A fun picture found on a Fan site

With the 31st pick in the 2006 NFL Draft...

02:03PM PST ... the Seattle Seahawks select Kelly Jennings, CB, Miami-Fla. The pre-draft scouting report for Jennings was already covered early last week. And with the Hawks addressing there need at Safety by acquiring Mike Green from da Bears on Tuesday, Seattle immediately addressed a position of need by taking the "safe" corner in Kelly Jennings. But basically the former Hurricane DB was "safe" because he will be a solid professional football player due to his combination of skills and experience playing as the shut-down corner in the Miami system.

Scouts take: Once the Seahawks made Andre Dyson a salary cap casualty, they knew they needed a corner who can start opposite Marcus Trufant. With that in mind, this is a great pick for the Seahawks. While Virginia Tech's Jimmy Williams has more natural ability and still was on the board, Jennings doesn't have the same kind of character issues and has great potential. He has good closing speed and rarely gets caught out of position, so he is capable of pushing for immediate playing time.

05:12PM PST When the second round almost wrapped up Seattle was sitting at pick #63. A corner high on Kiper's draft board was Youboty out of The Ohio State University was still available. I believe the Hawks went best player on their draft board here by selecting to fill their second biggest need in a DE with Darryl Tapp out of Virginia Tech. With good size at 6'1", 252 lbs, his scouting report included that "Tapp is a better football player than natural athlete" and that "few will outwork Tapp during games, at practice or in the film room." Hmm... sounds like Ruskell tapped another Lofa in round two. Gotta like addressing both soft spots on the first day of the draft for a Seattle squad with no real holes. Watching the draft live, you gotta love Tapp's highlights beating D'Brickashaw in the college rivalry game. Plus, he has a football name.

Scouts take: Tapp was a steal this late in the second round. He slipped because of his below-average NFL measurables, but Tapp is a natural playmaker who should continue to produce in the NFL. During his final two seasons at Virginia Tech, Tapp notched 30 tackles for loss, including 18 sacks. He also proved his worth at the Senior Bowl when he notched a sack with a double-move that kept Virginia OT D'Brickashaw Ferguson (Jets' first-round pick, fourth overall) off balance. Tapp will provide Seattle immediate depth as the No. 3 defensive end behind Grant Wistrom and Bryce Fisher. He also could emerge as the long-term replacement for an aging Wistrom.

The Time has Come

Well, when I first got the email from 2.0 that Vic wanted a piece of the Lodge, I remember having some quality conversations with the man and thinking that this would be a good pick for the Lodge and potentially grow us into other arenas. Well, I was right about one thing, we are now growing into the arena of hightened immigration laws. Let us celebrate the end of the Johansen Era in Lodge history, I deem him...the Tony Mandarich of Lodge Folk Lore:

Wisdom Of Walton

"I grew up in San Diego in a non-athletic environment. My parents were not interested in sports. Their loves were art, literature and music. I gravitated towards sports because of my older brother Bruce and the first coach I ever had, who, like John Wooden, made it fun and really emphasized the joy of playing the team game."

Draft Dodgin’… Not this guy

You want to know if you are a true football fan. I can give you a one question litmus test. Which are you more jacked up for a) the NBA playoffs b) the NFL Draft? If you answer to the later then I imagine you are starting to hunker down in your own version of the “war room” Not only will you need to have plenty snacks and iced brew on hand but you got to have the stamina to take an all day onslaught of Mel Kiper Jr. and Chris “he could go all the way” Berman. Now if only they could cram Dick Vitale and Hubie “he’s so long” Brown up on stage somewhere the UTC factor would cause TV’s to blow across the nation. That would be reason alone to watch.

The place has changed but the atmosphere will be all the same, the rowdy New York crowds going to boo long and often when the Jets make there picks and a few Philly fans will make the presence felt when the Eagles draft at number 14. The true die hards are the ones that come back for a second day of picks. Heck, the Commish doesn’t even bother to show. Speaking of the Tags, Look for the first mispronunciation of a players name when someone drafts Mathias Kiwi-ikisomething. Tags should really take to Stern and get some tips on how to pronounce those pesky foreign names. We will miss you Tags.

Personally I love the players that attend the draft and play the who’s gonna be last in line and look like he wished he stayed in school or came out last year. I have a sneaking suspicion that Matt Leinart and VY will be fighting for this crown. We could see a Leinart face in the making, the face one makes when he realizes that he should have come out the year before, when he had the world in the palm of his hand. Does anyone else see a slight hint of old USC quarterbacks in Leinart? I do. Adding to the long list of crappy USC quarterback in the NFL. Thank you Sean Salisbury, Rob Johnson and Todd “we found half a joint in the parking lot” Marinovich. Odd to think that Leinart might even end up in Oakland, what I am really looking for is AJ Hawk and some nice shots of Brady Quinn’s sister. I think we might even see her looking at wedding magazines at the table. She’s gotta be chomping at the bit to get that deal sealed before AJ has his lawyers send over the pre-nup.

