Hey there sports geeks,
it's been way too long since my last update.
Call it laziness. Call it forgetfulness. Call it poor planning.
Call it whatever you want! You'll appreciate this one a lot more than the one I should've written a week ago (I hope).
erhem.
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So yesterday was a fairly exciting day. Dianna invited me to tag along with her for her sideline report at the Tacoma Rainers game, so of course I jumped at the chance.
The Rainiers are an institution in the city of Tacoma. Even if they are partially owned by Nick Lachey(doh!).
At one point during the game, around the fourth inning or so, Dianna beat feet to the concessions stand to snag a chicken sandwich and lemony frutista freeze...okay, I know that's Taco Bell, but I don't know what else to call it.
The chicken sandwich was very dry(sorry Dianna, I stole a bite while you weren't looking...such a trusting woman).
But I digress(digest?). While Dianna was out getting her Chicken Sandwich, suddenly I became aware of a soft hand, slowly sliding from the back of my neck to around my left shoulder. I turn to see a 6'7" reindeer sidled up next to me.
Not one to be easily embarrased, I upped the ante on this touchy feely mascot and took his hand in mine.
Next thing I knew, he copped a feel on my right pec(I NEED AN ADULT!).
Great googley, moogley.
As I attempted to suppress my memory of being touched inappropriately by Rhubarb the Reindeer, I watched Ryan Rowland-Smith pitch a scoreless, two-hit, seven-plus inning gem of a game.
He could have pitched nine, were it not for relief pitcher Cezar Jimenez, who is on rehab assignment and needed to get some work in.
Rowland-Smith will be called up to the Mariners, and soon. It's only a matter of time, especially now that Brandon Morrow has (FINALLY) been sent back down to develop something other than his trademark "right-in-the-wheel-house" fastball. The big Aussie is coming off two stellar performances in Triple-A ball against Salt Lake and Portland, and appears poised to make his comeback to the majors.
His stock is definitely on the rise.
Here are my risers and fallers of the week:
RISERS:
1. Jarrod Washburn. The man has pitched like an all-star for two years, and how have Mariners repayed him? With one of the lowest averages for run support in the league. How do you combat that? Pitch even better. Washburns line over his past two starts looks a little something like this: 16 innings pitched, 5 hits, 1 earned run, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts(and one complete game shut-out). Should the Mariners trade him? Their recent trade of Yuniesky Betancourt to the Royals for two minor league prospects would suggest they're looking to rebuild, but the aqcuisition of Joel Hannahan from the A's and the fact that they've sent Brandon Morrow packing would suggest they're intent on winning now.
2. OLD PEOPLE: (Lance Armstrong, Mark Martin). 37 years old and sitting pretty in third at Le Tour de France? oui, oui. Although his team may be suffering as result of the inner-squad conflict between Lance and Alberto Contador, I(and most Americans) are inclined to think that perhaps Lance has earned the right to not play the role of a subservient protector to the teams best. In all likelihood, Lance IS the best rider on the Astana team bus right now.
And how about four wins on the season for 50-year-old Mark Martin in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series? Most men his age experience heart palpitations while driving over speed bumps in a Safeway parking lot. Score one more for the geezers.
3. MY fantasy baseball team. Sorry kids, had to toot my own horn here. I went into my fantasy draft with a plan, and despite injuries early on and some lackluster performances to start the season(I'm looking at you David Ortiz), the "Irish Avengers" have moved from tenth (out of eleven) to seventh place in a span of two and half weeks. Top six make the play-offs. Key Waiver wire additions: Jarrod Washburn, Michael Bourn, J.A. Happ, Wandy Rodriguez.
4. Michael Phelps. Four gold medals and a world record at the World Championships with a strained neck? Is this guy serious? Apparently his short lived affair with "Mary-Jane" hasn't affected his ability to swim...fast.
5. Team USA U-19 Basketball. The Americans ended an 18 year drought in the medal department with their defeat of Greece(88-80 final score) in the FIBA U-19 Basketball Championship. Tayshon Taylor led the Americans with 18 points and five steals, and Washington State Guard Klay Thompson(here's a shout out from a Coug alum, Klay) chipped in 10 points, not too mention some timely threes to help bury Greece.
