Seattle

It's a shame really. 

Sunday night's game in primetime between the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers at CLink Field could have been for the NFC West division lead if only the New England Patriots had managed to complete their fast and furious comeback against the Niners last weekend at Foxborough.

Instead, both teams will fight for position in the NFC playoff race with the hopes of either solidifying their spot or potentially improving their seeding. 

At any rate, it should be an exciting game as both teams will come into the game on a hot streak with their young quarterbacks Colin Kaepernick and Russell Wilson leading the way. 

Last week, both signal callers played so well that veteran NFL writer Peter King at Sports Illustrated listed the pair as his Offensive Players of the Week in his Monday Morning Quarterback column:

Offensive Players of the Week

Colin Kaepernick, QB, San Francisco. The first Niners quarterback to throw four touchdown passes in one game since 2003 walked into Gillette Stadium and beat the hottest team in football Sunday night, in a cold rain. What was most impressive was the fourth touchdown, coming on the first play from scrimmage after the Patriots stormed back from a 28-point deficit to tie the game. Kaepernick recognized the Patriots blitzing the house and giving him a Cover Zero look (no safety help for his corners), so he found Michael Crabtree for the winning touchdown. Jim Harbaugh has an amazing football player, if Kaepernick's first five starting weeks are any indication.

Russell Wilson, QB, Seattle. A perfect game for Russell Wilson, just the way Wilson wants to play -- running a lot, playing option football, playing from the pocket. "Whatever we call, we know something good can happen with Russell right now,'' said coach Pete Carroll after the 50-17 rout of Buffalo in Toronto. Wilson rushed nine times for 92 yards and three touchdowns on runs of 14, 25 and 13 yards. He completed 14-of-23 for 205 yards and a touchdown.

Wilson's been such a revelation that, week by week, it's hard to fathom how good he's become vs. the image of what 90 percent of the NFL coaching and scouting community had of him before the draft.

Indeed, it should be an exciting matchup; well, unless you happen to be Matt Flynn or Alex Smith. 

Despite playing for two winning teams, this season has to be considered a disappointment for both given the high expectations each had going into training camp. 

Granted nothing was guaranteed by their respective teams, yet going into this summer both men looked poised to seize upon the chance to lead their squads as the starting quarterback after receiving deals during this past offseason.  

Yet by summer's end, only Smith had a tentative hold on his job.

For you see, Wilson left Flynn in the dust in Seattle during the preseason and over the course of the regular season Flynn's seat on the bench became more and more uncomfortable as he watched Wilson mature to the point of pushing for this year's Offensive Rookie of the Year award according to veteran Seattle Times writer Steve Kelley.

At the same time, just a ways down the Pacific Coast, issues revolving around Smith's legitimacy came into question even while the Niners continued their dominance following up on their division title the year before.  

Unfortunately, things went from bad to worse following a midseason concussion as Kaepernick, now in his second year, took his opportunity to start and has never looked back.  

Conventional wisdom dictated that Niners head coach Jim Harbaugh would reinstate Smith upon receiving a clean bill of health, but that never happened and the Niners seemingly have yet to miss a beat, if you exclude the mixed results of their two games against the St. Louis Rams.

ESPN's Tim Keown explains that Harbaugh is simply doing things his way:

While most coaches are being criticized for their reluctance to make bold decisions, whether it's going for it on percentage-wise fourth-down situations or benching an underperforming, established player in favor of a younger one, Harbaugh took a good situation and risked destroying it for the possibility of creating a great one. It's completely against convention, against the book and so much against the conventional practice of stuffed-shirt NFL coaching that it might just be unprecedented.

In hindsight, the decisions to start both Kaepernick and Wilson border on genius for the moment, but you have wonder how both Smith and Flynn are holding up?

To this point, both have remained relatively quiet while handling the situation with class; nevertheless, wouldn't you love to be within earshot on the field during their potential conversation during pre-game warmups?

Can you imagine what each of them would have to say to each other at this point?

I'd imagine one will break the ice with a joke, but do you think either will actually say anything revealing about their current plights?

Or will they both have an unspoken understanding of the situation?

Either way, I don't envy them and picture a mostly awkward exchange.

It has to be frustrating, given how both men have struggled during the course of their careers to even get to this point, with Smith finally finding success after being largely considered a draft bust and Flynn who, after years of living in the shadows of Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay, signed with Seattle over the winter hoping to get his chance to start.    

Technically, neither did anything to lose the starter's job, yet neither went above and beyond to keep it.  Making matters worse is to be ditched by your coach only to then be upstaged and possibly eclipsed by a younger, more dynamic go-getter specifically brought in to challenge you.   

Right now, neither look to be part of either team's future plans, but it's a small world in the NFL and by this time next year, I wouldn't be shocked to see at least one of the two starting elsewhere.

Until then, they wait while keeping a brave face and a watchful eye on the action...because you never know.  One minute you're riding the pine, the next you're riding the tide into the playoffs at the controls of one of the league's better teams.  

On Sunday when the Seattle Seahawks took the field against the Buffalo Bills they looked a little bit different, yet still ended up scoring another 50 points in their win in what has become a rather unexpected yet pleasant late season trend. 

Speaking of trends, within minutes of the game's start, my wife checked in initially wanting to know the score and then while squinting at the TV asked, "What's going on with the 'Hawks uniforms?"

After trying to explain that the Wolf Grey uniforms are alternate jerseys, she initially shrugged but then wanted to know whey they were only wearing them for the first time now at the close of the season.

Eventually we both agreed that the team is probably looking to sell these as part of a marketing gimmick set up during the holiday season featured on the team's website.

Upon seeing it indeed was, albeit at the very bottom of the page, I couldn't help but laugh. 

Perhaps it's the Seahawks who should be laughing, though, as jersey sales have ballooned according to Nick Eaton at the seattlepi.com who reported last week:

Jersey sales have ballooned by 274 percent at the two team retail stores and online. And two weeks ago, Fanatics.com said it had seen a 242 percent increase in Seahawks merchandise sales over last season — the second largest jump among all NFL teams, behind only the Houston Texans.

“We have received extremely positive feedback from players and fans about the new uniforms,” Chuck Arnold, the team’s vice president of sales and marketing, said in a Seahawks new release.

Having the second-largest boost in sales league-wide sounds good when you first read it, but I'm not entirely sure how to interpret such news. 

Are the Seahawks becoming more popular or is the percentage up from last year simply because they were the only team in the entire league that drastically changed their design?

Given the loyalty of the team's fanbase, you have to figure everyone with a rooting interest wanted or perhaps even needed a new jersey, lest they look out of fashion. 

In all honesty, if the team put Hello Kitty on their helmets, sewed bows on their shoulders, and changed the team name to the Kittyhawks, there would still be fans in the stands at CLink wearing bubblegum pink "Kitty Fan No. 12" jerseys. 

In retrospect what the 'Hawks eventually settled upon in working with Nike was a bold statement that has seemingly paid off, but back in April this writer largely panned the new uniforms. 

While I won't go as far as saying I now love them, months later I will confess that the new uniforms have grown on me with my favorite combination being the blue jerseys with the grey pants that gives off a sort of "back to the future" look for the 'Hawks. 

Beyond that I'm still not sure I can commit 100 dollars to one of my own, but if Santa were to put one  under the Christmas tree by chance, I certainly wouldn't object to wearing it on game days.  

I'd imagine quite a few of you reading this will find one of your own waiting for you in roughly a week's time if you don't have one already.  If so, wear it with pride and be thankful that it only has feathers instead of bows on it.  

Joking aside though, the new look seems to be working as the team has found success both on and off the field this season with the new design.

Makes you wonder that if the old saying "clothes make the man" is true. If so, perhaps it's time for the Mariners to consider a makeover?   

Josh Hamilton is off the market and I'm OK with that, but not everyone feels the same way.

In fact, based on the response from most of the people I've spoken to and read, the Mariners' whiffing on Hamilton is a bit of a problem.

Upon hearing the news, a good friend and long-time M's fan sighed, "It's going to be a long winter and summer at the rate things are going."

Another friend lamented, "Are the M's ever going to turn things around, or are we all kidding ourselves?"

I tried to reason with him for a few minutes, but he wasn't having it, as the situation seems well beyond repair at this point.  Funny thing is, he wasn't even all that keen on signing Hamilton in the first place.  

For some though, the lost opportunity seemed to cut deeper and offered the perfect chance to exact retribution for the team's most recent missteps.  Steve Kelley at The Seattle Times believed the M's should have done whatever it took to sign him, but he couldn't resist throwing a few jabs at the organization for letting Hamilton get away:

Surely we know by now that we can't expect the Mariners, who still seem to be putting most of their efforts into squashing the proposed SoDo arena project, to also have the time and concentration to go after expensive free agents.

Look, you can't have everything. You should be happy about the new center-field scoreboard that has a TV screen the size of a Mount Kilimanjaro glacier. You were also expecting the Mariners to sign Josh Hamilton to play in the outfield, underneath that scoreboard?

Fortunately, not everyone was as bitter, as Dave Cameron at USS Mariner took a different approach by combating emotion with facts while urging everyone to stay calm in the wake of Hamilton's signing:

I’m not suggesting the Mariners should just sit back and do nothing. I am suggesting, however, that those who continue to yell from the rooftops that offseason spending determines future on-field outcomes don’t know what they’re talking about.

Don’t be one of the mouth-breathers that overreacts to every free-agent acquisition by the Angels or Rangers. Let them yell and scream about how the world is ending. They weren’t right about this last year, and they’re not right about it now.

Cameron, as usual, offers us a rational point of view, but it's hard to ignore, suppress or dismiss the emotions most of us are feeling right now.  

Of all the opinions I've read thus far, John McGrath's at The Tacoma New Tribune seems the most even-handed by simply looking at the M's decision strictly from a financial standpoint. 

It’s convenient to criticize the Mariners for operating on the cheap, and to mock Zduriencik as a ventriloquist’s puppet whose mouth moves when ownership pulls the strings. But declining to invest $125 million in an injury-prone player unlikely to contribute beyond three seasons doesn’t match any definition of cheap.

Cheap? I’d call it a prudent business decision for an organization challenged to keep ace pitcher Felix Hernandez on board after his contract expires at the end of the 2014 season. Don’t underestimate the thickness of that plot.

When you think of it in those terms, $125 million over five years for a man with more than a few issues, suddenly, it's a little easier to move back off the ledge.  

At the same time, what happens next is what will really be telling. 

Until then, the team projects as a loser both on and off the field, and I would wager that is what has fans most upset at the moment.  Deep down, no one wants to root for a loser, certainly not one that fails to entertain or aspire to something bigger or better. 

Everyone knew that Hamilton wouldn't solve all the M's problems, but at the same time, he provided a sense of hope that the organization was committed to building a winner on the field and generating excitement off it as well.

The same thing could have been said this time last year when discussing Prince Fielder, and at this rate, it will likely happen again next year with whatever big name is available. 

The loss of Hamilton hurts a bit more, though, for two reasons.  

For starters, the M's genuinely seemed to be in pursuit of Hamilton rather than simply paying lip service, like they did last year to Fielder. 

Perhaps more importantly, however, is the fact that we've all just lived through yet another season of watching Felix Hernandez pitch brilliantly alongside an uninspiring, albeit young supporting cast.  

It leaves a lot to be desired and questioned amongst a continually dwindling fanbase.  

Can this franchise rebound?

Will they sign someone decent ever again in free agency?

Will the youngsters ever amount to anything?

Do we need to trade our prospects, or should we hold on to them?

What should we do with Felix?

Is there any reason to keeping Felix if he's never going to be anything more than a .500 pitcher on a lousy team?

If the Mariners do keep him, can they afford him?

Today, nobody has answers to these questions, but Larry Stone at The Seattle Times certainly put together a few thoughts on the issue of what to do with Felix and concluded:       

It's an agonizing dilemma for the Mariners, made all the more poignant by their decline in popularity, and their low standing in the estimation of their fans, who would certainly view a trade of Hernandez in a highly negative fashion. It will be fascinating to see how it plays out—and the moment of truth is rapidly approaching.

OK, I'm getting bummed out again.

Does anyone have Nick Swisher's phone number?

How about the number of his wife's agent?

What if the Mariners were to develop/produce a TV show that shoots either in Seattle or Vancouver as a means of luring Joanna Garcia to the Pacific Northwest for a starring role as a means of sweetening a deal for Swisher?

Would that work?

Successful TV shows usually run three to four seasons, so that should align quite well with Swisher's expectations, right?

I'll confess, I'm grasping at straws here on this one, but if anyone else has a better idea, I'm all ears.

Until next time, hang in there, Seattle fans, and perhaps cross your fingers that Jack Zduriencik has something up his sleeve far better than a script for a sitcom pilot starring Joanna Garcia. 

Let me begin by saying this is never an article I envisioned I would ever have to write.

There are times in the world where we, the fans, lose sight of what is important in the world. We become so obsessed with free-agency signings, poor performances, wins, losses and lockouts that we forget that the games we become so obsessed with our merely that: games.

We clamor for the big-name player, victories, championships and heroes. We at times consider selling all of our possessions just for the opportunity to gain access to a ticket to the big game.

We put things like key games, playoffs, and sports rumors in front of what really matters: friends, family—our loved ones.

Yesterday was one of those days that truly helps put the world into perspective, making us realize that there are scarier things in the world than losing a game. When we realize how trivial one game seems in comparison to a life. What is more difficult to imagine is that it wasn't just a life.

It was 27. And 20 of those were children.

I will not rehash the incomprehensible story that occurred on Dec. 14 in Newtown, Connecticut, if only to demonstrate humanity and sympathy to the families who are suffering from despicable evils that came to be.

I will simply try to understand and explain the impact that a catastrophe like today can have.

When we awoke that morning, it appeared as if it were a day like any other. The sun rose as it always does, and most of the world woke up to continue life as it always had.

We went to our respected jobs, sat down at our desks, sipped our first cup of coffee and began working as if it was just another day.

The athletes we have grown to worship went to their respected weight rooms, began there workouts and continued on as it it was just another day.

We all felt excitement for the events to come later on in the day—whether it was students in Ohio hoping that Mt. Union Football would take home it's 11th national championship, or whether it was Brooklyn Nets fans hoping to witness the continued development of what they hope will be a championship year.

Even people as small as myself woke up yesterday looking forward as to how I would spin for my fellow Seattle Mariner fans the recent signing of Josh Hamilton by the Los Angeles Angels.

We were all looking forward to things that were so small, things that were so minuscule, that we forgot to look forward to the biggest thing of them all.

Life.

We all learned yesterday just how small our events truly are. Just how small a national championship seemed in perspective to the fragile life of a child. It seems that the only way many people in the world today can realize this perspective is through tragedy.

I will not try and cast myself in any higher light, for I am just as guilty as the rest of the world in that regard. But incidents like the Newtown shootings should not be what reminds us that professional sports are but a small luxury we have in our lives.

Regardless, what is important today is that we all remember and cherish the opportunities we are given. This is not something that is limited to just sports fans. It doesn't matter your race, religion, economic standing or political opinions.

This is a lesson we all had to be reminded of.

Yesterday will forever live in infamy as the day 27 human beings lost their lives, with 20 of those losing them before they had even been given the chance to begin. The only way we can learn is by waking up tomorrow morning with a new understanding of the true importance of life.

So before you leave your loved ones tomorrow, remember to hug them and remind them just how much you care. Because caring for them is so much more meaningful than caring about the result of some game.

Because the biggest game in the world today is life, and the result of THAT game is the one we should all care about.

Right now I do not envy Jack Zduriencik.

Once again, the Seattle Mariners general manager has been tasked with overhauling the team's roster while trying to compete within arguably one of the more top-heavy divisions in baseball.

