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May 2008
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"I'm going to take them out to the bullpen and count them. I have a lot of time on my hands out there. I'm sure these were delivered by Brinks truck and Griffey had his paycheck in there, too."
Check this out, from the TNT. It's an interesting take on Lofa Tatupu's arrest this weekend for allegedly driving while intoxicated. If you hadn't heard this, the arresting officer forgot to read Lofa his Miranda Rights. The officer realized this while driving Lofa to the station, pulled over and then read the Seahawk his rights.
You may have seen the Seattle Times story that Sonics lawyers tried to get Mayor Nickels to admit in a deposition that the team leaving the city would have little impact on the city. Seems the Sonics strategy is to try and prove the city won't miss the Sonics.
From the press release:
The Storm sent over an official press release adding a center from the Italian League. Her name is Florina Pascalau. She's 6'4". Pascalau averaged 13.5 points and 7.3 rebounds per game during the past season in Italy. The official release is after the jump. Tough times ahead for Lofu, who certainly stepped up and immediately apologized. So what's next for the contrite Seahawk who GM Ruskell said two weeks ago, "epitomizes for us what a Seahawk should be"?
"Lofa intends to handle this situation in a manner consistent with his reputation for integrity and leadership. We understand that Lofa fully cooperated with the police investigation and conducted himself as a gentleman throughout the incident. We will issue a further statement once our investigation is complete." Will the Seahawks act? Should they? Usually the team waits for the courts to decide. And people make mistakes. But the case will certainly draw attention as training camp nears. So will Warren Moon's. In the end, two Seahawks are accused of driving while drunk. Not so long ago, so were Koren Robinson and Jerramy Stevens. ...STATEMENT FROM SEAHAWKS LB LOFA TATUPU REGARDING ARREST
"I want to apologize to my family, teammates, the Seahawks ownership and organization, and the fans for making a poor decision and putting myself in a bad situation. I take seriously my role as a leader on this team, and in the community, and because of that I'm disappointed and embarrassed by the level of poor judgment I used last weekend. Thankfully, nobody was hurt. This will never happen again, and I hope through hard work on and off the field to begin earning your respect and trust again." Believe it or not, the NBA Rookie of the Year is not a unanimous 1st team All-Rookie pick. Kevin Durant received 28 of 29 first team votes and one 2nd team vote. Atlanta's Al Horford was a unanimous 1st team selection. Sonics forward Jeff Green makes the 1st team, as well. Green received 15-1st team votes. Kentwood's Rodney Stuckey made the 2nd team All-Rookie squad. Franklin's Aaron Brooks was one of those guys "receiving votes". The official press release is after the jump. ...Tatupu's Kirkland DUI arrest report is available for reading here as a pdf file. Lofa was allegedly driving his car over 50 miles/hour in a 35 mph zone. He was then followed by the police officer and pulled over for driving erratically. In the report, Tatupu's final breath samples were .155 and .158.
I don't have much information on this. But KJR 950 radio has a copy of the police report from this weekend's arrest of Lofa Tatupu on suspicion of DUI. KJR's Dave Mahler made the announcement. The TNT has his blood alcholol level at .15. Stay tuned. We'll try and get a copy of the report and make it available as soon as we can. ...Did you see this? Only the 14th unassisted triple play in MLB history. Last night, Cleveland Indians second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera flipped this rare unassisted triple play. Cabrera records all three outs in the fifth inning of a 3-0 loss to the Blue Jays. The last time this happened was 2007.
On Sunday, the Mariners sent exec Duane Shaffer to New York check out Ken Griffey Jr. in Shea Stadium. Seems there is more interest for the aging outfielder than the team is letting on. Sure, it would bring excitement back to Safeco Field and sell some seats -- but is bringing Junior back a wise move? Conjecture is that Junior would likely be the designated hitter. But Griffey Jr. has let it be known he wants a World Series ring before retiring. The veteran also has the right to veto any trade. ...The University of Washington is offering $1,000 for someone to write the lyrics to a new school anthem. Why? The current one is a little-known song that school officials say is out of date. Hold the phone, Huskies: the UW is keeping "Bow Down to Washington" as the fight song.
The city of Oklahoma City has told Howard Schultz and his former co-owners that the Sonics will have to play in OKC or they'll sue them. You can see the article in newsok.com right here. In a nine-page letter sent Thursday, an assistant municipal counselor for Oklahoma City wrote "there is an expectation by City leadership and citizens that the owners of the Team, whomever they may be, will honor all of the Team's contractual obligations with the City -- including the contractual obligation to relocate to Oklahoma City and to play home games at the Ford Center for the duration of the term of the lease." 5/9/08 newsok.com I guess OKC's hypocrisy knows no bound. They want the Sonics to break their Seattle lease to play in OKC. But on the other hand, they want to enforce a lease where maybe a former owner make takeover the team and didn't agree to the OKC lease. Remember, when Clay Bennett and company bought the Sonics, they agreed to take on the lease. Hmmm...this case keeps on getting interesting by the minute. ...The Sonics lose again, as U.S. District Court Judge Marsha Pechman yesterday denied the motion to remove "Attorney's Eyes Only" redactions from documents from ex-Sonics owner Matt Griffin. The request was part of the team's argument to try and show that the city and Griffin teamed up to financially damage the Sonics by forcing the team to stick to the KeyArena lease.
