Mariners in 1st place after 1st month of season

So maybe these Mariners aren't a fluke after all. I mean its still early and there is still a ton of baseball to be played. The hard part for me is trying to not get my hopes up because at the start of the season, I thought the M's would finish dead last in the division with no hope of making the playoffs. But because of our great pitching, mostly great defense, timely hitting, and throw in numerous of injuries to the A's and Angels, this equals a team that could push for the division deep into the summer.

For those of you who missed this past series with the Athletics, you missed some serious drama. The two walk off singles by Jose Lopez (last night's walk off pic above) were simply amazing. This was a game that the Mariners from last year would have lost. They had no heart. Which is why this team has a chance to compete. Because lets be honest, they aren't as good on paper as the Angels, Athletics, or probably even the Rangers. They definitely don't compare offensively. The offense still struggles to hit for power and have a high on base percentage. The only thing getting us by is cluth hitting and small ball.

For example, Yuniesky Betancourt still hasn't even drawn a walk this season. Adrian Beltre, our cleannup hitter, hasn't hit a home run this year. Ichiro is always going to be mainly a singles hitter, as is Endy Chavez. Luckily Griffey has drawn some walks and Russell Branyan (pic above, this guy is seriously fun to watch hit home runs, aka Paul Bunyan) has provided some pop in the lineup. Mix that in with some good defense by Franklin Gutierrez and Rob Johnson and this team has manage to stay afloot.

The key obviously has been the pitching. Felix (pic above) has been King Felix. Bedard has regained his 2007 form as a second ace on the team. Washburn has been a very pleasant suprise with his new found changup and sinker. Jakabouskas has been solid for the most part. Carlos Silva is the only one not performing and with an ERA over 7, they are considering putting him into the bullpen when Ryan Rowland-Smith comes off the DL if Silva doesn't do well in his next couple of starts.
The bullpen has also been very good. How bout that job by Jason Vargas (pic above) last night! David Aardsma, Mark Lowe, Shawn Kelley, Sean White, and Brandon Morrow have all been more than reliable and exceded expectations.

The big question now is whether this great pitching can hold up long enough for the offense to find a groove once the weather starts getting warmer into the summer. This is normally the time of year when the bats start waking up so lets pray for a little Pedro Cerrano (pic below) Vudu/Golf cover magic and seperate ourselves from the Angels!

Seahawks have effective draft

So last weekend I was up at my aunt and uncle's house in SLC and was lucky enough to catch the first round of the draft. I'm also lucky to have an amazingly understanding girlfriend who understands my love of sports and of the Seahawks, as she is a fan herself. It was actually productive for all of us as the TV was on in the background for most of the draft as I was able to chat with the family and watch the draft at the same time. Of course nobody else cares about football but I was loving life because I didn't feel bad watching the draft as I would carry on conversations with the fam and then look up to check out who was getting drafted where. These are secrets every sports fan should learn to do if they want to make their families happy along with fulfilling their sports needs.

Anyways onto the Seahawks. I was celebrating the pick of Aaron Curry (pics above). He is widely considered the best player in the draft, and we got him with the 4th pick! I started screaming when the Chiefs didn't take him with the 3rd pick cause I knew we had lucked out. This kid is going to be a stud...just check this youtube video of when he was drafted (it also has a few clips of football highlights). The kid seems like he has a passion for the game from his balling his eyes out plus he seems exited to come to Seattle...he's also a freaking heat seeking missile. Plus, along with the signing of Leroy Hill and Lofa Tatupu to long term deals, we now have three stud linebackers for at least the next 4 years.

Another move I loved was trading away our 2nd round pick for Denver's 1st round pick next year. Denver is going to be terrible next year (maybe even in the top 5 worst). So we have the possibility of getting another top 5 pick next year which we could use on a QB if Hasselbeck doesn't stay healthy or a great tackle if Walter Jones wants to retire. Sam Bradford and Colt McCoy are possibilities. Just root for Denver to suck next year.

We then made up for the 2nd round pick by trading back into the 2nd round and selecting who the Seahawks wanted anyways in the 2nd round, Max Unger (pic above), a great center out of Oregon. I expect this kid to be starting next year at center. He's that good. We needed to get younger and better on the OL and this is a step forward as Chris Spencer was just not the answer.

We traded up in the 3rd round to get Deon Butler (pic above) who looks like he could be a very good WR out of Penn St. He should fill the void of Bobby Engram quite nicely. Ironically they're both from Penn St.

So basically we traded a 3rd, 5th, and 7th round pick for a 1st round pick (probably in the top ten) next year. That's great value if you ask me. Hopefully, along with the signing of Ken Lucas (pic below) yesterday, this Seahawk team will be back winning divisions and advancing into the playoffs for years to come, as they should be.

Vegas Here I Come!!!