The draft is blown way out of proportion to its real relevance. ESPN has made what is really just a crapshoot for anyone drafting out of the top 5 into a circus. A circus that I enjoy and wouldn’t miss it for anything… Well I can do without the later rounds but heck; I’m not doing anything on Sunday.

Here is a look at the 6 players I want to see wearing the colors of my favorite teams, Yes, Jimbo I can like two teams….

Broncos
1 De’Angelo Williams – RB Memphis
2 Maurice Stovall – WR ND
3 Joe Klopfenstein – TE Colorado
Seahawks
1 Kelly Jennings DB Miami
2 Ko Simpson – S South Carolina
3 Jeremy Bloom- KR/PR Mogul Skier Colorado

"That trade messes up my daggone Top 10."

Love the ESPN Mobile commercial with Kiper. Who doesn't love the nonstop Kiper this time of year? What a character. So below is Kiper's final projections for the 2006 NFL Draft. One CB that we didn't review last week is Jimmy Williams out of VaTech... and in the list below he drops to the Hawks at #31.

Kiper added that there are 3 defensive backs who will fall to the second round, but only because he couldn't find a fit for them in the first round: Miami's Kelly Jennings, Ohio State's Ashton Youboty and Fresno State's Richard Marshall. And he expects all 3 to go early in the second round. Also, notice that DE Mathias Kiwanuka from Boston College isn't listed. And yes, apparently Kiper sometimes signs with "The Viper" on his autograph.

Will Seattle draft the best player available? Or will they draft a position of need? I've believed all along that they'll draft a CB because the player will fill both roles. Also, Seahawks GM Ruskell mentioned yesterday, in this notebook, that the team suspended talks with FA corner Ty Law until after the draft. In addition, I came across an article on Ruskell's pre-draft investigative work. We are in good hands, fellas. I tried to put it in cool table form, but couldn't get the javascript to work correctly, so I opted for the Lodge standard html...

First-Round Projections:
1. Houston -- Reggie Bush, RB* USC
2. New Orleans -- Mario Williams, DE* NC State
3. Tennessee -- Vince Young, QB* Texas
4. N.Y. Jets -- D'Brickashaw Ferguson, T Virginia
5. Green Bay -- A.J. Hawk, LB Ohio St.
6. San Francisco -- Vernon Davis, TE* Maryland
7. Oakland -- Ernie Sims, LB* Florida St.
8. Buffalo -- Brodrick Bunkley, DT Florida St.
9. Detroit -- Michael Huff, DB Texas
10. Arizona -- Matt Leinart, QB USC
11. St. Louis -- Jay Cutler, QB Vanderbilt
12. Cleveland -- Kamerion Wimbley, DE/OLB Florida St.
13. Baltimore -- Haloti Ngata, DT* Oregon
14. Philadelphia -- Chad Greenway, LB Iowa
15. Denver (from ATL) -- Santonio Holmes, WR* Ohio St.
16. Miami -- Antonio Cromartie, CB* Florida St.
17. Minnesota -- Jason Allen, CB/S Tennessee
18. Dallas -- Manny Lawson, OLB NC State
19. San Diego -- Winston Justice, T* USC
20. Kansas City -- Johnathan Joseph, CB* South Carolina
21. New England -- DeAngelo Williams, RB Memphis
22. San Francisco (from DEN) -- Tye Hill, CB Clemson
23. Tampa Bay -- Marcus McNeill, T Auburn
24. Cincinnati -- Donte Whitner, DB* Ohio St.
25. N.Y. Giants -- Sinorice Moss, WR Miami
26. Chicago -- Chad Jackson, WR* Florida
27. Carolina -- Marcedes Lewis, TE UCLA
28. Jacksonville -- Nick Mangold, C Ohio St.
29. N.Y. Jets (from DEN) -- Bobby Carpenter, OLB Ohio St.
30. Indianapolis -- Laurence Maroney, RB* Minnesota
31. Seattle -- Jimmy Williams, CB Virginia Tech
32. Pittsburgh -- LenDale White, RB* USC

* = denotes underclassman

The 1st official Lodge Golf Tournament

Sunshine. Spring Weather.
Crappy Baseball Team, No Mini Camps until June.

Gentlemen. How about a Golf Outing next week?
Anyone up for a little game of chase the White ball?

