Donovan McNabb USED TO BE a Quarterback I admired!

He is no longer on my Happy List!  HE is the jerk who predicted that we are gong to be so decimated by the Cowboys that Russell Wilson will have a QB rating in the SINGLE DIGITS!  Curses on his house!  Curses on his station!  Curses on their broadcast satellites!  The game starts at 1:35 this afternoon, and I am counting the minutes!  I just want the guys NOT to get hurt, but I also don’t want them to be ridiculed by the idiots on TV.

All 3 of the show hosts are ex-players—stars, when they were playing—and they ALL predicted the Cowboys would win, based on the fact that they have so many “TOOLS,’ not to mention the fact that they beat the NY Giants last weekend.  Since the Giants are the current World Champions--based on last January’s Super Bowl--that would seem highly likely.  However!  To say that darling little Russell would do so poorly is just plain nasty!  I think they resent the fact that he wasn’t one of their top prospects and he had one of the best rookie QB records for the pre-season.  Whatever the reason, the fact that they SAID IT makes me furious. You can predict one team or the other to win or lose and you can make reference to players whom you think will perform well or may be less effective, but to make such a nasty dig at a player is uncalled for.  Particularly when they are talking about MY favorite players.

Here is the INJURY REPORT for this game…………………………………….

INJURY REPORT  (The weekly Friday status report, as issued by the team)

OUT DUE TO INJURY:

WR Charly Martin (chest)

QUESTIONABLE:

OT Russell Okung (knee)

TE Zach Miller (foot)

PROBABLY PLAY:

RB Marshawn Lynch (back)

OG John Moffitt (shoulder)

WR Sidney Rice (knee)

WR Golden Tate (knee)

CB Byron Maxwell (shoulder)

DL Greg Scruggs (hamstring)

DL Jason Jones (not injury related)

Moffitt did not practice Friday to rest a sore shoulder, but Carroll said he will start against the Cowboys. Moffitt was inactive last week because of the surgical procedure he had on his left elbow last month, which caused him to miss the entire preseason.

“He’ll be fine for the game,” Carroll said.

Miller also sat out Friday. “He practiced (Wednesday) and got some stuff done yesterday,” Carroll said of Miller, who injured a foot in the opener. “We just want to make sure he’s going to be right.”

Jones did not practice Friday, but it was to rest him, and Carroll said he will play Sunday.

…………………………………………………………………………….

I have watched all of the videos on the Seahawks home page, and I’ll try to be awake early tomorrow so that I can be out of the shower in time to listen to all of the local sports guys and their interviews with players and coaches in the Pregame Radio show.  I have discovered that doing this will make the game more interesting because I will know what has been happening to the different players during the week.  I will have some idea of what the coach/es are expecting of them and will know what to worry about and what to ignore.  (Jim is rolling over in his grave.  He always told me to only worry about things that I could control.  Of course, since he didn’t follow his own advice, it was easy to ignore it myself.)  So I worry about everything.

There is an earlier game on FOX, so they pushed our game back from a 1:00 p.m. start till 1:35 in order not to have to cut away from that game in order to get the kick-off of our game.  Nobody but Seattle cares about *us,* but we are playing the Holy than Holier Dallas Cowboys—America’s Team, if you will.  I will be feeling guilty because I know my young Mariners are playing in Texas and I would ordinarily be listening to them. 

I hate to admit it, but when the seasons overlap, I find my loyalty to Baseball is shaky.  I love football, even though it is basically too violent for me.  I love watching the things that those athletes can DO.  I break bones when I just FALL down.  They don’t only fall, but they are KNOCKED down and then some big, brawny brutes fall on TOP of them without regard to the position their extremities may have ended up in.  (Geez, I’m glad my high school English teacher, Barbara Wolfe, can’t see that.  Not only a dangling prepositions, but TWO of them!)

