NFL Free Agency Began Tuesday

Posted on March 12, 2014 by admin

On Tuesday, the free agency period in the National Football League (NFL) began. I was going to say that the first day in free agency was dominated more by the players that were released than the signings, and that’s still probably true. However, late Tuesday it was announced that the Denver Broncos signed cornerback Aqib Talib, formerly of the New England Patriots to a 6 year $57 million contract.

Earlier in the day, the Dallas Cowboys released their all-time sack leader Demarcus Ware. This move freed up cap space, but must have been difficult for the team, and deflating for their fans. Ware has been their defensive leader for most of his 9 years as a Cowboy. Reportedly, the Broncos are very interested in acquiring Ware, among several other teams I’m sure. The Cowboys will also release wide receiver Miles Austin as a post-June 1st cut.

The Chicago Bears released 34-year old defensive end Julius Peppers, who in 2010 received the largest contract for a defensive player ever, 6 years $84 million. Peppers’ time in Chicago seemed over after the Bears signed former Oakland Raider defensive end Lamarr Houston to a 5-year, $35 million contract. It’s beyond me why he deserved that much money, with his total of 16 sacks in 4 years with the Raiders. He is 8 years younger than Peppers, and will earn half the annual salary of Peppers, but both salaries are too high for their production.

The New Orleans Saints signed former Buffalo Bills safety Jairus Byrd to a 6 year, $56 million contract. When they put Byrd along side Kenny Vaccaro, the Saints will have one of the best safety tandems in the NFL. Byrd was ranked by many as the top free agent this year. The Saints are reportedly having serious salary cap problems, which explains why they will try to trade running back Darren Sproles.

Another free agent signing was cornerback Alterraun Verner to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who was formerly with the Tennessee Titans. Verner signed a 4-year $26.5 million contract. This move should bring an end to cornerback Darrelle Revis in Tampa Bay, as early as Wednesday. The big free agent signing of Revis a year ago, is most certainly coming to an end after just 1 season.

This was just the first day in free agency, but it’s usually the most active day. If you really want a certain player on your team, you better go get him before someone else does. Most of the free agents are still unsigned, but they aren’t as high in demand, as those that were signed today. If the Broncos do end up getting a healthy Ware, their defense should be much better in 2014.

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The NHL Trade Deadline Produces Many Transactions

Posted on March 6, 2014 by admin

March 5th is the trade deadline for the National Hockey League (NHL), and several moves were made in the last 2 days. Probably the biggest trade was between the New York Rangers and the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday. They essentially traded captains. Martin St. Louis went to the Rangers, while Ryan Callahan went to the Lightning, along with a 1st and 2nd round draft pick, which could turn out to be 2 first round picks.

St. Louis had asked to be traded recently, after Tampa Bay General Manager Steve Yzerman, who was also the General Manager of the Canadian Olympic team, did not select St. Louis to be part of the Canadian team, although he was added later. In the end, Canada and St. Louis received their gold medals, but apparently St. Louis still had his feelings hurt. He was the oldest player ever to win the scoring title last year at 37, and leaves the Lightning as the franchise leader in assists and points.

Among some of the other trades that happened around the NHL, the Los Angeles Kings acquired some scoring punch with the acquisition of Marian Gaborik from the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Montreal Canadiens also added some offense by adding Thomas Vanek, in a trade with the New York Islanders.

Tuesday was also an active trading day for many teams in the NHL. The Vancouver Canucks finally moved goalie Roberto Luongo, who it seems has been on the trading block for years. He is now a member of the Florida Panthers. Vancouver did receive goalie Jacob Markstrom in the trade. The Minnesota Wild also traded for a goalie, getting Ilya Bryzgalov for a 4th round draft choice from the Edmonton Oilers.

The league leading Anaheim Ducks made 3 trades on Tuesday alone. They traded away a 4th round draft pick to get Stephane Robidas from the Dallas Stars. They also traded goalie Victor Fasth for 3rd and 5th round picks, and Dustin Penner to the Washington Capitals for a 4th round draft pick.