Its a Sunny Chewbacca Thursday

Chicks dig a Wookie who can hit the long ball

I'm sorry...no, you're f'n up

Getting the itch to post something, and not having a lot of good topics floating around in my head, I’ve decided to reach back in the vault and do my impression of Rants and Raves, Cheers and Jeers, A Cups and DD Cups, Rich Man/Poor Man, etc… In order to add at least a little touch of originality (because honestly a touch is all I have) I’ve come up with the inagural version of You’re F’n Up and Penta-Champ.

A little back-story on You’re F’n Up: about the turn of the millennium I was living in a house with about three to six other guys at any given moment and the guy that ran the place, Raj, also happened to live there. Anyway, the average night at this house would almost always include someone doing something from an altered state that required Raj to utilize the phrase: You’re F’n Up Dude, you’re f’n up, no, you're not stupid, you're just f'n up. Well, because my vocabulary isn’t as large as my ego, You’re F'n Up, is going to have to work as the yang to Penta-Champs ying. Dig.

Penta-Champ:

To the show City of Men. Currently airing on the Sundance Channel, created as a by-product from Fernando Meirelles excellent film City of God. The show follows two 13 year-old boys Laranjinha and Acerola around the slums of Rio and there interactions with teachers, bandits and rival kids out to steal their trainers. Anyone that’s viewed City of God will get a feel for the show, and if you haven’t seen the film you’re missing one of the best pieces of cinema to come around in the last 20 years, and there's no excuse for you, really. City of Men brings worldwide audiences into a 3rd world community controlled not by government, but the community, and how they are all forced to govern themselves. Godfather meets the Hotel Rwanda. At times it feels invasive, and at other times it feels enlightening and terrifying. Plus, great cameo’s from some of City of God’s main characters like Lil ‘Ze and Bene. (The term Penta-champ is a translation from Portuguese describing what I believe to be a champion amongst champions, so that’s cool I guess)

You’re F’n Up:

This first one is almost too-tough to pick: between the mind-numbing inconsistency of the hometown nine or the City of Seattle/Sonics feud. I’ll go with the latter and call out the 10,000 owners of the Sonics and David Stern for driving a dividing line through the city’s population.

Unfortunately when you’re third in line at the tax trough for a new stadium in any city/state you’re going to get the leftovers and you damn well better be happy with them. This is even consdiering that one of those stadiums was rejected by the state population and had to have a "special" election to push it through. I would think the Sonics would understand their ranking in the new stadium bbq line, but what makes this really absurd is that they were actually first in line and now want to cut back for seconds.

In the latest chapter, the Sonics deciding to apply the lost revenue from the past several years to “their” contribution of the 220million makes me wish that they would put this on the ballot next week so I could organize a rally against and divert those funds to knock a bus ride from West Seattle to Fremont from the current 50-60 minutes to 30-40mintues. Here's to the good folks of Renton and Bellevue, enjoy.

Penta-Champ:

To the NBA playoffs, which always sparks my interest this time of year, a lot of good plot lines playing out in the opening rounds, but none more talked about or over-exposed than the Nash vs. Mamba battle, and for good reason. Although I think the D'Antoni 'stache vs the Zen Masters flava' sava' isn't talked about nearly enough.


After catching game 2 last night, I am completely captivated by this series and the Playoff version of the Mamba-Lakers. I’ve gone on record numerous times for hating on everything Mamba, and that still hasn’t changed, but seeing his game in the playoffs has been refreshing. The rope-a-dope style that Jackson used with Mamba all season to draw teams in and then unleash the role players shows the Zen-masters skill for all things Walton, who for all intense and purposes should be my favorite NBA player( except that he’s a ‘Cat and now Laker). Seriously, love the game of Odom and Walton right now, and if the Lakers had anyone, but Kwame playing the 5 this team could be set for a Conf Finals. Also, the bench combo of Brian Cook, Booyah-vich and Devon George outplayed the Suns all-star bench and sealed the crucial game two of the series, which is like saying that Mike Jensen could make an NBA team next year.

As entertaining as the Mamba has been, the actual MVP of the league showcased his credentials last night in a losing effort. If he would've had anyone else to hit an open shot last night the Suns would've taken game two. However, without The Nasha that game was over with five minutes to play in the second quarter. The same could be said for the Suns season minus Amare, (who would’ve made them the #1 seed in the west). The fact that they took the Pacific and pulled out 54 games without their All-Star Center should be the only criteria needed for The Nasha to hoist the MVP trophy again. You can debate this if you care, but watching Cousy 2.0 has made me come back a little to the NBA with hope that there’s young kids in Moosejaw right now growing out their stringy hair out and practicing base-line drives and dishes.