I hope I can sleep well tonight.  I have earned it.  I am completely out of 5 small storage units that contained all sorts of household goods, but the one I cleared out today was a five by ten unit that was packed with Christmas decorations.  I found some beautiful things I actually forgot I had and then many boxes of pretty things that I have not seen in years.  Best of all, in the Christmas unit, I found a box that was not labeled. When I checked it out, it contained my collection of Oregon Myrtlewood.  It is a beautifully grained hardwood and I have a complete salad set plus salt and peppers and a pepper mill.

I had hoped our warm weather would continue, because to clear out of the units as quickly as possible, I only sorted for a short while.  Then I decided it was better to clear the old units and get refunds on rent I had paid and then sort more at leisure in the big units.  So I need some warm weather to have those big doors open wide.  I can always pull them down to work, but I fear some egg-head wanting to “play a joke” on me by locking the door so that I can’t raise it from inside.  I also need warm weather to paint my windowsills and do some more transplanting before winter hits.  This, of course, omits the last weeding for the season.  Thanks to nearly 2 months without significant rain, weeds have slowed down.  When the fall rains begin, all the small ones that I leave will be a foot tall in a matter of weeks.

As if this isn’t enough, I FINALLY found someone who wants to go to a baseball game with me.  She even volunteered to split the ferry fare for the car and the parking. She is one of the office gals at Reliable Storage where I have my stuff.  I am not very well off financially for the rest of this month due to paying for help to get moved out of the units.  I will take a close look tomorrow and then see if there are any more afternoon games in September.

It is now almost 2:00 so I need to get to sleep!  I don’t want to fall asleep during the game, as I did during one of the pre-season games!  If you hear sobbing on the wind Sunday afternoon, it will mean that we lost and perhaps someone I admired has been injured or humiliated.  Cross your fingers for us!

PETE CARROLL ANNOUNCED TODAY THAT RUSSELL WILSON WILL GET THE START THIS FRIDAY

Everyone calling in to the sports shows on 710 ESPN have been hoping that Russell Wilson would get the start in the 3rd preseason game.  Traditionally, the 3rd game is started by whomever the coaches have determined will be the starting Quarterback for the team this year—the purpose being to give him practice getting him ready for the opening of the season.

In the beginning, Pete had planned to have Matt start game one and Russell start game 2, but he ended up giving Matt the 2nd start.  Then after seeing how well Wilson did with the 3’s and 4’s, the coaches decided they should really see how Russell does with the 1’s and give Matt a chance with the 3’s and 4’s.  Now all of the talking heads are saying that whomever does the best in this game against St. Louis will probably start game 4 and be the season starter.

This is Russell.  He is a LOT shorter than his O line, and he is shorter than contemporary quarterbacks are.  For that reason, many experts think he can’t possibly succeed.  But they don’t figure in how fast he is on his feet, how smart he is, and how hard he works to be successful.  He reminds me of Drew Brees, but he also reminds me even more of Jon Gruden.  Jon is a Type A overachiever.  He gets by on very little sleep.  I hope Russell will have what it takes to stay in as the starter, but I also love Matt Flynn. 

It will be incredibly sad if Matt has to be backup again.  He was back up for years behind Aaron Rodgers at Green Bay.  He deserves the chance to be the starter.  Russell could learn some more, watch what Matt does and in the meantime, keep studying and learning.  There is always the chance of injury, but I feel so lucky that we have 2 QB’s of this caliber.

THE SEAHAWKS ARE 2-0 AFTER THE FIRST 2 GAMES!

It was great fun watching Sir Peyton of Manning come forth in his mighty castle at Denver only to run smack into the New 2012 Seattle Seahawks.  My Hawks managed a win of 30-10 and they did it with 3 quarterbacks, none of which was Tarvaris Jackson. 

This was sad to me.  He deserved  a chance to get on the field with this team.  He was at the helm last year as they were learning.  He took a lot of very painful hits while they were learning and played almost an entire year with a partially torn pectoral muscle.  During the broadcast season, I heard more than one sportscaster say that they didn’t know how he could play with that much pain.  This is Tarvaris, T-Jack.