Well I haven't written on my blog in forever. Thats what happens when you have 16 credits of ridiculously hard science classes, a job, and of course an amazing girlfriend. A guy's gotta have priorities right? Luckily in three weeks I'm finally graduating from BYU. Which means all that time spent on studying will be focused on having an amazing summer and actually enjoying myself. It also opens up time to actually write about the Mariners, who I will be following very closely as always. I'll also be posting about other thing besides the Mariners over the summer, mainly providing previews for the Seahawks, and BYU football and basketball.

I wish I would have had time to write about all the great sporting events that have gone on over the last couple of months. I've failed to write about the World Baseball Classic, which I absolutely loved! Even though my Dominicans or Americans couldn't take home the gold, I was still happy to see the USA actually put up a fight this time (pictured below). Hopefully next time both the Dominicans and the USA will take it even more seriously and show people who the real baseball countries are. People who say that event shouldn't be played don't love baseball. It's great for baseball

Then there's March Madness. I can't say enought about college basketball. It's so full of emotion every year. I still can't get that picture out of my head from 3 years ago when Gonzaga's Adam Morrison was just crying his guts out on the floor (pictured below). I love it almost as much as college football. In my mind, college football has a better product but fails to provide the fans with what they want, or what should be done, which is a playoff similar to college basketball. I'm not saying 64 teams, but I think an 8, 12, or 16 team playoff is a drastic improvement over the BCS.

When I have more time to post in the summer, I'll go over BYU's basketball season and discuss what needs to be done to take this team to the next level of advancing in the NCAA tourny. They had a great year though. Three straight conference championships is an amazing accomplishment and coach Rose (pictured below) should be proud. He, in my mind, is an amazing coach and has done miracles with the BYU program, which I cannot say about Bronco.

Finally, I going to Vegas for the first time and its going to be amazing! We're going to see the Mariners play their final game of spring training on Saturday so hopefully I'll have some pictures up next week about the trip. It'll be good to actually get an unnofficial spring break and catch some rays! Oh ya, we'll be staying at the Mirage (pic below) if anyone wants to party it up.

I'm a Baller

Check me Out!!!

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The Mariners will sign Ken Griffey Jr.!

Ok...so I know its not official yet, but every sign points to Griffey coming to Seattle! ESPN reported this morning that the two sides are having serious talks. The Seattle Times is reporting the same. Lets get one thing straight, Griffey is way past his prime and probably will not improve our team next year at all (except maybe as a DH). The only reason I want this to happen is for sentimental reasons. As many of you might know, I grew up a die-hard Mariners fan, and Jr Griffey was a major part of that. The 1995 season will always be one of my fondest sports memories of all time. Edgar's double with Griffey running around third base will be forever sketched in my brain.

Here's a link to the video of the play that saved the Seattle Mariners in which Griffey was a big part of. This video gives me chills every time I watch it. I seriously almost started crying watching this video today. You gotta loved the announcer, Dave Niehouse. He will always be the voice of the M's. You gotta love Griffey's smile as he gets mobbed at home plate. Priceless.
As for Griffey coming to Seattle this year, he deserves one last go around with the M's. There wouldn't even be baseball in Seattle if it wasn't for him. Bring back Griffey!

Seahawks loss vs Arizona a blessing in disguise / NFL Draft talk

So I'm pretty much an NFL Draft junkie. I can't get enough of it. Its probably because I love college football so much. One of my passions is coaching and scouting players. I feel its one of my strong points. The NFL can be pretty cool too so the draft combines all these worlds into one. Its awesome! Another bonus is that its always the last weekend in April, which happens to coincide with the weekend after finals get over with at BYU! So I'm always ready to just chill and watch where the best college football players end up. Obviously I'm especially interested in not only who the Seahawks draft, but also where or if guys like Austin Collie, Rey Feinga, Travis Bright, Dallas Reynolds, or Fui Vakapuna get drafted.
I wanted to focus on how big this draft is for the Seahawks. They have the 4th pick in the draft and will be able to draft a great player. I'm hoping it will be WR Michael Crabtree (pic above). According to many mock drafts, he will still be available at #4. If he's there, the Seahawks have to take him. Anyone who watched college football this year knows he's a stud. Reminds me of Larry Fitzgerald or Andre Johnson of the Texans. The Seahawks were a team without playmakers last year. Branch was not 100%, Engram is getting old (37), Burleson was out for the year, and the other young recievers didn't step up. If we can add Crabtree to the mix, we'll be challenging Arizona again next year for the NFC west.

The irony is that if they would have beaten the Arizona the last week of the regular season, the Seahawks would have dropped all the way to #8 in the draft. At #8, they would not have a shot at Michael Crabtree. So maybe losing that game will be a blessing in disguise for a franchise and a city thats going to need some positive vibes.