You’re F’n Up:

To the primetime TV schedule, which takes almost as long as the NBA to get through a full season. This really wasn’t an issue until someone got me into Lost, and I became glued every Wed at 9 or sometime later with the help of DVR. Unlike HBO, Comedy Central or cable-TV that believes in a continuous schedule of shows that go from Episode One to Episode X in the the corresponding number of weeks. However, ABC gives Lost 5 weeks off from Thanksgiving to New Years, two-weeks here, two-weeks there, meanwhile I lose interest and consider just sitting next year out and waiting for a three-day marathon of episodes from the Season two DVD, or as I like to call it: getting caught up, Dude-style. My suggestion: run it week to week for 20 or however many weeks straight until you get through the season, actually not a suggestion. Not sure why this doesn’t work for the Networks but it does for HBO. I know, I’m a bitter-little man who needs more hobbies.


Penta-Champ:

Making a second mention about this site because it’s that f’n champ. Take all your favorite artists from one genre or multiple genres’s and make your own Radio Station? Where do I sign? For free? Yes, I’ll have seconds. I’ve got this going for about 14-16 hours a day from home and office and I’m sold, still don’t know how they make money though.

You’re F’n Up:

This one goes to me for opening the doors of the Lodge without doing a proper background check and allowing 2.0 to bring in new members. If we don’t get a post from Vic by tomorrow, 2.0 will be placed on a 90 day suspension from electing draftees, and his next pick will be evaluated by the entire board before selection. I let my judgment get the best of me this time boys, but trust that it won’t happen again. We're closing down the borders for a while, Neo-Con style.

Whoa, Nellie!

At the end of the 1998 College Football season, Keith Jackson announced his retirement from college football, with his last broadcast to have been the 1999 Fiesta Bowl for the National Championship between Tennessee and Florida State. He rescinded this decision the following fall and began to do a more limited schedule of games, teamed with Dan Fouts, almost exclusively sticking to venues on the West Coast, closer to his current home in British Columbia.

Today, Jackson decided to retire for good on April 27th, 2006, with a phone call to the New York Times. "I'm finished with play-by-play forever," he stated. "This is the perfect time," Jackson told the newspaper. "I don't want to get back into the pressure cooker of play-by-play and worry about travel. I don't want to die in a stadium parking lot."

Jackson's retirement is big-time news. Keith Jackson is the frickin voice of College Football, for crap's sake! No more epic calls, no more west-coast bias, we've lost one of media's only Pac-10 boosters with this announcement. Keith... today the Lodge gives props to a legend in broadcasting. We tip our caps to you, Big Daddy.

Lightning can strike twice…..

Chunky Soup Curse?

At the bottom of the article online about the Green aquisition, there is a note on how Matt Hasselbeck will be on the new Campbell's Chunky Soup commercials with his mom. Now, apparently there is a Chunky Soup Curse rumor that's been going around. This, coupled with Shaun Alexander on the cover of Madden, Seattle is taking the "curse" mongers head on. Are there any other curses other Seahawks players can invoke? Sheesh.

An interesting trade

I’m sure by now you have all seen the wire.
The Seattle Seahawks on Tuesday acquired veteran safety Mike Green from the Chicago Bears in exchange for a sixth-round pick.

This is a pretty interesting pickup. Dare I say, intriguing? Green is a solid tackler, a fair Blitzer, and has decent coverage skills. Plus he has learned one of the more aggressive defenses in the NFL. The Lovie Smith Tampa Cover 2:





The Tampa 2 is player-friendly. Each player is assigned a gap, and he is to attack it. Chicago, Indy and Tampa like to stop the run with eight players near the line of scrimmage, and on passing downs drop into their Cover 2 zone. They like to play it safe in this scheme, so it doesn't call for a lot of all-out blitzing with zero coverage (no safety in the middle, corners one-on-one), instead preferring to rely on the defensive line to apply pressure on the quarterback (Sounds a lot like the Hawks Defense)

Under his existing contract, Green has scheduled base salaries of $1.385 million (2006), $1.615 million (2007) and $1.45 million (2008). That a pretty fair value for a backup with starters experience.

This allows the Hawks to look at Corner and DE in the draft. Don’t be surprised if a solid RB/FB drops that they might look that direction. Fullback you say? I think you might see Mack Strong’s Protégé in this draft.

Zizou, you are the best I’ve ever seen

It’s not much of a surprise to say that most don’t even know who he is or what he has done. The few Americans who followed European football over the past decade were treated to one of the greatest midfield players the sport has seen. Zinedine Zidane, the star of Real Madrid and France national player has announced his retirement from competitive play.

