests for some public-funding help. But unlike Seattle Partners (AEG) that wanted public bonds to help cut costs for construction, Oak View Group seeks to have some post-opening city admissions taxes redirected to a capital fund that covers maintenance and improvements.

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A three-run homer as well as a game-saving catch over the right field fence would have been enough for rookie Mitch Haniger to say he had himself a day Sunday at Safeco Field. But that would ignore the premium moment of his ascendancy as a major leaguer with a big upside: The patience, in the bottom of the ninth of a tie game with the bases loaded and no outs in a 3-1 count, to take ball four.

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The difficulty of shoehorning a world-class sports and concert venue under the old KeyArena roof and still making money from the enterprise was so immense that Oak View Group and Seattle Partners weaved and wobbled under the strain.

Both came up with solutions quite different. It remains to be seen how each plays out.

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This story also appears at crosscut.com

Although much in their plans will get thoroughly nibbled and pecked until decision day June 30, two nationally recognized arena developers Wednesday succeeded in rocking Seattle's entertainment world: They hit the deadline for submitting plans, worth a combined $1 billion, to turn KeyArena from frump to siren.

On their nickels. Under the old roof. In the heart of a city that is always one traffic accident away from Donner Pass immobility.

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Free agent DE Dion Jordan, a three-time violator of the NFL's substance-abuse program cut two weeks ago by the Miami Dolphins after failing a physical, was signed Tuesday by the Seahawks, according to a report in USA Today. The deal is likely a low-risk, one-year deal to see if Jordan, the No. 3 pick in the 2013 draft, can overcome his past, as well as a knee injury that forced him to sit out the 2016 season.

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Under no circumstances is it permissible for baseball fans to jump off a figurative bridge over a bad first week in April of a 162-game season. There is, however, no prohibition against booing the crap out of a 1-6 team that loads the bases with none out in a scoreless game and gets no runs.

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In the unfolding saga of the Seahawks' potential trade of CB Richard Sherman, it appears that the stage has been reached where we can ask him the much-memed question he asked of QB Tom Brady on the Clink field in 2012 after Seattle beat the New England Patriots 24-23:

"U mad, bro?"

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The end of the college basketball season prompts a look at a different kind of final box score in the state: Four Division I programs lost their coaches, and the one program that was fantastically successful played its worst game of the year at the industry's pinnacle moment.

And how about those Porters, drawing the weirdest looks since the Gekko family.

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After he skipped his usual mid-week podium media session at Seahawks headquarters Dec. 28, CB Richard Sherman took some questions from reporters gathered around his locker at VMAC headquarters. Coach Pete Carroll earlier confirmed that an unplanned team meeting was held the previous week in part to address Sherman's sideline tantrum during the Rams game that became national news.

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Amazon is suddenly an NFL player. Not on the field, but in your living room/car/sidewalk or anywhere you have a hankering to watch Russell Wilson run for his life. Seattle's little retail shop agreed Tuesday to pay $50 million this fall to stream 10 NFL Thursday night games to its Amazon Prime customers.

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The Mariners are making a to-do about their 40th anniversary season, which they are certainly entitled to do. T-shirts, hats and baby clothes must be sold, Ken Griffey Jr.'s 1995 slide must be re-played, and reunions must be made, or forced.

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Lost in the dissections of new University of Washington coach Mike Hopkins's career resume was that he was "court coach" for USA Basketball teams at the 2010 FIBA World Championships, 2012 London Olympics, 2014 World Cup and 2016 Rio Olympics. He might need a bandage on his passport.

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