Final Buzzer
The bad news: you will no longer find any new content on Buzzer Beater. The good news: All sports content that used to be found here will now be published on another, more general-interest SW blog, the Daily Weekly. So change your bookmarks accordingly, and thanks for your continued readership.
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Will Few Finally Bolt to Eugene?
Rumors of Mark Few leaving the Gonzaga basketball program to coach at the University of Oregon, his alma mater, have persisted ever since the U of O hired his buddy Pat Kilkenny as AD. But the stars have never lined up quite right for this to happen, namely because Oregon has never been bad enough to justify the ouster of longtime head basketball coach Ernie Kent, and Few seems to have learned a lesson from his predecessor, Dan Monson, whose decision to bolt Spokane for the bigger-time (back then, anyway) pastures of the University of Minnesota proved a disastrous one (he's now at Long Beach State).
But if there were ever a year where Few might end up supplanting Kent in Eugene, 2009 is it. The Ducks are terrible this year, sure to finish in the bottom half — if not the cellar — of the Pac-10 and miss the NCAA tourney by a good margin. Meanwhile, for the first time in his career, Few is on something of a hot seat in Spokane, where his Bulldogs have underachieved lately after a torrid start that, for a couple weeks at least, had them on a short list of national title contenders. So here's my prediction: If Gonzaga doesn't make it into the round of 16 come March, Few will end up in green and gold next season.
Former Sonics Escape With Win, Current Escape Artist Doesn't
The NBA team formerly known as the Seattle Supersonics, 5-4 in their last nine games, are officially on their first winning streak of the year after beating the Pistons last night at home They clobbered the Jazz the previous game, and have now won two straight. But the self-proclaimed "world's greatest female escape artist" featured in this ridiculously melodramatic video montage (and as halftime entertainment during the OKC-Detroit game) wasn't so lucky; she had to be rescued from the water chamber she'd inserted herself into at halftime. As well as the Thunder have been playing of late, that can't be a good omen.
Nate-Rob's Sucked Since We Blew Him
Former Husky Nate Robinson has obvious disdain for Buzzer Beater. How do we know that? Because ever since we declared him the front-runner for Sixth Man of the Year and added him to our fantasy team, he's reverted back to undersized, no-position, aimless gunner mode. Worse yet, he's not even the Knicks sixth man anymore — Al Harrington is — and he's played less than 20 minutes in each of the last two games, both (rare) Knick wins. And since you were wondering, he is no longer a member of my fantasy team, Gobias Industries.
Former Sonics Provide Glimpse Into the Future
Don't look now, but the team formerly known as the Seattle Supersonics is hitting its stride. I realize a strong argument can be made that any 7-33 team that hits such a stride is hitting a very short stride, but remember, just a month ago, pundits were talking about the Thunder not winning more than seven games all year. Since then, they've looked like a team that could go .500 two years from now, which would be right in line with Sam Presti's Trailblazer-esque rebuilding blueprint. But the Thunder hadn't clobbered a really good team until last night, when they notched a wire-to-wire, 21-point victory over the Jazz in Oklahoma City.
One thing that's obvious beyond obvious is that Presti is a savvy talent evaluator. All three of his first-round draft picks over the past two years — Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, and Russell Westbrook — are starting and averaging over 14 points per game, and all three scored more than 20 against the Jazz. Durant has become a more efficient scorer, and his rebounding has improved markedly with a return to his natural small forward position. The versatile, ridiculously athletic Westbrook is a shoo-in for the all-rookie team, and was the Western Conference's rookie of the month in December. Meanwhile, Green is a rock-solid 16 and 6 guy, and Presti recently added a promising (if a little soft) young center, Nenad Krstic, to atone for the mistakes of seven-footers past which permeated the Rick Sund era. Hence, the Thunder are but a low-post beast and a sixth man (which could theoretically end up being Green, an SF/PF tweener if there ever was one) away from being able to play with just about anybody.
I really wanted to hate this team, and took great pleasure in their awful start. But now that they're starting to look like the well-conceived work in progress I thought they'd be, it's like trying to hate the prodigal son. He may have disappointed you, but he's still your son — and blood runs mighty thick.
