If you didn’t notice, the trolls are out in full force pumping out article after article, comment after comment to bait Hawks fans into stupid arguments (and Hawks fans doing the same thing – this isn’t a one-way street), and the endless comparisons of Russell Wilson’s Instagram to Colin Kaepernick’s.

There is something to be said in the ideology , “walk softly and carry a big stick” that applies to this game week coming up between the San Francisco 49ers and the Seahawks.

Here’s something for you Hawks fans to consider – the Hawks have beat the 49ers before.  They have beat them rather soundly at  home the last two times, and it is time for Hawks fans to carry that same swagger the defense plays with into the arena of internet chat boards, call-in radio shows and the parking lots outside CenturyLink this coming Sunday.

Steve Largent was the king of this.  Acting like he has done it before every time he made it into the end zone.  Scoring TD’s wasn’t a new thing, it was an expected thing that was part of his job.  He caught TD’s.  He moved on.  This same attitude has to be brought into CenturyLink this Sunday.

Now this doesn’t mean not being loud.  I don’t mean that.  Every fan should scream their head-off once the game starts.  There is a measurable effect that the crowd has on games and you guys shouldn’t hold up now.  But the places to hold up?  Facebook.  Twitter.  The Seattle Times comment section.  I am sure some of you are on the San Fran Chronicle boards.  Don’t be that fan.

It also doesn’t mean to not be confident.  Silence isn’t OK either, but expect the Hawks to win.  You don’t have to let some guy in a Gore jersey know that you hope Seattle kills them.  Let the Hawks kill them softly with interceptions, touchdowns and missed field goals – and just let a tip of the beer glass or a head nod know that, the 12′s and the Hawks got the better of the 49ers.

So let’s lay off the 49whiners calls, the dumb memes on Facebook that aren’t even clever (or reacting to equally as stupid ones) and let their machismo be what it really is – and that’s fear.

The Hawks in the CLink are no joke.  Let the team on the field do the talking again.

Ok, that is out of the way.

The truth is that this can’t be all the Mariners do at the winter meetings. They just filled a hole that they were already getting some production out of last year with Nick Franklin. Granted, Franklin did fall off at the end of the year. He was still a decently productive second baseman for the majority of the time he was playing. There are still major holes in the team.

The outfield has to be addressed. At this point we as fans are looking at Michael Saunders, Dustin Ackley and Tacoma Rainier to be named. This would have to be the worst outfield in the majors. There are still plenty of guys the Mariners could sign or trade for; Nelson Cruz, Carlos Beltran, Billy Butler, Shin-Soo Choo and Giancarlo Stanton.

Next is the bottom half of the rotation. The Mariners seriously only have two pitchers, Felix and Iwakuma. Guys like Joe Saunders and Aaron Harang (who got me a free beer and food from Steve Sandmeyer) aren’t going to cut it. They would be fine as the fifth starter, but not as the third pitcher. David Price is out there, but Taijuan Walker may be the asking price. That is a lot to give up for a dude that is arbitration eligible and will be getting paid major dough. Walker won’t be making anything. Let’s face it the Tampa Rays are in the business of ripping teams off (i.e. Kansas City with Wil Myers). I would be scared if we did any deal with them.

Guys out there on the free agent market the Mariners could consider; Hiroki Kuroda, Bartolo Colon, Masahiro Tanaka, Ubaldo Jimenez and Ervin Santana.

At this point the Mariners just dropped $240M on Cano so we as Mariners fans can start to think greedy. All of a sudden the Mariners are spending and have a payroll that basically includes Felix, Iwakuma, and Cano. Everyone else is under club control or doesn’t make squat. With a new television deal, the Mariners can seriously make it rain at the winter meetings and they should. After the last 10+ years of no spending and sh*t for on-field production, we the fans deserve a dropping stacks approach.

It can’t be worse than it was with the old way.

“Old, Biased and Confused”

Ah, I had almost forgot how shortsighted and apparently starved for page views (disclaimer, this blog takes all page views!) the Seattle Times must be.

