• Jon Kitna is expected to be named head football coach at his alma-mater, Lincoln High School in Tacoma. Lincon's athletic director, Char Davenport said that she wasn't aware of any other applicants — my guess is the announcement will come soon after the opening closes on Wednesday. Kitna used to play for the Seahawks — he led Seattle to an AFC West title in 1999. 

• Hector Noesi is good at throwing strikes and also has potential to hit 97 mph on radar gun! Read Jeff Sullivan's analysis on the other player acquired from the Yankees in the Pineda-Montero swap. I'm growing more and more confident that he'll be more than a capable starter for the Mariners this season.

• I love how Felix Hernandez wants to stay in Seattle. Every fan better treat him right, just like the organization has in his time here. Long live the King! 

• Kicker Santiago Lopez out of Lynden HS plans to walk-on and join the Huskies next fall. Washington is out of kickers; losing both Erik Folk and Eric Guttorp to graduation. Let's hope UW snags someone else before the February 1st signing date; depending on a walk-on kicker can't be a good thing. 

• The WIAA released its classification numbers for 2012-13 and 2013-14 school years on Monday. Out of the 18 schools in 3A that have opted-up, 12 of the schools are a part of the Metro conference. Eastside Catholic and Rainier Beach are 1A schools by definition, while Seattle Prep, Lakeside, Cleveland, O'Dea, Bishop Blanchet, Ingraham, Nathan Hale, Chief Sealth and Holy Names are 2A schools by definition. I wonder which of these schools would be able to opt-up and compete at the 4A level in several sports. Seattle Prep, O'Dea and Holy names would be three schools to start the conversation with.

--Kevin Cacacabelos (@seatownsports)

• Kevin Millwood has signed a minor-league contract with the Seattle Mariners. He will likely earn a spot on the big league roster and in the rotation. Millwood isn't amazing and he isn't terrible — he's average. So, expect average and maybe some better numbers since he's now pitching at Safeco. Welcome to Seattle Kevin. http://www.lookoutlanding.com/2012/1/22/2725990/kevin-millwood-rumors-seattle-mariners

• UW-commit quarterback Cyler Miles took an official visit to USC this past weekend. Apparently he's still committed to UW, but he decided to go check out USC with Huskies offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier leaving to Alabama. Keeping Miles is important for Sark and his staff, but the security of having a commitment from Mercer Island product Jeff Lindquist makes losing Miles bearable. 

• Gregg Bell from GoHuskies.com gives us the lowdown on all the new Husky football coaching hires along with salary amounts. Along with the hundreds of thousands of dollars Justin Wilcox (defensive coordinator), Eric Kiesau (offensive coordinator), Tosh Lupoi (defensive line, run-game coordinator), Peter Sirmon (linebackers), Keith Heyward (defensive backs) are all slated to make, they will also receive incentives if UW makes the Pac-12 championship game. A telling quote: "The total pool for Huskies' nine assistant coaches in 2012 is $2.73 million, up from $2,305,028 last year. It is scheduled to be $2,895,000 in 2013."

• Psalm Wooching out of Kailua Kona, Hawaii committed to the Huskies on Friday night. Wooching was originally a UCLA-commit, but reconsidered things after Rick Neuheisel was fired and Jim Mora took over. Here's his junior year highlight reel

• Field Gulls thinks the Seahawks will have to trade up at least to the No. 4 overall pick if they want to draft Robert Griffin III. Trading up for that pick means the Seahawks would probably have to give up their 2013 first round pick. Is it worth it? What say you? 

--Kevin Cacabelos (@seatownsports)

Weekend links for everyone:

• Peyton Siva is the best basketball player I have ever seen play in a live high school game. That, along with the fact that he's from Seattle makes him one of my favorite ballers. I had a hard time holding back tears after watching this short CBS Sports video feature on Siva and his relationship with his father. There's always something worth living for. 

• UCLA's Josh Smith is underperforming this season, averaging only 9.7 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. To put that in perspective, Darnell Gant is averaging 7.6 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. You'd think a four-star recruit in his second season would be performing much better. USC's Kevin O'Neill thinks Smith needs to get in shape. Don't we all?

• Dan Wilson was actually good at catcher defense according to Lookout Landing's research.

• Jamie Moyer signed a minor-league contract with the Colorado Rockies. I was hoping the Mariners would've signed the 49-year old first. ] 

• Dr. Dre interviewed Macklemore awhile back. And here's the cool video by Beats TV:

Today's links:

• Edgar Martinez received 36.5% support in this year's Hall of Fame voting; Jeff Sullivan from Lookout Landing seems apathetic in his latest post. To an extent he is right; Edgar not getting into the hall of fame isn't the end of the world. His plaque in Cooperstown doesn't determine his legacy in Seattle. Martinez remains positive but doesn't know "what to make" of his chances at this point.

