- Good Week — UW linebacker Mason Foster got himself named to two more All-America teams (Associated Press, third team, and Honorable Mention, SI.com), bringing his total of All-America selections to four (also named first team by scout.com and rivals.com). Foster finished the season with 151 tackles (top total in the Pac-10). More impressively, he had more tackles in a season than any Pac-10 player since UW’s James Clifford in 1989.
- Bad Week — Make it two bad weeks. Matt Hasselbeck tossed four INTs a week ago and two more on Sunday, giving him 13 turnovers (10 interceptions, 3 fumbles) in his past four starts. Throwing more like Elisabeth Hasselbeck than vintage Matt, looks like the sand has drained out of his hourglass.
- Sunday, Dec. 19 — The Seahawks get buried at Qwest by the Atlanta Falcons 34-18, but remain in the playoff hunt at 6-8 only because they play in the Mr. Shermanesque NFC West. Pete Carroll may be inclined to start QB Matt Hasselbeck (two more picks on Sunday) for the season’s final games out of respect for what he has done for the franchise, but will need to take a long look at Charlie Whitehurst to see what the Seahawks have — or don’t have — in him.
- Saturday, Dec. 18— Lorenzo Romar’s Huskies notch a 28-point win over San Francisco at Hec Edmundson Pavilion, winning 80-52. Good news: A normally lethargic rebounding team, UW had six offensive boards in the first eight minutes en route to 40 overall, most by the Huskies since the season opener five weeks ago. Bad news: UW got outrebounded in the second half. But . . . the new lineup looks promising.
- Friday, Dec. 17 — No local Olympian stands a better chance to cash in London (2012) than Auburn’s 21-year-old Ariana Kukors. On Friday, she won the gold medal in the 100 individual medley at the Short-Course World Championships in Dubai, clocking 58.95 seconds. She already holds the world long-course world record in the 200 IM, having set it twice last year in Rome.
- Thursday, Dec. 16 — One-time Mariner Cliff Lee (13 games) spurns the Yankees and Rangers and returns to Philadelphia for $120 million over five years, leaving $30 million on the table (Yankees offered $150 million). To refresh: The M’s swapped Lee to Texas on July 9, at which point he had an 8-3 record, a 2.34 ERA, five complete games and a strikeouts-to-walk ratio of 15 to 1. He had been named AL Pitcher of the Month for June and had just been named to the All-Star team. Said Ichiro: “I’ve never played with anyone who pitched like that.” Ichiro, of course, was already playing with Felix Hernandez.
- Wednesday, Dec. 15 — Major League Soccer decides, to the chagrin of most boot adherents in the Pacific Northwest, that Cascadia clubs Seattle, Portland and Vancouver will only be permitted to allocate 500 tickets to away supporters for upcoming rivalry matches. Imagine if UW had allocated only 500 tickets to, say, Nebraska supporters (some 22,000 traveled to Seattle last September). Or if the Mariners decreed that only 500 Red Sox fans per game would be admitted to Safeco Field. MLS needs to loosen up. What’s the point of promoting rivalry matches when the allocation to away supporters is just 500 tickets?
- Tuesday, Dec. 14 — University of Washington linebacker Mason Foster is named to his third and fourth All-America teams, gaining accolades from The Associated Press (third team) and SI.com (Honorable Mention). Foster is the most decorated UW linebacker since 1991-1992, when Dave Hoffman joined Rick Redman (1963-64) as the only two-time, first-team All-America linebackers in school history.
- Monday, Dec. 13 — The Mariners clear room on their roster for DH Jack Cust by designating Rob Johnson for assignment. Johnson led the American League in 2010 with nine passed balls in just 61 games. The man who replaced him, Miguel Olivo, led the National League with 10 while catching for Colorado. Sounds to us like the baseball equivalent of the “Lateral Arabesque,” an old Peter Principle technique.
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