Remembering When Joe Namath Was a Stone Pimp
I have no good reason for posting this video other than a friend of mine just sent it to me, and it never seems to lose its entertainment value. Actually I do have a good reason: I want to present some evidence in defense of Broadway Joe. Some evidence that proves Prime Time Namath was once capable of bedding women far comelier than Suzy Kolber. The evidence is here, courtesy of Modern Drunkard: "To dodge his friskier female fans, Joe took to visiting different bars on different nights. One he liked was the Phone Booth, but word soon got around that he could be found there and the bar turned into a sea of girls with eyes for no one but Broadway Joe. Some literally spent hours at a time there, laying in wait, ready to pounce at the first sign of their beloved quarterback. On one of his last visits, he arrived late with a couple of friends, happy to find the place mostly empty. Of the girls present, a pair caught his eye but they were sitting with two men. Joe decided to take a shot anyway, and when one of the pair looked in his direction he turned on his high-voltage smile and gave her a nod. A moment later the girls had ditched their fellas and joined Joe and his pals for an all-night party at his penthouse. The men they ditched were Keith Richards and Mick Jagger."
Storm Sign Lease, Call Key Arena Home For Next Decade
The City of Seattle and Women's Basketball Club of Seattle, LLC agreed yesterday to renew their lease of Key Arena, keeping the Storm in town for ten more years.
The exact financials of the deal haven't been obtained yet and the deal still awaits full city council approval.
Having the Storm in town fills the venue for at least 17 home games in 2009, not counting playoffs and preseason.
Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis naturally described the arrangement as a "win-win" for both parties. With the lack of appropriately sized sporting venues, there wasn't any talk of the Storm skipping town for someplace where the pastures and center-court decals were greener.
Furthermore, having emerged from the shadow of the men's team, Ceis opined that the Storm's bottom-line might improve.
"Under their old arrangement it was tough. Their lease was through the Sonics so they didn't have access to advertising revenue and concessions," Ceis said.
Double Dribble: Even having Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson playing ball at the Key, there is still a huge hole in the arena's event schedule now that the Sonics are sucking prairie dust in Oklahoma City.
Compounding this problem, the Seattle Thunderbirds have moved to Kent and are playing in the brand-new, shiny and taxpayer funded ShoWare Center, a.k.a. the Kent Events Center. We're informed the ShoW smells good too.
In order to stem the exodus, last October the city signed a one-year agreement with AEG Facilities to book events for Key Arena.
According to their website, AEG is one of the "leading sports and entertainment presenters in the world", owning rights to the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, The Rose Garden in Portland and the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Locally, they manage the WaMu Theater at Qwest Field.
Prior to this, event scheduling was shared between the Sonics and city staff at Seattle Center.
Seattle University, now a Division I team, has begun playing its home games at the Key and is, at the moment, the arena's second-largest tenant.
Dave Henderson Once Sang Backup for John Fogerty
No really, he did — at an animal welfare charity concert thrown together by Cardinal skipper Tony La Russa. My favorite part of this interview (conducted by Chad Garrison, a John Stamos doppelganger and Damon's counterpart at the Riverfront Times, our St. Louis sister paper) — aside from the final question and the line, "this year we got Air Supply, Bily Bob Thornton's band, and Tony Orlando" — is the revelation that La Russa: (a) has attended more than one Grateful Dead show, and (b) was attracted to the band not because of Jerry, Bob, or Phil — but because of Bruce Fucking Hornsby's presence on keys. I thought I'd heard it all; now I know I have.
D-Miles Screws Blazers a Game Early
Up until last week, I was rooting for the Blazers harder than any other team in the league. No, not in the overhyped, unproven "every former Sonic fan will instantly become a Blazer fan" way, but because I admire how they've built their team through the draft — and the local connection (B-Roy, Martell Webster, Nate McMillan) certainly doesn't hurt. But once they threatened to sue any team for signing Darius Miles, who, at the time the threat was made, needed to play in only two more games to count against Portland's salary cap for the next two years (his $9 million annual tab will prevent the Blazers from being major players in the free agent market), I've been rooting against them. Not for them to lose, per se, but for D-Miles, whose career Portland disingenuously declared over a couple years ago when their true motive was to further scrub away their Jailblazers image, to stick it to them. And last night, he did, in more ways than one.