After a few editorials on the subject of the Sonics Arena, they were back at it again this weekend with a study funded by the opposition which, of course destroys the arena proposal with some shady numbers. These numbers of course hadn’t seen the light of day until they did some good old fashioned digging was done by some sleuths (note, not their own staff reporters, which I also think says something) that a grand total of NOBODY caught until they found them.

If you were to read this, you would think that the City Council, the King County Council and also the Mayor did absolutely no fact checking, or that a judge already threw out this case about the arena being I-91 compliant.

Of course, because Chris is an angel, he responded to these claims through his own website where he also gives a little bit of a lesson in finance.  Apparently, this has flown over the head of the Seattle Times.

So if anything, I guess the Times got the page views they wanted, but this is all I read.

What Sark looked like the last time this game was relevant.

It will be nice to watch an Apple Cup that is actually worth a damn for the first time in quite a few years.

In this years installment of the Apple Cup, both teams come in with some momentum. In the case of the Cougs, they have become bowl eligible for the first time in what seems a very long time from the successful squads of the early 2000′s. For the Dawgs, this is a chance to get over the 7-win hump (albeit by one game) and continue to show progress for the program that Sark has built.

All too often this game has meant literally nothing for either one or both teams involved. If anything, it has become a battle for who won’t be living in the cellar at the end of the season.

The tradition from the game has been sapped a little just due to the fact the game is being played on the day after Thanksgiving, and at noon to boot. However, if it wasn’t for the TV money that is helping schools like Washington State hire Mike Leach and allowing the assistants at Washington to be some of the highest paid in the land, you have to give and take some things.

For Washington State, getting to 7 wins should assure them a bowl birth. While bowl eligble now, 6 wins doesn’t guarantee a bowl game, it just guarantees that they could be selected for one. If I was in their shoes, this is a must-win game to get to that point. Getting to 6 wins and not getting picked would be heartbreaking.

For Washington, the “Fire Sark” crowd grows with each loss in the column that piles up. Despite getting to bowl eligibiity, many Washington fans are expecting more from the program and seeing progress that goes beyond qualifiying for the Humanitarian Bowl. Unfair or not, this is an expectation that he can put to rest with a victory over the Cougars at home to get to eight wins.

I will be in enemy territory this Thanksgiving, unable to make it back from the east side of the state to be able to attend the game. I will be sitting in a probably lopsided pro-Coug bar with my Washington flag flying. It will be nice for the majority of the crowd to have a little bit more on the line than getting to anything less than six wins. It will also be nice for the Dawgs to get a victory over a team with some more momentum going for it than Oregon State.

It’s that week kids, get your colors out. Warm up the Apple Cup jokes and get ready for a game that both teams are going to be revved up to win.

I love college football.

All these topics fuel the fire of rants. Why is there even a trade deadline in the NFL, it is clearly the most boring trade deadline in sports. Seattle fans rarely apply rational thought toward their beloved Seahawks. Why is your fantasy team bad? It’s really simple and the Fantasy Genie tells you why.

• Jared Allen was on the Seahawks radar.
• The Seahawks are 8-1? You wouldn’t know listening to fans.
• Simple ways to fix your fantasy team.

The Soundmen make our intro, and your ratings and love help make this podcast available to the masses.  Give it a rating (5 stars!) and a sweet review (much love).  You can find them at TheSoundmenMusic.com or follow both of them on Twitter @scottsoundmen and @JamisonSoundMen.

We are bringing the fire, so get your click and get your download on.

This somehow needs to be mixed into the NFL.

During last nights Monday Night Football game between the Seattle Seahawks and St. Louis Rams, Golden Tate got flagged for taunting on an 80 yard touchdown catch. All he did was wave to Rodney McLeod, Jr. What’s the big deal? I will give you a 5-star guarantee that was down the list of things that were said or done during that were unsportsmanlike. If you think there was nothing said during that game that was worse, you are crazy. Last week, Janoris Jenkins got put on Carolina’s Steve Smith’s shit list (a list no one wants to be on) for talking about his wife. Guess who Tate caught that ball on before waving? That’s right, Jenkins.

