They just pop-in unannounced
A GRIP ON SPORTS
One of the most common questions we receive this time of year is where we get our ideas. You know, what triggers the daily outpouring of nouns, verbs, adjectives and prepositional phrases. We would answer performance-enhancing drugs, but we ceded that territory to major league baseball, track and field and bicycle racing long ago. Read on.
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• Actually, I have no idea where the ideas come from. (How's that for irony?) Some times a thought will pop in before I head to bed the night before, percolate in a couple of dreams throughout the night and manifest themselves in the morning. Other times it takes a large cup of coffee to get going. Occasionally, an early morning tweet inspires something. But more often than not it is just a headline – or headlines – in the morning paper. Like today. The headlines that caught my eye concerned Percy Harvin and how the news he will need hip surgery was released to the public. It came from Harvin himself. In a tweet. A misspelled tweet, but that's just me nitpicking. (Harvin's instructors at the University of Florida should be so proud he used the word "half" instead of "have." Then again, it could be spell-check's fault. That's the excuse I would fall back on.) Anyway, Harvin's tweet got me thinking about what we've missed over the years before Twitter was invented. All the tweets that could have been. ... "Aaron Burr is a wussy. I'm going to blow him away." @AHamilton'smoney ... "Next stop: Moscow." @LittleGeneralNap ... "Looking forward to the play tonight with Mrs. Lincoln, though wish JWB would be playing the lead. Love that guy." @Railsplitter ... "Found $10k under my pillow today. Bet the over." @ECicotteSox ... "Damn that Kenny Keltner." @MrCoffee ... "It's cold here today. Though not as cold as an Idaho sorority sister (hah). Hope Starr can hang on to the ball." @PackersNo.64 ... "I hate disco, but we are family." @Star44 ... "Checked vertical today. Dwight Clark couldn't clear a San Francisco phone book. Have to keep the ball down for him." @BigSkyQB ... "I love tennis officials." @JMac ... "Sorry, my account was hacked." @JMac ... "Bought a new hat today. Size 7 1/4. Can't wait to wear it to my dad's birthday party." @BBPirate ... "Bought a new hat today. Size 8 1/4. Can't wait to wear it to BALCO stockholders' meeting." @Greatestofalltime ... "I love the media." @Hoodymanisagenius ... "Sorry, my account was hacked." @Hoodymanisagenius ... "They want me to write a daily blog post. About sports! What are they thinking? Well, if they will pay for it, OK." @vincegrippi55.
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• WSU: It wasn't a happy day yesterday around the Pac-12, with the news an incoming Utah football player was among those killed in a New Mexico car crash. ... Oregon State suspended two of its better basketball players. ... Ted Miller looks at the Pac-12 defensive lines. ... Oregon will play Georgetown in Korea. ... UCLA's football team just got a bit better.
• Idaho: Paul Petrino met with the media yesterday prior to the Vandals beginning practice. Josh Wright has this blog post on what the first-year head coach had to say.
• Preps: The state Legion tournaments are still going.
• Indians: The road trip to Boise ended in defeat, as the Hawks won 5-3.
• Shock: Though the Arena Bowl is the goal, the Shock are trying their best not to look past Chicago, Thursday's opening-round playoff foe. Jim Meehan has more in his weekly notebook.
• Mariners: The youthful Mariners made youthful mistakes. The veteran Joe Saunders made a youthful mistake as well, whining about it a bit. One you can forgive. The other just makes you shake your head. Either way, the M's lost 8-2 to the Red Sox in the opener of a tough six-game road trip. ... Michael Morse was back in the lineup yesterday and struck out three times, Sure glad I traded him from my fantasy league team. That type of performance has no place on a mired-deeply-in-last-place club. ... Trade rumors don't seem to be bothering the veterans. Today is the non-waiver trade deadline.
• Sounders: There is just one Sounder playing with the MLS All-Stars and he's a homegrown talent.
• Seahawks: We all know the big news is Harvin needing hip surgery, which could cost him the season. At the least he'll miss a big chunk of it. That hurts, as he was earmarked to be a big part of the offense. ... Another big part of the offense is Sidney Rice (pictured), who happens to be in Europe having a knee procedure. What that procedure is exactly can only be speculated upon. ... Other roster pieces are coming together as the Hawks make more changes.
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• If you were looking for intelligent commentary this morning, I guess you came to the wrong place. Sometimes the coffee kicks in and I just want to have a little fun. With an emphasis on the little part. Until later ...