Let's start with the obvious: He played last night for the Grizzlies, in their loss to the mighty Cavaliers. That means D-Miles needs just one more second of game action to dash Portland's hopes of luring a top-flight free agent anytime soon (never mind that the should be more than fine nurturing their current roster or using any number of surplus pieces to improve via trade). But if Portland is serious about carrying out their lawsuit — and we'd be shocked if they were, considering it's one of the more frivolous legal threats we've ever come across — it's what else Miles did last night that should nail that coffin shut. First, he re-signed with the woeful Grizzlies and not an arch rival like Utah or the Lakers. Hence, it would be pretty tough to prove that Memphis' motives are anything but pure here. But perhaps most damaging was the fact that Miles scored 13 points in 13 minutes against the best team in the East (and the franchise that traded him to Portland, ironically). It doesn't really matter if that eruption came in garbage time or not; any basketball player who can do that against any NBA defense most certainly has at least a little gas left in the tank. If Memphis — or anyone — had acquired D. Miles and put him in with 30 seconds to go so their team's starting small forward could get a standing ovation, Portland might have a claim here. But last night, D-Miles proved that they're pissing in the wind.
Cindy Hales To Do The Ron and Don Show
Seattle Weekly cover girl and all-around badass Cindy Hales will be on tomorrow's Ron and Don show on KIRO 710 at 5 PM. Having spent about six weeks following her around and generally pestering her, I can tell you that Cindy's a pretty entertaining talker, so tune in if you can.
Also, for those looking to keep up on the local fight scene, Ballard High grad and Megumi Fujii trainer Josh Barnett—a very accomplished fighter in his own right—recently did an interview here. Barnett was once UFC champion
Nick Holt Didn't Bring Idaho Back to Prominence
But he is a very bald, very intense individual, who broke is contract with the Vandals before his job was done.
Before Coach Holt (that's how he introduced himself during his Moscow days) became a Washington's new multi-million dollar defensive coordinator, and before his time as USC's defensive coordinator, and before he agreed to coach with the St. Louis Rams but changed his mind to return to the Trojans, this guy was going to save the University of Idaho from itself and make winning part of the Vandal Football tradition. It didn't actually work out that way.
He came to town after Tom Cable (now head coach of Raiders) fumbled his way through a disappointing tenure. Holt came in with high expectations. Let's remember what interim Idaho president/former Albertsons CEO Gary Michael had to say about it:
"I'm going to put this in my obituary, that I'm the guy that hired Nick Holt and brought Idaho back to prominence."
Well, Gary, things didn't work out that way. Your obituary is going to read that you stuck it to your customers by making them sign up for one of those stupid grocery discount cards. And Holt's obit is going to tell of a remarkable 5-18 record across two seasons.
Mariner Legend Henderson Elected to Cooperstown
No, we're not talking about Dave or Steve, we're talking about Rickey, MLB's all-time stolen base leader who swiped 31 in 92 games for the M's in 2000, a season which ended with a 4-2 series loss to the Yanks (whom Henderson also played for in his long career) in the ALCS. Former BoSox star Jim Rice also gained entry into the Hall, while Burt Blyleven and Lee Smith continued to get screwed by voters.
Remember the Cal Loss, Husky Hoop Fans
What do we know about this year's Husky hoop squad, 14 games in? A lot, actually. First and most positively, the addition of Isaiah Thomas, whose pinball drives are reminiscent of Allen Iverson, should put the Huskies squarely on the NCAA tourney bubble come March. Also, Jon Brockman still can't shoot free throws, Matthew Bryan-Amaning is still soft and inconsistent, and the Huskies' halfcourt offense still features too much standing around, too many clear-outs, and not enough utilization of low-post talent. Finally, Quincy Pondexter is playing better this year — and when he plays well, the Huskies can play with anybody in the conference, if not the country. But when he doesn't play well — and he played horribly this past Saturday against Cal at Hec-Ed — the Huskies are infinitely vulnerable.