All this wave does is create a little more intensity for a divisional rivalry. The flag takes the impact of the wave down a few notches, because it already embarrasses Tate. Wouldn’t Rams fans want to see their squad embarrass Tate instead? I know if that was the other way around, I would want The Legion of Boom to completely shutdown whoever did that the next game. I want a Steve Smith interview every week of the NFL season. Maybe, punching Jenkins in the mouth on the streets is a little far, but we don’t know exactly what he said. We have four days without football during the week and one day of Thursday Night Football (which barely counts). The taunting and trash talking just gives us more to dive into during the week.

Andy Lyons/Getty Images

The days of Terrell Owens breaking out a Sharpie, dancing with pom-poms, sleeping on balls or running to the star in the middle of Cowboys stadium are over. Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson proposing to Ben-Gals, putting with the pylon, fake bribing referees, or wearing “Future Hall of Fame” jackets are over. Even simple things like Wes Welker doing snow angels are over.

Fans get up on their high horse and say, “have some class” or “what an idiot.” Let’s face it, we all love watching that. It’s funny. The only reason you wouldn’t like it, is because it happened against your team. Well, the Sharpie incident happened against my Seahawks (that’s right, MY) and I thought it was awesome then and still think it’s awesome to this day. Get over yourselves, it has no effect on the game. It is more entertainment during an already very entertaining sport. I don’t know about you, but I like to get my money’s worth.

I even want to see all this trash talking and showboating taken to another level. A Ric Flair style interview should be required by every team, every week.

Imagine this was going down before every match/game! There are some great trash talkers in the NFL and their mouth running would be put on display. Rivalries would be better. Games would have more meaning, because teams would be out there trying even harder to prove the trash talkers wrong. All teams would be all the more motivated, because they would all have bulletin board material. That’s what we all want, right, more motivated teams? I know the folks in Philly, New York and Pittsburgh want that, right now. The endzone dances would be the equivalent of Stone Cold going to the turnbuckles and drinking beer! The crowd at NFL games would go even more wild during the celebrations.

Even if the NFL doesn’t go as far as WWE or TNA, it still has gone too far in the other direction. The players are killing themselves out there, literally. Let them have some fun.

For real

While the 12′s were having a collective freakout about the result of last night’s Seahawks road VICTORY in St. Louis, I decided to do a little digging.  I thought to myself, when was the last time the Hawks beat the crap out of the Rams in St. Louis?  The thing is, I always thought it had been a tough place to play for Seattle.  My short-term (which gets foggier with each Halloween that goes by) was that St. Louis was a place that the Hawks never really have played well.

So after some Bing searches (get those Rewards) – I was astonished.  My short-term memory wasn’t failing me.  The Seahawks as we know them have never dismantled St. Louis at home.  The biggest blowout I could find was a victory in St. Louis in 2011 where Seattle won, 24-7.

But if you click that link, the game was hardly a destruction of the Rams.  A 4-6 Seattle team beat a 2-8 Rams team, where Seattle had 100 yards in penalties to negate their 100 or so yards of advantage they had in total offense (which was under 300 yards in total mind you).

Tavaris lit up the planet with a 14-24 performance for almost 150 yards, a TD and two picks.  Seattle just won the ground game, which was enough to subdue a pretty terrible offense of the Rams at the time.

Seattle as a team is better than that 2011 team who was the first team to qualify for the playoffs with a sub .500 record.  St. Louis is better than a team that in that particular year, wouldn’t win a game the rest of the season.  So given those similar trajectories, tonight’s result shouldn’t be that crazy to believe.

The wild card here was Kellen Clemens, who by all measurable means is terrible.  His days at Oregon are behind him, and he backs up a mediocre at best Sam Bradford.  On that same coin, the Hawks offensive line is completely decimated.  Let’s call a spade a spade, Seattle’s offensive line was not up to the task.

