Author: AJ

Seahawks To Win 8 Games, More Or Less

by Coltrane

The Vegas over/under for Seahawks wins is 7.5.

The ESPN experts all pick the Seahawks to finish 3rd in the NFC West.  This John Clayton quote is typical of the overall opinions:

DIVISION FINISH: 3 Pete Carroll isn’t loaded with talent as he was as the USC head coach, but he has a nice plan to rebuild the Seahawks. As long as Matt Hasselbeck stays healthy, Carroll could squeeze out seven or eight wins.

Hasselbeck won’t be in Seattle the next time the Seahawks are competitive.  Charlie Whitehurst seems to have the “correct” size, arm, high release, and mobility to be at least an adequate replacement when the time comes.  My concern with Whitehurst (from what little I’ve seen) is that his throws “sail” when he loses his release point.  Jeff Kemp had the same issue when he was with Seattle, and that didn’t turn out well.

Charlie Whitehurst: Looking the part of "The Quarterback."

What makes the Seahawks a .500 team?  For reference, Scouts.inc grades NFL players on a 1 to 100 scale.   A grade of 90 or above is considered “Elite”; 80-89 is “Outstanding”, and 75-79 is a “Solid Starter.”

The five highest rated Seahawks:

Lofa Tatupu – 79

T.J. Houshmandzadeh – 79

Aaron Curry – 78

Brandon Mebane – 78

Marcus Trufant – 78

And those are the studs.  

Bill Simmons ranks the Seahawks QBs 28th out of the 32-team league.

Great Willies of Major League Baseball

By Blaidd Drwg

The Greatest Willie in MLB history, in Willie's (and probably most people's) opinion.

Oh, get your mind out of the gutter, not that kind of Willie.

Last night, I had a wonderful time at the Everett Aqua Sox game with Coltrane and Annie S. of this blog fame (hey, 50% of the blog readership in one spot!). During the game (and after a couple of beers), we decided to pick a first name and name as many guys as we could who played baseball. The list we came up with quickly:

Willie Mays
Willie Keeler
Willie Bloomquist
Willie Stargell
Willie McGee
Willie Aikens

Not a bad list (well, except for Bloomquist). Surprisingly, there are 3 HOFers on that list (Mays, Keeler and Stargell); who would have thought that there would be that many guys in the Hall named Willie. Well, I decided to look it up on baseball-reference.com this morning and we missed another 3 (!!) Hall of Famers named Willie: Willie McCovey (how the heck did we miss “Stretch”), Bill Foster (a Negro Leaguer who apparently went by Willie), and Willie Wells (another Negro Leaguer who had the nickname “The Devil”). I have to admit, 6 players in the HOF who went by Willie is more than I would have ever guessed. In case you are wondering, the name with the most HOFers – Joe with 11, and, just for the heck of it – there is only one HOFer who went by the name of Mike – that would be Mike Schmidt.

Some of the other notable Willies that we missed:

Willie Randolph
Willie Horton
Willie Wilson
Willie Montanez
Willie Jones
Guillermo (Don’t Call Me Willie) Hernandez
Willie Davis

We did also come up with Willie Mays Hayes, but he doesn’t count unless you include fictional ballplayers.

Here is the complete list of Baseball Willies for your reading pleasure:   The Willie List

Mark Bittman in Seattle

By Iron Chef Leftovers

For all you fans of Mark Bittman, he will be in Seattle at the University of Washington Bookstore in October. The details:

Thursday • October 28 • 7:00pm
Mark Bittman
The Food Matters Cookbook: Lose Weight and Heal the Planet with More Than 500 Recipes (SIMON & SCHUSTER)
Reading & Book Signing

While I am not a big fan of Bittman, I will probably check this one out. I also would not be surprised if this gets moved to a bigger venue like Town Hall. If it doesn’t, I would recommend getting there early – the food author events tend to be popular and the area they do the reading at is fairly small (seats about 100 or so).

Also of note – Seattle Chef Ethan Stowell will be at Elliot Bay Books on Capitol Hill on September 30th and Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park on October 4th signing his new book.

Mourning the Passing of a Legend

By Blaidd Dwrg

Cal McLish from his playing days with the Phillies

You probably have never heard of him – Cal McLish. He passed away Thursday at the age of 84. Cal McLish was a pitcher for the Dodgers, Pirates, Cubs, Indians, Reds, White Sox and Phillies who went a very unassuming 92-92 in his career and was pretty much a league average pitcher.

Why call him a legend? A couple of reasons – he was actively involved in his community for many years, eventually earning election into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame for his contributions; he is a legend among autograph collectors – he was always willing to sign his name, answer any questions and talk about baseball; and he holds a records in baseball that may never be broken – he has the longest name in Major League Baseball history.

