The story of the off season for Seattle has been injuries. Oh, and the utter collapse of Shaun Alexander’s career, but that one I sort of saw coming (more on that some other time).

Over the pre-season, guys seemed to be going down regularly. No where is this more apparent than with receivers. Not two years ago Seattle had too many receivers to throw the ball to. At the end of last season, Deion Branch went down; he’s still not back. After a long holdout seeking a contract extension, Bobby Engram came back, and went down. D. J. Hackett went to Carolina. This left Ben Obamanu and Nate Burleson as the only receivers with much experience. Obamanu went down in the preseason and is done for the year. Branch is week-to-week on when he’ll be back. This weekend, Burleson went down for the year. Yikes!

So, on to the game. Matt Hasselbeck, our plucky bald QB of Chunky Soup fame, has apparently developed a bad back, and didn’t play much in the preseason. It showed. The offensive line struggled with multiple guys out during the preseason. Coupled with a new running game (Alexander being gone, Julian Jones having been picked up from the Cowboys as a free agent) and well, the offense partly to mostly sucked.

The defense played ok; two of the touchdowns scored against the Hawks came on special teams. One was an sucker punch of a fake field goal pass to a defensive end who was so wide open even I could have caught the ball. The other was on a punt return on which I swear the Seattle coverage team looked like they were hoping the guy would just trip.

So as often the case when they go back east to play, the Hawks take the loss. I am slightly contented to remember that the Super Bowl season of ‘05 they started the same way with a crappy loss in Jacksonville. We’ll see.

The next two games are at home against two of the poorer teams in the NFC, San Francisco and St. Louis. My prediction? If Seattle doesn’t beat both teams, and soundly, it is going to be a long year.

Coupled with the Washington State Cougs only taking the WORST loss in Pac-10 history, it was a pretty dismal football weekend. I think it can only get better. It better…

Best Seat in the House

Let’s talk about China. You can be a human-rights-abusing, quasi-third-world, anti-religious communist nation, and the U.S. will embargo you so fast your head will spin – if you are a poor country with no market or export opportunity to offer us. (Hello, Cuba!) But if you’re a huge country with the potential to become an economic superpower someday, even if it is on the broken backs of your abused citizens, then our high-minded democratic principles fly right out the window and we will extend foreign aid, provide tax relief for international business and encourage travel and joint ventures. I realize I’m oversimplifying – but I do firmly believe that US business ethics are entirely situational.

I understand that part of the ideal of the Olympic games is that the participating nations set aside any international and political issues and come together in peace to participate in athletic competition. Various games have been boycotted since the 1950s for political reasons, however, no nations have withdrawn from these Chinese games. This surprises me. Should nations have boycotted the Chinese games for political and human rights reasons, at the expense of their athletes? I can’t answer that – but I do think that the US should be consistent in its application of human rights and foreign aid censure.

These games have seemed to turn sour this summer, for many reasons:

IOC’s suspension of Iraq’s Olympic participation, based upon dissatisfaction with the selection criteria for the country’s Olympic committee. As a project manager, I understand the importance of governance, still, what in the heck does that have to do with whether the athletes who have trained their entire lives have qualified cleanly and are allowed to enter?

Forced relocation of Beijing residents to support Olympic venue, related construction, and general urban change. While China insists this was voluntary and compensated, many residents indicate otherwise – that eviction was forced, families were required to leave town, losing jobs and homes, and compensation was for a fraction of value, if available at all. This is the subject of citizen protest at this time – brave folks, given Chinese history!

Internet and press censorship for foreign journalists and visitors. The Chinese government had pledged to provide journalists unrestricted access to the Internet and other media, but journalists onsite found that they were subject to censorship restrictions similar to those of the Chinese population. Under fire, the Chinese government has reversed this and made an effort to make full access available to foreign journalists; the results have been inconsistent.

Draconian visa restrictions and denial-of-entry decisions. It appears that China’s plan for a safe and secure Olympics appears to be that if no one shows up, there can be no trouble. As of the end of July, hotels and airports were half empty. Some of the new visa rules require frequent and complicated applications, including proof of a hotel booking, round-trip airline tickets, and in some cases, a letter of invitation.

