U.S. Financial Crisis Crushes Sports Blogging

Well, maybe just this particular blog. Readers of this space have noticed that nary a post has been made since the end of October. Like most of America, The Mitten has taken it on the chin because of a rotten economy and recklessness of the financial services industry.

I’m not going to name names, but I used to work for a very large, Seattle-based savings and loan that had a propensity for giving home loans to people with no income, the homeless and quite possibly the deceased. So, without a heater and some serious smelling salts (thank you Matt Damon), these folks weren’t going to pay back their loans. The Mitten has only a few more months left before he losses his job as Senior Corporate Lackey at said Seattle-based savings and loan.

In September, the company I worked for (which will remain nameless, but rhymes with ShaMu) was seized by the FDIC and sold for pennies on the dollar to a large New York bank. It was the largest bank failure in U.S. history. Good times.

Anyhoo, I’ve spent most of my waking hours trying to figure out what to do next. And sports blogging was back-burnered. But the four pathetic souls who read this thing, not including my Dad, want to know my take on what’s been happening in the bleak, dark and dreary corner known as the Seattle sports scene. And I've promised to forge on with the blog. So, here goes. An extra cynical, jaded and bitter take on some of sports news of the past few weeks – fueled by the collapse of U.S. financial services industry.

Jan. 8 - Oklahoma loses to Florida in BCS National Championship game. This is the best thing that has happened so far in 2009. Okie coach Bob Stoops' incessant campaigning to be No. 1 in the country came to a merciful end with a 24-14 loss. Incredibly, Stoops is on the hot seat and may lose his job because of it. Apparently not winning a BCS game in the last handful of years is grounds for termination. I wish UW had this horrible, horrible problem with its football team. Seattle fans care because the OU Sooners football squad is former Sonics owner Clay Bennett’s most favorite team. Now he can sit back and watch his OKC Thunder NBA club drop a record number of games. Petty? Absolutely.

Jan. 7 – Mariners sign hated Giants reliever. The Mariners continue their march toward irrelevancy with the free-agent signing of former San Francisco reliever Tyler Walker. Giants fans are elated that Walker won’t be coming back. You can show me all the statistics in the world, but when Giants fans are lining up to help pack his bags and throw him a going away celebration at the airport, it's never ever a good sign. On the bright side I'm sure he's a swell fella and a helluva guy to have in the clubhouse - which is really the most important thing. You gotta love these guys!

Jan. 3 - UW hoops team beat WSU. This hasn’t happened since Husky point guard Isaiah Thomas was in short pants. Well, shorter pants. The win ends the UW’s seven-game losing streak against Wazzu. The Seattle sports scene now casts its boozy eyes toward the Washington basketball program to pull the city out of sports purgatory.

Dec. 21 – Goodbye Holmgren and enjoy this icy treat. You’d of thought this was the first time it snowed in Seattle by the way people were acting. Seattle Seahawks fans prove to the world that they are patent morons by throwing snowballs at outgoing coach Mike Holmgren as he took a victory lap around the field after his final home game. As a season ticket holder, I was embarrassed.

Dec. 6 – The Washington football program names Steve Sarkisian as new head coach. This is great because he’s never been a head coach before and the team can’t win fewer than zero games next year. So, there’s nowhere to go but up.