FALLERS:
1. Brandon Inge. After becoming a late addition to the All-Star game and Home Run Derby, he put up a giant goose egg on the score board. This link pretty well sums up his night: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ytCEuuW2_A .
2. UFC. Brock Lesnar's antics following his win were just plain stupid. THIS is the man that will save UFC? Fred Flintstone on steroids? After flipping off the booing crowd and bashing event sponsor Budweiser, Lesnar apologized for his antics at the post-fight press-conference, with a Bud Light strategically placed next to his microphone(so much for his facade of being an anti-corporate rebel...).
3. WSU Cougar Football. As much as it pains me to say this, things don't look good going into next season. With nearly as many arrests as two- and three-star recruit commitments, the Cougars just don't appear poised to improve much on their two wins from last season. If second year coach Paul Wulff doesn't take control of this team and purge it of the bad seeds left over from the hapless Doba regime, the WSU football program could be looking at another two to three years minimum of suck(excuse me while I plug in my toaster, the bath tub is nearly full...).
4. The Los Angeles Clippers. Many would argue that the Clippers are poised to turn things around following a stellar 2009 draft, including former Sooners stud Blake Griffin. This "faller", therefore, is conditional. The Clippers appear to be in serious talks with free agent Allen Iverson. On the surface, this move appears plausible, as Iverson has a few good years left, and would definitely boost attendance. But despite his nickname, Iverson is NOT the Answer for a team looking to build toward the future. He's a black hole of possessions, kills a teams field goal percentage and refuses to play off the bench. Just look at the difference between the Denver Nuggets and the Detroit Pistons following one of the worst trades in Piston history. Detroit floundered and Denver looked a legit contender against the Lakers in the playoffs. If the Clippers sign Iverson, they'll be stunting the growth of their talented young with a guard who will never pass them the ball.
And with that, I'm off to wallow in shame for my prediction that Brandon Inge would win the Home Run Derby this year. I won't live that one down in the near future.
Until next time, keep it real sports nerds.
...and keep watching sports.
Sincerely,
Your Friendly Neighborhood Sports Intern: Sean
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Note: Want to see what all the hullabaloo is about? Watch the Dave "Softy" Mahler show on Comcast Channel 179 from 10 AM to 1 PM, Monday through Friday.
My weekly Wednesday Segment will air this Wednesday, so be sure to tune in and check it out!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Friday, July 3, 2009
Sean the Sports Intern, "The Beginning"
A little background info:
My name is Sean Maginnis, and I am a broke, jobless, Sports Broadcast intern living in the Kent area.
I currently live in the rec room of my Dad and his girlfriends house in Kent. I sleep on a roll out mat.
My internship is with Comcast SportsNet. It's a simulcast radio/TV show done with KJR Sports Radio in Seattle. For those of you who know about it, it's the Dave "Softy" Mahler Show on KJR.
Let's get started...
--------------------
Right out of the gate I'm throwing you a curveball.
I'm starting at the end of my day as opposed to the beginning. Very Tarantino-esque, if you will. As I'm leaving the Clear Channel building in Seattle on Thursday, I notice an unusual site on my way to the bus stop: A clown car.
The vehicle resembled a San Francisco style trolley, but on four wheels instead of tracks.
There were 6 or 7 clowns hanging off the vehicle complete with honking noses, goofy make-up, and seltzer-water sprayers to boot. To the average person, this would be a comical sight. Hilarious even.
I'm not the average person.
Clowns do not amuse me. Grown men wearing ridiculous make-up and hanging out with little kids all the time? Something is wrong with this picture. Clowns are cause for concern, not laughter.
Here are my clowns of the week:
1. The entire population of "Mannywood". Listen up, you bandanna'd, fake dreadlock wearing loonies: Manny Ramirez is a cheater. plain and simple.
On the show yesterday, Dianna suggested they change the name of Mannywood to "Mannyroid"...lame play on words, but it does illustrate my point. When a father takes his son to a ballgame, he should be pointing to Manny and telling his kid "Don't ever be like him, son." Instead, there will be an entire cheering section dedicated to a man who got caught using steroids.
True fans of baseball and fair play can take solace in this fact: One place Manny will NOT have a cheering section is with the Hall of Fame voters. (Here's a great story about it by Jayson Stark from ESPN: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&page=rumblings090703 )
2. Texas Longhorns Linebacker Sergio Kindle. This rocket scientist crashed his SUV in to the side of an apartment complex. Apparently, he was far too busy texting to be bothered with such burdensome tasks as watching the road...or steering.