• Every Seattlelite, UW fan, soccer fan, and teenage boy's favorite soccery player is up for a couple of awards. Vote for Hope Solo U.S. Soccer's Best Performance, Female Athlete of the Year and Best Off-the-Field Moment.

• Unless you've been living under a rock, Washington Huskies tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins has officially walked-on to the Husky basketball team. He was suited up in last night's game against Seattle U. Sports Press NW ranked Washington's top multi-sport athletes; Nate Robinson makes the list.

• It's time to start speculation on the Seahawks draft pick at No. 12. Seattle's main needs are at cornerback and a quarterback. Sports Illustrated thinks Ryan Tannehill from Texas A&M would be a good fit at QB for the Seahawks. Drafting Tannehill in the first round might not be a smart move as some think he is a second round talent.

• Alex Akita from Seattle Sportsnet gives us 41 reasons why Seattle deserves its Supersonics back. No. 41 sums it up nicely. 

--Kevin Cacabelos (@seatownsports)

• Doug Haller from AZ Central asks if Tony Wroten could win Pac-12 player of the year. Wroten is now starting to cut down on his turnovers and free-throws, if he can continue improving on those two aspects of his game, he is for sure a candidate to take home the award. I'll admit that I didn't believe he could improve early on — kudos to the coaches who have helped him adjust his game for the better.

• Rush The Court cautions Husky fans from getting to ahead of themselves after the team's victories over Oregon and Oregon St. at home. The wins are wins, but they were home games and Oregon and Oregon St. aren't exactly the class of the Pac-12. Hopefully Washington's road woes disappear this week. Losing both to Utah and Colorado is a total possibility.

• UW foootball released its schedule for 2012. Some highlights: second game of the season will be at LSU (they're good), Stanford--at Oregon--USC stretch will decide the season, Apple Cup falls on a Friday. UW won't play Arizona St. or UCLA.

• Ryan Wood from Big League Stew has had an unopened Ken Griffey Jr. chocolate bar for nearly 20 years. He refuses to throw it out, sell it or god forbid eat it. My favorite collectible that I'll go to my grave with? I have two autographed Ryan Appleby pieces of memorabilia. No one else is touching those when I'm alive.

• The Mariners are now SUPER close to signing Prince Fielder Hisashi Iwakuma. Do you care? DO YOU CARE? I really don't.

--Kevin Cacabelos ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )

Justin Wilcox was named Washington's Defensive Coordinator on Sunday.

• The Huskies hired Justin Wilcox as defensive coordinator and Peter Sirmon as their new linebackers coach. Both coaches played together and were roommates at Oregon from 1996 to 1999. They both will leave the same positions they held at the University of Tennessee to come back to the Northwest. Tennessee had the 28th best defense in the country in terms of yards allowed. Bob Condotta from the Seattle Times goes in-depth about the coaches in his story on the hirings.

• Chris Polk is off to the NFL, as expected. NFLDraftScout.com ranks him as the No. 4 running back prospect and the No. 56 overall in their draft rankings. From what I've heard, he'll likely fall in the second or third round.

• Hisashi Iwakuma could be the next player the Mariners sign this offseason. Iwakuma has some upside and has excellent control. I'm still waiting for the M's to ink Moyer though.

• Red Bryant would like to stay in Seattle even though he's a free agent this offseason. The 28-year old is one of the team's biggest priorities in free agency. Resigning Marshawn Lynch is also an important task for John Schneider.

• Tony Wroten was named Pac-12 player of the week after helping the Huskies sweep the Oregon schools this past weekend. Wroten is starting to cut down his turnovers and increase his free-throw percentage — two weaknesses that plagued him during non-conference play. He averaged 21.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1 steal in wins over Oregon and Oregon St.

--Kevin Cacabelos ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )

• Art Thiel from Sports Press NW writes about Baylor's sudden success in sports this year. Their men's basketball team is ranked No. 15 while their women's basketball team is No. 1. And their best athlete on campus might not be the Heisman-trophy winning Robert Griffin III (see: Brittney Griner)

• Here's what the guys on ESPN had to say about the Alamo Bowl.

