Mike Wahle is a new daddy! [Seahawks Insider, Eric Williams]…

Sounders FC signed their third player, Gambian youth international Sanna Nyassi. Nyassi is now on loan to the USL Sounders and could play as soon as Saturday. [Seattle Sounders] …

Rudy Fernandez “can’t believe” what he’s hearing about at NBA rookie camp. [Dwight Jaynes]…

Austin Daye’s knee is still tender, but he’ll be ready for hoops season. [Spokane SportsLink]…

Husky mascot Spirit will miss the BYU game with a shoulder injury. Somehow, this will be pinned on Ty Willingham. [Go Huskies]…

Ken Griffey, Jr.’s postseason hopes took a big blow–the Sox’ Carlos Quentin has a broken wrist. [MLB]…

In case you’ve never heard of them, they were a hard-drinking, rabble-rousing independent minor league baseball team in the 1970s, owned by Kurt Russell’s dad Bing. I’ve long wanted to write about them, in fact I bought an old Portland Mavericks program off of eBay about ten years ago, but I knew I’d have to be in Portland to make it happen.

So instead I assigned the piece to a Eugene Register-Guard writer named Adam Jude, who did a tremendous job and even scored an interview with Kurt Russell–as far as I’ve been able to tell, it’s the most in-depth interview Russell’s ever done on the topic.

Adam did a terrific job writing the piece, I think you’ll get a kick out of it.

Ready? Ready.

Absinthe Films’ Sphere of Influence Tour is dropping into the King Cat Theater this Saturday night to present their latest snowboarding masterpiece: Ready. It’s the first of a long list of ski and snowboard films that will be making party stops in the great Northwest. Ready’s footage tips its hat to this prominent snow-riders’ region with appearances by locals, such as legendary snow-capped stud and long-time resident Mt. Baker, and a little smaller but just as big in character, beanie-capped and Ride Snowboards team member Mikey LeBlanc (pdx).

Says the press release:
Keeping it fresh with diversity and an infusion of new blood: Kevin Pearce, Jeremy Jones, Scotty Lago, Cale Zima and Keegan Valaika joined GigiRüf, Wolfgang Nyvelt, Romain de Marchi, Mikey LeBlanc and Nicolas Müller to concoct another Absinthe Films original. In a world where the digital format has taken over the industry Absinthe remains committed to documenting these amazing riders with the most timeless, and stylish medium. Film.

Pros that shall be attending this shindig include Blair Habenicht, Wolfgang Nyvelt, Matt Beard. Come watch them ride and then buy them a drink. (I’ll take a PBR, if you’re so inspired.)

To get the party started, the first 100 people score Snoqualmie spring day tickets. There’ll also be two season passes up for grabs. Tickets $7, doors open at 7:30.

Buut, I’m debating whether to go. This is a huge tease you know. At the end of the night, we’ll all be walking back to our holes in the city, aching for the sweet touch of silky snow… September, you wh@&$!

Olindo Mare won the Seahawks kicking job because of his deep kickoffs. He tells Greg Johns that the key is leg speed: “I’m never going to be 200 pounds. I’ve tried that. I’m a gym rat and I love it, but I’m never going to be big. So I’ve got to go with what I’ve got….It’s leg speed. Club speed. Racket speed. I’m sure those lightweight boxers can bring it because it’s how fast you can bring your leg to the ball. That’s why I play soccer and work on sprinting and running more than squatting and all that heavy stuff.”

In college football suspension news: Wazzu suspends starting DT A’i Ahmu for the first half of the Cal game (he didn’t show up for a court date). Penn State suspends half of their starting D-line and a reserve TE for the Beavers game (suspected of pot use) and kicks a reserve DB off the team (alleged DUI)….

Chuck Armstrong tells Geoff Baker: “We’re not going to put all our chips on 2009, because we put all of our chips on 2008 and it didn’t work out.” This from a man who’s been running the Mariners since 1983? And this is as deep as his philosophy of building a baseball team goes? He’s going to get fired, right? Right? Baker concludes that 2009 is going to be a rebuilding year, even though the Mariners wouldn’t use that word.

Felix Hernandez liked throwing to Rob Johnson, he tells TNT’s Larry LaRue.
The Storm clinched a berth in the WNBA playoffs by beating Chicago, writes Dale Bowman. The Storm also moved 1/2 game ahead of San Antonio for the top spot in the Western Conference. The Storm have four games left, San Antonio has five.

A couple of upsets in prep sports last night–Issaquah beat #2 Bothell (Tom Wyrwich’s game story) and Auburn beat #7 Federal Way (Sandy Ringer’s game story)

The Times did something cool–a Google map with all the Western Washington high school football stadiums on it.

Travis Snider, a Jackson (Mill Creek) High grad and recent Blue Jays callup, hit his first MLB homer last night.

The Timbers beat Miami 4-0. The win was key in their push to make the playoffs, writes Boaz Herzog.

The P-I has a high school football preview today.

Mill Creek’s own Travis Snider made his major league debut last night, not that the Blue Jays TV announcers noticed. [Out of Left Field] (via Deadspin)…

It was news to me that Husky reject J.R. Hasty scored CWU’s winning TD on Saturday. [CWU Athletics]…

TNT sportswriter Dave Boling wrote a novel (!), an epic family drama (!!) set during the Spanish Civil War (!!!). He’s reading from it tonight at Elliott Bay Books. [Seattlest]…

Also tonight…
NFL: Redskins (Zorn!) @ Giants, 4pm, NBC
Storm: @ Chicago, 5pm, FSN
CFB: South Carolina @ Vandy, 5:30pm, ESPN
UW Volleyball: vs. Gonzaga, 7pm, Hec Ed
Timbers: vs. Miami, 7pm, PGE Park

After career-start-less backup Kirk Chambers (the dude on the right) took Peters’ place, the Bills allowed three sacks in the final three quarters–two of them by Giants’ speed rushing LB Kawika Mitchell.

With Peters holding out, Chambers will be back on the Bills O-line. And he won’t have to worry about Kawika Mitchell–now Mitchell’s on his side.

The Bills signed Mitchell on the first day of the free agent signing period.

And this week, Mitchell will get another shot at an offensive tackle who’s never started a game–the Seahawks’ Ray Willis (left).

Willis, the Hawks’ 4th-round pick in the ‘05 draft, will start at right tackle on Sunday because Sean Locklear’s left knee, which he sprained three weeks ago, still isn’t healed. “If we were playing in the Super Bowl, I would think Locklear would suit up and have a shot at playing,” Holmgren told Frank Hughes. It’s not, so Willis gets his first career start.

Locklear’s loss isn’t as pernicious for the Seahawks as Peters’ is to the Bills. Peters is the all-important left tackle, protecting Trent Edwards’ blind side. Moving over into Peters’ spot is sixth-year warehouse vet Langston Walker, who at 6-8, 366, is built more for run-blocking than his pass protection.

Chambers will be on the right side, where he’ll deal with Patrick Kerney all day–probably not by himself. Just like in last year’s Redskins playoff game, where Kerney was putatively matched up against rookie RT Stephon Heyer, our Motor Guy Hall-of-Famer will get a steady diet of double- and even triple-teams. Kerney may not light up the stat sheet, but attention paid to him should open up opportunities for other linemen.

The Seahawks still have Walter Jones protecting Hasselbeck’s back, but the combination of Willis and Rob Sims gives the Hawks a pretty underwhelming right side. I wouldn’t look for too many rushing attempts behind those two.

And Mitchell will be lurking, just as he did against Chambers last season.

Sound familiar?

It should. Last year, Boise State came to Husky Stadium hoping to do the same thing. And you’ll remember that the Dawgs not only torpedoed Boise State’s winning streak, but also Ian Johnson’s nascent Heisman campaign, holding the proposing wonder to just 81 yards rushing.

BYU’s national championship hopes are pinned on a potent passing attack and a stellar defense. Both certainly have been impressive in Mountain West play. Against BCS opponents, not so much.

BYU’s offense played 12 quarters against Pac-10 defenses last year. They had 7 touchdowns.

In their other 36 quarters, against Mountain West defenses, BYU scored 45 TDs.

TD rate vs. Pac-10: .58 per quarter.

TD rate vs. Mountain West: 1.25 per quarter (or more than double).

The 2007 Cougars weren’t your typical BYU defense-optional team–they had the 13th-best defense in college football, and held Arizona, last seen here putting a nail in Kent Baer’s coffin, to just 7 points.

But eight of the starters from that defense are gone, including six of the back seven. (Which further includes LB Bryan Kehl, a 4th-round pick of the Giants). Their secondary is especially weak, and should (hopefully) allow success in the passing game.