It will be interesting to see how all these trades, of which I only mentioned a few, will affect these teams the remainder of the season. I’m most interested to see how the St. Louis-Callahan trade changes the results of the Rangers and Lightning, especially if they meet in the playoffs. St. Louis is 10 years older than Callahan, but still a high scorer. But when one of your stars is unhappy enough to ask for a trade, you better do it, and get as much as you can in the deal.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. Wins The 2014 Daytona 500

Posted on March 1, 2014 by admin

On Sunday, Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Daytona 500. This was his 2nd win of this race, which is the first race of each NASCAR Sprint Cup racing season. His first Daytona 500 win was in 2004. The win also snapped a 55 race losing streak by Earnhardt.

As the 12-time winner of the Most Popular Driver Award on the Sprint Cup circuit, what could be better for NASCAR? How bout a race that lasted less than 10 hours from start to finish?

There was a 6 hour and 21 minute rain delay, which caused the race to turn into a marathon. Because of this, the television ratings dropped 44% from last year, down to a 5.6 overnight rating this year.

Earnhardt who is 39 years old, led the most laps, with 54, but not the first lap. The pole position and first lap was led by rookie Austin Dillon, in the return of the #3 car to Sprint Cup. This was the first time #3 had raced in Sprint Cup since the death of Earnhardt’s father, the Intimidator, Dale Earnhardt Sr. Dillon is the grandson of Richard Childress, who owns the #3, and was the car owner for the last 6 of Earnhardt Sr.’s 7 championships. Earnhardt Jr. supported the return of the #3 car with Dillon as the driver.

Dillon was caught up in one of the 4 multi-car accidents that occurred in the race. He still managed to finish in 9th place. Danica Patrick, another fan favorite, was involved in the same accident, on lap 145, but she hit the wall, and that was the end of the race for her, finishing 40th.

Denny Hamlin finished 2nd in a close finish, with Brad Keselowski in 3rd place. Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson finished in 4th and 5th place respectively. Chevrolets finished in 1st, 4th and 5th places, while Hamlin drove a Toyota, and Keselowski drove a Ford.

During the 6 hour plus rain delay, FOX television network showed the 2013 Daytona 500, which was won by 6-time Sprint Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson. After the re-broadcast ended, Johnson was inundated with congratulations over social media. They didn’t notice that the race ended exactly like last year, or where they were told that the race from last year?

With the win, which was the 19th of his career, Earnhardt Jr. has already qualified for the new format of the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Among the new changes, 16 drivers qualify, and the last 4 drivers are eliminated after the 3rd, 6th and 9th race of the 10-race Chase schedule. This leaves only 4 drivers competing for the championship at the last race of the season, at Homestead-Miami Speedway.  Earnhardt Jr. is still seeking his first Sprint Cup Championship.

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Evaluation Of The 2014 Winter Olympics

Posted on February 24, 2014 by admin

The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia ended on Sunday. Russia ended up winning the most gold (13) , silver (11) , and total (33) medals. They had a very good last 2 days. Through Friday, the United States was slightly ahead in the total medal count, but ended up 2nd with 28 medals. USA finished with 12 bronze medals, the most for any country, for what that’s worth. Norway finished 3rd with 26 total medals.

Some notable favorites for the Americans didn’t earn a medal, like 2-time Olympic gold medalist snowboarder Shaun White, and the USA hockey team, but the most obvious failure was in long track speed skating. For the first time in 30 years, the United States didn’t earn any medals in long track speed skating. They earned 19 in the past 3 Winter Olympics, which is an average of over 6 medals per Olympics.

Shani Davis was the most notable failure. He is the 2-time defending gold medalist in the 1000 meters, and the 2-time defending silver medalist in the 1500 meters. He was also the world record holder and #1 ranked skater in the world in both events, entering these Olympics. Davis finished 8th in the 1000 meters, 11th in the 1500 meters, and 24th in the 500 meters.

After the first week of the entire American men and women failing to earn a medal in speed skating, the new uniforms begin to receive blame. But after they switched back to their old uniforms the results didn’t improve. It was worth a try. I have a suggestion however. Copy everything the Netherlands does when it comes to long track speed skating.

The Netherlands earned a total of 24 medals in the Sochi Olympics. A record-breaking 23 of them came in long track speed skating. Their only other medal came in short track speed skating, not surprisingly. 8 gold medals, 7 silver medals, and 8 bronze medals in long track, compared to zeros across the board for Team USA. The only reason the Netherlands had so many silver and bronze medals is because they frequently placed behind teammates. Obviously they are the standard bearers in these events.