After pushing the vehicle back on to the road with a little help from his friends (anyone else digging the Beatles reference?), he LEFT THE SCENE OF THE ACCIDENT.
Last I checked, that's called a hit-and-run, correct?
Here's where it really gets good.
Apparently, Texas state law has no provision covering hit-and-run accidents that result in damage to a building, so it looks like Sergio lucked out on this one.
That's a pretty big loophole(apartment hole?), Texas. (Here's the full story: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4294788 )
3. CHINA. (Wait, what?). Yes, you read that correctly. China. Congratulations China, you rode Yao Ming like Seabiscuit, and now his feet have given out on him. Being 7'6" puts a huge strain on the human body, and the joints in particular. Combine that with the running, jumping and pivoting neccessary to be a professional basketball player, and the potential for injury skyrockets.
Yao has been in and out of the Rockets line-up for the better part of two seasons with a stress fracture in his foot, an injury that never seems to have healed correctly. Now let's say the Chinese had given Yao a summer off from training with the national team to rest and rehab the injury. Suddenly Yao's career is extended by 5 or 6 years.
But that didn't happen, and now Yao may be done for all of next season, and possibly his career.
And the saddest part about the whole situation is that Yao would do it again in a heartbeat; that's how much he loves his country.
Congratulations, China. Looks like the meat grinder has claimed another victim.
-----------------
Working in a sports oriented radio station in Seattle, it's basically a given that you're going to be surrounded by UW Husky fans.
Being a recent WSU graduate (I BLEED CRIMSON AND GRAY) and intern, I fully expected to recieve numerous lashings of the tongue variety on the job.
That being said, here are a few statistics from the week for you:
Number of days I worked: 4
Number of days I rocked my Coug gear: 3
Number of days I was harrassed by Huskys: 0
...Gotta love those numbers.
Here are my numbers of the week:
502: Number of career saves for Mariano Rivera. In an age of steroid buffed, mirror kissing, Toronto strip club frequenting(if you haven't figured out who I'm referring to by this point, you might as well stop reading and go lie down for a while) caricatures of athletes and "men", Mariano Rivera represents all that is right in baseball. Here is a guy that plays with nothing but heart, intensity, natural ability and one NASTY pitch (thrown from about 30 different angles).
2-1: Score of the Seattle Sounders - Portland Timbers game. Futbol has taken off like wild fire in the Emerald City, and the renewed I-5 rivalry may help to fill a gap left by the departure of the Seattle Supersonics. The game, regardless of the outcome, was a great moment for soccer in the Northwest.
Doesn't hurt that my Sounders brought home the "W".
4: Number of times Softy used the word "Dookie" during Thursday's show (somewhere, the 2nd grader in all of us is giggling uncontrollably).
2: Number of Sedin twins the Vancouver Canucks signed to identical 5-year, 30 million dollar contracts. THANK GOD. Maybe next year they won't choke in the play-offs...again...
----
And that's all for this week. Softy vowed to light off fireworks INSIDE the station today, so I decided this might be a good day to take a breather.
With any luck, I'll have some more non-sensical ranting about interships and sports next week.
Until then, keep it real sports nerds.
---Sean the Sports Intern
My name is Sean Maginnis, and I am a broke, jobless, Sports Broadcast intern living in the Kent area.
I currently live in the rec room of my Dad and his girlfriends house in Kent. I sleep on a roll out mat.
My internship is with Comcast SportsNet. It's a simulcast radio/TV show done with KJR Sports Radio in Seattle. For those of you who know about it, it's the Dave "Softy" Mahler Show on KJR.
Let's get started...
--------------------
Right out of the gate I'm throwing you a curveball.
I'm starting at the end of my day as opposed to the beginning. Very Tarantino-esque, if you will. As I'm leaving the Clear Channel building in Seattle on Thursday, I notice an unusual site on my way to the bus stop: A clown car.
The vehicle resembled a San Francisco style trolley, but on four wheels instead of tracks.
There were 6 or 7 clowns hanging off the vehicle complete with honking noses, goofy make-up, and seltzer-water sprayers to boot. To the average person, this would be a comical sight. Hilarious even.