Speaking of where I think BYU players will get drafted, here's my early mock draft for them:
Austin Collie: 3rd-4th round Ray Feinga 6th-7th round Travis Bright 6th-7th round
Free Agents who will sign with teams and get their shot at camp: (In order of best chance) Fui Vakapuna, Dallas Reynolds, David Oswald, David Nixon

Side Notes: Three things I can't wait for in the next month: Spring Training (Seattle Mariners spring training facility in Peoria, AZ pic below)! Which means baseball season is right around the corner! March Madness is soon upon us! Hopefully the Cougs can make a run at the Tourny! BYU Spring Practice begins March 16! Always entertaining.

Chillin with the new recruits / WSU Pharmacy School Interview

Well with school/life starting to crank up this last week I haven't had the time to write much, but thanks to MLK Jr., I have a bit of extra time today!

Two weekends ago I was hanging out with some friends at a party and guess who shows up? None other then the BYU football recruits who were on their official visits. Among them that I recognized: the legend himself Manti Te'o, Xavier Su'a Filo (pic above), and Kyle Van Noy (pic below). There were a few other ones but I couldn't recognize their faces. I try and follow most of BYU's recruiting from scout.com and I was wishing that I had spent more time looking at the lower 3 and 2 star recruits' pictures so I could have recognized their faces. Oh well. They all seemed like really cool guys. I actually talked to Van Noy and congratulated him on his committment to BYU. Cool kid. I felt stupid trying to convince Manti and X-Man to commit so I resisted the temptation.
On a side note, I don't have a good feeling about Manti (pic below) coming to BYU. I guess I'm just scared b/c of what happend with Uona Kaveinga last year and Stanley Havili the year before. (They both went to USC instead of BYU) On the other hand, I have a good feeling about Xavier. Jay Drew (Salt Lake Tribune) mentioned on his blog that he heard from a good source that X really like BYU. I trust Jay most of the time. Not as much as Wrubel though. I really need to get a substription to Total Blue Sports (scout.com) which gives tons of inside info on BYU recruiting. But then I'd just spend more time looking at BYU stuff (I already spend too much time).
I can't wait for Feb. 4 which is signing day for all the recruits. I'll probably do a breakdown on all the recruits in February. Come on Manti! We need you!

On a positive sidenote. I have the most important interview of my life coming up this Friday. I'll be interviewing at the Washington State School of Pharmacy in Pullman. It's my only interview at it's really where I want to go to school so I'm really exited/nervous. I won't know until the first week in March if I get accepted so it will be a nerv-racking month and a half. If I do get accepted, I guess I'll become more of a Wazzu fan. I already follow them a little bit but I expect that to increase if accepted.

Wide Reciever / Tight End Preview

Now that Austin Collie has declared for the draft, we can all move on (hopefully). No doubt Austin will be missed. He was a flat out stud. At times he seemed like the only one who wanted the ball in his hands in the crucial situations. With that, the cupboard is not empty. We return four solid WRs and two great TEs to go along with some players that have some great potential.

The Wide Recievers

Back from his mission to save the day is McKay Jacobsen (pic above). Comparisons will be made right away with Austin Collie. Although he is not quite as good as Collie is right now, he has the potential to be just as good. Rumor was that he was the fastest player on the team in 2006. While he may end up being our best reciever next year, kicking off the missionary legs won't be easy.

The next best three recievers are O'Neil Chambers (pic above), Luke Ashworth, and Spencer Hafoka. It was hard to get a read on any of these guys last year because they were rarely thrown to. It will be interesting to see if Chambers can live up to the hype that surrounded him before this year. Maybe a year of knowing the system and working out with coach Omer (strength and conditioning coach) will do wonders for him. Adjusting to Provo life was not easy on O'Neil. Luckily he had a great mentor in Michael Reed to show him the ropes. I predict he will have a much better year next year as Max will have more trust in him and he will be much more comfortable in his surroundings.

To me, Ashworth (pic below) and Hafoka (pic above) are very similar. Both have good hands and are solid route runners. Nothing spectacular but solid. Pretty much the generic BYU wide reciever from the 80s. Also its important to note that both were coming back from missions so maybe a year of shaking off the rust will be great for them and they have breakout seasons as well. I know Hafoka did return some punts last year so obviously the coaches thought he had some talent as far as quickness and speed.

Two sleeper WRs to keep your eye on are Landon Jaussi and Tyler Kozlowski. I really don't see any true freshman or other returned missionaries contributing much. Brett Thompson and Mitch Matthews are two good incoming freshman recievers (3 stars on scout.com) who probably won't play much until after their missions.

The Tight Ends

No doubt that Dennis Pitta (pic above) and Andrew George will be Hall's two main targets next year. They are the two best TEs in the conference and I wouldn't be suprised if they both get drafted in the 2010 draft. Pitta should be a finalist for the best TE in the country next year. He has amazing hands, some of the best I've seen since Jonny Harline. He's an underrated blocker who has good size at 6'5. Plus he served his mission in the best place on earth (the Dominican Republic). His only problem is he doesn't have blazing speed like a prototipical NFL TE. Hopefully he can have a good offseason, get his knee back to 100%, and gain some speed.

Sometimes I feel back for Andrew George (pic above). The guy is playing behind a great TE and he himself would start for any team in the MWC. The guy has great hands, good speed, and with his 6'6 frame, is a great red-zone target.

I believe Kaneakua Friel isn't going on a mission so it will be a battle for the 3rd TE spot with incoming 4-star recruit Richard Wilson (pic below). Friel seems like he has good talent. He played FB last year so he can block. Good hands with a good frame. Wilson is going to be the real deal. He had offers from LSU, Miami, Tennessee, UW, Stanford, and Utah. Wow. Says on Scout.com he has 4.6 speed.
As always we will be loaded at TE.

Next up is the Offensive Line preview. Also note that I will be doing a Mariners preview probably in late-Feb./early March. Right after we have all our free agents signed and right before spring training.

Looking back on the Streak

I will always look back on the last 3-plus years of basketball seasons in the Marriott Center as some of my best sports memories at BYU. Yes that even includes football. For those of you who have not been to the Marriott Center, it is one of the biggest basketball arenas in college basketball. And when it is sold out like it was on Saturday against Wake Forest, it is much like Quest field in Seattle, deafening.

I will remember the amazing white outs (vs. Utah, UNLV, Air Force, and San Diego St.). I'll remember the very first game I ever attended in 2005 which resulted in the only loss I've ever witnessed in person at BYU, which happens to be the last time BYU lost a home game (I've been to almost every game except the Wake Forest game). I'll remember the amazing games (vs. TCU in 2005, vs. San Diego St. last year, vs Utah and UNLV ever year, and beating #14 Air Force in 2006). Thank You Dave Rose and all the players that made it possible. 53 games is an amazing streak! Lets start a new streak tomorrow by beating Western Oregon!

A Few Other Notes

I've found a new favorite team to root for, The Wake Forest Demon Decons. They were amazing to watch yesterday. Yes, the refs from the A-10 did favor them, but they are still a great team. Jeff Teague is tough and calm under pressure. Many players have fallen victim to the Marriot Center but he rose his game to a whole new level. They have future NBA players in Al-Farouq Aminu, James Johnson, and Teague, just to name a few. Head coach Dino Gaudio is a class act. If you didn't read his postgame comments you should check them out. He was full of praise to the BYU program.

BYU should feel no shame in losing to Wake Forest. They literally outplayed them in every aspect of the game, except shooting down the stretch. If Lee Cummard doesn't go 6-20 and 0-4 on 3's, and JT doesn't go 4-13 on 3's, we win the game. Those were shots that normally would fall for BYU. Thats not even including the fact that we lost our starting and backup centers to foul trouble.

Mark's sports wish list for 2009 / Thoughts on BYU basketball

1. BYU basketball beats Wake Forest this year, beats UNLV on the road, and wins an NCAA tournament game. Is that too much to ask?

2. Manti Te'o (pictured below), the best high school linebacker in the nation, picks BYU over USC. I have a good feeling about this one. Oh ya, and for Bronco to be more aggressive on defense (mix up the blitz and don't give a 12 yard cushion).

3. Seahawks select Michael Crabtree (pictured below) with the 4th pick in the draft.
4. Mariners sign someone who can actually hit the ball.

Just four simple requests.

Also wanted to expand a bit on this huge week for BYU basketball. After giving it over a week and a half to sink in, I will no longer consider the loss against Arizona St. a loss. I will refer to it as a win. Because thats what it was. I will not let the Pac-10/stupid officials rule my life. I consider this like the U.S. silver medal against the Russians in the Olympics in 1972. They refused to accept the medal because they knew they were robbed because of politics/stupidity. In their minds they won the gold medal. In my mind, BYU won the game, so thats the way it is.

The positive in the whole situation is that BYU rebounded well against Tulsa to get a huge win on Tuesday. Dave Rose is an amazing coach and BYU is lucky to have him. He has recruited the talent necessary to succeed while at the same time, managing egos such as Trent Plaisted and JT. He is an aggresive coach who knows how to win. Maybe Bronco could learn a lesson or two.

I can't wait for the Wake Forest game on Saturday! This game is going to be huge for the program. Can you say biggest game ever at the Marriott Center?

Part 1 of 7 BYU special in-depth football preview: Offensive Backfield

BYU should be very solid next year in the backfield. Returning is senior QB Max Hall. Yes Hall did struggle at the end of the year, but he is still the best returning QB in the conference. BYU has had tremendous success with senior QBs in previous years. Expect a big year for Hall, especially if Collie returns. Lets not hype up the Heisman talk though, unless we somehow beat Oklahoma at the beginning of the year.
Backing up Hall will either be Brenden Gaskins again, or Utah St. transfer Riley Nelson (pictured above). Riley will be getting back from his mission in Spain in the next couple months. He was a freshman sensation with the Aggies two years ago and is the QB after Hall graduates. Just from watching James Lark and Jason Munns in practice, I was much more impressed with Nelson his freshman year. If I was the coach, I would have Nelson be the backup QB and let him play some serious minutes when the game is out of hand, just to get him some experience. Another option is just to redshirt him. Kurt McCuen is also an option.

