Author: Art Thiel

Kraken fans knew what time it was at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas Thursday. / Seattle Kraken For a team thrown together this summer, then showing up Thursday night unzipped, mussy-haired and short-handed to the world’s largest nightclub, the Kraken managed to stay on the Las Vegas stage with the hometown act long enough to get the customers talking: Who’s the kids in the cool threads? Seattle’s historic entry into the National Hockey League wasn’t a win, but by entertainment standards, it was a success. Down 2-0 in the first seven minutes, the Kraken rallied to tie with less than…

At the team’s new practice facility at Northgate, Kraken players got in a final training camp practice Monday before flying to Las Vegas for the regular-season opener. / Art Thiel, Sportspress Northwwest Drawing in the Seattle marketplace — and its $650 million franchise fee — was a big deal for the National Hockey League, in fourth place in the busy race for North American pro-sports-league dollars. The December 2018 award reaches a milestone at 7 p.m. Tuesday as the Seattle Kraken, the 32nd team, takes the ice in Las Vegas against the Golden Knights, the 31st team, as part of…

Another injury harder to fix is the damage caused by Rams WR Robert Woods (12 catches in 14 targets, 150 yards) to the Seahawks pass defense, here represented by newcomer CB Sidney Jones. / Drew McKenzie, Sportspress Northwest The Mariners undoubtedly have in storage a bunch of unused “Believe” posters. Perhaps the club, which is now developing a portfolio as a Sodo real estate developer after almost succeeding in baseball, has no further need of sports memes and can off-load the overage to Seahawks fans. The meme from Ted Lasso worked for the Mariners. Until it didn’t. Seahawks fans need…

Coach Pete Carroll, pensive before the figurative storm struck the Seahawks Thursday night. / Drew McKenzie, Sportspress Northwest What Pete Carroll knew for sure Friday morning, while his star quarterback was in Los Angeles seeing a specialist about the damage to the middle finger of his throwing hand, was that he was pissed off. And not at Russell Wilson. “We have to clean stuff up across the board so the same issues don’t show up,” the Seahawks coach said on his ESPN 710 radio Friday following the grim 26-17 home loss to the Los Angeles Rams. “When we’re really not…

Oh, look. Someone new at quarterback for the Seahawks. Backup Geno Smith completed 10 of 17 passes for 131 yards and a touchdown. / Drew McKenzie, Sportspress Northwest Badly sprained. That’s what the Seahawks are. Also: That was coach Pete Carroll’s description of Russell Wilson’s damaged finger. Hard to say which will heal sooner. My guess is the finger. Doctors likely know how to fix the digit faster than the coaches know how to fix the Seahawks.

Finding a way around Aaron Donald will be the charge of new Seahawks offensive coordinator Shane Waldron. / Drew McKenzie, Sportspress Northwest Never shall it be uttered that the Seahawks want this Rams game as much as gravity wants down. “No difference this week as we approach this one coming up quick,” ho-hummed Shane Waldron, who wants it bad, because he wants to justify the job promotion he won after helping stoke the rivalry in January. “The playoff game, we didn’t play clean, across the board,” said Russell Wilson, who threw a pick-six and had one of his worst playoff…

DK Metcalf scored the Seahawks’ first touchdown Sunday at Levi’s Stadium with a goal-line lunge. / Drew McKenzie, Sportspress Northwest The Super Bowl this year is booked for Los Angeles and SoFi Stadium, the NFL’s grandest starship. The Rams so want to be there as a participant, not merely as the host, that the franchise busted the off-season’s most dramatic move, trading young QB Jared Goff and a big chunk of its draft future to Detroit for 12-year veteran Matthew Stafford. Imagine the dismay, then, when they looked up at the SoFi scoreboard Sunday afternoon and discovered they were trailing…

In the top of the ninth inning Sunday, playoff denial assured, 3B Kyle Seager was taken from the game to be saluted by teammates and fans in what was likely his final game as a Mariner. / Art Thiel, Sportspress Northwest It might be possible for the Mariners to get closer to the annual baseball extinction. But the ninth inning of the 162nd game would seem to exhaust all the reasonable measurements. The seasonal toe-tag was applied when the Boston Red Sox joined the New York Yankees as winners of their final regular-season games. That allows them to play in…

The Friday sellout at the ballpark had a message for each other and the players. / Alan Chitlik, Sportspress Northwest Since April, the Mariners have been pulling on a rope, hoping to get an upright piano through a window six floors up. They can see the sucker. But it’s slipped so many times. They need another tug, and some help. After the 162nd pull Sunday, we’ll know if it’s music, or silence. They have to beat the Angels once more, and need either the Boston Red Sox or New York Yankees to lose. If those things happen, Mitch Haniger is…

The two most significant contributors to the Mariners’ 2021 success: Manager Scott Servais and RF Mitch Haniger. / Alan Chitlik, Sportspress Northwest Freaky observation from a startling baseball week in Seattle: Jarred Kelenic was two years old when the Mariners were last in the playoffs. He was born the day after then-Safeco Field opened. Now, he’s in center field, as well as in the corpulent American League playoff race. Wednesday night against Oakland, he struck the decisive blow, a two-run double in the sixth inning to support another well-pitched triumph, this one 4-2. Kelenic’s arm pumps standing on second base…