Today's links for 4/21/11; anyone else get ESPN Scorecenter updates on their iPhone? I'm thinking of turning off the Mariners alerts, because they have turned into a daily reminder telling me my baseball team sucks. 

• Sports Illustrated's Peter King has the Seahawks taking Marvin Austin a defensive tackle from North Carolina, also hinting that they want to trade down. He has Locker going No. 12 to the Minnesota Vikings. Amazing how Locker was the projected No. 1 pick at one time, then his stock fell to the 2nd round, and now he's hovering around No. 10 with some analysts even having him going into the top ten. 

• Looks like the Kings might not end up moving after all. At least for now. The NBA owners have realized they won't make as much money if the Kings move south to Anaheim. 

• High School Track in Washington has been in full swing for awhile.  Darian Brooks from Kennedy Catholic has posted the top 100 meter time in the state at 10.69. O'Dea's Tatum Taylor and Jayshawn Jordan are both running sub-11 second times in the 100 meters as well, they lead the 4x100 O'Dea relay team with a state leading 43.28 time.

• Former Mariner Ryan Franklin has been getting booed for his crappy performance at Busch Stadium, so he slammed the fans, and then he apologized. But what is most interesting about this story is this new beard he has grown.

• Brandon Roy's play has declined tremendously. And it's sad to see. You can only hope he can get it back, but it looks really really grim at this point.

Today's links for 4/20/11- Trying to switch things up making my linking a little more exciting.

• Jake Locker is awesome, Chris Polk is awesome, but you know who else has been awesome? Erik Folk. Of course, since he's a kicker, everyone loves him for a day, but then he never ends up getting the amount of attention/fame he deserves. Seriously, I wonder how many UW students actually point him out when they see him. USC knows who he is.

• Speaking of Huskies football, Locker has been on ESPN a lot. Yesterday he was on ESPN to start off their "Three for the Show" documentary series. Unfortunately I missed this last night because my college cable decided to make ESPN2 appear on both the original ESPN and ESPN2 channels. 

• Some people may say Tony Wroten has a huge ego and an attitude. But Romar was able to look past that and see how unselfish this kid was out on the basketball court. He'll be one of the best passers in the Pac-10 next year.

• Just stop the Felix Hernandez trade talk. STOP. It is so pathetic to know that some people actually believe the Mariners should trade him. Gross.

• Michael Pineda has the best average fastball velocity in the major leagues. This is cool because once Felix gets back into his regular form, the Mariners will have one of the best 1-2 punches in baseball. Will this translate to wins? Probably not (see Cliff Lee and Felix Hernandez cerca 2010)

It stinks. I have not been paying too much attention to the Sacramento Kings situation, but from the news bits I've been reading here and there, the situation looks bleak. It is terrible that another fan base will likely suffer the same pains that we went through. After watching the above video, you could just feel the desperation in Chris Webber's voice. He's trying his best,  much like Gary Payton did, but in the end, it's not going to stop the Kings from moving. I feel for you Kings fans. I feel for you.

Check out today's links after the jump.

Since I have been going to college out-of-state away from Seattle, I've had my fair share of interactions with sports fans from other cities. I have figured out there are some things I just hate to hear from other sports fans regarding Seattle's sports teams. What follows is a combination of some of the pharses or words I've heard or would hate to hear in the future. 

• "You still aren't over it?" (it = the Sonics not existing)
• "Why don't you like the Thunder? They are still the Sonics, they are just wearing different uniforms."
• "At least you still have the Seattle Storm (in a snickering voice)." 
• "David Stern." 
• "The Mariners  suck, the one thing Mariners fans can say is 'we have Ichiro!' " (and we have the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner)
• "How the hell do you win 116 games and not win the world series in 2001?" 
• "Haha, I can't believe you passed on Tim Lincecum and ended up picking Brandon Morrow!" 
• "Bobby Ayala."
• "Remember when Matt Hasselbeck said, 'We want the ball. We're gonna score!' ?"
• "Go Steelers!" 
• "The Huskies will never make it pass the Sweet 16."
• "Remember 2008?" 

Check out today's links after the jump!

The Leadoff: Would the Seahawks draft Jake Locker?

The Seahawks ran a workout with Jake Locker yesterday. While this particular fact isn't suprising, all evidence indicates that the Seahawks are seriously considering drafting the hometown product out of Ferndale, Washington. As a football fan, I'd completely love for the Seahawks to draft Jake Locker.

