Sober Seattle Saturday: The week in sports missed because you were intoxicated

Well, that was fun. The Huskies got to play in a couple of really entertaining games before selection Sunday and nobody was injured in the process. Last night the Dawgs lost a bruiser in the Pac-10 tournament to Arizona State, and aside from falling behind by 21 points at the half, you have to like their chirpiness and ability to come back from the deficient to make it really close down the stretch. They still have the ability to make opponents completely lose their composure and it showed again last night. ASU guard Derek Glasser, who had zero point zero points in the first half and is the best Euro-trash-style flopper this side of Vladi Divak (not a compliment), got into it with who else but Venoy Overton. Is there some reason undersized and under-talented white guys have to make the rest of us look bad with this kind of play? He’s perpetuating an unfair stereotype. Come on, we elected Barak Obama president – change is in the air! Anyway, Overton, Divak – uh, Glasser – and James Harden were all T’ed up and it set off a comeback run for the Dawgs that ultimately fell a little short. OK, good times, let’s play some real games now.

MLS Cup at Qwest
A little over 10 years ago I was working in the sports department for an area twice-weekly newspaper when I received a phone call from an irate reader. Unhappy customer calls weren’t unusual, but this one prickled me. The person on the other end of the line laid into me for not running more soccer articles in the sports pages. Mind you, I had attended at least four high school soccer games in person that week and taken phone calls for many other games. And I wasn’t a huge fan of the sport. So, I let her know. Is this a case study in customer service? Certainly not. How to lose your job as a sports writer? Certainly. But what it does show is the absolute devotion and unrealistic expectation of others that soccer fans have for their sport. And it is specifically these nut jobs (in a good way) that brought the 2009 MLS Cup to Qwest Field, announced Thursday. Soccer fanatics had already bought up 22,000 season tickets before a single game had been played for the Sounders FC. You have to admire, or fear, their persistence.

Bedard hurts his posterior
This was ironic because M’s pitcher Erik Bedard is a pain in my ass as well. News trickled in from Mariners spring training on Thursday that Bedard was being held back from appearing in a game because of a muscle strain in his buttocks. Bedard has been oft injured in the 14 months he’s been with the club and to date has been a total disappointment. Bedard is listed as day-to-day with his injury. My absolute dislike for the lefthander is listed as definite.

CWU is Quarterback U
My alma mater can now safely be called Quarterback U as Central Washington held its pro day for NFL scouts. They were there to see Central quarterback Mike Reilly and tight end Jared Bronson who are both projected to go be drafted next month. Reilly will be the second Wildcat quarterback in the NFL along with Jon Kitna – now playing for Dallas. Reilly turned heads with his strong arm at the NFL combine in Indianapolis a couple weeks ago. He’s the man, obviously.