As a former player and baseball executive, Jerry Dipoto has worn every hat there is to wear. As new Mariners GM, he will take on one of two franchises never to have reached a World Series.
Author: Steve Rudman
Steve Rudman
Steve began his journalistic career in an era in which social networking mainly occurred in saloons. In the years since, he has been a reporter and columnist (Seattle Post-Intelligencer), a magazine founder and editor (The National Sports Review), the Director of Research at ESPN (once had the chore of looking up the history of rain delays in major league baseball), a radio talk show host (fired by KIRO because stupid people need radio stations, too, according to the program director), and the producer of a syndicated sports statistical feature (titled Wow!Stats), distributed by Universal Press Syndicate (quick, name three countries in which athletes are eaten when they fail to perform). He wrote (with Karen Chave) 100 Years of Husky Football, Who The Hell is Bob? (one of Seattles more remarkable people) and collaborated with Art Thiel (Sports Press Northwest) and Mike Gastineau (KJR-AM) on The Great Book of Seattle Sports Lists, a ribald compendium of Seattle sports exotica that should be made into a movie (Brad Pitt playing Steve). He gained everlasting infamy in 1985 (at least in Corvallis, Ore.), when, in a column in the Post-Intelligencer, he called the Oregon State Beavers The Barney Fife of College Football, then sat stupefied as the 37-point underdog Beavers cast aside a 28-year slump and beat the Huskies. As of this writing, that game (which resulted in an official, Oregon State-issued game ball for Steve) still generates 314,000 Google pages, most of them from unenlightened (and presumably salt pillar-licking) OSU fans. Steve has yet to issue an apology on Facebook or Twitter and has no plans to do so.
The University of Washington will salute the 1985 Orange Bowl champions Saturday, but are they the most memorable UW bowl team? Vote here.
Three NFL teams have made the Super Bowl after starting a season 0-2, but the Seahawks have never even reached the postseason after dropping their first two games.
The Seahawks have won three in a row from the Packers, but now must face a healthy Aaron Rodgers on his turf, Lambeau Field, where he went 9-0 last season.
Tyler Lockett made history — club and league — in Seattle’s 34-31 loss to St. Louis Sunday, The Seahawks’ defense also made history — the wrong kind.
Only seven teams in the last 49 years have returned to the Super Bowl the year after losing it. Only two of the seven won. Those are the odds facing the Seahawks.
The Pac-12 North will come down to a battle between Oregon and Stanford with Washington expected to fall off in Chris Petersen’s second year.
The Pac-12 South is expected to be a five-way fight involving USC, ASU, UCLA, Arizona and Utah. All have the potential to win and earn a playoff berth.
Six weeks from now, the Mariners will become the franchise gone longest from the postseason, 14 years. No surprise there: bad years are in the club’s DNA.
Nelson Cruz sits atop the major league leader board in a number of offensive categories, including home runs and hits — an extremely rare combination.