• Will Wroten be in the starting lineup again this Thursday against the Beavers? The erratic freshmen is averaging a team-high 16 points and Romar is more than confident in Wroten. I still think he's too much of a liability with his bad defense and amount of turnovers, but maybe the coaching staff just needs to let him play through it.

• In preparation for the team's final game against the Arizona Cardinals this Sunday, Dave Krieg's Strike Beard counts down the top five worst Seahawk season finales of all-time.

• Lookout Landing presents 2011's MLB payrolls. Three teams spent less money than the Mariners and made the playoffs. Can you name all three?

--Kevin Cacabelos ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )

Does anyone else out there believe the Huskies can knock off Baylor this Thursday at the Alamo Bowl? With ample preparation time and a healthy Keith Price, I don't think an upset is completely far-fetched. Sure, RG3 is a Heisman winner and is really good at throwing the football. And sure Washington's biggest weakness is its secondary, but can't the Huskies pull it together after being torched by Andrew Luck and Oregon's offense in the regular season? Hopefully Nick Holt and company have some tricks up their sleeves and have learned from their earlier defeats. Creating turnovers will be the name of the game. What are your keys to the game?

• Sports Press NW takes a look at Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III's game-by-game stats from this season. Hint: They're impressive.

• Baylor practiced on Sunday. Here are post-practice video and quotes coming from Baylor Head Coach Art Briles and RG3.

• There's a pageant princess and a wrestling star from Emerald Ridge HS in Washington. Read about her at Prep Rally.

• Pro Ball NW examines the future for Justin Smoak. If his thumbs are 100%, hopefully he can pick up right where he left off before his hitting slump began. What can we expect from him in 2012?

• Washington's performance so far landed it on the list of ESPN's top 10 dissapointments in college basketball. It could be worse. I'd hate to be a UCLA Bruin basketball fan right now. 

--Kevin Cacabelos ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )

• The Huskies dominated Cal State Northridge last night at Hec Ed. N'Diaye was back in action after missing two game, he added 11 points and eight rebounds in 16 minutes. UW starts conference play next Thursday against the Beavers.

• Florida Marlins outfielder Logan Morrison had fun on Twitter tricking some people (including me) into thinking Prince Fielder was signing with the Seattle Mariners. Morrison tweeted, "Just heard from my boy that Prince to Seattle is a done deal..." Of course he was talking about the musician Prince... By the way, the Mariners might have made Fielder an offer earlier this week.

• Former Loyola Marymount basketball standout Bo Kimble has somehow ended up coaching for free at Shoreline community college. Steve Kelley from the Seattle Times writes that Kimble is helping implement "The System" that helped LMU make their magical NCAA tournament run in 1990. As a current student at LMU, I think this is really cool.

• Kellen Moore finished his college football career as one of the best NCAA quarterbacks ever. Moore and the Boise St. broncos dominated Arizona St. in the Las Vegas bowl, 56-24. Boise St. became the first team ever to win 50 games in four years.

• Seattle Prep junior, Tere Calloway (DB/RB) received a scholarship offer to play football for Purdue University last night. Calloway helped lead Seattle Prep to its first state appearance since 1991 this past season. Watch his junior highlight tape here.

--Kevin Cacabelos ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )

• If you consider yourself a Husky fan, you should be in panic mode. Things aren't right in Montlake. After losing against the South Dakota State Jackrabbits, it's difficult telling how this team will fare during Pac-12 play. It's no longer about the players executing their roles, it's about if the players are even being given the right roles by the coaches. Something is missing from this team. It may be the lack of an edgy leader, it may be the inexperience, or it might just be a typical early-season slump. Putting the finger on one reason at this point is foolish, but I think it's time for Husky fans to stop lying to themselves. This year's team is not very good.

• In not depressing news, the Seahawks smacked the Chicago Bears 38-14 on the road. How can the 7-7 Seahawks still make the playoffs? They need to win their last two games and they also need either the Detroit Lions or Atlanta Falcons to lose their final two games. 

• The Pac-12 is considering moving its tournament to Las Vegas. I had the chance to watch Washington at the Staples Center in the 2011 tournament, and the atmosphere was lacking the same buzz as a regular season Pac-12 game. Maybe a move to Vegas could be a solution to the attendance problem. 

• Here's a complete story covering Brandon Roy's retirement and the causes behind it. Jason Quick of the Oregonian reveals a vulnerable and disappointed Roy, who made the right decision based on the well-being of his body and his family. 

• Will it be a blatant "money-grab' if Prince Fielder signs with the Mariners? Larry Stone reminds us that all free-agency signings are "money-grabs," at their core. 

--Kevin Cacabelos ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )