Author: Art Thiel

Russell Wilson was sacked five times and hit 10 times in the January playoff loss to the Rams. / Drew McKenzie, Sportspress Northwest Only one other time in the Pete Carroll/Russell Wilson era have the Seahawks fallen so hard, so fast. If you don’t remember when that was, turn in your Ricardo Lockette jersey and stop reading. In January, after the first-round playoff defeat of a 12-4 team that won the toughest division in the NFL, it took more than an hour before a distraught, disheveled Russell Wilson, who played poorly and was sacked five times, met the media. Carroll…

GM John Schneider, SS Jamal Adams and coach Pete Carroll were all grins and hugs after a five-month negotiation paid off in a deal. / Seahawks.com The Jamal Adams skeptics are beside themselves. First the Seahawks expend great treasure to acquire a safety, then double down by expending great treasure to keep him long term. Since there’s no salary cap in space exploration, Jeff Bezos is free to spend large and shoot for the moon. Why do the Seahawks? The Seahawks took the gamble for one reason: Adams spoils the week of every opponent’s offensive coordinator.

Then-Washington State athletics director Bill Moos oversaw $150 million worth of renovations to Martin Stadium, but it remains difficult for the athletics department to generate revenues sufficient to keep pace in the Pac-12 . / Washington State athletics As a new college football season is about to begin, the groaning of the old NCAA empire’s collapse is practically audible. To understand more clearly, there’s a set of standings worth knowing about. It has nothing to do with wins and losses, but much to do about declaring winners and losers in the new long game of college sports. The crass exits…

Backup QB Geno Smith was knocked from the game in the first quarter with a concussion. / Rod Mar, Seattle Seahawks If the goal was to keep the playcalling exotica of new offensive coordinator Shane Waldron a mystery, the Seahawks Saturday night put it in a box in a vault and dropped it to the sea floor. It was a success. Considering they were in the Nevada desert, the feat gives an idea how paranoid the Seahawks were. If the goal was to stay healthy and win, that didn’t quite work out as well in the first NFL game played…

Shielded against sun, smoke and disease, coach Nick Rolovich addressed the media post-practice this week. / Spokesman Review For the coach of a team that played only four football games the past season because of COVID-19, Washington State’s Nick Rolovich has staked out an astonishing hill upon which he could die, giving literal meaning to the increasingly hackneyed expression. Worse, his linguistic legacy could become an American verb: To Rolovich: Acting in a manner stubbornly contrary to science, common sense, public health, sports-team principles and employment contracts, while offering no explanation for the behavior. His surprising refusal to accept a…

From referee Ed Hochuli to the Seahawks front office, no one wants Duane Brown mad at them. / Drew Sellers, Sportspress Northwest Now that more has been reported about about the contract drama unfolding at training camp, the more it seems that LT Duane Brown is the Seahawks’ most difficult roster problem. While a standoff is apparent with SS Jamal Adams, at least the sides are negotiating. The Seattle Times, citing unidentified sources, said the Seahawks have offered Adams a four-year extension at an average annual value of $17.5 million, making him the NFL’s highest paid safety, at a little…

Stone Forsythe likely will start at left tackle Saturday in Las Vegas. / Seattle Seahawks Unless there’s an abrupt uptick this week in Seahawks’ health news and/or contract talks, the starting left tackle in the first preseason game Saturday night in Las Vegas against the Raiders will be Stone Forsythe. Anyone who saw that coming four months ago would be advised to join the Seahawks in Vegas and head to the high-roller blackjack tables before your luck runs out. The rookie sixth-rounder’s appearance is by no means permanent, and largely a function of temporary attrition. Still, not only will Forsythe…

The highlight of the Opening Ceremony in a stadium devoid of fans was the massive collection of drones shaped as a globe. / Breno Barros via Wikemedia Commons Bloated as they are, the Olympics have room for another sport: Forecasting doom for the Olympics. Skeptics from all participating nations already have a deep bench for the proposed sport. Each can choose from many critics to pursue many heckle points: Too big. Too expensive. Too corrupt. Too irrelevant to global crises. Too NBC. Too American. Too rhythmic gymnastics. This year’s version that concluded Sunday in Tokyo had even more pre-Games condemnations.…

This is the remaining entrance gate to the original stadium in Olympia, Greece, where the Olympics were first staged in 776 BC, and used again in 2004. / Sofie Debognies via Wikimedia Commons Watching the men’s shot put televised from Tokyo Thursday evoked for me a memory of the same event 17 years earlier in the Summer Games in Greece. In the town of Olympia, 200 miles north of Athens, the Greeks staged the men’s and women’s events in the remnant of the original stadium where the Olympics began in 776 BC. As the latest Games close this weekend in…

The great thing about training camp is all receivers are open for souvenir footballs. / Seahawks.com The way everyone around the Seahawks has talked about Shane Waldron’s actual and potential contributions this season, the new offensive coordinator has risen in importance above any of the new player acquisitions. He’s developing a bit of a rock-star aura. “I don’t know about that,” he said, laughing. “Far from that. Maybe Eddie Vedder out here, but not me.” The Portland native so far is a little low on brashness and outrageousness. But if he delivers on what he was hired to fix, he’ll…