The Huskies, temporarily anyway, get back on track at the expense of California and Stanford, and Mariners pitchers and catchers report to spring training for what seems to be shaping up as a summer of futility. TWTWTW:
Jan. Feb. 7-13, 2011
- Good Week — Hard to have a better week than Isaiah Thomas. The UW guard led the Huskies to wins over California (team-high 23 points) and Stanford (scored 14 points in two-plus minute stretch), and was selected as a finalist for both the Bob Cousy Award and Naismith Award.
- Bad Week — Not only did Hosni Mubarak get chased out of Egypt, he started making his way into sports metaphors in the United States. When Jerry Sloan suddenly resigned as head coach of the Utah Jazz last week, one blogger said, “Well, at least now Sloan won’t ever get Hosni Mubaraked.”
- Sunday, Feb. 13 — As pitchers and catchers report to Peoria, Mariner manager Eric Wedge tells SPNW’s John Hickey, “Winning is first and foremost, always.” That’s news we like to hear. But then Wedge adds, “That being said, sometimes you need to take one step backward to be able to take two steps forward.” It’s never good when someone starts a sentence with, “That being said . . . “And haven’t we taken enough steps back already?
- Saturday, Feb. 12 — Former WSU standout Bernard Lagat sets a U.S. indoor mark by running 2 miles in 8:10.07 seconds in New York, breaking Doug Padilla’s old mark of 8:15.02, set in 1990. Lagat, holder of indoor standards from 1,500 meters to two miles, and outdoor marks at 1,500, 3,000 and 5,000 meters, is 36 years old and still busting records. Remarkable.
- Friday, Feb. 11 — The lawyer for Mariners outfielder Milton Bradley, Harland Braun, says he has advised his client not to discuss with the media any details, juicy or otherwise, of his January arrest or the state of his marriage. It’s probably good advice, something Bradley has historically been unable to take.
- Thursday, Feb. 10— Washington snaps a three-game losing streak by scoring 109 points in a 109-77 rout of Cal at Hec Edmundson Pavilion. It’s the most points ever scored by Washington in a Pac-10 game, breaking the old mark of 108 set in 2005 against Oregon State.
- Wednesday, Feb. 9 — The Storm announce they will bring a couple of Australia imports (former Lauren Jackson Olympic teammates Belinda Snell and Erin Phillips) to training camp. It’s not much to think about, but it beats mulling over the $12 million the Mariners will pay Milton Bradley in 2011.
- Tuesday, Feb. 8— UCLA football coach Rick Neuheisel, having verbally offered his school’s defensive coordinator position to Seahawks assistant Rocky Seto, reneges on the job opp, apparently because he takes umbrage over the fact that some of Seto’s friends posted congratulations on Seto’s Facebook page before UCLA officially announced his hiring. Talk about being de-socialized.
- Monday. Feb. 7 — Whitworth University, 21-0 overall and 12-0 in the Northwest Conference, is ranked No. 1 in the D3hoop.com men’s basketball poll, marking the first time that any school from the state of Washington resides atop any men’s NCAA basketball regular-season rankings. Cheers to the Pirates.
“That Was The Week That Was (TW3)” is published every Monday as part of Sportspress Northwests package of home-page features collectively titled, The Rotation.
The Rotations weekly schedule:
- Monday: That Was The Week That Was (TW3) A snarky, day-by-day review of the week just ended.
- Tuesday: Wayback Machine — Sports historian David Eskenazi’s deep dive into local sports history, replete with photo eye candy.
- Wednesday: Nobody Asks But Us — We ask, and answer, fun and quirky questions nobody else is asking.
- Thursday: Water Cooler Cool — Art Thiel takes on the weekend for the benefit of the more casual fan.
- Friday: Top 5 List — The alpha and omega of Northwest sports, at least as far as we’re concerned.
2 Comments
Rudman says, “But then Wedge adds, That being said, sometimes you need to take one step backward to be able to take two steps forward.
I could not stop laughing. Really. That has been the Mariners’ plan for some time now, and arguably forever excepting the Pinella years. Bring in a new manager, take a few steps back so as to purportedly go forward, fire that manager, bring in a new manager, take a few steps back, etc..” So in the big picture, we are probably about thirty steps backward even from where we were when we started as an expansion franchise. Now we have this established tradition of ineptitude, which of course we did not have as an expansion franchise. What a riot!
Perhaps the team is clearing salary for the opportunity to get Payton Manning. I also heard that they wpould try to swing a deal in which they sign Manning and trade for his star receiver.