A Scotsman to Call Our Own

Rock musician Duff McKagan may not be a Seattle native (he hails from Glasgow, Scotland), but he is as knowledgeable and passionate about Seattle sports as anyone I know. We need more fans like him. Recently, Duff wrote an article about the current demise of the teams in our town. He also participated in an online chat session with fans at espn.com. I highly encourage reading both pieces.

Duff says some things that many of us are thinking. He's extremely hurt by the departure of the Sonics, he mentions a run-in where Tony LaRussa expressed interest in coaching the M's (how bout that?!?), and he rightly slams the Huskies as looking like a junior college squad.

You should really give these pieces a moment because, by writing his article for the Seattle Weekly, Duff has brought the issue of sports in our town to an audience that usually wouldn't care. It is this type of dedication to our teams that helps to build a great sporting culture in our town.

Thanks Duff, and here's to our city, our town and our sporting future.

A tiny, flickering light on a dark, distant horizon

Today Seattle sports fans were tossed a small bone. Small like the kind you get when you go through a drive-thru with your dog and the attendant offers your dog a treat. The Mariners hired Jack Zduriencik as GM. Jack Z., as I'll be referring to him, is credited with putting together a playoff contender in Milwaukee and is the only non-GM to have ever been named executive of the year by Baseball America. They say he knows talent...let's hope!

I noticed a very good sign today. Within just a few hours of the article being posted on espn.com, 11 people had left comments saying that Jack will be missed in Milwaukee and that Seattle is lucky to have him. That is a very good sign for Seattle fans.

Ok, now back to the current reality. As I enjoy taking the pulse of the sports environment in Seattle, I found the following (deeply depressing) comments today:

"Is there worse football being played anywhere than the state of Washington right now?"

- commenter on espn.com

I think we know the answer to that. In fact, later in the day I read ESPN's top 10 worst teams. WSU was number two; UW number three. Acutally, here's another fan comment from that article:

"Washington is definitely amongst the ten worst teams. I suppose there was a mention of the season blowing up which disqualifies Washington since anyone who has half a brain realized the season was over before it started."

- commenter on espn.com

Lastly, one commenter referred to our NFL team as the Shehawks.

Great.