We will be deep again at RB. Returning is workhorse junior Harvey Unga. His only weakness is his speed. If he can lose about 10 pounds for next year and gain some speed, he could be special. He has great hands and runs hard. Coming back for his senior year will be FB Manase Tonga (pictured below) if he can get back into school after being suspended for academics. He will be very important as he will take Fui's spot. He also has great hands and is an underrated runner.
Also looking to get carries will be sophmore J.J. Diluigi, returning missionary Mike Hague, and true freshman Adam Timo. Diluigi has not lived up to his hype, but in fairness to him, he hasn't really gotten the playing time necessary to succeed. The coaches quickly lost trust in him after fumbling twice in crucial situations. He looked good in spring ball and I believe he still can be productive. He is very quick, has good vision, and soft hands. Timo has some serious upside. Scout.com has him rated as a 4-star recruit with good speed. His highlights in high school are very impressive. I was impressed with Brian Kariya this year. The coaches trust him so he should get some carries as well. Expect a battle between these players to get playing time behind Unga and Tonga.

Next up is the WRs and TEs preview.

Worst year ever?

Ya this year has been hard on us Seattle sports fans. There is a great article on ESPN.com written by Jim Caple and Outside the Lines that covers just how bad it has been for us. Here's the link. Its a great read. Even for fans not from Seattle. You have to admire that fan, Lorin Sandresky, for his loyalty. And here I thought I was the loyalist Seattle sports fan. This guy actually would wait for the teams to get home from their flights! Trust me read the article.

I've been avoiding writing about the terrible weekend for BYU sports. I feel bad for the basketball team for absolutely getting robbed. I have never seen such a poorly officiated game in my 25 years of existence. No joke. I'm not exaggerating. How bout that star treatment for James Hardin? Ridiculous. Not to mention that the last play was inconclusive. It just goes to show that Pac-10 people take care of themselves and the national media and ESPN just look the other way. BYU should never play another Pac-10 school in anything unless it is on a completely neutral court with non-partial refs or replay officials. Hopefully the team can recover from this and beat Wake Forest on Jan. 3. That is going to be a huge can for us. It will be our only chance to get national attention and rebound from a tough loss.

On that note. I don't feel bad for BYU football, except for Austin Collie. Our coaching staff is too stubborn, ignorant, or just plain clueless in our offensive and defensive schemes. I heard it said once that a team reflects from a coach's personality. BYU now plays exactly as Bronco is, emotionless, passive, makes excuses, and unwilling to adjust. This team has talent coming back next year but the way we play in our formations and play calling, there is no hope to do anything special next year. Which is why I feel bad for Austin Collie, the guy is a stallion, a gamer, one of the best players to ever play at BYU. I don't blame him for wanting to get out of this mess and coaching staff. I will go into greater depth on our offensive and devensive schemes and why they are so bad in the off-season. Let me state that I like Bronco as a person. He would be a great Elder's Quorem President. But lacks in football IQ.

Blockbuster trade for the Mariners!!!! J.J. will be missed

Wow I didn't know I could be so exited about baseball in December. But this is a huge trade for the future of the M's. We give up J.J. Putz, Sean Green, Jeremy Reed, and Luis Valbuena. We get Franklin Gutierrez, Aaron Heilman, Endy Chavez, Mike Carp, and some "minor leaguers".

Lets first discuss who we had to give up: J.J. Putz will be missed. He was been one of my favorite players the last few years and he was the leader of the team. But I understand why the team would want to trade him. He was hurt for most of last year, and when he did pitch, he stunk. Good luck in Queens J.J.! Sean Green will also be missed. He has been our best right-handed set-up man the last two years. Jeremy Reed will not be missed. He has basically no potenial upside and is basically a career .250 and 15 home run hitter with average defense. Luis Valbuena definitely has some upside. I was impressed by his bat and glove but he is the same player as Jose Lopez right now, just with a slightly better glove and less power, so one of them had to go.

Now lets get to the exiting part. I'm stoked about Franklin Gutierrez. He is going to be our center fielder for a long time! Great defense, decent offense, and great upside. Aaron Heilman isn't really that exiting, he's a downgrade from Sean Green. He wants to start but we already have too many starters so he'll probably be in the bullpen again. Endy Chavez will probably split time with Wlad in left. He's a great defensive player that can hit for average and has good speed. Mike Carp is a good minor leaguer that has potential.

Bottom line is that we drastically improved our outfield defense (and possibly outfield offense) but at the same time lost some key bullpen pieces. Another big question is do we move Brandon Morrow back to the bullpen? I really think this kid could be a great starter but now without Putz and Green, we need him as a closer.