The future is very bright in several events for the Americans, especially in alpine skiing, with 18-year old Mikaela Shiffrin winning the gold medal in the women’s slalom. As long as Team USA returns at least to where they were in previous Winter Olympics, in long track speed skating, they can earn the most medals again, like in Vancouver in 2010.

The USA hockey team ended on a very disappointing note. Not only did they lose their last 2 games, but after averaging 5 goals a game in their first 4 games, which made them the highest scoring team in the tournament, they proceeded to be shut out in the next 2 games. Losing 1-0 to eventual goal medal-winning Canada wasn’t so bad, but getting thumped for the bronze medal 5-0 by Finland was downright embarrassing.

2 1/2 years from now, the Summer Olympics will occur in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Hopefully, the United States will repeat with the most gold medals, silver medals, and total medals, like they did in London in 2012. Until then, we will focus here on several other sports. Stay tuned.

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Olympic Women’s Hockey, Figure Skating & Bobsled, and Men’s Giant Slalom

Posted on February 21, 2014 by admin

Canada defeated the United States in Olympic Women’s Hockey 3-2 in overtime, to win the gold medal. USA had command of this game until the last 3 1/2 minutes of regulation. They had a 2-0 lead until a deflected puck went into the USA goal to cut the lead to 2-1. After Team USA just missed an empty net goal, that would have given them a certain win, Canada scored with 55 seconds remaining to force overtime.

While Canada had all the momentum going into overtime, USA pushed the action early in the overtime period, having several opportunites, but not scoring. Then 7 1/2 minutes into the overtime period, Canada’s Hayley Wickenhiser got free on a breakaway, and was dragged down by Hillary Knight of the USA. On the ensuing power play, Canada’s Marie-Philip Poulin, who also scored the tying goal, knocked in the game-winner 8:10 into overtime to give Canada its 4th consecutive Olympic gold medal in Women’s Hockey.

This was a devastating loss for the Americans. It sure was looking like a victory for USA, as they held Canada off the scoreboard for 56 1/2 minutes, but then gave up 2 goals in the remaining 3 1/2 minutes of regulation to tie the game. For the 3rd straight Olympics, the American women received silver medals to the golds for Canada. This was the 20th straight overall win for the Canadian women. Poulin who plays at Boston University, also scored 2 goals in the gold medal game in Vancouver. Switzerland beat Sweden 4-3 for the bronze medal.

Adelina Sotnikova of Russia won the gold medal in Women’s Figure Skating, in an upset over defending Olympic Champion Yuna Kim of South Korea. Kim won the silver medal, and Carolina Kostner of Italy won the bronze medal. Gracie Gold of the United States finished in 4th place. The other Americans, Ashley Wagner and Polina Edmunds, finished in 7th and 9th places respectively.

Ted Ligety of the United States won the gold medal in the Giant Slalom on Wednesday. He held almost a full second lead over the entire field after the first run, but lost half of that lead in his 2nd and final run. Ligety won by 0.48 second over Steve Missillier of France, to become the first American ever to win the Olympic Giant Slalom. Missillier was way back in 10th place after the first run, but had a great second run to win the silver medal. Alexis Pinturalt, also of France, won the bronze medal.

On Tuesday, the last 2 runs of the Women’s Bobsled event occurred at the Olympics. After the first day, and first 2 runs, the Americans were in 1st and 3rd positions, with Canada-1 in between, close behind USA-1. Elana Meyers and Lauryn Williams in USA-1 maintained a slim lead after the 3rd run over Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse in Canada-1, and USA-2 with Jamie Greubel and Aja Evans were still in 3rd place.

However, the defending gold medalists in Canada-1 took the lead and another gold medal on their last run. USA-1 finished 1/10th of a second behind, to win the silver medal. USA-2 finished with the bronze medal. USA-3 which consisted of Jazmine Fenlator and Lolo Jones finished in a disappointing 11th place.

As of the end of events on Thursday, February 20th, Team USA has the lead in total medals with 25. Russia is 2nd with 23, and the Netherlands is 3rd with 22 medals. Norway, who is 4th with 21 total medals, leads the way in gold medals with 10. Canada is 5th with 20 medals. There are 3 days left of competition in the 2014 Winter Olympics. Will the United States maintain this lead through the weekend? I sure hope so!

Medal Count 022014

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USA 2-Man Bobsled Bronze and the Bode Miller Interview

Posted on February 18, 2014 by admin

On Monday, the United States won their first Olympic medal in the 2-man bobsled since 1952, winning the bronze medal by .03 second. Russia-1 won the gold relatively easy, and Switzerland-1 won the silver medal. Russia-2 just missed out on a medal, finishing 4th, just behind USA-1. Steven Holcomb and Steven Langston broke the 62-year drought for Team USA in the 2-man bobsled. Holcomb will also drive in the 4-man bobsled competition that starts on Saturday.

Also on Monday, Charlie White and Meryl Davis won the first ever ice dancing gold medal for Team USA. Congratulations to them, but that’s not my thing. As much time as NBC devotes to figure skating and ice dancing, it must be very popular, but I fast forward through it, lol. I still want the Americans to win though, and they did.

On Sunday, Bode Miller of the United States tied for the bronze medal in the Super-G Alpine skiing race. Kjetil Jansrud of Norway won the gold medal, and Andrew Weibrecht of the USA won the silver medal, which was his first time on the podium in any race since his bronze medal in the 2010 Olympics. But the big story occurred after the race, in an interview with Miller, by Christin Cooper of NBC.

Cooper started the interview recognizing Miller’s accomplishment as the oldest American alpine skier to win a medal at 36, and he has also won the most medals (6) by a skier representing the USA. Then she switched the focus to the death of his younger brother Chelone, nicknamed Chilly, last April of an apparent seizure. Mentioning his brother is one thing, but she kept pushing him, even after tears were running down his cheeks, until he finally lowered his head in grief.

Here is the video below. Judge for yourself. Imagine if that was you in that situation. Not only did Cooper keep asking him questions until he broke down, but NBC kept the cameras focused on Miller over a minute after the interview ended. No wonder some people don’t like to talk to the media. Later in the day, Miller thanked everyone for their support, and asked them not to be so hard on Cooper, that she’s a nice person.

Back on Saturday in men’s hockey, the USA faced Russia. The game wasn’t quite as good as the miracle on ice in 1980, where the young Americans beat the powerful Russians, but it was close. After 3 periods the game was tied at 2, and remained that way after the 5-minute overtime period.

The shootout went 8 rounds before it was decided by T.J. Oshie‘s 4th goal on 6 shots, in the shootout. Unlike the NHL (National Hockey League), in the Olympics after the first 3 rounds of the shootout, if teams are still tied, each team can pick the same shooter for every round from then on if they wish. That’s exactly what Team USA did, and it paid off. Strangely, the Russians didn’t use NHL top goal scorer Alex Ovechkin for any of their shots. The teams matched each other in rounds 4-7, but Oshie’s goal in round 8 won it for USA. These teams could play again in the semifinals.

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USA Men Sweep Ski Slopestyle Medals & Win Silver In Women’s Skeleton

Posted on February 15, 2014 by admin

The 2014 Winter Olympics introduced a new event, the Ski Slopestyle, and the United States were sure happy about it. The USA men swept all the medals in this event on Thursday. This was only the 3rd time ever for the Americans to sweep all 3 medals in any event. The previous medal sweeps were in 1956 Men’s Figure Skating and 2002 Men’s Halfpipe Snowboarding.

The gold medal winner was 22-year old Joss Christensen of Park City, Utah, whose father passed away last August. His first run of the finals held up as the best score overall. Gus Kenworthy of Telluride, Colorado, also 22 years old, won the silver medal. 19-year old Nick Goepper of Lawrenceburg, Indiana won the bronze medal. Goepper is the first winter Olympic medalist from Indiana.

On Friday, the women had their last 2 runs of the skeleton. The skeleton is the opposite of the luge, in the way the person lays on the sled.  For the luge the rider lays on their back feet first, while the skeleton rider lays on their stomach head first. Lizzy Yarnold of Great Britain won the gold medal, winning by almost a full second after the 4 runs. Noelle Pikus-Pace of the USA won the silver medal in her last Olympics. 

