The Sounders’ big plans for Champions League were dashed Thursday, partly because of a slowdown with a visa. And now, the MLS opener is abruptly upon the defending champs.
Author: Art Thiel
Art Thiel
Never having met a metaphor he could not twist beyond recognition, Art has been illuminating, agitating, amusing and annoying Puget Sound sports readers for a long time. Along with Steve Rudman, he co-founded Sports Press Northwest because it didnt seem right that the Google monster should aggregate daily journalism into oblivion without at least a flesh wound from somebody. Thiel and Rudman labored under the Seattle Post-Intelligencer globe until the print edition died an undeserved death in March, 2009. Art continued on at its online successor seattlepi.com while working on SPNWs creation. His radio commentaries can be heard Friday and Saturday mornings and Friday afternoon on KPLU-FM 88.9. In 2003 he wrote the definitive book about the Seattle Mariners, Out of Left Field, which became a regional bestseller. In 2009, along with Rudman and KJR 950 afternoon host Mike Gastineau, Thiel authored The Great Book of Seattle Sports Lists, a cross between historylink.org and Mad Magazine that has become mandatory reading for any sports fan who has an indoor bathroom. A graduate of Pacific Lutheran University as well as two dead papers and a live one, the News Tribune of Tacoma, he has become a fan of entrepreneurial online journalism because it allows him to continue a lifelong passion to take the English language to places it rarely visits willingly, and does not involve the cleaning of kennels or stables.
Some critiques of former Huskies QB Jacob Eason, including his own, have made his selection one of the more intriguing mysteries of the NFL draft.
Despite a weak defense, Seahawks went a long way. But they can’t continue to rely on bouncing fumbles and Russell Wilson. So begins the Jadeveon Clowney sweepstakes.
Pending ratification by the players, NFL owners have signed off on a 10-year extension of the CBA, including advancing into the 21th century regarding marijuana.
13-year veteran and three-time Pro Bowl selection Greg Olsen, cut by the Panthers, signed a one-year, $7 million deal to join the Seahawks.
If superhero Mike Trout is upset about cheating, MLB has a huge problem. Manfred and the players union must develop new rules to manage technology. Meantime, go Amish.
The new XFL debuted Saturday with impressive results. The Dragons won, 17-9, and more than 29,000 showed to watch Jim Zorn win, as they did 40 years earlier.
The Astros’ first press conference after the sign-stealing scandal was a disaster. They still don’t get it. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred needs to act, or he’s complicit.
MLB is said to be studying a new playoff format that includes having top teams choose their playoff foes, sorta like The Bachelor TV series. Well, if you’re going to go low . . .
At the start of spring training, the Mariners are bringing back Taijuan Walker, a budding star from 2013-16 who was traded and lost the past two seasons to Tommy John surgery.