Spring Training is less than 3 months away!

I think I owe JT an appology...for now

Yesterday's win over Utah St was huge. Not only did we beat a good team in Utah St....we actually won a game without Lee Cummard having to be like the government and bail us out. Jonathan Tavernari, who I've been very critical of, actually was one of the main reasons we won. Yes he did take his normal 5-6 terrible shots per game, but his hustle plays were the difference in the game. His steals were huge momentum swingers and sources of offense that were desperately needed without Lee in the game with foul trouble. Props to Jimmer Fredette for stepping up and drilling some huge 3's and the and-one at the end. Click here for video recap

Also of note is that I won a bet with a huge Aggie fan and now she has to wear a BYU shirt around for a day...so hopefully that will be as humilliating as possible.

Speaking of Aggie fans, I think its funny the way Utah St. thinks that they are big rivals with BYU. What makes it even more hilarious is that they REALLY HATE BYU. I would even guess they hate BYU way more than Utah. I think they might even hate us more that Utah does. Why all the hate? We don't hate you :) I guess it is probably the same reason that Utah hates us. Because they couldn't get into BYU so they're jealous? Because you think we think we are better members of the church than you just because we go to BYU? Thats just retarted. Get a life and stop wasting your time hating on BYU.

Around the world of sports, even though its hard for me to say, but congratulations to Cashmere for winning the Washington 1A State playoffs, and representing the old CWAC. Behind Ephrata, I think Cashmere is the next team I disliked the most in high school out of the old CWAC. On a crazy and suprising note, 2A powerhouse Prosser lost a heartbreaker in the finals. Click here for a video recap. I couldn't believe it when they lost...one of the best high school games ever in the state of Washington! I thought they'd win by 3 TDs after I saw them play last week for only a quarter.

Also of note is BYU will be playing Arizona in the Vegas Bowl. Alot of Coug fans are complaining about going to this bowl but I think we should be grateful. It could be worse. We could be playing in the New Mexico bowl! Yuck. If we can't go to a BCS game, then Vegas is the next best bowl. I just hope TCU plays Boise State in the Poinsettia bowl in San Diego so they can show just how much better the MWC is than the WAC!

BYU's Defensive Philosophy

The "bend but don't break defense" will never get BYU to the BCS, or even win another MWC championship. In my mind, it is a weak defense. It relies on your opponent making mistakes, not being aggressive, thus taking the game out your own hands. If I were a coach, I would prefer trying to win the game instead of trying to not lose the game. This is the main reason we are something like 1-9 against ranked teams the last 4 years. We have no problem against weak offensive teams, but whenever we play somebody good, we get smoked. I'm not sure if its Bronco or Jaime Hill who likes this defensive philosophy but it needs to go. Take a page out of Utah's defensive playbook and mix it up a bit. Disguise your blitzes. Don't be vanilla. Be creative. Make it hard for an opposing offense!

One of the reasons that I hear everybody say the reason they believe we can't blitz is because we don't have the cover guys in the secondary. This really gets me fired up because we do have the talent. His name was G Pittman but we managed to screw that one up somehow. Not to mention Brandon Bradley. That kid is a stud if the coaches would let him get physical and not play 10 yards off the football. Have you ever tried to guard someone when you give them 10 yards of cushion? Its nearly impossible because they can run any route they want. Are you telling me that Brandon Howard isn't fast enough? He's probably the fastest one on the team.

Another thing that bothers me is that if the coaches make the excuse that they don't have the athletes to be successful, why aren't they recruiting the necessary people? Bronco himself said that it doesn't matter what "star" a person is on scout.com or rivals.com. But then he makes the excuse that it DOES matter? Something is contradictory here. Bronco told us as fans that we should not worry about recruiting, but this is exactly why we as fans get upset about not recruiting the talent necessary.

Which gets me to another point about Bronco. He is not good with the media. He doesn't like the media. He seems annoyed with the fans. Anytime he gets a chance to go to Cougar Club meetings or talk about the team on the Bronco Mendenhall show, he seems like he is too good to be there and shouldn't have to worry about such pointless things. News flast to Bronco! Those people are the ones who pay your salary. The boosters are the ones who allow BYU football to exist. Unlike other programs who get money from their universities, BYU athletics raises its own money through donations and funds raised through advertising, etc. Not a penny comes from tithing.

If you look at other top coaches from around the country, you will notice they are very good with the media. Coaches like Urban Meyer, Bob Stoops, Mack Brown, Jim Tressel, Nick Saban, and of course Pete Carroll build up their programs by positive publicity. They know how to attrack kids to their schools. I'm not saying that Bronco can't recruit. Because I think he is a good recruiter. But getting the top LDS kids in the nation, (like Manti Te'o) , requires you to be able to convince kids that we have a good system and defensive philosophy. And if kids like Manit see how our defense plays, i.e soft and passive, then why would he choose us over USC? We should be getting the top LDS kids in the nation. And probably a few good non-LDS kids like G Pittman to stay and enjoy BYU. We are a top 20 program that should be able to recruit the athletes necessary.

