Mariners chairman John Stanton welcomed a new investor partner — Ken Griffey, Jr. / Art Thiel, Sportspress Northwest It was a big deal, of course — getting a superstar player into the ultra-clubby baseball ownership stratum is close to a national milestone — but Ken Griffey Jr. was taking himself and the moment too seriously. Not once did he flash the legendary grin during his introduction Monday at T-ball Park by Mariners chairman John Stanton, nor during his own opening remarks, nor answering the first few questions about becoming a minority owner in the Mariners. I felt obliged to loosen…
Author: Art Thiel
Art Thiel
Never having met a metaphor he could not twist beyond recognition, Art has been illuminating, agitating, amusing and annoying Puget Sound sports readers for a long time. Along with Steve Rudman, he co-founded Sports Press Northwest because it didnt seem right that the Google monster should aggregate daily journalism into oblivion without at least a flesh wound from somebody. Thiel and Rudman labored under the Seattle Post-Intelligencer globe until the print edition died an undeserved death in March, 2009. Art continued on at its online successor seattlepi.com while working on SPNWs creation. His radio commentaries can be heard Friday and Saturday mornings and Friday afternoon on KPLU-FM 88.9. In 2003 he wrote the definitive book about the Seattle Mariners, Out of Left Field, which became a regional bestseller. In 2009, along with Rudman and KJR 950 afternoon host Mike Gastineau, Thiel authored The Great Book of Seattle Sports Lists, a cross between historylink.org and Mad Magazine that has become mandatory reading for any sports fan who has an indoor bathroom. A graduate of Pacific Lutheran University as well as two dead papers and a live one, the News Tribune of Tacoma, he has become a fan of entrepreneurial online journalism because it allows him to continue a lifelong passion to take the English language to places it rarely visits willingly, and does not involve the cleaning of kennels or stables.
At Philadelphia in 2019, Rashaad Penny stiff-armed a defender on the way to a career-long 58-yard touchdown run against the Eagles. / Drew McKenzie, Sportspress Northwest Among my many language peeves that I call my pets is the over-use in sports of the phrase must-win. It’s almost as if broadcasters and writers are paid to use it in order to hype the next game. The abuse is rampant in the NFL. There’s only 17 regular-season games, so any team that loses two in a row is deemed to be in the snake pit with Indiana Jones. The only must-win game…
The arrival of the National Hockey League in Seattle made for a great party, but the Vancouver Canucks messed up the happy ending with a 4-2 triumph over the Kraken. / Art Thiel First time at Coliseum: Dazzled. First time at Kingdome: Awed. First time at renovated Hec Ed: History. First time at Mariners stadium: Reverential. First time at Seahawks stadium: Say WHAT? First time at renovated Husky Stadium: Relieved (an earlier effort fell down). First time at Climate Pledge Arena: Sensory overload.
Huskies WR Tyrell Bynum won the fight for possession in the end zone for UW’s first touchdown Friday night in Tucson. / University of Washington Athletics Having already lost a game to Montana for the first time in 100 years, the Huskies found themselves down 13-0 at the half Friday night in Tucson to a team with the college nation’s longest losing streak (18 games). Getting beat by Arizona might be a 200-year loss. So they did what all desperate teams do when they sense the season breaking apart — they deployed the fat-guy interception. The weapon is rarely used.…
A glittering showcase for sports, music and the arts has arisen on Lower Queen Anne. / Climate Pledge Arena rendering A civic milestone was passed Tuesday. Although to Tod Leiweke, it felt closer to passing a kidney stone. “Fear is a powerful, powerful motivator,” he said. He offered up all the operational anxieties swirling in his head simultaneously when the doors opened publicly for the first time to Climate Pledge Arena at Seattle Center: Public transportation, parking, ingress/egress, loading-docks, staffing, security, HVAC, audio/video, concessions, vaccination screenings.
Nick Rolovich couldn’t see how the greater good was served by getting a COVID-19 vaccination. / Drew McKenzie, Sportspress Northwest Chickenpox, diphtheria, flu, hepatitis A and B, HPV, meningococcal, measles, mumps, polio, pneumococcal, rotavirus, rubella, tetanus, whooping cough. Never did I imagine writing such a lede for a sports column. So I have ex-Washington State football coach Nick Rolovich to thank for forcing me to look up what I have forever taken for granted — the work epidemiologists and others in medical science have done for decades in countries across the world to help me live as long and well…
Alex Collins gained 101 yards on 20 carries, the first Seahawks rusher to top the century mark since 2019. / Rod Mar, Seattle Seahawks On the road and down at halftime 14-0 with 10 yards rushing and no Russell Wilson or Chris Carson coming through the door, the Seahawks Sunday were in as bleak a regular-season moment as they have had in the Pete Carroll era. So the rally to force overtime in Pittsburgh against an equally desperate Steelers team moved Carroll into a post-game gush that was lush even for him. “It was gorgeous,” he said. “It was so…
An under-thrown pass from Dylan Morris intended for WR Rome Odunze was intercepted by UCLA CB Quentin Lake on the first series Saturday at Husky Stadium. / Drew Sellers, Sportspress Northwesrt Asked after falling 24-17 (box) to UCLA Saturday night at Husky Stadium if he was surprised that that the Washington Huskies continue to lose games at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, coach Jimmy Lake said, “I wouldn’t say that. No . . . these first three (conference) games, they can go either way. It’s a slugfest, going back and forth.” In Pullman, after Washington…
RB DeeJay Dallas takes the hand-off from Geno Smith during a 2020 practice at the VMAC. Sunday, it gets real. / Seahawks.com From youth leagues to the pros, nearly every athlete learns a hard lesson from team sports: There’s always someone better than you. No matter how much you work, how many coaches you experience, how many protein shakes you drink, someone is better than you. That truism so understood that it is rarely discussed. Which doesn’t mean it can’t be celebrated when one of us breaks through. It’s Geno Smith week.
CB Tre Flowers came up with a fourth-quarter interception against Minnesota in 2019. / Drew McKenzie, Sportspress Northwest The echo of the headquarters-wide nervous cough had dissipated by the time I asked LB Bobby Wagner about the cutting Wednesday of Tre Flowers, a fourth-year cornerback with 40 career starts on a Seahawks defense that Wagner captains. “Have you talked to him?” “I haven’t had a chance to talk to Tre,” he said. “I heard about it last night what happened. I think sometimes it’s good for people to have a fresh start. Maybe that was the opportunity he was looking…