OPENING SMASH FOR APRIL 12TH

HAWKS
Huge news on the Hawks front. I have confirmed that the Seattle Seahawks have signed Jamie Sharper. The deal is reportedly for 5 years and 17.5 million dollars. This is a huge get for the Hawks. Money talks and that is the bottom line, but it is also a strong sign of the new leadership in Seattle. Sharper choose the Hawks over the Bengals who are coached by his former coach and the Ravens his former team. He knew what to expected at both of those places. He must feel strongly that the Hawks are headed in the correct direction. That is the good news. Now what does that mean for Chad Brown and other Seahawks is unclear. Losing Chad Brown would be a sad day for this franchise. It may however, be inevitable.

MARINERS
Great win yesterday and you have to tip your hat to Ryan Franklin who was just amazing. With all the question marks in the rotation my bet is he ends up starting 25 games this year for the Mariners. He is what he is, but he is consistent and I think Mike Hargrove is going to realize with all the other question marks he has, that Franklin is a nice guy to have around. Speaking of Hargrove learning, it seems to me that he doesn’t quite understand his personnel yet. It makes sense and it will take time, but right now I think he is fiddling and he is not sure what he is fiddling with. Keeping Thornton in on Sunday, not pulling Moyer on Saturday, going to Eddie two days in a row, relying so much on Olivo at catching all seem to me to be moves of a guy who doesn’t quite know his team yet.

MECHE
Bad news out of Mariners camp. Gill Meche is complaining about elbow pain. They X-Rayed him and moved him back a day in the rotation, but this guy has to be healthy and has to be great for the Mariners to be over .500, the larger concern is that his arms hurts again. It makes you wonder if the arm is sound or if his mind is sound. He obviously isn’t right and he has insane stuff. The question becomes does he have insane make-up.

SONICS
Can we all take a step back on the Sonics front? I was talking to Nate today and we went back to where we were at the beginning of the season. 5 game losing streaks or not this season is amazing. I think they will get the 1 game and win the division and yes it is looming and it is getting a bit tight. But back up. Think about it. This team has won 50 games. Nate should win Coach of the Year, Rashard has become an all-star, Ray Allen has been a stud, Luke and Nick have developed into legit NBA players. Before the injuries they had a formula to wins games and people couldn’t stop it. We are talking about the 2004-05 Sonics, a team most of us thought would struggle to win 35 games. Stop stressing out about what is going to happen and take a big picture look at this. It will make the celebrating all the better when it happens.

YANKEES ARE CLASSLESS
If you have ever needed more reason to hate the Yankees I have one for you. Their classless approach to the RedSox ceremony. They decided not to mention it, not to air one second of it. To pretend it didn’t happen. George it happened and one day you will have to deal with it.

TITLE IX
Very quietly the Bush administration is taking another shot at devaluing Title IX. It is beyond me why they would do this. They tried in their first term and failed and now they are shooting at it again. Why? What is the point? There is no explanation other than a conscience effort to hurt women. Why should my son have a better chance to receive a collegiate scholarship then my daughter? Under what pre-tense should my daughter loss a chance at the life lessons that I received and most of you received by playing sports? What is infuriating is that there is no need for this. Title IX is a success. Title IX ha opened doors for women that were previously closed. Title IX has given girls the same life chances and life opportunities as boys. College programs are doing fine. Budgets are tight and Title IX is a strain but that is what happens when you eliminate an unfair system and implement a system with equal opportunity.
To try to cut the legs out of Title IX is deplorable and malicious on the part of sexist power structure that has no explanation other than trying to put women back in their place. There is no need.
The worst part is how they are doing this. They have taken one part of the equation of proportionality, a survey that is conduction to the students on campus and if the results of that come out with a lack of interest in women’s sports by women then the University no longer needs to meet proportionality. It is not coincidence that the one value the administration has decided to give ultimate weight is the one that comes back with the lowest results. It is a survey. What college students fill out surveys? Do the men have to hold to this rule no they don’t – if they did they would fail too.
It is a concerted and malicious effort by the administration to pull back 25 years of progress towards opportunity for women sports. If you have a daughter, know someone who has a daughter, have a sister or have any women that is important in your life you should be outraged.