Here are our standings so far:

Flawson – 10
B. Martinez -10
Fig Jam – 10
skdub – 8
Colwell – 8
Pooh – 7
LS-DubC – 1

Congrats to everyone who scored in this fantastic week of death!

http://hotdogandfriends.com/2010/01/04/death-pool-2010

REMINDER: Last day for Death Pool submissions! DEATH POOL!

Does Carroll deserve another shot at the NFL? He wasn’t a terrible coach in New England, if you look at his career record of 33-31. The energetic 58-year old was profiled by L.A. magazine in a piece that will absorb the next hour of your life. He also has a history in Seattle — Carroll was the cornerbacks coach with the Hawks before taking the SC job in 2001.

What do you think? Would Pete Carroll be a good coach for the Seahawks?

<thanks to hot tipper skdub>

Can you identify all the coaches? Leave your comments below.

On Monday night, a few dear friends and I stood in an unending line of humanity to watch a sneak of the new film Invictus, starring the hunky Matt Damon (right). This movie tells the true story of the South African rugby team, which defeated the All Blacks in the finals of the 1995 Rubgy World Cup. (Rugby fans tell me that the untold story here is the chronic underperformance of New Zealand at international tournaments.)

This movie features several sweeping shots of the South African countryside which, as a side note, will make you want to attend the 2010 World Cup. Morgan Freeman lends the best performance of the film, portraying Nelson Mandela. Freeman’s naturally easy-going, measured demeanor translates well to the role, and from what I remember of the newsreels he does an excellent job mimicking Mandela’s mannerisms.

There’s a little too much “shakycam” in the  rugby scenes to tell if they are good or not. (I have never understood why movie makers do that — a good NFL Films documentary has far better football footage than Any Given Sunday.)

Although it’s a pretty standard sports movie, Invictus offers a textured view of the political events in mid-90s South Africa. This, if anything, sets it apart from other sports movies. Check it out.

Final ranking: 7 pickles out of 10.

The scene that stuck out to me was where hundreds of Sonics fans gathered outside the courthouse – during the last ditch case to enforce the team’s lease with the city – to give Clay Bennett a piece of their collective mind. Bennett sneaked out the back door, and a man holding a camera sprinted around the back to catch Bennett.

The winded man with the camera yelled “Save our Sonics” to a non responsive Bennett who was safe inside the tinted windows of his SUV. The futile yelling perfectly represented the very real impotence of Sonics fans then and now.

The team was going to move. We had no say in it. It never mattered that we cared. The whole tragedy was a hard lesson in the realities of pro sports that I have still stubbornly yet to fully process.

It is hard for the part of me that loves sports to admit what the rational side of me knows: these teams are not beholden to the cities they play in. Anyone can move. The NBA and other leagues will pit cities against one another in an effort to create and exploit the best possible economic situations for themselves.

I suppose I have no theoretical problem with this. I have not read enough about economics to be totally sure, but I posit that capitalism is teh bombz. Talk to me in a decade when I have my subscription to the New Left Review, after spending terrible hours weighing Wealth of Nations against Das Kapital.

I still watch the NBA and pro sports in general for a couple of reasons. Nick Hornby wrote in Fever Pitch that people follow sports because they are a refreshing contrast to the ambiguities of, you know, reality. There is an agreed upon framework of rules in which the game is contested. There is a winner and a loser and it will be decided in a relatively short period of time. I like that. I understand it.

The other reason is explained in the documentary by Sherman Alexie. This is a rough paraphrase. Ray Allen might have been the greatest shooter in the history of basketball. Because of the Sonics, the greatest shooter of a basketball in the history of the world lived in Seattle during the prime of his career. Probably some of the greatest computer programmers in the history of the world live in Seattle as well. Probably some of the greatest designers of airplane parts. Or whatever. I can’t really relate to that. I have however shot a basketball thousands of times. I could appreciate the majesty of Ray Allen’s jumper, and it was on display for relatively cheap 41 nights a year.

As if you couldn’t tell by reading this far, I’m rambling. I guess the last thing I want to say is that the Seattle based attorney for Bennett’s group, Bradley Keller, comes across as a smug asshole. Keller basically credits the settlement of the Key Arena lease that ultimately sent the Supes to Oklahoma City to his brilliance in the trial. Keller doesn’t appear to care about the case one way or the other, just so long as everyone notices that he is awesome. Congrats dickbag. You are a real credit to your profession.