At the same time, after a decade of disappointment fans and pundits alike are finding themselves wondering if the M's will ever turn the corner.

So far the fruits of Zduriencik's labor have been met mostly with skepticism, as outlined by Larry Stone of the Seattle Times, who helps provide context following the team's recent signing of Jason Bay.

The hopes and dreams of the Mariners, and especially their fans, are not centered on a 34-year-old outfielder who hit .165 last year. Bay represents, if all works out for the best, a bonus prize, an unexpected gift — the sort of serendipity that all clubs need in a winning season.

But by virtue of a fluke of timing, Bay also represents to the cynical Seattle baseball fan another symbol that the Mariners aren't ready to go all-in on pushing this young team toward contention.

If Bay had signed after a major acquisition, his arrival certainly would have been greeted with fewer eye-rolls and mutterings of, "Typical Mariners." The Mariners, by all accounts, have been working all winter toward landing a bigger prize. But right now, he and utility man Robert Andino represent the only new blood. And with big-ticket items like Zack Greinke, Mike Napoli, B.J. Upton and Wil Myers flying off the shelf, it just adds to the frustration. And the impatience.

Oh the impatience. Let's all own up to the fact that we are feeling both impatient and frustrated. I would  like to add that I'm not entirely sure if any move Zduriencik makes will soothe the masses. 

For you see, I think the M's are damned if they do and damned if they don't.

If the team does not sign or trade, everyone will sit back and say, "Typical Mariners, all talk no action" as Stone said on Tuesday.  

Yet if they do sign or trade, everyone will complain that they overpaid or gave up a prospect who will only come back to haunt us long after Zduriencik and half the current lineup is gone.

So what can Zduriencik do?

This is the big question that no one has an answer for. 

Today, my best guess is that the M's like the taste of champagne but are working with a beer budget.

Tomorrow however I could be proven wrong, which is what is so vexing here.  

Basically the Mariners are all over the place. One minute they are seriously courting Mike Napoli, the next they are signing Jason Bay and before all is said and done we start hearing rumors about Josh Hamilton. 

On the surface it should be taken as a good sign that the team pursued Napoli and that he visited, yet at the same time you have to wonder if players like him and their agents are using the M's as leverage to work on deals elsewhere.

The situation with Josh Hamilton could prove telling in the coming days, but what other options can Zduriencik work on?

Some might suggest the Mariners should work out a trade rather than spend big on a free agent.

It is easy to pose ideas, for example trading for Logan Morrison can net the M's a potential up and coming talent without having to pay too much in terms of money or prospects, but is that easier said than done as well?

A good portion of us fancy ourselves capable of doing the GM's job, especially now with fantasy sports helping provide us a seasonal-monthly-weekly-daily barometer of our successes and failures, but the reality is that there is a big difference between proposing deals and actually getting them done.

Understand I'm not making excuses or offering up apologies for Zduriencik, as I believe that the M's at some point soon need to show tangible evidence of improvement in order for him and manager Eric Wedge to keep their jobs. 

And yet, what happens if the M's don't sign or trade for somebody beyond Jason Bay and Robert Andino that can actually make an impact?

With the current roster in place, no one in their right mind would pick this team to finish better than maybe third place in the AL West, as another season of Eric Wedge and the kids does not seem like a good idea for anyone in the entire organization.

Of course at this point it is tempting to sharpen up our pitchforks and say the team needs to be sold or point fingers at Howard Lincoln and Chuck Armstrong, but for the moment they are not going anywhere, so it is a moot point that leaves us right where we started.

I do not envy Zduriencik, but what can he honestly do?

Will the M's make a move?

It is certainly possible, but I would not go as far as saying it is probable.  Especially if we are talking about a move that could actually be one that helps bolster the starting lineup and reestablish fans faith in the team. 

Each day the plot thickens, but conversely the Mariners options dwindle. 

All we can do is watch, wait, and hope that Zduriencik has an ace up his sleeve.

And I do not mean Felix Hernandez.