The winner of the bronze medal was decided by .04 second after 4 runs. Elena Nikitina of Russia just edged Katie Uhlaender of the USA. What a way to miss out on a medal, getting so close, but losing by such a small margin.

With all the missed chances for medals by Team USA, it’s a little surprising that they are tied with Norway for the most medals, with 13, at the end of competition on Friday. Germany leads all countries with 7 gold medals. Former Olympic Champions Bode Miller and Teg Ligety both missed out on medals in the Super Combined (1 downhill run and 1 slalom run), after Miller failed to medal in the Downhill earlier this week. Julia Mancuso, who previously won a bronze medal in the Super Combined, failed to medal in the Downhill, which is her strength in the Super Combined.

2-time Olympic Gold Medalist Shani Davis in the 1000 meter speed skating event, not only failed to win the event in 3 straight Olympics, but he didn’t win any medal. In fact, no American speed skater has won a medal yet. Some have even stared to blame the losses on the uniforms they wear. Supposedly an air pocket in the back of the uniform slows them down. While it seems like an excuse, it is strange that their skaters have been doing so poorly in the Olympic Games so far.

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USA Sweeps Gold Medals In Snowboard Slopestyle

Posted on February 10, 2014 by admin

On the first weekend of competition in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, the United States (USA) won both the men’s and women’s inaugural snowboard slopestyle events. Jamie Anderson won the women’s gold medal on Sunday, while Sage Kotsenburg won his gold medal on Saturday.

Anderson was in 4th place after her first run in the finals, but had clearly the best run of the day in her second run. She was the favorite, and she showed why. Earlier in a second run of the finals, one of the competitors who was one of the leaders after the one run, Sarka Panchocova of the Czech Republic, fell hard when attempting to land her first jump. After laying on the course for a few moments, she got up and finished her run, even though there was a sever crack on the back of her helmet. She seemed to be ok physically afterward.

Kotsenburg won his gold medal by landing a jump that he’s never even attempted before. He calls the jump the “Holy Crail“. It consists of spinning around 4 1/2 times in the air, while grabbing the board and arching your back, then of course landing successfully. For him to attempt this jump without even trying it in practice before, is the type of decision and execution that makes an Olympic Champion.

Another favorite to win a gold medal for Team USA was Bode Miller, in the downhill. He had dominated the practice runs leading up to Sunday’s final. It was commonly thought to be Miller’s race to lose, but he did lose it, finishing in eighth place. Matthias Mayer of Austria won the gold medal. In fact, Miller wasn’t even the top American in the downhill. Travis Ganong finished in 5th place.

After the first weekend of the Winter Olympics, Norway leads the medal count with 7 total medals, 4 of them bronze. USA and 3 other countries are tied for second place with 4 medals each. Norway, USA and the Netherlands are all tied leading the way with 2 gold medals so far. Most of the events have kicked into high gear, except men’s ice hockey. Since many teams in the National Hockey League (NHL) played as recently as Saturday, the men don’t start playing hockey until this Thursday.

I’m looking forward to the bobsled, short track speed skating, the 500 and 100 meter speed skating, snowboard cross, and of course hockey. I also became strangely attracted to curling in the last Winter Olympics. If you’re not familiar with curling, it’s kind of like shuffleboard on ice, without the stick. Anyway, enjoy the games, no matter what events you like.

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Sochi Olympic Games – Be Thrilled And Disgusted

Posted on February 6, 2014 by admin

The 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia will begin this Friday with the Opening Ceremonies. Journalists from all over the world have already started to arrive in Sochi, and were surprised by the conditions just days before the games start. Accommodations are not complete, and the bathroom facilities are bizarre, along with a warning not to use the yellowish-orange colored water on your face.

Construction is still well under way, as if they didn’t know when the Olympics started. A man was seen still laying down bricks on Tuesday. Hotel rooms are not finished, missing everything from shower curtains down to even light bulbs. Apparently shower curtains are really hard to find. Some rooms were equipped with 5 foot long beds, and with the reportedly extremely loud techno music playing, who could sleep on the small beds anyway? Even at this archaic state of rooms, they still don’t have enough rooms presently available.

The bathrooms are comical and disturbing at the same time. Don’t be bashful if you’re going to Sochi. I guess the popularity of private bathroom stalls hasn’t made it over to Russia yet. They actually have two toilets in the same stall, that’s if you’re lucky enough to find a stall at all.