So what do all these things make?  A close game!

Seattle won a road game everyone.  Seattle advances to 7-1.  This was best said by Ian Furness on KJR, via Twitter.

A win is a win.  Take it, move on.

This entire article is an excuse for me to use this photo.

I swear, I think everyone’s favorite player is the backup quarterback.

The thing about team sports, is that in the game of football, the Quarterback gets all the credit, all the good, and almost all of the bad as well.

However, I do subscribe to the NabNoPa (best NCAA ’10 coach to ever live) rule of thought, “If you aren’t good enough to play, you don’t deserve to be on the field.” Is Cyler Miles good enough to play? I would say yes, he is in the program, but he isn’t good enough to start now. Otherwise he would have won the starting job in camp. This is Keith’s team – so buckle up and get ready for the ride.

This season has been a rollercoaster ride thus far. With 4 big wins to start the season to get everyone ready for Washington’s next national title, and then going up against the big boys for 3 very tough games to bring Dawg fans back to reality.

Stanford was there for the taking, but special teams gaffes buried them just deep enough to not be able to get out. Keith played his guts literally out, and given one questionable call on a 4th down on a final drive…well, hindsight is 20/20.

Oregon is the best college football team in the country and you are insane if you think they won’t be in the hunt for the national title come December. The only QB that could have saved UW in that game was Cody Pickett, because he could have played special teams. I am not sure how that really saves the game, but wouldn’t that have been awesome?

Arizona State, no way around it – that was a stinker. Watching that first drive, many thought it was time to break out the steamroller and watch this Huskies offense move down the field. However, in probably one of the worst showings by the offensive and defensive line on record after that fact. UW was literally run straight out of the stadium by a team that doesn’t run or stop the run at all, mind you.

In the Stanford game, Cyler Miles would not have put them in a position to win. In the Oregon game, Cyler Miles wouldn’t have made one difference. In the Arizona State game, the only difference he would have made is that the QB would have been healthy for a bit to watch the ASU defense completely shut down the line of scrimmage. If anything, a redshirt freshman might have made that outcome even worse.

Taped thumb, constantly under pressure, no running game. All ingredients for a bad day for everyone, including your quarterback (who guess what, requires a line to block people so he can throw footballs). I don’t know how much I can pin on Keith. Granted, there were some overthrows, but let’s be honest – people aren’t calling for Cyler now because he can put the ball on a dime. The dude can run, and throwing is weapon grade B.

Cal stinks. Let’s call a spade a spade. This is a game that Washington should win rather easily, and a game that deserves the best quarterback for the team to be on the field to get back into rythym. Would Cal be a soft landing for a guy like Cyler? Sure. However, I would rather see one of the most prolific playmakers in recent Washington history use that game as a bounceback to get this team set back straight.

No more let downs. No more crappy line play. No more missed tackles.

Keith, I got your back, and #GoDawgs.

The rules are simple, each NFL team must have their own mascot on the field at all times. One is the minimum, the entire team is the maximum. All animals will be trained/trainable, but the bounds of reality of that animal still applies (I.E, a Bear can’t be trained to be a perfect read option QB, but would be a beast DE or something to that effect). I will preview each division over the next few weeks, then ultimately pick one team that rises to the top.

With that being said, here is how I would configure each NFL team – where I would put their mascot, and if this ultimately hurts or helps the team.

The fourth installment, the NFC East.  The Cowboys, the Giants, the Eagles and the Redskins, now taking the field.

Dallas Cowboys – A Cowboy – Position: SS

The quintessential American bad-ass, a brand of rough and tumble dude who helped the U.S. realize it’s “Manifest Destiny” (now if you click that link for a little history lesson, you can see “Columbia” leading people west.  PSHHH, it should be like a bald eagle with a sick mohawk or maybe a giant train just steamrolling buffalo and trees, but whatever).

Cowboys are also cool because they invented country music, farting around campfires and being able to shoot anyone or anything with a six-shooter from like 50 yards away.

