It’s difficult to imagine a figure more loathsome to sports-minded Seattleites than Clay Bennett, the unscrupulous knave who poached the Seattle SuperSonics in 2008 and spirited them to Oklahoma City. With the NBA's blessing, Bennett instantly re-packaged 41 years worth of Sonics history, records and memories under the nickname “Thunder.”

READ MORE»

Seventeen years elapsed between the time the Seahawks produced their first Pro Football Hall of Famer, Steve Largent in 1995, and their second, Cortez Kennedy Saturday. Not nearly as many calendar pages will flip before the Seahawks have their third Canton nominee, and possibly their fourth.

READ MORE»

The Dallas Cowboys have yet to make it official, but it would appear that quarterback Jon Kitna is going to retire at age 39. If the source who leaked this intelligence to the Dallas Morning News is correct, one of the more unlikely NFL careers in local sports history has ended the same way it began, utterly without fanfare.

READ MORE»

Despite what I thought was a persuasive argument mounted by the Mariners on behalf of their former DH, Edgar Martinez, the Baseball Writers Association of America largely rejected the statistical case the club presented, once again barring the Seattle icon from the portals of Cooperstown. Only former shortstop Barry Larkin was elected Monday.

READ MORE»

Just before the Thanksgiving holiday, baseball agent Scott Boras practically promised The Washington Post that he would have his hottest client, free agent slugger Prince Fielder, signed and delivered to his new club by Dec. 30. At the time, the Mariners were reportedly among a handful of teams involved in the Fielder sweepstakes.

READ MORE»

When the University of Washington trotted Steve Sarkisian in front of the cameras for the first time (Dec. 8, 2008), you’d have thought the 34-year-old former Southern California assistant had just parted the waters of Lake Washington. At a news conference that doubled as a pep rally, UW boosters swooned, cheerleaders pranced, the Husky band played, and four shirtless students aligned themselves in the background with S-A-R-K painted on their bare chests. Someone even sported a t-shirt that read, “Bark For Sark!”

READ MORE»

If I'd asked this question a month ago, I would have been forced to flee from men in white coats brandishing butterfly nets. Now, well, not so much. The question: if Jake Locker suddenly materialized on the University of Washington campus, who would be your starting quarterback? Locker or Keith Price?

No one disputes the impact Locker had during his four years in the UW program. He splattered his name all over the school’s record book and played his guts out before becoming the highest-drafted (first round, eighth overall) quarterback in UW history.

But gifted as Locker was, I don’t recall head coach Steve Sarkisian ever referring to him as “a freakin’ stud,” the precise phrase Sarkisian tossed out last weekend in citing the work of Jake’s replacement, sophomore Price.

READ MORE»

I never really paid much attention to sports-related statuary until a few months ago when Auburn University announced its intention to commission a 10-foot bronze tribute to 2010 Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton, now an emerging stud with the Carolina Panthers.

READ MORE»

Not much has gone right for the Mariners in 2011. Of course, since not much went right for the franchise from 1977 through 1994, from 1996-99, and from 2004 until now, this hardly qualifies as nasty slap upside the head. But as we sift through the rubble of another season in which the Mariners turned the wrecking ball on themselves, there have been a few points of light.

READ MORE»

Ichiro reached Labor Day with 160 hits (went 2-for-5 in an 8-5 loss to Oakland on Sunday), obviously meaning that he needs 40 more in Seattle's final 23 games to reach 200. An 11th consecutive 200-hit season would not only extend Ichiro's own major league record, but break a tie with Pete Rose for most 200-hit seasons in a career.

READ MORE»

After making 27 more roster moves, the Seahawks have settled -- at least for this nanosecond in time -- on the 53 players who will allegedly begin the 2011 season sporting Seattle togs. The latest round of roster roulette involved no surprises (well, perhaps a minor one), except maybe for the fact that the "Final 53" includes 10 players who wore a Seattle uniform prior to the arrival of head coach Pete Carroll in January of 2010.

How come so many?

READ MORE»

UW 30, EASTERN WASHINGTON 27

DATE: Sept. 3, 2011

VENUE: Husky Stadium

LINE: UW by 18

A game that oddsmakers figured would be a yawner instead morphed into a thriller as the Washington Huskies hung on to defeat an Eastern Washington team that, at least for the 60 minutes in question, proved every bit their equal and in many ways their superior.

READ MORE»

No one, save perhaps Steve Sarkisian and his staff, knows what to expect out of Keith Price, charged with replacing Jake Locker as quarterback of the Washington Huskies, who launch their 2011 season Saturday against Eastern Washington. Price has one career start (a blowout loss to Oregon last year), seven mop-up jobs, 37 attempts, 19 completions and two touchdown passes to show for his brief time at Montlake, hardly enough data to speculate on whether Price tilts toward Sonny Sixkiller or Casey Paus.

READ MORE»

If the Mariners knew then what they know now, they would probably have taken Roger Clemens with the seventh pick in the 1983 June free agent draft instead of the player they glommed on to, Darrel Akerfelds, who never pitched for Seattle and won just nine games in five Major League seasons. Clemens won 354.

READ MORE»

In their past nine starts, and heading into Monday's game at Minnesota, Mariners starting pitchers have thrown at least 7.0 innings and allowed two or fewer runs. Collectively over that span, Mariners starters have posted a 0.77 ERA and an opponent batting average of .160.

READ MORE»

During Ken Griffey Jr.'s heyday with the Mariners (mid-to-late 1990s), a lament always existed about the black hole the club had in left field. Lists of these largely ineffective laggers were compiled and commented derisively upon on as the Mariners trotted out the likes of Jeffrey Leonard, Greg Briley, Kevin Mitchell, Eric Anthony, and on and on.

READ MORE»

How does Michael Pineda's strikeouts-to-walk ratio compare to other starting pitchers in Mariners history?

When Michael Pineda (5-2) fanned seven and walked none in beating the Minnesota Twins on Monday night at Safeco Field, he pushed his season strikeout total to 52 and kept his walk total to 13, a strikeouts-to-walk ratio of 4.00.

If extended over a full season, this would constitute the second-best strikeouts-to-walk ratio in franchise history, behind Randy Johnson's 4.52 mark in 1995, the year he went 18-2 and won the first of his Cy Young awards.

READ MORE»

The Seattle Mariners are obligated to pay outfielder Milton Bradley $12 million in 2011, or $8,534,370 more than the entire payroll of the Seattle Sounders. Jack Zduriencik's experiment didn't work out, so the Mariners designated the outfielder (a terrible one, at that) for assignment Monday earlier this week, likely meaning the end of his major league career.

Among players who made Seattle's Opening Day rosters since 1995 and figured to have everyday roles with the club, Bradley's "designation" is the fifth quickest by calendar date. Also, we have listed below the most wretched contracts handed out by the Mariners since 2000, and would like you to vote below on what you consider to be the worst.

READ MORE»

When the Mariners open a three-game series with the Cleveland Indians on Friday night at Progressive Field, it will mark their first FRIDAY THE 13TH game since FRIDAY, AUGUST 13, 2010, when they recorded THIRTEEN total bases, despite THIRTEEN ground ball outs, in a 3-2 win over the Tribe, also by Lake Erie.

The Mariners are 9-18 in all FRIDAY THE 13TH games (regular season and postseason) and 1-3 against the Indians in such contests, which, as you might suspect, have generally been very weird affairs: