Doesn’t everybody want to be a Yankee?
A GRIP ON SPORTS
Larry Larue, the Tacoma News Tribune Mariners' beat reporter, had fun with Twitter yesterday. He kept re-tweeting Yankee fans' tweets about Felix Hernandez. The basis of the fans' tweets? Why was Felix still with the M's and not a Yankee? He is so good, he should be in New York. Never, ever let anyone tell you Yankee fans aren't arrogant. Read on.
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• And so is the media, as Larue's game story shows. Everyone wants to be a Yankee, right? Everyone wants to win, everyone wants to live in New York, everyone wants to be on the overdog. Well not everyone. As Felix made clear after the game, he's happy in Seattle (just look at that smile in the photo). And, if he stays that way, he has a chance of finishing his career as the M's fans' all-time favorite player. Think about it. Ken Griffey Jr., could have been that guy, but he bailed. Alex Rodriguez could have been that guy, but he bailed too. Randy Johnson? Bailed. Ichiro? Bailed (thank goodness). Only Edgar Martinez (thanks for the catch), of all the M's possible Hall of Famers, stayed his entire career. If Felix decides he wants to stay in the Northwest the rest of his more-than-likely Hall of Fame career, he'll build a reservoir of good feeling second to none.
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• Washington State: As training camp continues – full pads go on Monday – some of the Cougar newcomers are making impressions. Christian Caple highlighted one such player in his Sunday morning S-R story and yesterday's blog post. It's offensive lineman Niu Sale, a JC transfer who may end up starting this season. ... Christian also has his morning post, with links from Pullman and around the Pac-12.
• Eastern Washington: The Eagles will begin camp this week and Jim Allen has just about everything you want to know about the upcoming football season in this story. ... A former Eagle basketball player has found a home overseas. ... Montana needs a quarterback after its starter was arrested recently. Lo and behold, a quarterback transfers from Stanford. ... Southern Utah knows the Big Sky isn't going to be easy. ... Portland State hopes to finish near the top of the conference standings.
• Idaho: Former Vandal head coach John L. Smith knows how lucky he is.
• Indians: With first place on the line (OK, first place for the second half), Boise comes through with a 6-2 win over Spokane. Jess Brown has the story.
• Shock: Utah was this close to the ArenaBowl when the Arizona Rattlers struck for a 75-69 comeback win Saturday night, putting the Rattlers in the AFL championship game for the second consecutive season.
• Mariners: You know how most regular season baseball games have two or three story lines a writer can explore? Well Saturday's 1-0 M's win at Yankee Stadium wasn't one of those games. There was one story line: Felix's masterful performance, one manager Eric Wedge gushed about like a female Olympic swimmer over Justin Bieber. ... OK, there was one other story to follow: shortstop Brendan Ryan got plunked in the wrist and had to have X-rays. He seems OK. Dirty Yankees. ... It's Sunday, so that means Larry Stone has his weekly column, a notebook, awards and power rankings. ... A short break (and a check on his father's health) helped one Mariner pitcher.
• Seahawks: Though they probably don't want to (and may just end up cheering for their favorite, whomever that may be), Seahawk fans have to trust Pete Carroll to make the correct decision on who will play quarterback. You can be sure an NFL coach will decide based on one thing and one thing only: who can help his team win the most. ... Cortez Kennedy is officially a Hall of Fame player. ... Leon Washington wants to do one thing often this fall: score touchdowns.
• Sounders: Eddie Johnson was just the player the Sounders needed to get to the next level. At least Steve Kelley thinks so.
• Olympics: As we passed along yesterday morning, Spokane's Amanda Furrer (and her gun Osso, named after a local radio personality who shamelessly begged for the distinction earlier this summer) didn't make it out of the qualifying stages. I blame the gun. ... One last note on Michael Phelps. This guy thinks he was the greatest Olympian ever.
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• When I woke up this morning around 5 a.m., I noticed how dark it was outside. Not at all like it was just a few weeks ago. We're on that great downward slide that culminates in Christmas. By then, it will be dark until noon, or something like that. I need my sunshine. And yes, I am a glass half-empty type of guy a lot of times. Until later ...