Gold-medal athlete and Team Darfur activist Joey Cheek was denied entry; he warns that current Olympic competitors that are politically active in pro-human rights causes like Team Darfur may be subject to treatment as suspect individuals in China, subject to extra security procedures and scrutiny when they arrive in Beijing. Naturalized American citizen and African refugee camp survivor Lopez Lomong, a middle distance runner and Team Darfur member, was chosen to carry the American flag at the opening ceremonies. I am very proud.

Doping is becoming epidemic in elite competition. Recent headlines revealing doping and stripping past heroes of their medals are disillusioning – as a spectator and a fan, I hope that my heroes have prepared honestly and compete cleanly, and it’s becoming harder and harder to suspend that disbelief. In track and field, swimming, cycling, weightlifting, wrestling, athletes are being suspended, admitting fault, losing their slots and even having past medals removed. How can we cheer the winner on the stand today, knowing that he or she may be making a painful “my cheating heart” confession sometime in the future?

Air quality and the US Olympic Team breathing mask debacle. The US Olympic team issued breathing masks to its athletes to help combat Beijing’s notorious and well publicized smog problem. A few bicyclists wore them in the airport upon arrival, thus “insulting” their host nation and requiring an apology. This infuriates me. Call a spade a spade. If the air is polluted, then wear a mask and don’t apologize. Pretending everything is shiny to save the host nation’s face is not going to help our endurance athletes conserve their lung capacity. And if wearing them in public, i.e. out-of-doors, is inopportune – then precisely when were the athletes supposed to wear them? In the shower?

The murder of US volleyball coach’s family members. In spite of the 100,000 armed troops and police lining the streets of Beijing to maintain order and security during the games, an attacker murdered a visitor and critically injured his wife in an act of random violence. The victims turned out to be the family of US volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon. To add to the tragedy, it appears that Chinese authorities may be reinstating censorship measures related to coverage of this murder, wanting to sanitize any appearance of relationship of the murder to the Olympics.

Traditional Chinese squat toilets at many of the new and renovated venues drew frequent complaints. Limited renovation to serve athletes, journalists & VIPs was undertaken at the three most striking venues for the Olympics, the 91,000-seat national stadium, the water cube swimming and diving stadium, and the National Indoor Stadium. Spectators and athletes at less prominently placed events will still encounter the squat facilities.

I’m sure that other Olympic games have had their share of adverse advance press and sad stories during the games – today’s world of instant electronic media makes this kind of news more accessible and easier to find. Still, I don’t feel particularly charitable toward surly, dictatorial host nation China, nor toward the IOC that awarded them the games.

I wish the athletes, press and spectators, though, nothing but the best.

Note: I was going to write about tv coverage and web streaming but I never got there. Next time!

As with most such lists, most of the attention is on who earned spot #1. I’d like to instead talk about the #2 guy.

Lance Mackey won both the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod dogsled races. He was the first to have won both in the same year – and he repeated the results for a second year.

Both races are run by a driver, a team of 12-16 dogs, a single sled, and only the essential, required supplies required for the trip: an arctic parka, a heavy sleeping bag, an ax, snowshoes, musher food, dog food and boots for each dog’s feet to protect against sharp ice on the trail. Not only is the driver responsible for arctic survival for him/herself and the team, the driver is also required to take exemplary care of his dogs throughout the race and often runs a good part of the route when he/she wants to reduce the load or compensate for the terrain.

The Yukon Quest, held in February, is a 1,000 mile race from Fairbanks, Alaska to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. There are 10 checkpoints and four mandatory longer rest periods spaced throughout the race, including a halfway 36-hour stop, where facilities and veterinary inspections are provided. Temperatures on the trail can range from -50°F to +25°F. The dogs typically run in a 4-6h on/4-6h off pattern around the clock, with the team and driver resting on the trail during their down time. Mackey’s 2008 winning time was 10d:12h:14m – the red lantern (last place) finisher’s time was 14:04:17.

The Iditarod, run in early March, is approximately 1,150 miles, from Anchorage, Alaska to Nome, Alaska. The route alternates yearly between a northern and a southern trail, and is often warmer and can be more hazardous than the Yukon Quest. There are 22 checkpoints and three mandatory stops on the race, one of them 24 hours. Mackey’s 2008 winning time for this race was 9:11:46, and the red lantern finisher completed the race in 14:19:51.

Oh, yeah – one more thing about Mackey. He’s a cancer survivor. After the 2001 Iditarod he was diagnosed with throat cancer, and spent the year undergoing surgery and chemotherapy. He started the 2002 Iditarod but scratched, took a year off, and has been running cancer-free ever since.

