Seattle Sports Examiner

List: NFL regular-season reflections

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 09:54:06 -0700

It would appear to be the appropriate time for my NFL regular-season wrap. Normally this time of year we'd be heading into the playoffs but for the first time ever the schedule takes us into January before the playoffs even begin. There ar...

Holmgren's in a better place - Cleveland

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:26:58 -0700

All I hear this week is moaning and hand-wringing and remorse over the Seahawks failure to reach an agreement with Mike Holmgren to be the team's football czar. I'm trying to understand why. It has to be sentimental. Holmgren was a...

List: Reflections on the Brandon Morrow trade

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 13:42:28 -0700

A few thoughts immediately entered my mind with the news of the Brandon Morrow trade. I thought about the Mariners rotation now, who is the prospect the team gets in return, Tim Lincecum, Bill Bavasi's legacy, more free agents and a curio...

M's rising: Jack is on track

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:35:09 -0700

The Mariners are close to getting rid of a troubled fat guy, RHP Carlos Silva, for a troubled bad guy, OF Milton Bradley, according to the latest reports. (It's official. Mariners announce the deal at 10:48 am) Once again, I am amazed ...

Cliff Lee: Biggest acquisition in M's history

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:46:00 -0700

No trade, no free agent signing, no acquisition in the history of the Seattle Mariners has ever been bigger than what GM Jack Zduriencik just accomplished by bringing in LHP Cliff Lee. Nothing can compare to this. For me, the news Wednesda...

Locker to return. Bad decision

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:15:13 -0700

Good for QB Jake Locker. Spurning the NFL - where he could have been taken as high as No. 2 - to return to the Washington Huskies for his senior season.

It's nuts, though. All for a bowl experience? Did Sam Bradford teach him anything?

M's prospects for Cliff Lee? Yes UPDATE

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:04:58 -0700

How about Felix Hernandez and Cliff Lee back to back for the Mariners next season. That's the rumor. It's a three-way deal with Toronto and Philadelphia. The Mariners would send three of its best prospects - actually two - RHP Brandon ...

Off the top: Ichiro, Figgins a good start

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 08:50:20 -0700

When the Mariners signed Chone Figgins during the Winter Meetings, it signaled two things. One, it provides the opportunity to take advantage as well as appease Ichiro and, two, it means the club also plans to take better advantage of large dimens...

Quirky Cairo: One-dollar land

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:20:19 -0700

CAIRO – As noted yesterday, I am a lover of history's footnotes, not necessarily history. What I like are the small things that sometime lead to big things. My blog on Dubai yesterday outlined some of those things. Today, it's Ca...

Playing an ancient game in an ancient land

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 10:23:03 -0700

CAIRO – Just like cathedrals in Europe, Buddha temples in Asia and any meal in England, there is a limit. After a while, they just pass through your system and your vision without leaving much of a trace. Such was my state of mind a few ...

Dubai is the world's New City

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:32:15 -0700

DUBAI – It took me years after I finished all my schooling that I acquired an appreciation for history. But it wasn't exactly the kind of history once forced down me in school but footnotes of history, which I think are more reflec...

Jeff Nelson: Rookie Santa of the Year

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 09:50:40 -0700

DUBAI – Fortunately in my journalistic career, I've been part of some big events and have covered some compelling figures. You stay in the business long enough I suppose it's inevitable. For the most part, most of those sports fi...

Did Edgar do enough to be immortalized?

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 07:42:46 -0700

After five years, it has finally reached that time. Former Mariners DH Edgar Martinez is on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time. I'm fortunate enough to vote for the candidates every year. The envelope generally comes the first week...

List: Fearless NFL predictions

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 00:11:19 -0700

Taking a couple weeks semi-break from the blogging here for a jaunt to the Middle East. That's not Kentucky or Pennsylvania but Dubai and Egypt. I may even have a sports-related blog or two from there so try to contain your enthusiasm. In ...

Lackey, Washburn, Bay would empower the Mariners

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:19:23 -0700

With the Winter Meetings coming up next week, it might be a good time to revisit a blog I did Oct. 9, just after the Mariners season ended. I wrote about how remarkable their season was from the previous year but how difficult it's going to be...

Griffey: Rounding out a career and his numbers

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 08:15:02 -0700

A few weeks back, just after Ken Griffey, Jr. re-signed with the Mariners for what is likely his final big-league season, I was curious about his career numbers. I wondered what does he need to round out his career. It's a Hall of Fame car...

Long sports seasons over-saturating the market?

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:33:32 -0700

Two sports finished their seasons Sunday, one in Seattle. Major League Soccer closed its season with its championship game, a pretty good one as Real Salt Lake defeated L.A. Galaxy with penalty kicks. The other concluding sport was at the othe...

Ichiro: Ready to plummet in 2010?

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:31:11 -0700

Baseball's most notable seamhead, Bill James, has come out with a curious list of players most likely to improve on their 2009 season. For the record, there are no Mariners in his top 10 but Everett's Grady Sizemore made it for the Cle...

List: For the Hawks, tanking a good thing

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:11:36 -0700

This Seattle Seahawks team is bad. I'm talking bottom five bad. And that's good. It's good because this team has so much to fix and needs as high a draft pick as possible. The problem is they won't get a No. 4 pick like last se...

Mariners fill 40-man roster with Carrera, Cortes

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:16:47 -0700

The Mariners added six players – five pitchers - to their 40-man roster this afternoon, yet another reflection of what first-year general manager Jack Zduriencik has done to this team. The club added OF Ezequiel Carrera, RHP Danny ...