The Mariners lose to the Rangers, 5-0 on Thursday. But that's not the real story. The M's haven't scored in the last 22 innings...and only have one run in the last 32 innings. You figured or hoped Richie Sexson quasi-brawl would have sparked them, but it didn't. You can watch manager John McLaren's post game comments here. ...If you're like me, you've been watching the NBA playoffs and yawning through most of it. Then Chris Paul comes along. If Seattle could be so lucky to get the Hornets, boy -- talk about a smoking hot point guard. I know, Kobe got MVP. But have you seen this kid play? Paul makes Duncan look old and slow, and we're talking about a former defensive player of the year.
The Storm just announced they've waived two players. 2008 second round pick Allie Quigley and free agent Natalie Doma were give their walking papers. The Storm's roster is at 15...a few more cuts to go. By the way the Storm's last pre-season game is on Saturday. Former WNBA MVP Sheryl Swoopes was on Northwest Sports Tonight Wednesday night. Click here for the uncut uncensored version. ...The Seahawks wrapped up their May mini-camp this afternoon and after practice hawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck addressed the media for the first time. After talking about all the new additions on offense, Hasselbeck was asked what he thought about Bobby Engram not showing up for the veterans portion of mini-camp.
Utah Jazz head scout Troy Weaver will be named the new Sonics assistant GM. Weaver replaces Scott Perry, who returned to the Detroit Pistons as vice president of basketball operations after one year with the Sonics. Weaver spent four years with the Jazz. He also has ties to Durant and Jeff Green. He recruited Green when he was an assistant at Syracuse. Before that, he coached AAU basketball in the Washington D.C. area, where Durant played. ...U.S. District Court Judge Marsha Pechman has rejected Bennett and Co's motion to let the current case determine the team's financial obligations to KeyArena and the city should the Sonics win. Anyone else have a hard time calling these guys the Sonics? The judge also said granting the request would delay the trial.
If Mariners fans need another reason to dislike Alex Rodriguez, here it is. USA Today did a story on Ken Griffey Junior Tuesday. The article talks about Junior's future or lack there of in Cincy. He talks about his departure from Seattle in 2000. He says he had to leave and they (the Mariners) know the real reason why he left. When it became clear the Mariners were going to have difficulty re-signing both Griffey and Alex Rodriguez, a team official approached Griffey and asked, "Who should we trade?" "I refused to answer," says Griffey, who declined to name the official. "That was not my job. So they went and asked the next person. I got traded. He stayed one year. Then he left too." Hmmmm...One can only assume he was talking about A-Rod. He stayed a year then left for Texas. Griffey says it was never about money for him. He actually re-signed for less in Cincinnati. Of course, there's been a lot of speculation that Junior could return to Seattle. The Reds just hired a new GM. They want to cut salary and get younger. Junior doesn't fit the bill. The M's set a record Tuesday night for the smallest crowd ever at Safeco Field. Maybe Junior could draw a few fans. He says he'd like to return to finish out as a Mariner. Just a thought. ...Talk about a surprise. Dave Grosby announced this afternoon that he is taking a big pay cut and will no longer be hosting his show from 1-3 p.m. on KJR radio, 950 am. I listened to the news and even then it barely sank in. The Groz has been on KJR for 17-years. The station is making brudget cuts and Groz got the partial-axe. Grosby will still remain with the station, filling-in, doing on-line work and co-hosting "The Groz with Gas" (Mike Gastineau), from 3-5 p.m. Ian Furness will take over the 1-3 p.m. slot. Grosby said ratings had nothing to do with the move. A KJR spokesperson told the TNT that the station's winter ratings was third-best ever. ...The Olympian.com has an article about the Bobby Engram Celebrity Softball game. Here's the article. It's June 7th in Lacey. At least 10 Seahawks are suppose to be there. Among the Seahawks scheduled to play are: Engram, Deion Branch, Marcus Trufaunt, Lofa Tatupu, Julian Peterson, Seneca Wallace, Jordan Babineaux, Kelly Jennings, Nate Burleson, Darryl Tapp, Logan Payne, Jordan Kent, Courtney Taylor and Ben Obomanu. Seats are limited(1,000 tickets). The tickets are going for 20 bucks. You can buy them online at athletesunlimitednw.com or call 1-800-838-3006. Proceeds benefit the Odessa Brown Children's Clinic. |