This is a tough athlete.

#1 on the Sports Illustrated list was Tiger Woods. Certainly, Woods plays golf like a genius, and his physical conditioning and mental toughness in a mentally challenging sport are legendary. Could he finish a 1,000 mile arctic dogsled race? After chemotherapy? I don’t think so.

On the other hand, Mackey could probably finish 4 x 18 hole rounds of golf – not necessarily with any kind of great score, but it’s do-able. My bet is he wouldn’t want to, though. No dogs are allowed on the golf course.

Safeco field is awesome. I’m sure there are other wonderful ballparks, but this one is cooler than any other I know. It has a retractable roof in case of bad weather, seats 41,755, and has more widely varied concessions (sushi, barbecue, Cajun, and chocolate-dipped strawberries) than any other ballpark I know.

Last night was military appreciation night. Mariners officials brought out representatives from each local branch of service before the game, filling the baseline – then sent the baseball players out to thank them and stand among them for the national anthem. The most affecting group was a local chapter of the Paralyzed American Veterans, pushed onfield in standard and motorized wheelchairs.

Immediately following the vets’ entrance, the announcer offered a moment of silence for the servicemen and women we’ve lost, and an Army musician played taps on trumpet. There weren’t many dry eyes left in the house after that.

Active duty personnel threw out the first pitch(es) – four of them. The balls for the first pitch had each circled the globe in the last six months, visiting bases, carriers, aircraft and detachments overseas, all documented in photos.

Just prior to the start of the game, we had a flyby of Chinook CH47 helicopters – fun, because they can fly low and the sound shakes the stadium!

Oh, there was a baseball game too.

It was lively. We played the Texas Rangers, and my favorite pitcher (Felix Hernandez) started for the Mariners. Unfortunately, we gave it away in the 8th & 9th innings, losing 5 – 4.

Bryan, Smug Puppies sports correspondent, adds: I wondered why the Mariners weren’t picked to finish first in their division, and now I think I know why. They may be somewhat better, but they still have some of the same consistency problems they had last year. For example, this game was lost because their normally awesome closing pitcher, J. J. Putz, coughed up a home run to lose the team’s hard-fought for lead. Felix Hernandez, while overall pitching well, gave up an unearned run on his own error, but otherwise played the field in his own defense really well. So, even though the starting pitching is better, it seems the bull pen might be worse, and they’ll end up losing when they can’t hold the leads. The game was overall fun, even though cold, and I’ll second everything Jeri said about the military appreciation night, it was very classy and moving.

Jeri again: We’ll probably be back again in late April for Ichiro bobble-head night. We don’t collect ‘em, but I know a couple of nephews that would love to have the toys.

Note: photos (except the aerial view) are from my new Blackberry Curve phone camera – not bad for that type of device.

I went to the Seahawks’ NFC wild card playoff game with Bryan. He has a pair of season tickets, fabulous seats about 20 rows above the field on the 10 yard line, right above the Seahawks’ grand entry tunnel. He usually takes his dad or a friend – but today I got to go. It was a total blast, and the Seahawks won handily.

Did anybody see “Fever Pitch”, where Jimmy Fallon says his baseball seatmates are like family? Well, it’s not quite like that, but the season ticket holders around him do get very friendly, know everyone’s name and ask where he’s been if he misses a game.

Qwest Field is notorious for being one of the noisiest stadiums in the NFL. The rumor periodically circulates that the team pumps additional noise in to make it more deafening – but investigations have shown they do not. It’s just 70,000 crazed, rowdy, well-lubricated fans yelling their heads off. The noise level really makes the opposing teams frustrated – they can’t hear the plays in the huddle, nor the signals from the quarterback on the line. Delay-of-game and false start calls are frequent.

Today was one of those awesome games where everything went our way, even the rain stopped for the duration of the game, and nobody in the stadium even sat down for more than a minute or two. (I don’t know why we all spend so much money on seats.) After each big play and improbable score, perfect strangers were hugging each other in the aisles, high-fiving each other across the rows and the generations.

I haven’t gone to many of the Seahawks games, maybe only two a season. I usually defer, because I’m not much of a football fan compared to the men in my family. (OK, my son Zach is even worse, he finds the sport “boring” as only a supercilious teen can.) But you know what? Every time I go I have a great time – and I surprise myself with how much I know about the game and the players. Sometimes I even notice one I’ve never paid attention to before – like Patrick Kerney, above.)

