| 30 November 2011
Every Tuesday, Brian Elsner (Wait For It Seattle) and I will be answering questions from readers. These questions will vary from sports specific to awesome specific. Keep them coming. Send all questions to our Facebook pages at Wait For It Seattle or SeaTown Sports. Or leave us a comment here.
Best nickname you've ever heard in sports? And I don't mean ever - since neither of you is old enough to remember back all that far. Just those that you've been alive to know and appreciate. – Luis A.
Kevin: Funny you’ve asked, since the summer I’ve been compiling Seattle sports nicknames and planned on putting a post out in the near future. I’d say King Felix is a pretty awesome nickname, mostly because a blog, USS Mariner, gave the nickname to Felix Hernandez. I’m happy the Mariners have embraced the nickname, says a lot about their connection with the fan base.
Brian: Immediately my mind went to Jeffrey Leonard, former Seattle Mariners clean up hitter. His nickname was “The Hackman”. In the fourth grade, I made this wood engraving at camp. I had to choose something to engrave, so I chose the Mariners line up naturally. Instead of writing Leonard at clean up, I wrote Hackman. How awesome is that name? It represented him so well. He hit bombs or struck out. He hacked. In looking at his stats, apparently he wasn’t that good. In 1989, first year with the M’s, he hit 24 bombs for someone nicknamed “The Hackman”. He hit 10 the next year and then was done playing. Oh well, I still love 00. Yep, he wore 00 as a number. Even better.
Looking back at the UW season...what's the grade? How does next year look assuming Polk goes to the NFL? – Justin F.
Kevin: It’s already time to look back? Don’t we have a bowl game left? I give the Huskies a B grade — it would’ve been a B+ if it wasn’t for that disappointing Oregon St. game. The Huskies won every game they were supposed to except for the Oregon St. game, however, they also lost every game they were expected to lose as well. Expect a similar type of record for next season if Polk leaves for the NFL. The offense won’t have trouble putting points on the board with Keith Price, Austin Seferian-Jenkins and Kasen Williams at the skill positions — Jesse Callier and Bishop Sankey will be decent as well. What will hold this team from improving their regular season win total will be their defense. With our without Nick Holt, the defense lacks talent. While they may improve, I still think it won’t be enough to help the team compete with Oregon and Stanford in 2012.
Brian: I agree with Kevin’s assessment of B. If this were the 1960s or 1970s, it would be a C for average. Not because of the era of Husky football, but because a C used to be average. Now a B is average. Schools have changed…..but I digress. (Really I am just pissed because my 3.77 from high school would translate to a 3.97 now).
Kevin is exactly right the grade and his reasoning for it. In terms of next year, Polk is gone. He may reference loving UW and wanting to stay, but running backs can’t afford the extra hits while not getting paid in today’s football. He will only have 5-6 years of hard running in the league, so why waste a year getting hit in college? He does leave the Huskies in terrific shape offensively. Keith Price will only get better and I actually think the receiving corps will be much improved. With Kevin Smith, Kasen Williams, James Johnson, Austin Seferian-Jenkins and Cody Bruns (redshirting this year), there are a host of returning options in the passing game. The offensive line will bring back 4 of the 5 starters and the Callier/Sankey duo will suffice just fine to compliment a better passing attack.
If Nick Holt is back as defensive coordinator, there will have to be some serious changes to the way the Dawgs go about their business. They have gotten worse every year in terms of points allowed and yards allowed under Holt. Currently, the Huskies are 100th in scoring defense (33.3 points allowed/game) and 95th in yards allowed (San Jose State is 94th!). Something needs to change for this team to compete with the top teams in the Pac-12 or even stay in the upper half. They need more performances like the Apple Cup with seven sacks and twelve tackles for loss. Yet there is hope! Yes, there is. While Alameda Ta’amu, Everette Thompson and Cort Dennison graduate, there is some talent coming back in the emerging Princeton Fuimaomo, Sean Parker, and Andrew Hudson. Yet talent won’t do it alone. They need better coaching.
I'm feeling the need for some Hot Stove analysis... assuming Prince Fielder is either out of our budget or not interested in coming to Seattle, what are the most likely, and potentially best options for an upgrade to the M's lineup next year? – Craig A.
Kevin: How about Rick Ankiel? The centerfielder could play left field and/or DH depending on what the situation in the outfield ends up being come opening day. Being a left-handed hitter at Safeco Field is a good thing, for Ankiel and the Mariners offense. Scott Boras is his agent, but I couldn’t imagine too many teams going after him, the Mariners would definitely have to overpay for him, but I wouldn’t mind it. I think he still has a lot of offensive production left on him, if the price is within reasonable range, why not?
Brian: Rick Ankiel might be the worst choice ever. Really? Rick Ankiel? Gross. The last three years – Ankiel’s WAR tops out at 1.4. He hasn’t hit over .240 and that includes a pretty normal BABIP. He hasn’t hit more than 11 home runs since 2008. What the hell what the Mariners want with Rick Ankiel? Horrific choice.
The thing I have learned about the Mariners that makes them the most fun and awesome when it comes to acquiring players is you never know! Jack Z pulled off a trade for Cliff Lee a couple years ago and no one expected that. He acquired young talent last year that no one predicted like Trayvon Robinson and Casper Wells. Now recently he got rid of Josh Leuke (I say got rid because it was clear the front office did not know about his sexual assault/rape charge from his past) and a PTBNL for a good young catcher in John Jaso. While this won’t turn the club around, it is a great move. Jaso has great potential and posted a 2.7 WAR just two years ago. He struggled a bit last year, but still had a 0.5 WAR. Leuke is replaceable as a relief pitcher. A hitting catcher? Hard to find. So I say just wait. Jack Z will pull off something unexpected to make the M’s better.
Should UW Football be worried now that Rich Rod is the coach at Arizona? Or will more spread offenses in the conference make it easier to play against Oregon? – Luis A.
Brian: Turmoil in the conference is good for the Huskies. With UCLA, ASU, Arizona, and WSU all having new coaches next year, those programs will be starting from scratch. Rich Rod won’t be able to get the spread running great for a couple years (if he gets it there considering they weren’t that good with superfreak Denard Robinson at Michigan).
The Dawgs should have an advantage in seeing the spread one more time and hopefully by this time next year, Oregon is banned from a bowl game anyway for getting all their studs by cheating.
Kevin: Stability is good, and if Coach Sarkisian keeps on improving from season to season, the Huskies will have achieved it. I’m not worried at all by other coaches and other teams…only worried about Nick Holt and the future of this Husky defense.
Is Kevin afraid of Santa Clara basketball after wins over Villanova and New Mexico this weekend? – Brian E. (yep, that is me sucka)
Kevin: Is Brian afraid of LMU basketball after wins over UCLA and Northern Arizona? LMU’s best player Drew Viney is almost ready to come back….watch out. SUCKA!
Brian: Is that a serious response? Do you even know what you are saying?
Ok, after looking some information up I have to assume you are being sarcastic. N. Arizona is 282nd in RPI and UCLA is 263. That places LMSu at 236 in RPI with a strength of schedule at 293. Awful.
Meanwhile Santa Clara is 82nd in RPI right now with the strength of schedule at 61. They have losses to UCSB (47th in RPI) and Oklahoma (90th in RPI). Both good losses. Drew Viney does nothing to scare me. You know what scares me? Your inability to see the truth. I thought I taught you better.
Brian Elsner writes about Seattle sports at Wait For It Seattle.