Actually, Saturday's game, the end result of which was a gut-wrenching 88-85 triple overtime loss, was a perfect snapshot of what happens when everything goes wrong with Romar's charges. The 6'9" Bryan-Amaning failed to grab a single rebound in 36 minutes, Brockman was 2-8 from the line, Pondexter looked awkward and indecisive and scored just one point in regulation (he finished with five), and the Dawgs' overtime offense consisted almost entirely of spreading the floor and letting Justin Dentmon go to work on his man.
In spite of such tomfoolery, were it not for a pair of startlingly ill-timed and-one fouls heading down the stretches of the multiple final frames, the Dawgs would have won, thanks largely to the first-half play of Thomas and Dentmon's ability to get to the line in the second half. But they didn't, and to make matters worse, they dumped a game at home to a team that will likely join them on that bubble come March. It's losses like these that stick out if a team misses the tourney by a win or two. Remember this one, folks, because if the Dawgs end up in the NIT, this loss will have been a big reason why.
Blazers Threaten to Sue Teams for Signing Darius Miles
As Seely noted yesterday, if former-Blazer Darius Miles plays two more NBA games this season, it will cost the Blazers $18 million and force them to pay the luxury tax—money that's distributed to the other NBA teams. Perfectly aware of this vulnerability, of course, the Blazers have fired off a pre-emptive warning. If anyone signs Miles with the intention of messing up their cap space, they say, they'll sue.
This is a pretty stupid move by Portland. First, the organization that has been obsessed with rehabilitating its reputation after the arrest-filled early-oughts, and that is well-suited to play the underdog role with a young team in a small market, is behaving like a boorish corporate behoemeth, threatening gratuitous lawsuits and making local fans (they lobbied to get Seattle defined as part of the Portand media market) essentially watch their games on pay-per-view.
And what team is really going to have a hard time signing Miles in a non-tortious manner? The only way Portland has a hint of a case is if a team gives all sorts of signals that they're signing Miles to mess with Portland. Absent a paper trail and a ton of leaks, teams are in the clear. And they can thank Portland's latest missive for a timely reminder of that fact.
Here's to You, Quincy Pondexter
Not long ago, Seth Kolloen wrote an article defending Quincy Pondexter and setting straight the player's greedy critics. Pondexter, he noted, has put up numbers quite similar to those of Husky favorite Bobby Jones. The only difference is that Pondexter came in with high expectations. He's mostly right, though there was good reason for initial expectations to be higher with the stronger, more explosive, and more polished QP.
Since his ballyhooed arrival at Montlake, Pondexter's gone from peacock to dray horse,
from open-court dervish to in-the-paint banger. We get a lot of him backing down his defender, like a boxer winning with body shots, until he gets within range to jump over the guy and shoot a short jumper. He still wants to spin left before he even starts driving right, makes the occasional dumb pass, is indecisive, and frustrates those who expect confident, fluid play from such a gifted athlete.
But I'm here to celebrate Pondexter, not bury him. The disappointment and frustration of Husky fans was likely experienced by him tenfold, and sometimes I wonder if the resulting scar tissue has permanently constrained his range of motion. Whatever the source of his inhibition, he seems only momentarily able to move freely and on instinct, always returning quickly to a more premeditated mode of play. He's sort of a Sisyphus—with QP, it's always almost.
The great thing is, he appears to be enjoying it. All the hype after the Wazzu game was on Brockman and how the big senior finally got his win against the Cougs. But during the game, it was Pondexter getting religion, screaming and jumping and pumping his arms.
Last night against Stanford was the same. Pondexter plays defense like Venoy Overton, crashes the boards like Jon Brockman, and doesn't seem to give a damn whether he gets any shots. It's like the game is the perfect therapy for the disappointments resulting from the game. Any guy who can watch his hoop dreams slowly slipping away, muster the energy to play harder than the less-talented but more-together multitudes surrounding him, and then enjoy it selflessly and with verve is something to behold. Keep up the good work, Quincy.