I'm not the average person.
Clowns do not amuse me. Grown men wearing ridiculous make-up and hanging out with little kids all the time? Something is wrong with this picture. Clowns are cause for concern, not laughter.
Here are my clowns of the week:
1. The entire population of "Mannywood". Listen up, you bandanna'd, fake dreadlock wearing loonies: Manny Ramirez is a cheater. plain and simple.
On the show yesterday, Dianna suggested they change the name of Mannywood to "Mannyroid"...lame play on words, but it does illustrate my point. When a father takes his son to a ballgame, he should be pointing to Manny and telling his kid "Don't ever be like him, son." Instead, there will be an entire cheering section dedicated to a man who got caught using steroids.
True fans of baseball and fair play can take solace in this fact: One place Manny will NOT have a cheering section is with the Hall of Fame voters. (Here's a great story about it by Jayson Stark from ESPN: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&page=rumblings090703 )
2. Texas Longhorns Linebacker Sergio Kindle. This rocket scientist crashed his SUV in to the side of an apartment complex. Apparently, he was far too busy texting to be bothered with such burdensome tasks as watching the road...or steering.
After pushing the vehicle back on to the road with a little help from his friends (anyone else digging the Beatles reference?), he LEFT THE SCENE OF THE ACCIDENT.
Last I checked, that's called a hit-and-run, correct?
Here's where it really gets good.
Apparently, Texas state law has no provision covering hit-and-run accidents that result in damage to a building, so it looks like Sergio lucked out on this one.
That's a pretty big loophole(apartment hole?), Texas. (Here's the full story: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4294788 )
3. CHINA. (Wait, what?). Yes, you read that correctly. China. Congratulations China, you rode Yao Ming like Seabiscuit, and now his feet have given out on him. Being 7'6" puts a huge strain on the human body, and the joints in particular. Combine that with the running, jumping and pivoting neccessary to be a professional basketball player, and the potential for injury skyrockets.
Yao has been in and out of the Rockets line-up for the better part of two seasons with a stress fracture in his foot, an injury that never seems to have healed correctly. Now let's say the Chinese had given Yao a summer off from training with the national team to rest and rehab the injury. Suddenly Yao's career is extended by 5 or 6 years.
But that didn't happen, and now Yao may be done for all of next season, and possibly his career.
And the saddest part about the whole situation is that Yao would do it again in a heartbeat; that's how much he loves his country.
Congratulations, China. Looks like the meat grinder has claimed another victim.
-----------------
Working in a sports oriented radio station in Seattle, it's basically a given that you're going to be surrounded by UW Husky fans.
Being a recent WSU graduate (I BLEED CRIMSON AND GRAY) and intern, I fully expected to recieve numerous lashings of the tongue variety on the job.
That being said, here are a few statistics from the week for you:
Number of days I worked: 4
Number of days I rocked my Coug gear: 3
Number of days I was harrassed by Huskys: 0
...Gotta love those numbers.
Here are my numbers of the week:
502: Number of career saves for Mariano Rivera. In an age of steroid buffed, mirror kissing, Toronto strip club frequenting(if you haven't figured out who I'm referring to by this point, you might as well stop reading and go lie down for a while) caricatures of athletes and "men", Mariano Rivera represents all that is right in baseball. Here is a guy that plays with nothing but heart, intensity, natural ability and one NASTY pitch (thrown from about 30 different angles).
2-1: Score of the Seattle Sounders - Portland Timbers game. Futbol has taken off like wild fire in the Emerald City, and the renewed I-5 rivalry may help to fill a gap left by the departure of the Seattle Supersonics. The game, regardless of the outcome, was a great moment for soccer in the Northwest.
Doesn't hurt that my Sounders brought home the "W".
4: Number of times Softy used the word "Dookie" during Thursday's show (somewhere, the 2nd grader in all of us is giggling uncontrollably).
2: Number of Sedin twins the Vancouver Canucks signed to identical 5-year, 30 million dollar contracts. THANK GOD. Maybe next year they won't choke in the play-offs...again...
----
And that's all for this week. Softy vowed to light off fireworks INSIDE the station today, so I decided this might be a good day to take a breather.
With any luck, I'll have some more non-sensical ranting about interships and sports next week.
Until then, keep it real sports nerds.
---Sean the Sports Intern
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