I suppose the documentary is actually worthwhile if it can inform a few people that the reason the Sonics left Seattle is a hell of a lot more complicated than the notion that the city or the people didn’t care one way or the other. We cared. It just didn’t matter.

Watch it. Hate the situation. Resolve to put yourself in a position one day to fuck over everyone who fucked us. Failing that, someone will be fucked. Fuck.

www.sonicsgate.org

Despite the thorough instructions given during this song, I still can’t figure out how to do that darn Q-Walk wouldn’t you know it? Anyone on campus see some jiving kids doing it in Red Square?

The Class of the League

Columbus Crew: Last year’s champions still haven’t lost their edge. With Sigi Schmid gone, former assistant Robert Warzycha has stepped in seamlessly and will likely net the Crew their second consecutive Supporters’ Shield for best regular season record. The biggest difference between last year’s team has been the goal scoring of Guillermo Barros Schelotto, who has been at or near the top of the Golden Boot standings for most of the year.

Houston Dynamo: Houston’s success starts with their defense, which thankfully looks healthy and intact in time for the playoffs. All Star Geoff Cameron is one of the premier two-way threats in the entire league. Their record could be a lot better, but injuries and international absences really took their toll in midseason. However, USMNT stalwart Brian Ching teams with young gun Stuart Holden to provide enough offensive firepower in just two players to grab at least a goal a game, which is often all they need.

They also have Brad Davis, one of the best left-sided players in the league

Strong Teams:

Chicago Fire: Brian McBride’s return from injury vaults Chicago to the top of this group. Solid individual defenders (Wilman Conde, Bakary Soumare) but not always solid team defending, but you can never count out a team with Cuauhtémoc Blanco.

God I love running this photo

Los Angeles Galaxy: Say what you will about Bruce Arena, but he has made the Galaxy competitive in every game. Arena’s crawl-before-you-can-walk ethos and emphasis on defending have transformed the Galaxy into a reasonable pick to win it all. If any games come down to a breakaway (Landon Donovan) or a free kick (David Beckham), it’s good to know L.A. has the two best players on the field.

Teams With Serious Flaws:

Seattle Sounders FC: You can’t win if you don’t score, and Seattle hasn’t shown the ability to do this with any consistency. Summer signing Leo Gonzalez has yet to make any tangible contributions to the attack while Freddie Ljungberg is not as dangerous in midfield as, say, Toronto FC’s Dwayne De Rosario. The opposition has found success by mercilessly hacking down Ljungberg and Fredy Montero – and the referees don’t put a stop to this cynical behavior with yellow cards. Expect even more of this as the play gets more physical in the playoffs.

Oh Leo…when will you make a goal?

D.C. United: Too many games. They’ve been playing in Champions League in addition to their run to the U.S. Open Cup final – the league’s salary budget really restricts them from having the depth to handle this workload. As such, the players are falling apart physically. Additionally, two rookies (Chris Pontius, Rodney Wallace) all play key roles and they may start to lose focus in the latter stages of the playoffs.

New England: A great team with a history of success, but who will score goals for them? That giant Lithuanian? Steve Ralston’s ACL tear (which will likely end his MLS career) drops the Rev to the status of also-rans. A great defense and excellent coaching but I don’t see them doing anything in the postseason. Shalrie Joseph is a huge talent but can’t do it all himself.

I MAKE GOALS! UFF DA!

Chivas USA: Quick, who plays for Chivas besides Sacha Kljestan? Ha, I don’t know either. They have really cooled off after a dream beginning to the season. Apparently Paulo Nagamura isn’t the scoring threat he appeared to be after his crazy start, huh?

Dark Horses:

Colorado Rapids: May have the league’s best striking tandem in Conor Casey and Omar Cummings. Either one of them is capable of making a goal out of nothing – which they will need to do more than once, considering Colorado’s suspect defense. Still, a team to keep an eye on.

Toronto F.C.: Oooh I really like this team.  With the exception of Landon Donovan, De Rosario is the best player in the league. Interim coach Chris Cummins has this team playing loose and free – they could be dangerous to any team in the playoffs, especially in the first round where one match will be played at BMO Field.  But they may not even make the playoffs.

The Mariners’ broadcast team does a “Pick to Click” feature where they highlight a player they believe is due for a notable performance. Last Sunday in Toronto, Mariners color guy Mike Blowers pegged Matt Tuiasosopo to hit his first major league home run. But Blowers didn’t just call the home run. He said Tui would go yard on a 3-1 fastball in his second at bat. Blowers further predicted the home run would be to left center and get to the second deck.

