Scooter Chapman
Hardball, hoops and pigskins on the brain
Published on Wed, Mar 31, 2010 by Scooter ChapmanRead More Chapman
It's been a couple of months since we cleared off the old sports desk and I didn't realize there were so many empty candy wrappers, banana peels, cardboard coffee cups and very short pencils hanging around.
Also a lot of items have piled up, so here we go and no fair skipping any items ...
Baseball
The Major League Baseball season gets under way next week just as the college basketball season winds up. The sports overlap just goes on and on, fans.
Seattle opens Monday at Oakland for four games, then to Texas for a trio before coming home for the first time to face Oakland again, Detroit and Baltimore. It's amazing how the schedule-makers give the Mariners 10 straight games against American League West foes to start the season.
I know, I know, the first 10 games don't make or break a season, but it behooves the Mariners to get off on an over-.500 start if they want to improve on their 85-77 record of last year. Since you asked, the Mariners are 8-22 in road openers and road openers on a Monday find the M's 5-8.
As I write this, the Mariner 25-man roster is not set, but one thing is set and that's the skipper, Don Wakamatsu. He had a great first year and the 48-year-old second-year manager most likely will be a better manager this year, if that's possible. He was only the third Mariner manager to post a winning season his first year, joining Lou Piniella and Bob Melvin in 1993 and 2003.
His skillful handling of many baseball egos enabled him to oversee a clubhouse makeover that helped the Mariners become just the 13th team since 1901 to post a winning record the year after losing 100-plus games.
We'll take a closer look at the final roster next week.
Basketball
The Washington Huskies picked a bad time to have one of their worst halves of the season as they fell to West Virginia 69-56 in the round of 16 in the NCAA hoop tournament.
The Huskies suffered through a very tough second half after leading at halftime, due to the Mountaineer defense and Quincy Pondexter's foul trouble. The Dawgs went a lot further than many thought they would and they should return at least to the Sweet 16 and maybe beyond next year.
If they can develop an inside man and work on rebounding at both ends of the court, Huskies will roll.
The Huskies would look a lot better if the Mountaineers win it all.
The horse report
April 9 is opening night for Emerald Downs in Auburn, and you'll want to be on hand if you want a chance to win one of 40 LCD televisions.
Gates open at 9 a.m. for the races from other tracks, with the first live race at 6 p.m.
Opening night is always fun at Emerald Downs as horses, jockeys, trainers, owners and fans are eager to get the long season under way. Usually a long shot comes into the money during one of the races, and all indications point to a deep and talented handicap division en route to the $250,000 Longacres Mile on Aug. 22.
I wonder if I can get one of those big screen televisions into the back of the Buick?
Since you asked, 7 Cedars Casino will not be carrying live race track television. Casino head Jerry Allen said it didn't fit into their plans this year.
Football
The National Football League has changed the overtime format for playoff games beginning this fall.
After New Orleans won the toss to begin overtime and kicked a field goal to advance to the Super Bowl, league owners realized that kicking field goals is way easier nowadays than it used to be.
Now, the winner of the overtime coin toss has to score a touchdown to win the game. If they kick a field goal, the opposing team gets the ball with a chance to kick a field goal to tie or score a touchdown to win.
I hope they opt to use it in the regular season in 2011.
Columns by KONP 1450 AM sports announcer Scooter Chapman appear weekly in the Sequim Gazette. He can be reached via e-mail at scooter@olypen.com.
Also a lot of items have piled up, so here we go and no fair skipping any items ...
Baseball
The Major League Baseball season gets under way next week just as the college basketball season winds up. The sports overlap just goes on and on, fans.
Seattle opens Monday at Oakland for four games, then to Texas for a trio before coming home for the first time to face Oakland again, Detroit and Baltimore. It's amazing how the schedule-makers give the Mariners 10 straight games against American League West foes to start the season.
I know, I know, the first 10 games don't make or break a season, but it behooves the Mariners to get off on an over-.500 start if they want to improve on their 85-77 record of last year. Since you asked, the Mariners are 8-22 in road openers and road openers on a Monday find the M's 5-8.
As I write this, the Mariner 25-man roster is not set, but one thing is set and that's the skipper, Don Wakamatsu. He had a great first year and the 48-year-old second-year manager most likely will be a better manager this year, if that's possible. He was only the third Mariner manager to post a winning season his first year, joining Lou Piniella and Bob Melvin in 1993 and 2003.
His skillful handling of many baseball egos enabled him to oversee a clubhouse makeover that helped the Mariners become just the 13th team since 1901 to post a winning record the year after losing 100-plus games.
We'll take a closer look at the final roster next week.
Basketball
The Washington Huskies picked a bad time to have one of their worst halves of the season as they fell to West Virginia 69-56 in the round of 16 in the NCAA hoop tournament.
The Huskies suffered through a very tough second half after leading at halftime, due to the Mountaineer defense and Quincy Pondexter's foul trouble. The Dawgs went a lot further than many thought they would and they should return at least to the Sweet 16 and maybe beyond next year.
If they can develop an inside man and work on rebounding at both ends of the court, Huskies will roll.
The Huskies would look a lot better if the Mountaineers win it all.
The horse report
April 9 is opening night for Emerald Downs in Auburn, and you'll want to be on hand if you want a chance to win one of 40 LCD televisions.
Gates open at 9 a.m. for the races from other tracks, with the first live race at 6 p.m.
Opening night is always fun at Emerald Downs as horses, jockeys, trainers, owners and fans are eager to get the long season under way. Usually a long shot comes into the money during one of the races, and all indications point to a deep and talented handicap division en route to the $250,000 Longacres Mile on Aug. 22.
I wonder if I can get one of those big screen televisions into the back of the Buick?
Since you asked, 7 Cedars Casino will not be carrying live race track television. Casino head Jerry Allen said it didn't fit into their plans this year.
Football
The National Football League has changed the overtime format for playoff games beginning this fall.
After New Orleans won the toss to begin overtime and kicked a field goal to advance to the Super Bowl, league owners realized that kicking field goals is way easier nowadays than it used to be.
Now, the winner of the overtime coin toss has to score a touchdown to win the game. If they kick a field goal, the opposing team gets the ball with a chance to kick a field goal to tie or score a touchdown to win.
I hope they opt to use it in the regular season in 2011.
Columns by KONP 1450 AM sports announcer Scooter Chapman appear weekly in the Sequim Gazette. He can be reached via e-mail at scooter@olypen.com.
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