But how awkward would it get if he ended up not being too impressive? If he never improved his much talked about passing accuracy? These are all huge ifs. Locker without a doubt is a risky pick, but damn, he is some franchise player material. He has the character and more importantly he has the talent to be a great quarterback.

The Seahawks could go safe with their first round pick, and I wouldn't blame them for that either. The team has immediate needs to fill now, and some players are ready to start contributing right out of college unlike Locker. The Seahawks will draft Jake Locker if they believe they can fix his flaws in time before Hasselbeck's time is up (it has been for awhile now). Sure it'd be nice for the Seahawks to draft Locker, but I wouldn't blame them for passing up on him.

Check out today's links after the jump!

The Leadoff: UW names Kevin McGuff as their new Women's basketball head coach

Well hello, Mr. McGuff. Welcome to Montlake. You are the newest hire in big-name Husky sports since the hiring of Steve Sarkisian for the football program. Times have been bleak lately for the Husky women's basketball team. Ever since June Daugthery was fired by Todd Turner for a "lack of buzz,"  around the program, Tia Jackson has done nothing but lose in her four seasons at Washington.

You look like you know how to win: a 214-73 record and five straight NCAA tournament apperances since 2007 are evidence for this. You have a lot of work to do. But hopefully you'll get the Dawgs to start competing against the top Pac-12 squads within a year or two.

Best of luck.

Check out today's links after the jump!

The Leadoff: Never take Ichiro for Granted

King Felix is the face of the Mariners, and has morphed into a superstar, but let's not forget who plays right field for the Seattle Mariners. Let's not forget who has been with this team longer than anyone else on this roster. Let's not forget about the ten all-star games, the ten gold gloves, the three silver sluggers, and the seven out of ten hit titles Ichiro has accumulated in his ten year career as a Mariner. He is two hits away from surpassing Edgar Martinez's franchise record of 2,247. 

Ichiro is special, and even though he is 37 years old, he refuses to digress and play like he's getting old. Sure he won't hit as many infield singles as he did in 2001, but he still is one of the quickest players in the game of baseball.

He's a hall of famer right now, but there are two things I hope to see before he hangs up his cleats AS a Seattle Mariner: a World Series championship and 3,000 hits. Those two accomplishments I'm sure would not only make us proud as fans, but also satisfy Ichiro (as much as he'd hate to admit it). As fans, I challenge you to appreciate Ichiro to the fullest while he's a Seattle Mariner, becaue eventually his career will come to an end.

 Here's wishing that the Mariners become a competitive before Ichiro gets too old. He deserves it. 

Check out today's links after the jump!

The Leadoff: Keith Price or Nick Montana?
Husky spring football started up this week, and the biggest question entering camp is who will emerge as the starting quarterback for the Washington Huskies in the post-Locker era. It's likely that this competition will not end in the spring, but will likely continue into fall practices. Price seems like the logical favorite. He has the experience, and he did not look bad at all in the games he appeared in (remember the first half of the Oregon game?).

I have seen Montana play once in high school, but that's it. He's probably improved, but he lacks the tangible game experience that Price has. How about a platoon? BYU did it at the beginning of the season in 2010 with Jake Heaps and Riley Nelson. This method would not breed an environment of continuity, so it is not ideal.

Another aspect that Price brings to the table is his ability to scramble and gain some yards on the ground. Being a dual-threat quarterback helps a lot, and might end up serving as an easier transtion for the Husky offense. We'll see who has the edge after spring practice ends

Check out today's links after the jump!

This never gets old...

[youtube]OEGP6nBiub8[/youtube]

The Leadoff: Do Husky Fans cheer for Arizona?
Some may say it depends, but after maturing a little, and accepting some defeat, I've decided to shift my allegiances toward the Arizona Wildcats for the 2011 NCAA Tournament. They are a representative of the Pac-10, and therefore they deserve our support. Now I'm not saying this situation would be the same if Washington St. was in the elite eight, but since it's Arizona, it's not a humongous deal in my mind.

Besides, the Huskies beat 'Zona 2 out of 3 times this season. If that does not provide any solace for the disappointing end to the Huskies' season, I don't know what does.

Derrick Williams is a monster, and it looks like he will be leaving Arizona for the NBA after this season. Everyone should just enjoy the monster while he's still playing. I even heard his name and, dare I say it, *Blake Griffin* said in the same sentence. That might be taking a little too far. I digress.

So it's 'Zona for the championship. Let's get rid of this image of being "down" the past couple years. The Pac-10 is loaded with good teams and players, they just aren't on sportscenter every night.

Check out today's links after the jump
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