I can imagine that a Cowboy would be a pretty decent football player, because he has no general feelings of pain and is made basically from leather.  So, if I was Jason Garrett, I would put the Cowboy at Free Safety.  The cowboy can tackle steers and stuff, so taking down someone like Brandon Jacobs should be child’s play.  First of all, Jacobs is a big dude, but not as big as a steer, and Jacobs sucks so he could totally get tackled by a guy who doesn’t play football.

Pass defense could be a little bit of a liability, just because that takes some serious coordination.  I don’t know if a Cowboy has that going on for them.

Team Improvement?: Marginal.  Run Defense would be solid, pass defense is a little weak but would crush a dude going over the middle.

New York Giants - A Giant - Position: TE

There are so many definitions of a Giant, or the type of giant that you could model this player after.  Some have just insane implications, like a dude/mythical creature/norse god that is 50 feet tall with size 46 EEE cleats and just kills the other team in a brutal display of strength, speed and agility.  But, that’s boring.  Nobody would want to see that, and quite possibly all the spectators could die as well because those type of Giants have a temperament to just kill all.

So, let’s take another trip down history lane and pick a Giant that people would pay to see, and that’s Goliath.

Now, I am going to get out in front of this one, and caution, spoiler alert for those who haven’t read the Bible – Goliath gets killed by David and gets his head chopped off.  Goliath apparently has a soft skull and took a BB to the dome which somehow knocked him out.  Also spoiler alert, this would make Goliath a terrible modern football player, because – you guessed it – concussions.

With this super obvious flaw, defense is completely out.  Offense might work, but there isn’t a position that doesn’t really take head hits besides QB (WHICH IS A FLAG!  DON’T TOUCH THEM THERE EVAR) but Goliath would be a terrible QB.   He clearly underestimates his opponents, so he would be super cocky throwing into coverage, stuff like that.  Plus he would always be throwing down to his receivers due to his reported height of nearly 10 feet.

So I went with tight end, maybe a Joker type who would be a mismatch nightmare.  Eli, who always throws to the wrong team could literally just loft it up to him and he wouldn’t have to do much besides catch and run.  He would also be super hard to tackle, but once he did get down, he better watch his head.

Team Improvement?: Marginal.  You would think that Goliath would kick ass, but he would always be on the sidelines without his helmet because he couldn’t pass the concussion test.

Philadelphia Eagles – Bald Eagle – Position: FS

First off, click that link above.  You are welcome, that’s your new wallpaper.  ’Murca.

I am realizing that there are quite a few bird mascots in the NFL.  I am trying to figure out why that is, because if you are going to go with a bird, why not go with the symbol of the greatest nation to ever grace this green earth?

The bald eagle is just so inspirational.  Once the Philly Eagle took the field, the defense would suddenly be filled with pride and a confidence of a military that has never lost a war (Vietnam was a “conflict” bro, USA USA) and decided to kick the world’s ass in war, two times.  When WW3 inevitably rolls around, guess who will win.  ’Murica.  Land of the free, home of the brave.

So with all that being said, Philly’s D would be freaking insanely awesome.  Chip Kelly now wouldn’t have to worry about the weakness of his team right now, which according to major news outlets, is the 11 trying to stop anyone from scoring.

But in this case, it would be 10.  I know I have said about the Falcons & Seahawks about picking balls off all the time or whatever, and well, the Cardinal brings nothing to the table.  In this case, the Eagle wouldn’t have to play.  He would just randomly perch on the arms of guys like Patrick Chung and boom.  Intimidation.

Plus, trying to harm one is a federal offense so  you can’t try to take him out of the game.

Team Improvement?:  Major upgrade.  I mean seriously, they are literally untouchable.

Washington Redskins - Ummmm – Position: Undetermined

Yeah, not touching this one.  I will go on record here though and say that Dan Snyder sucks.

Team Improvement?:  No.