These non-BCS teams roll up some pretty nice stats against their weak conference opponents. And though they are certainly capable of beating BCS opponents, they struggle to do so–even against weaker teams like Washington.

The betting public is starting to realize that a non-BCS team, in front of a hostile crowd of 62,000, is no double-digit favorite. The betting line on the game, which opened at 10, is now down to 9. Get in on the action while you still can.

Jim Moore profiles Mike Holmgren’s four football-crazy daughters. His piece includes some precious family photos. This part of the P-I’s Seahawks preview.

Frank Hughes profiles Julius Jones, from his Appalachian childhood through to his decision to sign with the Seahawks.

The Times shines a focus on Mike Holmgren in their NFL preview. One of Holmgren’s first moves, writes Danny O’Neil, was to ban Blitz from cannonading t-shirts into the stands after games. “There were certainly a few adjectives too spicy to be printed when Holmgren declared that his this team was not in the business of selling used cars, but rather playing football.”

Though Mo Morris will start Sunday, none on the Seahawks’ backs have any clue how playing time will be distributed, writes Danny O’Neil.

Deion Branch feels like he’s almost ready to play, writes Jose Miguel Romero.

BYU mixes some spread looks into their traditional drop-back passing offense, writes Molly Yanity.

Daniel Robertson of the Eugene Emeralds set a new Northwest League record for hits in a season, getting his 114th last night to break a 36-year-old record. Robertson was a 33rd-round pick by the Padres out of Oregon State. He’s hitting .380.

Hard-hitting OSU safety Al Afalava (best known here for having knocked out Jake Locker) is apologetic for his hit-and-run accident this spring, and grateful that Mike Riley didn’t kick him off the team. He’s also cut out sticky rice and dropped from 225 lbs. to 208, writes Cliff Kirkpatrick. Afalava was suspended for the Stanford game.

Much-hyped Oregon JC transfer RB LaGarrette Blount was underwhelming on Saturday, writes John Hunt. Coaches want to improve his practice habits.

Justin Roper is likely to start Saturday against Utah State, writes Jeff Smith. Roper says he’s almost 100% after suffering a concussion.

The NFLPA is investigating Oregon OT Fenuki Tupou’s claim that agent Tim Norling gave him $100 after a meal over the summer. Tupou self-reported the gift, claiming that he tried to give it back. He was suspended for a game anyway. Norling denies giving Tupou the money, and seems to imply some malfeasance on Tupou’s part, telling the AP, after their meal, Tupou “got into a late-model Escalade and drove away.”

The Times’ Sideline Smitty has one of his patented Q&As about the upcoming prep football season. Here’s their preseason all-state team.

The Mariners couldn’t manage a single run off of Dustin Nippert (I don’t know who he is either) and King Felix lost his 100th MLB start 1-0. M’s start a three-game series with the Yankees Friday, which will be Brandon Morrow’s first start.

An ESPN magazine writer picks Eastern Washington to upset Colorado this weekend, writes Vince Grippi.

Getting their first season opening starts: Mo Morris, Lawrence Jackson, and John Carlson. [Talkin’ Hawks]

Sean Locklear won’t play Sunday. Ray Willis is your starting RT. [Seahawks Insider]

Seahawks’ captains: Hass, Big Walt, Deon Grant, Lofa, Lance Laury, D.D. Lewis. [Talkin’ Hawks]

Tony Wroten’s family moved back to the CD so he could stay at Garfield. [High School Sports Blog]

Howard Schultz’ crummy year. [SupersonicSoul]

John Law’s up in Penn State’s grill again, just four days before OSU comes to town. [EDSBS]

“I would tell them to channel all their thoughts, all their positive thoughts, because they are a very, very powerful lot, the Husky fans. When they get behind something it’s powerful. I remember being in that stadium when we played the University of Miami, who we had no business beating. In the their starting 22, I think 15 were first round draft choices on that roster. But the Husky fans got behind us, in a couple special plays, it turned that game into a game that we almost won going away. Fortunately the game was 60 minutes and not 61 or 62, but the bottom line is that we got us a win, in a game that we probably didn’t belong winning. And the Husky fans were immensely important in that, and if they’ll get behind their team and rally their team, instead of worrying about this or that and things that really are in the past, I think that great things will happen, because they need to know that they are a very powerful entity.”

With 65,000 tickets sold to the BYU game, that powerful entity should be out in force Saturday.

You can read the whole interview here.