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October 2008
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| June 2007Of course football makes sense to everyone in the U.S. But the NFL is trying to push its product to China. The game's terminology may get lost in translation. Here's a couple examples from an Associated Press article: A touchdown is a "da zhen." The quarterback is the "si fen wei" _ the one-fourth position. The NFL and commish Roger Goodell appears to be committed to making the game global. We'll see. ...The NFL has decided to end its NFL Europa league after 16 seasons of existance. According the league's website, they'll plan to focus on NFL games across the world and not a league built on aspiring football players. The only Seahawk, that I can remember, to benefit from NFL Europa is Jon Kitna. This year, the only name you may recognize to be allocated to NFL Europa was QB Travis Lulay. ...I guess enough is enough in Chicago. The Bears have cut former Husky Tank Johnson. The defensive tackle served 60 days in jail this year for probation violations. Last week, police in Gilbert, Arizona pulled Tank over for speeding and arrested him under suspicion of driving under the influence. Bears general manager Jerry Angelo had this to say about releasing Johnson: “We are upset and embarrassed by Tank’s actions last week. He compromised the credibility of our organization. We made it clear to him that he had no room for error. Our goal was to help someone through a difficult period in his life, but the effort needs to come from both sides. It didn’t, and we have decided to move on.” While the Bears, organizationally, are taking the lead from NFL Commish Roger Goodell, will anyone else follow? Will the Bengals cut the oft-troubled Chris Henry? Will former Hawks cap-ologist Mike Reinfeldt make his first bold move as the Titan GM and cut all ties with CB/return man Pac-Man Jones? Tank came out of jail and was suspended by the NFL for 8 games. He wanted to turn his life around become a role-model. Now he'll have his chance. Tank will have to re-invent himself on another team that's willing to give him a third or fourth chance. Chicago signalled that he's blown his second chance by cutting him. ...The rape trial of a Tacoma middle school principal and his friend, an ex-con with a knack for being accused of sexual assault, should prove fascinating. The rape trial of a Tacoma middle school principal and his friend, an ex-con with a knack for being accused of sexual assault, should prove fascinating. The NFL has new rules for the 2007 season. Here's a website that has a pretty good breakdown. It's actually from a Patriots blog called Pats Pulpit. One might be of interest to the 12th Man, is the "Crowd Noise" rule. You can cheer as loud as you want without fear of a 5-yard penalty against the Hawks. Though I can't remember the last time they called it, in the past, if a quarterback couldn't hear or be heard, a ref, at his discretion, could call a 5-yard penalty against the home team. Plus, players can no longer spike the ball unless they've scored a touchdown. And there's much more that might be of interest, including instant replay, taunting, and more. ...Seahawks punter, Ryan Plackemeier, is off the market! Three weeks ago, Ryan married his girlfriend of two and a half years. The ceremony took place in her home town of Charlotte, NC. Then, the couple honeymooned in Maui. Ryan says, of course, he's still in the honeymoon phase! Deion Branch was also married recently and missed the first week of minicamp for his honeymoon. Another guy missing camp was veteran Chris Gray. Gray was moving his family to Seattle and timed the relocation perfectly with the dates of minicamp. Ryan joked about both of his teammates, saying he was both moving and honeymooning and HE made it to camp just fine! Then, he said with a laugh, it's probably because he's a kicker and just in his second year that he was expected to show up! So..he understands. By the way, Ryan is a great golfer! Both he and kicker Josh Brown were picked by teammates as the ringers at the Bryce Fisher Charity Golf Tournament today at Newcastle. ...At 12:00 this afternoon the horn blew and the Seattle Seahawks officially wrapped up their June mini-camp. The Seahawks now have five weeks off before training camp begins. How times have changed. QB Matt Hasselbeck says during a huddle last week, he noticed only 3 guys from the Super Bowl season. For those of you playing at home, he rattled off these names : RB Shaun Alexander, LT Walter Jones, and himself. In fact, Matt is only 1 of 13 starters (on offense and defense) remaining from SB XL. Such is life in the NFL. Hasselbeck also talked about not going to Cheney for training camp this year. Maybe everyone else is in the loop on this, but for some reason I can't remember hearing an official word that the team wouldn't return to Cheney. More than likely, I just flat out missed it. I figured maybe after the China Bowl was dropped, that the team might reconsider taking training camp back to Cheney for its final time...you know, to give it a proper send off. But no such luck for the Eastsiders. Back to Hasselbeck, he feels very fond of quarterbacks coach Jim Zorn. The Hawks QB had a difficult time with Zorn at first. Jim wanted to change Matt's fundamentals and techiniques. Of course, Matt resisted, like anyone else would do. But Hasselbeck gives him tons of credit for his success. If you want to hear more from Matt, click on this link...it's his interview from Wednesday's mini-camp. ... Floyd "Pork Chop" Womack is becoming more and more familiar with rehab. Last Thursday, Womack had two bilateral arthroscopic knee surgeries in Seattle. Deion Branch made his first appearance at mini-camp today. Branch and his new wife, Shola, recently returned from their honeymoon in Saint Lucia...late. The couple