Well I just rambled along and vented some frustrations but hopefully in the next couple days I'll think of some positives that the program is doing. I promise I'm not a pessimist so I'll look at the positives also.

Thoughs on about everything

So this will probably end up being one of my longest post of all time because there seems to be so much going on in the BYU/Seattle sports scene. I wish I had the time/motivation to post everyday but school is kicking my butt right now. Two midterms this past week plus two this week have me going crazy. So I figure Saturday is a good day to catch up on everything thats going on.

First off I'm stoked about this years BYU basketball team. Last nights game was amazing to see. Yes we played terrible against a team we should have beat by over 20, but how can you not love Lee Cummard? The man is simply amazing. Check out this stat line: 36 points, 11 boards, 5 assists, 3 blocks, 2 steals, 7-7 on free throws, and off the top of my head, somewhere around 14-17 from the field. He will go down as one of the greatest players in BYU history. I'm just glad I've had the opportunity to watch him play for 4 straight years.

On a negative note, Jonathan Tavernari was terrible. The rest of the team was below average but JT had probably the worst night I've seen him have. Somewhere around 8-24 from the field. That just can't happen for this team to be successful. I know I've been harping on this forever but he has to be more selective on his 3-point shots. He forces too many shots with a man in his face. Do a pump fake or something to mix it up. You said before the season you were going to focus on other things besides scoring, so DO IT! Make your teammates better please, like Lee Cummard does.

Moving on to Seattle Seahawk football. This weeks game against Arizona is a must win. I know that sounds cliche and I hate using words like "must win" but this game really is. If we lose this game, no playoffs for the Seahawks. Actually we can only afford to lose probably one more game the rest of the season, which would put us at 8-8. I'm assuming the Cardinals finish at 8-8 and we win the tiebreaker against them. The only reason I have hope is because Matt Hasselbeck is coming back this week. Go Seahawks!

Now to some important offseason news for the Mariners. They will probably name a Manager sometime this week. Ex-Mariner and current Chicago White Sox coach Joey Cora is in the mix. I would love to see Joey as the manager, mostly because I loved him as a player back in the 90s. Plus he's Latino, which would help some of our younger Latin players like Yuni Bentancour, Jose, Lopez, Felix Hernandez, and Carlos Triunfel. He probably won't get the job but you never know.

Oh yeah, there's also a BYU football game today! Its going to be a tough game. Air Force is a really underrated team, especially at home. I'm not worried about our offense, but our D might be in trouble against their triple option attack.

As I was thinking about Lee Cummard being one of the greatest players to ever play at BYU, I thought of how fun it is to watch another player who is the greatest Wide Receiver to play at BYU, Austin Collie. Not only does he lead the nation in yards, and is a Belitnikof award finalist, but only needs 165 yards to become BYU's all-time leading receiver. Oh yeah, and he's only a junior. He has said that he won't leave early for the NFL but we'll see. Go Cougars! Beat Air Force!

Utah's win keeps BYU's slim BCS hopes alive

It was a strange day for me on thursday. I was torn. Do I root for Utah to beat TCU so BYU still has a slight chance for the conference title and the BCS? Or do I concede that BYU is just not good enough to beat Utah anyways this year and root against Utah because I don't want them to go to a BCS game? Tough decisions. But I decided to root against TCU, instead of rooting for the dang Yewts. Just to justify it.

Anyways it was a strange seen as I watched the game at Legents Grill in Provo. There were a ton of people there, mostly BYU fans, and they were all cheering for Utah. Of course I understand why they would, but it was just bizarre seeing all these BYU fans rooting for our arch enemy. I chose to watch the game and never cheer outloud for Utah. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I was happy inside but I would never cheer openly for them.

I was honestly disapointed as I saw a few BYU football players sitting there watching the game and cheering for Utah. I couldn't believe my eyes. Come on guys!

So just a few thoughts on what has to happen for BYU to get a BCS game. First we need to win the rest of our games. Which will not be easy as we still have games @Air Force and Utah. Then we need either Boise St or Ohio St to lose. If you really want me to explain it to you then I will but I don't want to write a couple more paragraphs just explaining the BCS system. So bottom line, root against Boise St and Ohio St, and just win baby!

Quincy vs Ephrata...one of the great rivalries

On the eve of the biggest sporting event of the year in the Columbia Basin, I thought I'd reflect and give a shout out to one of the great rivalries in high school sports. As some of you know, Quincy plays host to Ephrata tomorrow for the "Battle of the Basin trophy". Let me tell you, there is no love lost between these two schools, much like Ohio St. and Michigan or BYU and Utah.