Toilets1Toilets2

However, they were nice enough to show an acceptable bathroom etiquette sign. Fishing in toilets is frowned upon, as well as various other activities, a few that I’m not clear on what they are from the sign. Another sign instructs visitors not to flush toilet paper, but to put it in the provided bin.

Toilets3Toilets4

Stacy St. Clair of the Chicago Tribune reported to the front desk of her hotel that she had no water, and she received this response –  “If restored, do not use on your face because it contains something very dangerous.” Well that’s comforting. The water was restored, and St. Clair tweeted this picture of that “very dangerous” water.

Sochi Water1

I’m no expert on the subject, but I don’t think all of this sounds like most people’s vision of the Olympic Experience. It is also reported that the high number of stray cats and dogs will be rounded up and killed in the next few days. This city, and maybe the whole country should never have another Olympic Games.

Olympic athletes from all over the world will descend shortly on Sochi and be met with these barbaric conditions. Needless to say, these superb athletes deserve much better treatment. I hope the International Olympic Committee will remember this, and if they ever consider awarding Russia with another Olympics, they should have everything ready, and up to normal Olympic accommodation standards, long before anyone begins to arrive for the games.

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The Seattle Seahawks Win Super Bowl XLVIII 43-8

Posted on February 3, 2014 by admin

Super Bowl XLVIII belonged to the Seattle Seahawks from the start, as they routed the Denver Broncos 43-8, to win their first Super Bowl in franchise history. On the Broncos’ first offensive play, the ball was hiked before quarterback Peyton Manning was ready, and it resulted in a safety for the Seahawks. They added 2 field goals by kicker Stephen Hauschka to lead 8-0 after one period. With no offense for the Broncos in the first quarter, an 8-point deficit didn’t seem too bad.

The second quarter proved to be even worse for the Broncos. Seattle recovered a fumble, and proceeded to go 37 yards on 7 plays, finishing with a 1-yard touchdown by Marshawn Lynch, to give the Seahawks a 15-0 lead early in the period. Then things went from bad to worse for Denver. Defensive end Cliff Avril hit Manning’s arm as he was throwing a pass. The ball was intercepted by linebacker Malcolm Smith, who returned it 69 yards for a touchdown, to finish the first half scoring with a 22-0 Seattle halftime lead.

Denver kicked off to start the second half. Seattle put Percy Harvin, who is the fastest Seahawk, back to receive the kickoff. Bronco kicker Matt Prater kicked it short, so Harvin wouldn’t get a return, but it backfired. Harvin caught the ball on a bounce and went 87 yards for a touchdown. 12 seconds into the 3rd quarter and it was 29-0. I immediately texted one of my friends “Game Over!”

The Seahawks added yet another touchdown on a 58-yard drive, culminating with a 23-yard pass from quarterback Russell Wilson to receiver Jermaine Kearse to make the score 36-0. The Broncos finally got on the scoreboard at the end of the 3rd quarter, driving 80 yards on 6 plays, and scoring on a 14-yard touchdown pass from Manning to receiver Demaryius Thomas. After the successful 2-point conversion Denver trailed 36-8.

Seattle removed any remote chance for the Broncos with another touchdown early in the 4th quarter. Wilson threw his 2nd touchdown pass of the game, this time a 10-yarder to Doug Baldwin. The Seahawks shut down Denver the rest of the game, and won Super Bowl XLVIII 43-8. Seattle dominated the game completely, on offense, defense, and special teams. Remember, these Broncos set the record for most points scored (606) in a regular season, averaging just under 38 points per game, and they finished with 8. Smith was awarded the Most Valuable Player, with his interception return for a TD and his 14 tackles (9 solo and 5 assisted).

This game reminded me of many of the Super Bowls in the 1980s, which were also blowouts. Like many of those games, including 3 losses by present Bronco General Manager John Elway, when he played quarterback at Denver, turnovers played a big part in the outcome. This was the 5th Super Bowl loss for the Bronco franchise. You can’t give a great defense 4 turnovers (2 interceptions and 2 fumbles), and not get any yourself, especially when one is returned by a touchdown.

This Seahawk team should be good for several years, since they are so young. Now begins the long 7 month wait until football starts again in September.

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