I think I’m going to go to a whole lot more games in the future.

So at the season halfway point, after a chance to really get a jump on the other members of their division, the Seahawks blew a 21-6 lead and lost to the Cleveland Browns, 33-30 in overtime. Mired now at 4-4, I would guess the whole team and staff are really questioning themselves, as they should.

It was an odd game, to me. Even with the big lead I never felt comfortable. We never got a rush on the QB on defense, and Julian Peterson, as he does on occasion, just seemingly disappeared. Cleveland has got something on offense, there’s no doubt, but in a sense I think the Hawks’ D just never really put the heat on as they have other times.

And then there is the Seahawk Offense. Man, how can you be so good at some things, and so frickin’ terrible at others. It boils down to this…the offensive line can’t block strong enough…more than once…to get a 1 yard gain for a first down on a run play. It isn’t Shaun either, not this time, as he was on the bench a lot of the time after a knee problem. Maurice Morris, his backup, did better, but we have GOT TO come up with a way to make a 3rd or 4th and short play that will work at least some of the time. Instead, the line gets pushed back ½ to a full yard, and our back runs right into them, not over the top, not around the end…for no gain or a loss.

This one feels worse than a road loss to a relatively equally matched opponent should. Mostly because Seattle let it slip away through sheer inability to impose its will to win on an opponent that they were beating.

Silver linings: Bobby Engram is the man. In spite of being relatively undersized, going through the terrible thyroid problem that sapped him for most of last season, all the guy goes is keep going across the middle and catching balls in traffic for about 7 – 15 yards over and over. Also, in spite of a ton of hype going in, Marcus Trufant kept Braylon Edwards, the Brown’s wideout, well under control. Amazing considering the lack of rush…but the Browns went to Kellen Winslow instead, and he ate us up.

Footnote: the Pats did win their game, but it was close and they had to come back to do it. I think they’ve got the best shot I’ve seen since the ’85 Bears to break the Dolphins’ undefeated season record. Those Bears lost to…the Dolphins. Since this years’ Dolphins haven’t won yet, I don’t see that one happening.

1. I watched some of the Patriots game this weekend (52-7 over the Redskins. It wasn’t that close). Barring injury, the rest of the league is playing for second place and below. New England is that good. I declare this, knowing full well the Pats are playing the Colts this weekend, and both are undefeated, and that game is this season’s “Game of the Millennium”. The Colts are good. The Pats are better. I admit am saying this in the hopes that my endorsement is as good as putting the entire Patriots squad on the covers of both Sports Illustrated AND the Madden NFL video games. That’s extreme bad luck to all you non-sporty types.

2. Why is Jerry Seinfeld making an animated movie about bees being treated as the second coming? Seriously, I have nothing against the guy, or animated movies, or even bees, but come on!

3. If Al Gore is on top of the world, ask yourself: why isn’t he running for President? Then look at Hillary, and ask who will be her Secretary of State, if she wins. You heard it here first – at least a high cabinet position for staying out of the race.

4. So the Red Sox win the Series in 4. Combined with the Patriots, this will make Boston sports fans insufferable. (I would mention the Boston Celtics looking pretty good as well, but I have banned myself from thinking or talking about the NBA – and not because of the Sonics. I was a Blazers fan. I think the NBA is a wasteland now).

5. Heroes needs to step it up this season. Battlestar Galactica and Lost need to get back on the air, already. When The Next Iron Chef is the most compelling TV I am watching, something is oddly wrong. However, I must say Alton Brown joins his long lost cousin Seahawk kicker Josh Brown in the pantheon of the gods.

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6. Lost and Mission Impossible III’s J. J. Abrams’ upcoming Star Trek movie reboot fascinates me (pun fully intended, Spock fans). Weird casting. Rumors of a Spock-centered, alternate universe theme. Paramount praying that between this and Indiana Jones and the Lost Bottle of Geritol (ok, ok, I can’t resist the age joke, but will cop to hoping that Indy movie is good), they can be a mighty studio again. My prediction for now is that the failure to get a true big name A-lister to be in the movie dooms it to mediocre box office, something I’ve harped on Paramount about for a long time…they refuse to spend bucks on acting in the ST movie series and then are pissed the films don’t do better money- and critic- wise. The biggest name in this movie is Eric Bana; that’s better, but not great. Also, why the hell is Leonard Nimoy in this movie, and Shatner, in the midst of the most unlikely career renaissance ever, not in it? I know, Kirk is dead. Yeah, right, so was Spock.

