Enough!

When things seem like they can only get better for the beleaguered University of Washington football team, they somehow become worse. This team clearly has a gift.

Saturday's embarrassing 35-28 home loss to Stanford put a rusty nail through the collective eye of Husky Nation. At 0-4, the season is over. And if new athletic director Scott Woodward has any sense, he'll see to it that Tyrone Willingham's UW coaching career is as well.

In Willingham's fourth season, the team has regressed. The defense is inexplicably worse than last season. Their rushing attack is ranked 101 out of 120.

Willingham had an excuse with the first three games being against top 25 teams. But to lose to a Stanford team that many had ranked behind the Huskies in preseason Pac-10 polls is unacceptable.

Stanford is a great example of how a coach can invigorate a program. In a season and a half, head coach Jim Harbaugh has four less wins than Willingham has during his UW tenure.

At this point in his career, Willingham has shown himself to be as unqualified coaching major D-I college football program as Sarah Palin is at running for vice president.

It should be mere hours before Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis and his all white jump suit give coach Lane Kiffin the boot. As offense coordinator at USC, Kiffin's teams compiled a 23-3 record. Imagine what he'd do with a healthy Jake Locker. UW should bring Kiffin in immediately. Let him get comfortable with the players in 2008 and kick things into high gear in 2009.

UW football is in shambles. At a time when Seattle sports is desperate for a winner and when the Huskies could potentially recaputre their once iconic status, the team is nowhere to be found.

The time for change is now.

W.O.A.T.

One loss. That's all that stands between the Seattle Mariners and becoming the first team to ever lose 100 games with a $100 million plus payroll.

For a club that many "experts" predicted to make the playoffs, this season hasn't been a disappointment. It's been a colossal failure. A bigger bomb than Speed Racer.

The Mariners are baseball's bridge to nowhere. They have $30 million tied up in Carlos Silva, Miguel Batista and Jarrod Washup. That three-headed monster has gone 13-43 with a 5.80 ERA.

All-Star sluggers Brad Wilkerson, Richie Sexson, Jose Vidro and Kenji Johjima clobbered 24 home runs and hit .225. All that production came at a bargain basement price - $33 million.

But beyond not hitting and not pitching, the M's completely quit on the season around May 1. This is a franchise that has suffered through some truly terrible campaigns. But 2008 is without a doubt the worst ever.

While the franchise record for losses is 104 in 1978, the Mariners haven't dropped 100 in a season since 1983. And during those lean, early years, nothing was really expected from the team.

There were some bad years during the Griffey Era too. The 98 loss 1992 club comes to mind. But at least Griffey could be counted on to potentially do something spectacular every night.

Even during this past five season stretch, there's been something to look forward to.

In 2004 it was Ichiro and his pursuit of the all-time single season hit record. Felix Hernandez burst onto the scene in late 2005 and offered a glimpse into the future. The team hung in the Wild Card race until August of 2006 and stayed on the Angels heels until the last month of 2007.

Aside from predicting which over priced waste of space would get cut first (Sexson, Vidro, etc.), 2008 has given fans nothing to look forward to. Excluding the expansion years, this is the first time that's ever happened for the Mariners.

This is baseball at it's worst. The veterans can't produce. The young guys called up to challenge the veteran's can't produce. And it looks like it will only get worse.

With Raul Ibanez's imminent defection, and a likely off season Adrian Beltre trade, the 2009 Mariners are poised to challenge for the worst record in baseball history. If a lineup featuring Jose Lopez's team leading 15 home runs and Yuniesky Betancourt's .270 OBP isn't scary enough, then another 30 hot dog filled starts courtesy of Carlos Silva should be.

Is Oklahoma City looking for a baseball team too?

Finally, I'd like to bid farewell to Yankee Stadium. The House that Ruth Built never recovered from a 1973 face lift that made it look like baseball's Cat Lady. But despite the botched remodel, the stadium still had more history than any other stadium in the country. It's sad that luxury boxes and motion sensor urinals lead to the demise of the games most storied cathedral.

I feel truly blessed that I got to see it before it became dust.

The New Facebook

It's only fitting that on the night my beloved Facebook becomes "new", I dined over some great Chinese food with a couple whose combined age is 184. Fitting because right now I'm as confused about the new Facebook layout as they are about computers.

Facebook is a global brand. It's surpassed MySpace as the most popular social network on the planet. So why mess with a good thing?

Facebook claims they wanted to make the site clean and simple by reducing clutter. Personally, I'm overwhelmed by the new look. It's more cluttered than the Palin house. And why are my applications called boxes now?

This is like McDonald's deciding to put tofu patties in Big Macs. It's like when you find out that your friend Marvin isn't Marvin anymore. (S)he's Martha.

Now I'm sure Facebook's head honchos are convinced this will be a success. Remember the outrage when the Mini-Feed launched? After fixing some privacy concerns, that turned out to be a vital feature.

The New Facebook will definitely take some getting used to. And if all else fails, Facebook can always take the New Coke route.

Return of the Mack

When Entourage premiered during the summer of 2004, it was an envious, fresh, male-targeted comedy. But after gaining quite the following over the years, the HBO staple clearly lost its way. By last season, almost every episode seemed to follow a generic formula - Turtle and Drama team up for some idiotic scheme, Vince and E put themselves in predicaments, and Ari screams at Lloyd. No matter how bleak things looked, the crew would always come out on top. Nothing bad ever happened. Can't find a plane? Well Kanye will come save the day!

Couple the recycled story lines with the irritating Billy Walsh character, and you're stuck watching a show for old times sake.