And that’s exactly what happened. Check the link for the enjoyable audio.

Bombs!

Call of the Year – Shannon Drayer (MyNorthwest.com)

Here’s the link.

The bittersweet spoils of victory, but good for Jake.

Who’s Adam Morrison? He’s the one that will drain a three from the corner and then eat your children as you sleep…all in one fluid motion. Ammo. Get it.

Enjoy this instant classic.

“I wanna kiss you…ruh-ruh-ru-ru-ruh I wanna kiss you”

I won’t be able to get this song out of my head all weekend.

You can imagine it would be difficult to look at this resume and decide you need to overhaul your life. But that’s just what Andy Roddick did prior to the 2009 tennis season.

Following a high profile but ultimately fruitless collaboration with Jimmy Connors as his coach, Roddick entrusted his suddenly faltering professional career to Larry Stefanski. What’s more Roddick requested and accepted total guidance from Stefanski.

“I see your wife and pocketbook. I don’t care. Lose 15 pounds. Like yesterday.”

Yes.

“I’m sick of you accepting the conventional wisdom that you can’t consistently hit your backhand. That’s ridiculous. It is now another weapon for you.”

Yes.

“The difference between you and Roger Federer is not as pronounced as your 2-18 career record against him would suggest. You are now his equal.”

Yes.

…Almost.

Andy Roddick is in the midst of a career turnaround equal to Andre Agassi’s resurgence of 1998. Sure Agassi had plummeted to 122 in the world rankings before reemerging as a major title contender (I’m not sure Roddick ever dropped out of the top 10), but the distance between relevant and irrelevant was equal.

On Sunday Andy Roddick displayed two key recent additions to his game: a reliable and threatening backhand, and a previously lacking mental toughness. Roddick staggered the great Roger Federer with his baseline game to the point that John McEnroe rightly noted that the American was occasionally pushing the legend around the court.

Read again: Roddick was pushing Federer around the court with his groundstrokes. Roddick came up with a handful of devastating passing shots from his backhand and featured excellent depth and variety with the backhand throughout the match.

On top of having a fluid and exhaustive game, Federer’s greatness stems from his mental toughness. Roddick flat-out matched him Sunday. It would have been easy and predictable for Roddick to fold after blowing a 5-1 second set tiebreak lead. Instead Roddick steadied the ship and held his serve until the 30th game of the miraculous final set.

Despite losing, Andy Roddick asserted himself as a rightful successor to the American tennis legacy. Consider that he was completely out of the Grand Slam picture at the end of last year and his brisk recent rise becomes remarkable. Roddick has beaten Djokovic and Murray this year in majors. He also boasted his best ever finish at the French this year in making the 4th round.

I lived and died with every point on Sunday. It was like watching Agassi back in the day. At the end Roddick was reduced to resolutely choking back the bitter tears of what might have been, while Roger Federer smugly (not judging, he earned it) accepted his record breaking 15th major championship trophy.

Despite a life full of successes that 99.99999999% of people will never approximate, Andy Roddick decided that it wasn’t enough. If he continues with this recent dedication to the game Roddick will be able to look back on his career with zero regret because he gave everything he had. If he continues with this recent dedication he will win another major.

I guess what I’m trying to say in a roundabout/rambling way is that I am amazed and proud of what Roddick has accomplished to this point, and am completely invested in his career now. He has publicly declared his intentions, tried everything possible to realize them, and may or may not succeed. Who can’t relate to that? I see his effort and it motivates me to be better in the little stupid things I try to do in my life. This is why I watch.

Austin Daye (Cleveland Plains Dealer)

According to ESPN’s Andy Katz, sophomore Austin Daye has decided forgo his final two years at Gonzaga and enter the NBA draft.

As H&F’s resident Gonzaga fan, I must say that this seems like a horrible, ill-conceived idea on Daye’s part. Mock draft projections have the 21 year old Daye going to the Pistons with the 15th pick. And while that would be ahead of well-known players like Ty Lawson, Tyler Hansbrough, B.J. Mullens, and Terrence Williams, Daye would be lucky to go this high.

In his two years of Spokane, Daye never added the inside game that he will need to be a true offensive threat in the NBA. Primarily a perimeter player, a majority of Daye’s points came from outside jumpers. If he does indeed have the range to shoot the corner three the NBA loves so much, then yes, he could play in the League for 10-12 years. However, I’m not convinced he has this range yet.

He also could have used another 12 months to get some more meat on his frame. As other H&F’ers pointed out previously, he faded against superior competition and also did not do much down the stretch.