Just as Seahawks Nation is ready to throw itself into the abyss of despair, the team comes through with a big victory, albeit over a winless St. Louis Rams team, 33-6. So, at 4-3, the Blue Men are back in first place, heading into a bye week, and all is well.

Or is it?

All seems to be well on the defensive side of the ball. The D thoroughly dominated the Rams oddly pitiful offense. “Oddly” I say because, other than the O-line, these are the same offensive players that have been good to great for the past few years. Proof, sez I, that the offensive line is the heart of a good team. So many things go better if your O-line is healthy, experienced and has played together for awhile. You dominate the line of scrimmage on offense, you can wear a defense down, have long, clock-eating drives, and you’ll win. The football maxim is that “defense wins championships”; but I think the O-line gets you there. Not that I have any bias as a former offensive tackle.

So the problem remains the offense. Matt had a mediocre at best game, but it turns out he got hurt halfway through and it affected his accuracy. Even so, he’s forcing some passes into coverage that he ought to not be trying. The run game is now a bone fide huge bone of contention among the fans. Shaun Alexander is now booed with regularity. Coach Holmgren felt the need to come to his defense, blaming the offensive line for some of the problem (See, See!) while making it clear that he’s not too happy with Shaun either. Holmgren benched Shaun in the 4th quarter and had a bit of an argument with him about it when Shaun expressed some displeasure at sitting. Bottom line for me: I am getting the feeling that Shaun may be done as a premier running back in the league. Overall then my read remains the same, the offense is sputter-y. By the way, I heard that term used to describe the Hawks O on the radio on the way home from the game, so it’s officially a word.

To the good, Will Heller had a nice little game as a starter as Marcus Pollard was out. Heller caught two TDs and looked very good. Nate Burleson had a good return for TD that arguably iced the game to start the second half…the Rams were never a factor after that. Burleson has found a great niche in that return role, and is loony enough in his style that it is truly fun to watch him.

So, the Hawks are off this weekend and next face Cleveland there the weekend after. Cleveland has shown good signs of life this year after several years of misery. Here’s hoping that they haven’t quite gotten it together yet.

Other than the passing game, the team looked awful in just about every way. The defense is now suffering from the inability to stop the other team on third down. The offense is chronically unable to sustain a drive…the sputters I’ve commented on several times has now become the equivalent of a chronic cough. The running game is virtually non-existent. Special teams cost us a touchdown, and had a field goal blocked. Ugly.

New Orleans came ready to play, but the game was lost because Seattle lost it, not because the Saints won it. Whatever swagger the Blue Men had, is now, official el gonzo. I will say this, New Orleans must have figured out a way to control the speed of the Seahawks defense, and specifically Julian Peterson’s ability to disrupt opposing offensives.

Of greatest note in the game: the fans were much displeased. Booing was a rule, rather than exception. There is a very nice couple who sit next to my seats now; they’ve had season tickets for 24 years, they drive from the Tri-Cities area (a four hour drive, at least) to come to the games. Midway through the third quarter, the lady looked at me and said “I might not be here next week”. That, my friends, is serious disillusionment.

Shaun Alexander was booed from the first carry. Look, the fans want to believe in him. Shaun had one 10 yard carry early in the game that the fans cheered with hope. Since he only had 35 years the rest of the game, and virtually was non-existent in the second half, I have to say its time to take a really hard look at sitting him down. The O-line is a part of the problem, for sure, but the way he “runs” isn’t helping. Behind a bad line, you can’t stutter-step and hope for a hole, you have to bash in there and take what you can, and hope for a missed tackle. Honestly Shaun, it doesn’t help not to let everyone know you’re mad about it too.

Most mass media reported on the game’s surreal moment, when the wired overhead camera crashed on the field, nearly hitting Matt Hasselbeck. I can’t even imagine what the fallout would have been if it had hit him or injured him. I think its possible Mike Holmgren could have gone nuclear right there, causing massive damage to south downtown Seattle.

So this week we get the Rams. They haven’t won a game yet. That didn’t help last week, and apparently Vegas still believes in Seattle enough to make them 9 point favorites. I’m not so sure, unless the team gets mad. I thought they’d be that way after the Pittsburgh debacle. Nope. It just has to happen this week, or I fear a no-playoff year is in the offing.