So with slight apathy, I checked out Sunday night's Season 5 premiere, and to my surprise, saw everything that originally made Entourage great - Skinemax sex scenes, lavish living and Ari being Ari (I can't believe it took him this long to call Lloyd "Yoko"). Viewers were also treated to the music stylings of Mark Morrison's "Return of the Mack" when E, Ari and Drama went to Mexico to get Vince. It doesn't get better than that!

The first 2 1/2 seasons followed Vince's rise to fame. Now that he's hit bottom after the "Medellin" debacle, it looks like it's back to square one.

Vince might even need to get help from his publicist, Shauna. But considering she's done a complete Judy Winslow, it seems unlikely.

Nevertheless, Episode 55 had me continually looking at the clock on the cable box. Just like with the early episodes, I didn't want this one to end.

Election 2008: A Democrat's View - Part 1

A loyal reader sent this to me. It's my pleasure to pass it along.

This will be the most important election of my life.

Initially, I thought the stakes were on par with the two times W “won”. But after Wednesday night it became crystal clear. If my fellow citizens elect McCain/Palin, we are signing up for four more years.

I felt physically ill watching Rudy Guiliani and Sarah Palin address the hall Wednesday night. The negative speeches delivered with smiles, by both, were full of lies and served only to attack Obama/Biden/Democrats, not explain one single Republican plan.

Rudy proved Biden true by falling back on his crutch of 9/11, completely unable to sell his speech without fear mongering and reminding people of his moment.

In her speech, Palin showed no interest for the environment, the economically downtrodden, the uninsured and the underinsured, ending the war in Iraq in this lifetime, or an entire host of subjects that have been the focal point of this campaign and this country since she was elected Governor of Alaska. Her sharp attacks played well in front of the party. Yet her failure to address a single serious issue will hopefully not go unnoticed.

Bush/McCain/Palin promise everything and say you must surrender nothing. Balance the budget, but no taxes. End the dependence on foreign oil, but no need to fund alternative energy. Health care for all, but no government program. Protect civil liberties, civil rights, choice, equal protection under the law, but more Alito, Scalia, Thomas and Roberts on the bench.

After eight years, are we still buying this BS?

Barack Obama speaks of opportunity, but also of sacrifice. Under Obama, we will restore our standing around the world, attempt to balance the budget, rebuild infrastructure, curtail our dependence on foreign oil, get the troops home, insure our citizens and promote education.

But none of this will happen unless the American people are willing to make a few hard choices along the way.

We must end tax loopholes if we want to fund alternative energy. We must choose how to fund infrastructure repairs and health insurance. We must stop pretending that Social Security and Medicare are solvent and that we can stay in Iraq for 100 years.

Obama has brought a new generation of Americans into the political process. I hope that they speak truth to power and restore sanity in this election.

Thunderful

With the anticipation of a Vin Diesel movie release, the team formerly known as the Seattle Supersonics, officially announced their long unofficial name - the Oklahoma City Thunder.

It's only fitting that a franchise owned by oil rednecks chose a name befitting of a WNBA team (most WNBA team names do not end with a "s"). Along with stealing Seattle's team, OKC also stole the Charlotte Bobcats colors. Wonder what they'll use as a mascot? Youppi?

But congrats should be offered to the OKC oil men. They got what they wanted. It's an absolute certainty now. Has been for a few days.

Because if you were enjoying Labor Day Weekend, you probably missed that former Sonics owner, Howard Schultz, sereptitiously dropped his lawsuit against Clay Bennett and Co. In a last minute attempt to save his coffee soiled rep, Schultz provided an inklining of hope that the Sonics could possibly come back. But as he did when he originally sold the team, Schutlz yet again screwed over the city. At least we can still enjoy those delightful Starbucks breakfast sandwhiches!

Possessing a baseball team poised to acheive the first 100-loss/$100 million payroll season, a college football team that will win 2-4 games and no NBA franchise, I think it's safe to say that Seattle, Washington is TitleTown USA.

A Tale of Two Coaches

Washington Huskies football fans have had some bad luck since the school canned Rick Neuheisel back in 2003. Over the last five plus years, a whopping total of 18 wins can be attributed to the team. The once dominant football powerhouse is now a Pac-10 doormat. And while current coach Tyrone Willingham seems set on surpassing Keith Gilbertson for the worst winning percentage in UW history (Willingham's .440 mark narrowly beats out Gilby's .438), Neuheisel is doing what he does best - win.

Critics argue that Neuheisel is great at coaching player's he inherits, but mediocre at coaching his own players. They'll say he is directly responsible for soiling the image at his previous two head coaching stops, Colorado and Washington. But what can't be criticized is his ability to coach.

In 2000, Neuheisel won 11 games and lead the Huskies to a Rose Bowl victory. Willingham has won 11 games total at UW.

Do you think Willingham could have coached UCLA to a win over #18 Tennessee as Neuheisel did Monday night? He would have probably needed a few more bullets for that.

Willingham is about as friendly as Solange Knowles. He's college football's answer to Bill Belichick. The only diffrence is Belichick wins. Neuheisel is Willingham's polar opposite.

The UW football program is undoubtedly graduating more players and compiling fewer police reports than during the Neuheisel years, and Willingham deserves credit for that. But as fundamentally wrong as it might be, winning is the only thing that matters in college football. And if last week's 44-10 thumping to former rival Oregon is any indication, Willingham once again will be winning very little in 2008.

Neuheisel on the other hand will build upon UCLA's upset victory. No, they won't make the BCS, but don't be surprised if Neuheisel leads them into a bowl game. If only the same thing could be said about UW.