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It’s been a treacherous 2008 for sports in the 206. The criminals David Stern and Clay Bennett robbed the Emerald City of its basketball team, the Seattle Mariners lost 101 games and the two football teams, the UW Huskies and the Seattle Seahawks, are a combined 3-23 this season.

That’s not to mention the disappointing 07-08 season by the Dawgs’ hoops squad, Mike Holmgren leaving the Hawks in two weeks and name after name pulling themselves out of the running for the head coaching gig at the U.

Treacherous might have been an understatement. Depressing is a better term.

But, alas, things are actually looking up, I say. And here are the top 10 reasons to be excited about the sports scene in the 206.

10. Don Wakamatsu, Seattle Mariners manager
Wakamatsu’s hiring was a bit of a surprise to many, but the word on the street is that he’s a no-nonsense leader who will not stand for the kind of chemistry-killing issues that have resided in the M’s clubhouse over the past two seasons. Wak is going to bring a Mike Holmgren-like approach to the M’s dugout.

9. The Seattle Seahawks are a .500 team that could finish with as few as three victories, handing them a top 10 draft pick
The Hawks, ravished by injury in 2008, could return to the playoffs with two of the top 40 picks in the draft, cap space and a healthy offense. This reminds me of the 1996 San Antonio Spurs who lost David Robinson for the year, got the top pick in the draft, took Tim Duncan and subsequently won three titles in seven years.

8. Abdul Gaddy
Thanks to the legendary Lute Olsen’s retirement, Lorenzo Romar lands point guard Adbul Gaddy from Bellarmine Prep, as part of his 2009 recruiting class. Gaddy will make up one half of what could be the top guard tandem in the Pac-10, maybe in the country. The last time the Dawgs had a backcourt that good, they came within a game of the Final Four with Nate Robinson and Brandon Roy in 2004.

7. The Seattle Mariners could have as many as five of the top 50 picks in the 2009 MLB Draft
Thanks to a 101-loss season, Raul Ibanez signing in Philadelphia and perhaps choosing or failing to sign last year’s top pick Josh Fields, the M’s are stacked up nicely for June’s draft, where their new GM can gather some talent.

Unfortunately, it’s not a great draft, or this would rank much higher for me.

6. Isiah Thomas
Thomas ranks ahead of Gaddy because he’s already the best player on the UW roster as a freshman. Don’t believe me? Check both the stat sheet for the season and the game tape when the Huskies played Florida. With time running out, the ball was in Thomas’ hands, and by design.

5. Brandon Morrow
Morrow’s showing as a starting pitcher last September was perhaps the most fascinating occurrence of the M’s 2008 season. Holding 92-96 mph velocity into the eighth inning versus a solid offensive club in the Yankees and not giving up a hit for 23 outs was fun to watch, but more importantly, a sign of the future.

4. The Ty Willingham era is over
After an 0-12 season and a a gut-wrenching tenure in Seattle, Willingham was fired in November, paving the way for what will be better days to come. Willingham seemingly was attempting to make the U-DUB a hybrid of Stanford University and Cumberland College. Stanford in class and integrity, Cumberland on the football field.

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3. Felix Hernandez
He’s still just 22 years old and took a big step forward in 2008. Repeat progress launches Felix into stardom where he belongs. Hernandez and Morrow could combine for a nasty 1-2 punch, capable of stagnating any lineup in baseball over a five-game playoff series. Yes, I said playoffs.

2. Jack Zduriencik
The M’s new General Manager has already turned things upside down in Marinerland, cleaning house a bit and bringing an entirely new approach to the front office. His plan to rebuild while reloading is the toughest scheme in sports to complete, but he’s off to a great start and is utilizing his resources properly, giving M’s fans a lot to look forward to. And, yes, I said playoffs.

1. Steve Sarkisian
When Willingham arrived four years ago, most thought it couldn’t be worse. Most were wrong. And not only did it get worse under Ty, it hit rock bottom. The tradition and history lost its luster, the alumni weren’t welcome in the program, the media and fans were shut out and the team on the field lost 12 times in 12 games in Willingham’s final season.

The coaching search started with talk of Hawks’ coach-in-waiting Jim Mora, Boise State head coach Chris Peterson, Missouri head man and former UW assistant Gary Pinkel, TCU’s Gary Patterson and Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach.

In one way or another, they all were removed from the candidates basket. Mora was hellbent on following through with his commitment to the Hawks – either that or the Hawks had no interest in letting him out of his contract. Pinkel and Leach worked the system and got big contract extensions, Peterson never surfaced as real possibility and Patterson, as far as can be reported, was never contacted.

After reading that, most might be doom and gloom about the Huskies future. That is until you read about, learn about and hear from the 34-year-old that AD Scott Woodward did choose to be the next coach at the University of Washington.

Steve Sarkisian, former BYU quarterback and most recent offensive coordinator for the almighty USC Trojans, was the hire. At first thought, it sounds uninspiring and more of a settle move than anything else. But to listen to Sarkisian talk is to believe in his fire and passion for winning. His track record as a coordinator and the pedigree under which he has learned in his days with Pete Carroll, strongly suggest that not only is he the right guy for the job, but the only fit that was ever out there.

Sarkisian should have no problems recruiting, which is among the most important aspects of coaching in college sports. He’s a quarterbacks coach and offensive mind, which aides in his coaching of Jake Locker, and in his recruitment of Skyline’s Jake Heaps… which helps in his recruitment of the other stars at Skyline. Skyline might as well be renamed Pipeline High, because if he does his job right, that’s exactly what Skyline is going to turn into for the UW.

Sarkisian will undoubtedly improve the recruiting in Southern California, which is something Don James made famous in his days as the DawgFather. Washington kept their own and stole some SoCal talent and won nine or 10 games a year under James. That’s just the way it was, and Sarkisian has all the skills and necessary tools at his disposal to bring that back to Montlake.

And return pride and the “W” to where it belongs, too.

Sarkisian’s presence, for me, is more exciting than what’s happening in the Mariners front office because Washington football belongs on top. It’s where they’ve always been, it’s where they should always be.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 17th, 2008 at 1:40 pm and is filed under Huskies, Mariners, Seahawks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.