You may ask, “Drwg, how long could his name possibly be?” Well, the guy, who was known by the nicknames Buster and Bus, was born with the name Calvin Coolidge Julius Caesar Tuskahoma McLish. Yes, that is his given name.

The story goes like this:

His full name was Calvin Coolidge Julius Caesar Tuskahoma McLish. His father chose the name after McLish’s mother told John McLish he could name their son.

“There were eight kids in the family, and I was No. 7, and my dad didn’t get to name one of them before me. So he evidently tried to catch up,” Cal McLish told The Oklahoman in 1999.

I had always wanted to ask him to sign something for me with his full name, just because I thought it would look interesting. Alas, I will not get that chance.

Cla McLish was one of the few remaining connections to the Brooklyn Dodgers and now he has passed but hopefully will not be forgotten.

International Bacon Day

There is  apparently an International Bacon Day – it is the Saturday before Labor day, so that makes it September 4th of this year. I want to know why I didn’t hear about this before? I mean, I eat way too much bacon and I love all things pork, so I would have assumed that I knew about this when it started. Go figure. On a side note, I never knew this web site existed either

I heard about this through an email I received from The Swinery in Seattle. They are having an event on Saturday to celebrate Bacon Day. I am unable to link it since their website appears to be down at the moment, but here are the details from their email sent to their mailing list.

International Bacon Day Party at The Swinery
International Bacon Day is held the Saturday before Labor Day. We invite all pork-lovers (and even vegetarians!) to celebrate the goodness the swine has given us.

When:
Saturday, September 4, 2010

Probably the ideal place to celebrate International Bacon Day!

10am-3pm

What:
International Bacon Day Party
free bacon chocolate chip cookies
$2.50 bacon dog
$5 bacon burger
Various bacon-filled brunch items
+
Meet The Swinery team
Music at The Courtyard

Why:
We love bacon!

Where:
The Swinery
3207 California Avenue SW
Seattle, Washington 98116

I am not sure that I can make it, but it sounds like it will be fun. Oh, and in other Swinery news, Chef Gabe Claycamp has left the Swinery and has been replaced by Chef Joseba Jimenez de Jimenez, late of Harvest Vine fame. I only make note of this because, love him or hate him , Chef Claycamp’s bacon is easily the best out on the market. I will give their new bacon a try, but I may have to start looking for another source if it is not up to the same standards.

Top 10 Fictional Home Runs of All Time

By Blaidd Drwg

Jim Caple, who is always good for a laugh or two when he writes, wrote an espn.com piece titled “Page 2’s Top 10 fictional home runs“. It is surprising how few “memorable” home runs have occurred in the movies, considering the love of the dramatic ending in Hollywood (how much more dramatic can a walk off HR in the bottom of the 9th to win a game get). My favorites:

8. Thanks to his secret weapon, Wunderbat, Homer Simpson homers throughout the season to send his team to the nuclear plant softball championships (“The Simpson’s,” Homer at the Bat). Unfortunately Homer gets benched when Mr. Burns hires big league ringers for the big game.

HOMER: You’re Darryl Strawberry!

STRAWBERRY: Yes.

HOMER: You play right field.

STRAWBERRY: Yes.

HOMER: I play right field, too.

STRAWBERRY: So?

HOMER: Well, are you better than me?

STRAWBERRY: Well, I’ve never met you, but … yes.

The “Homer At Bat” episode was a vastly underrated early Simpsons episode, featuring a lineup of baseball all-stars (remember when Steve Sax and Mike Scioscia were all-stars). It also gave us this: Talkin’ Baseball (Simpsons).

My other favorite? This one:

9. The Jeffrey Maier home run (1996 ALCS) off the bat of Derek Jeter. C’mon, you know it wasn’t a real home run.

Tiger Woods Loses a Kidney

by Coltrane

Sliding Billy Hamilton, because you know what Tiger looks like.

…No, not really, though the kidney would probably be less painful.  Woods’ wife has filed for divorce, and it’s estimated she’ll get a settlement somewhere in the $50-100 million dollar range.  And the kids.

I saw Herm Edwards on tv recently.  He was talking about how athletes get themselves into trouble — he might have been talking about Vick, or McNair, or Woods, or someone else altogether.  He then spoke about the right way to stay out of trouble.  To paraphrase, he said: 

“The way to stay out of trouble is to remember the Rule Of “One.”   One Woman.  One House.  One Car.”

I don’t have anything to add to that.

The Best Taco Truck In Seattle

By Iron Chef Leftovers

…has finally opened a location in Ballard. El Camion has opened its third location in Ballard as of today in the parking lot of Mud Bay on the corner of 15th Ave and 54th St!!! I know what is on deck for lunch on Monday – Tacos with Tripes, Lengua, and Cabeza (that is Tripe, Tongue and Beef Cheeks if you were wondering). I also highly recommend anything Pork from them.