was expected to be back late last week, but hurricane winds turned their 7 day trip into 9 days. Shaun Alexander welcomed his third child to his growing family this off-season. And, after Mini-Camp today, Shaun talked about his tendency to gain some sympathy weight with his wife, Valerie, when she was pregnant with their first two children. However, with this one, Shaun joked about "strangely" not having any pregnancy cravings. So, with that said, Shaun weighs 225...the same weight he was last year. Weight was already the topic so this just kept going! Shaun laughed about possibly being slower in last year's camp, but this year he feels really strong. And just watching, I can tell you, Shaun Alexander does look more explosive and pretty darn quick. ...Recently cut CB Kelly Herndon could have a job pretty soon. Surprisingly enough (note the sarcasm), former Hawks cap-ologist and current Titans GM Mike Reinfeldt is bringing Herndon in this week for a physical. ...The Chiefs and Dolphins finally pulled the string in the Trent Green trade today. The deal had been rumored to have happened for months. It was probably working on QB Damon Huard's nerves, too. February 27th, Huard agreed to a 3-deal with the Chiefs and "inside sources" told Northwest Sports Tonight that Huard would be the team's starter. For that to happen, Green had to be a goner. It looked like the Dolphins were going to trade for Green, but both KC and Miami couldn't agree on a deal. Finally, they compromised. The Chiefs will receive a 5th rounder which could turn to a 4th rounder if Green attains certain performance goals. Now reports say that the starting job is up for grabs in KC. Both Huard and Brodie Coyle will reportedly compete for the job. Don't count on it. Coyle doesn't have the skill set or experience yet. Huard aptly proved he could handle the gig last season. Surely, all the rumors about Green's future had to weigh heavily on Huard. Now maybe the former Husky and the Chiefs can move on. ...The Hawks kicked off a two-week, eight day Mini-Camp today. The camp is voluntary but all the guys say it's "highly recommended." So, in other words, you better be there! However, a couple of veterans, took advantage of their "veteran" status and interestingly have conflicting plans. Mike Holmgren lightly joked about his players having to miss camp because of awards banquets and graduations, etc, saying, "every year...it reminds me of Clinger in MASH, ya know!"
Deion Branch was also missing in action today while he finishes his last "Mai-Tai" before wrapping up his honeymoon. Deion will be in attendance at camp tomorrow. Holmgren took a shot at the tardy receiver saying with a smile, "he might not be worth much tomorrow, I don't know." All jokes aside, the objective of this Mini-Camp is to get a jumpstart on Training Camp, which starts in July. Holmgren is challenging his coaching staff to load the guys with a lot of new material...plays and schemes, etc...in hopes the players will retain the information and move Training Camp along more quickly. ...Northwest Sports Tonight favorite Sam Adams has a new job. Adams signed a deal with the Denver Broncos. At one time, this would be considered blasphemy. A former Seahawk (sure 8 seasons ago) signing with hated Denver Broncos? But alas, the Hawks are no longer in the AFC...so does it really matter that Adams is Bronco? Maybe to the old school fans? I'm just glad he's still in the NFL. Sam is one of the good guys. ...NFL Commish Roger Goodell suspended Bears DT Tank Johnson for 8 games under the league's new conduct policy. If Johnson behaves, Goodell could shorten the sentence to 6 games. Johnson appeared to be at peace with the decision. He said "Mr. Goodell has a tremendous responsibility to get this league in order. Whatever he decides to do, it's in the best interest of the league, and I feel like whatever sanction he imposes, I'm man enough to take it. Once I get back on the field, I know that chapter of my life is closed and I can move on with a sense of closure." The former Husky just got out of jail for violating his probation. Tank spent 60 days in the clank. Under the 8-game penalty imposed, Johnson can still practice with the team and play in the pre-season games. Tank appears to be committed to turning his life around. He told the commish that, someday, he plans to be honored as the NFL's "Man of the Year." (that's typically given to player who's contributed the most to his community off-the-field) Also for some sort of perspective, Pac Man Jones was suspeded for the season for his numerous issues with the police but has yet to serve time in jail. Bengals receiver Chris Henry received an 8-game suspension for being arrested 4 times in 14 months. ...Today is the first day that teams can make cuts in the NFL. Usually it's for salary cap reasons. But with the sizeable increase in cap space, you probably won't see very many big name cuts. So in a surprising move, the Seahawks cut CB Kelly Herndon. You might remember, Herndon returned an interception in Super Bowl XL 61 yards (a Super Bowl record). The Hawks will save about one million in cap space with the move. It may not have been a total cap move. Herndon was also rehabbing from an ankle injury. He broke his ankle in the first quarter of a meaningless Tampa Bay game. Herndon was covering Joey Galloway and they both went up for a "jump ball". Galloway accidently came down on Herndon's leg. The former Hawk may have been healing to slowly. Even still, the Seahawks should be all right at corner. Seattle still has starter Marcus Trufant, Kelly Jennings, Josh Wilson, Jordan Babineaux, and playoffs hero Pete Hunter. Now the question is: "who will start opposite Trufant?" Jennings is probably the front runner because Big Play Babs flexibility is pretty valuable. Babs can float from safety to corner. The Hawks also cut T Steve Morely. ... |