One of my greatest memories in this rivalry is beating them my sophmore year in football. We played them @Ephrata my sophmore year and it was my first year as starting QB. It was a great game. I can still remember some of their players so mad after the game that they refused to walk through the line and shake our hands. Then that same year we beat them in basketball (the same year we took 4th in state). It was awesome seeing Weddle crying after he got schooled by Scott Bierlink. I just wish we could have beat them more my junior and senior years.

I believe Ephrata has beat us the last two years so in honor of the presidential election, it's time for change! Go Jacks! Beat Ephrata!

Where are you Matt Hasselbeck? / G Pittman transferring to WSU!

I feel I need to say a bit about my beloved Seahawks. I seemed to get caught up in BYU sports and the Mariners, but believe me, I still love the Seahawks. Just ask Adam or Brett if they remember the 2006 Super Bowl where I almost started breaking things in Russ's parents house in Orem. I'm not sure if I've been as pissed after a sporting event in my life. For sure I've never been so upset at officials in my life. I was probably more disappointed/despressed after the Quincy state championship basketball game in 2005, but not pissed like the Super Bowl.

Anyways I was getting exited last week after the Hawks played well and beat down the 49ers, (led by drawer dropping Mike Singletary). There was hope. Even if our records was only 2-5. Luckily we play in the worst division in football where the best team right now is the Arizona Cardinals, who just happen to be notorius for choking is big situations.

Unfortunately we pulled another dud today as we got owned by the Eagles. Dropping our record to 2-6. This is already our third loss at home this season! I can't even remember three losses since 2004 at Qwest field. We always seem to dominate at homeBut don't lose hope yet Hawk fans! I was checking out our schedule and it is favorable. We still play Arizona twice, which could get us back into the divisional race.

But it all hinges on if we can get Matt Hasselbeck back in the next two weeks. If we can't get him back within 3 weeks, the season is over. I can see us going 6-2 over the next 8 games if we can get him back next week or the week after. That would put us at 8-8, and assuming we beat Arizona twice, we could win the division. Getting Deion Branch back wouldn't hurt too.

This has been a miserable year in Seattle sports. First the Sonics leave, then the Mariners finish in last place in the AL, then UW football can't win a game. Not to mention how terrible things are in the Palouse with the Washington State Cougars. If you read my blog entry about the Seahawks in August, they were supposed to be Seattle's last hope for what has been a horrible year. There's still time. Get well soon Matt!

While I'm talking about WSU football, I noticed on ex-BYU football player Quinn Gooch's blog that G Pittman is transferring to WSU next year. That would mean he would sit out a year and be able to play in 2010 as a junior. I was stoked to hear this news for a few reasons. First he is a very good player and I want the Crimson Cougs to turn things around. And it puts him in a similar situation as myself, as I am in the process of applying to WSU pharmacy school for next year so hopefully I'll run into G next year in good ol' Washington State.

BYU Basketball Tip-Off

So I anxiously headed over to the Marriot Center last night to check out this year's version of the BYU basketball team. I'll be honest, I haven't been this exited about a team in a while. And after seeing this team last night, I think they can be special. The great thing is they only have one senior, who happens to be the best player, Lee Cummard. I think this team has the most potential out of any of the other teams.

The only problem is that we only have one senior. Whereas in past years we've had multiple seniors. The experience factor will be huge in road games. Don't expect this year to be the year we beat UNLV on the road. That said, we can still win conference, get into the tourney, and actually win a game!

Here's a breakdown of what I observed at the scrimmage:

1. I've never been a fan of Jonathan Tavernari, mostly because I felt he took too many bad shots, but he played very well last night. I'm starting to come around on him. He knocked down a bunch of shots. Hopefully he can still be selective in his shots but still carry that confidence that makes him such a dangerous shooter.

2. It's going to be a tough decision on who could redshirt. Noah Hartsock could be a good canidade. He didn't look like he was in the best shape yesterday. But he is still a good player and could get some minutes backing up JT at the 4. Charles Abouo looked very good last night. He is huge (ripped). Look for him to get some good minutes behind Cummard if he doesn't redshirt. I actually think Michael Loyd would benefit from a redshirt, even though he probably won't. He'll probably be the second guard off the bench. He's super fast and athletic but not the best shooter.

3. I thought Matt Pinegar looked just as good or better than Lamont Morgan last night. Morgan is a decent player, but he can't shoot from the outside. He can penetrate very well and dish to the outside but thats about it. Pinegar was knocking down shoots all night long and looked very impressive on both sides of the court.

4. Jackson Emery is ripped. That boy looks like he spent some time in the gym on his mission. He struggled at times getting use to the speed again but I think he's going to have a great season. He'll probably be the first one off the bench to replace Jimmer and Lee.

5. Chris Miles and Gavon McGregor looked solid. Nothin spectacular but both can bang on the inside and get some boards. Both showed touch around the basket, something that was not present with Plaisted. This is another reason why Hartsock will be able to redshirt.

6. Jimmer Fredette and Lee Cummard are going to be great players for us this year. Look for great things, especially from Cummard.