I understand that Pete has the Quarterbacks he wants to use from now on, and I know they are planning to trade him or just release him, but it seems only fair for them to show how good he can be.  The sportscasters seem unified in their opinion that they are keeping him off the field to prevent him being accidentally injured which would totally devalue him as a trade.  But I still think it is a cruel way to treat him.  I would make a pitiful manager, I can see.

For the 2nd time in a row, Matt Flynn, #15, got to start the game and play the first half.  He made several excellent passes, many of them to T.O., that were either off-target or dropped.  It appeared that TO was not running the routes that Matt expected, and the final one would have been a touchdown.  It appeared to hit TO right in the chest, and it just went right through his hands.  He made another really excellent very       l-o-n-g pass that sailed over the head of one of the tall receivers—in the end zone.  Matt must have felt incredibly frustrated.

When Russell Wilson, #3,  came in, the game seemed to speed up.  While Matt had successfully escaped a sack or two with his legs, he didn’t run as much or as far as Wilson.  I like the way Matt handles his huddles.  He squats or half-way kneels down so the guys can all see him clearly.  He throws a beautiful tight spiral pass, too.  But I have to admit that watching Russell is more fun, in a way.  It just seems like a faster game.

The ironic thing is that most of the guys who made the great runs and caught the best passes tonight are guys who are going to get cut because they are too small or are 3rd or 4th best at the position they play, and Pete is facing a huge cut in numbers of men he can carry on the full time roster.  Warren Moon was one of the broadcasters tonight, and he commented on all of the scouts who were in attendance, checking out the players they want to steal from us after we release them.  I am feeling that same regret.  I don’t want to lose them.

Our first choice guy this year wears #51.  He is a very slender and speedy End who is great at rushing the passer.  I saw one play tonight where the very thing happened that the sportscasters on NFL network said would happen.  The other team knew about his speed, and they had put a very heavy guy opposite him.  The camera was right on them as the big guy was just standing up and stopping Bruce like an annoying child.  But then, in a later play, I saw him come toward the ball from the right and he sped in and hit the ball carrier who was running on the opposite side of the field.  He may be slender, but man, he is FAST.  This is Bruce Irvin, #51.

Number 24 is Marshawn Lynch.  When he runs, he runs as if his life depended on it, and he says he is in “beast” mode.  He was picked up for erratic driving this summer in California, and at present the League has not assessed his penalty, so he was able to play tonight.  He runs a little like a Sherman Tank!  This is Marshawn.

In this year’s draft, we picked another guy who is built like Marshawn and runs like him.  I think they plan to use him if/when Marshawn is hurt and/or to give Marshawn a break.  He went to a small school and was not highly ranked by the experts, so many were surprised that we got Robert Turbin.  His team mates call him The Turbinator.

We also chose another guy from the same school.  He is a defenseman.  In fact he will be playing in Lofa Tatupu’s position and it is his responsibility to see to it that the defensive line players are in the right formation prior to the  start of the play.  That means that when they are at home, he has to communicate over all the noise that the 12th man puts out to create false starts on the Offense.  This is Bobby Wagner,

One new guy I am happy to see come aboard is the son of one of my very favorite players from the seventies when the San Diego Chargers had Dan Fouts (from the U of O) as their QB.  His name was Kellen Winslow, and he was a Wide Receiver.  I rememeber the play-off game in Miami where they beat the Dolphins with Griese as the QB and Larry Czonka (sp?) was one of the main men.  I have forgotten all the rest, but not how good that game was.  It is still the most memorable game in my lifetime!  The kid we got looks a lot like his dad in build and he is coming to us after suffering serious problems with his knee or knees.  He doesn’t take part in the practices in full, but only in the plays he is involved in.  This is Kellen Winslow, Jr.

There are many more players I want to record in this blog, but the one I love most is a little guy, at least on this team.  We have many, many men who are well over six feet, and this little dude is shorter than six feet.  He is very soft-spoken but when he is on the field, he just FLIES around.  Where ever you find the ball, Earl is somewhere near.  This is number 29, Earl Thomas from Texas!  He just intercepted a pass.

Now I am going to see if this will post to my blog spot site.  Wish me luck!  Goooooooooooo SEAHAWKS!!