Winner of the division?  This is a tougher call than I would have imagined.  The Redskins have already been eliminated, so we are left between the Cowboys, Giants and the Eagles.  Given Goliath’s injury problems, I can see the Cowboys or the Eagles taking them down, plus, Eli man.  F’n Eli.  So it comes down to the Cowboys and the Eagles (cue nostalgia here from the NFL of yore) and the nod has to go to the Eagles.  Did I mention that America has put people on the moon?  The symbol of all that we stand for is on Patrick Chung’s arm.  Just chillin’.

Now before you get all hot and bothered by the title of this article, keep in mind that I want nothing more than a Bowl appearance by the Cougs.  But the more my hopes are lifted, the harder and further they can fall.  Some might call me a negative Nancy, or “not a real Coug fan.”  I like to consider myself cautiously optimistic…with a side of skepticism.

The WSU Cougars are sitting on a 3-1 record after a pair of romps against Southern Utah and Idaho.  Their defense is 13^th in the nation for points against and their air-raid offense certainly looks like it’s coming together. But in all honesty, I would expect these stats to be as such after two cupcakes.

The Cougs now face a Pac-12 schedule that has never looked more challenging.  Against other FBS schools, the Pac-12 has a blistering 21-3 non-conference record through week 4.  This week, WSU will face a very well-rounded Stanford team that averages 200+ yards on the ground.  Against Auburn and USC, the Cougs gave up a combined 434 yards rushing…let’s just say defending the run is not a forte of this Cougar D.

A few weeks down the road, Mike Leach’s squad travels to Autzen Stadium…enough said.

Essentially, what I’m saying to Cougar fans everywhere is “don’t get your hopes up just yet.” Remember 2006?  The Cougs were ranked #23 and had a 6-3 record going into Dad’s weekend against a mediocre Arizona team.  After a loss there, and two more losses including the Apple Cup, the Cougs were left out of a bowl bid.

Here are three reasons why the Cougars may NOT make it to a bowl game this year:

1.   An Inconsistent Offense

Look – any Pac-12 team can hang 40+ on Southern Utah and Idaho. I’m not impressed by those.  I am worried, however, about Halliday’s performance in the other two games.  The Cougs failed to score an offensive TD against USC.  Also, in the games against Auburn and USC, Halliday threw FIVE interceptions.  Those are Eli Manning-type stats.  Not good.  All defenses have to do is stop WSU’s passing game.  At 63 yards per game, the Cougs are dead LAST in rushing among FBS schools.

2.   A Ground-And-Pound Pac-12 Schedule

Of the remaining Cougar opponents, five teams average more than 200+ yards rushing per game.  Against “formidable opponents,” the Cougs give up 200+ yards rushing per game.  You can see where I’m going with this.  Don’t get me wrong, I think Deone Bucannon is a beast when it comes to stuffing folks for short yardage or less.  He’ll be on highlight reels for his hit against Auburn’s Corey Grant, among others.  But there aren’t 11 Bucannons out there.  And if there were, the Cougs would probably lead the NCAA in penalty yardage…

3.   My Faith in Mike Leach and the Cougs

Now before all the true Coug fans get their panties in a bunch, let me elaborate.  Last year, the Cougs were 2-1 after a couple sleepers, much like this year.  Then, they lost to a bad Colorado team by giving up 21 points in the 4^th quarter…AT HOME.  I know WSU has come a long way since then (to be as cliché as I can).  They gave a spirited effort in an Apple Cup win against a bowl-bound UW, and they just won a defensive battle against USC in the Coliseum.  And while those two wins are steps in the right direction, I’m still not convinced Leach can shake the “Coug It” legacy that still lingers in the basement of some grungy frat house on NE Colorado Street (Phi Delt reference).  Am I hopeful?  Absolutely.  But every Cougar fan knows in their brain (not their heart), nothing is a given.

Let’s face it; the Cougs have a good chance to make it to a bowl game this year.  But I’m not going to be the one scheduling my flight to the Fight Hunger Bowl quite yet.  I am the one, however, to fully accept multiple helpings of crow if the Cougs DO find their way to the post season…  And boy, will it be tasty.