To be honest I didn’t know who the guy was until I watched the 1998 World Cup where he put on an amazing showcase of talent. The vocal captain electrified the crowd and watching world with his two goals against Brazil in the Cup final. From that point on he was a national hero. I even thought about becoming a French citizen just so I could get a sense of the elation he gave the French people.

I know Jimmy gave the link so you could read the article on Zidane but I had planned to give a moment to the man, a son of an Algerian night watchman, born in the melting pot of Marseille, He came to embody the hope of all immigrants, the hope that a nation could meld together and do anything. Zidane along with other immigrant French players did just that.

Our own Joe 1.0 happened to be in Europe during the 2000 Euro Cup where Zidane clinched the cup with a “golden goal" in the 117th minute. I bet Joe could attest to the insane passion the frenchy's had for Zidane that day.

Most won’t even bat in eye when they skim over the ever so small soccer section in there local sports page but I have to tip my cap to a player who’s skill on the field and off stirred a nation like only a great footballer can.

Elevators

I work in this office building you're either you're either a radio station person, or a medical corporate person. Coming up from my afternoon cigarette this tall guy goes to the top floor with me. He has a brown leatherbound portfolio with the Sonics logo on it and a little box with their season schedule. Its their marketing manager, i'm guessing to get onto some sports show. I ask him, "So are you guys leaving?" I just get this blank glance. Then the elevator is filled with this barren coldness that only a Kansas winter can leave you in.

The Madden Curse

In case you were wondering about the history...

Seahawks War Room

The 2006 NFL Draft is nearly upon us. And I for one am about as excited as Train is every Thursday when a new Playboy comes in the mail. I'm not in the camp that believes that Seattle is going to draft an OG (since they have the Porkchop/Ashworth/Locklear contigent signed & with experience) or DL at #31 in the first round (since most of the impact DL will have been picked by the time Seattle in on the clock, the CB position is a deeper with impact Hubie Brown "upside" players, and Seattle has bigger need in the Secondary).

The Seahawks need to add more than one DB in the draft, and there is depth in the early rounds. Former Seattle DB Andre Dyson signed with the Jets, and the Seahawks most glaring need is to pick a DB with the natural ability to replace him as the starter opposite Marcus "Coug" Trufant. I believe the Hawks will be picking one of the following 3 players at the second to last position in round one. Scouting info provided thanks to Scouts Inc. -- I'd link it, but it's an Insider access page.

Antonio Cromartie
CB | (6'2", 208, 4.44) | Florida State
Scouts Grade: 92

Strengths: Possesses an outstanding combination of size and top-end speed. He is tall with long arms and very good leaping ability. Shows the ability to smother WR's in press coverage and redirect their routes. He is fluid for his size and is able to flip his hips when turning and running vertically. He shows outstanding ball skills and is a natural playmaker. Will challenge for the ball in traffic and shows strong hands. He has good size and strength in run support. A versatile athlete; he has spent time at WR and also flashes a lot of upside as a return specialist.

Weaknesses: Durability is the biggest concern following knee injury in July of 2005. He has been out of football for more than a year. Lacks ideal playing experience and he has never shown great technique. He has lots of room to improve in terms of anticipating routes, reading opposing QB's eyes in zone coverage and finding the ball when turned around.

Overall: Cromartie played in all 13 games as a sub-package cornerback and on special teams as a true freshman in 2003. He played in all 12 games as a sophomore in 2004, finishing with 22 tackles and four interceptions. He also played some wide receiver and averaged 22.9 yards on 19 kickoff returns that season. Cromartie tore ligaments in his left knee during offseason workouts and was forced to sit out the entire 2005 season. Instead of returning to Florida State for his final season of eligibility, Cromartie elected to make the NFL leap after missing the entire 2005 season with a knee injury. While he is still one of the true enigmas in the 2006 class, Cromartie's showing at the combine at least helped to verify his health and impressive combination of size, speed and athletic ability. Not only did he pass his physicals and look smooth during coverage drills, Cromartie ran the 40-yard dash in 4.41 seconds and also led all defensive backs with an 11-foot broad jump. We would still be reluctant to spend first round money on him, Cromartie will be worth the risk in Round 2.

Ashton Youboty
CB | (5'11", 189) | The Ohio State University
Scouts Grade: 91

Strengths: Possesses ideal height, adequate bulk and the frame to get bigger. Is a smooth and fluid athlete for his size. Possesses good top-end speed. He has long arms and good leaping ability to challenge for the ball in the air. He is intelligent and should be able to learn from his mistakes. He plays aggressively in run support. Fills hard, takes decent angles and has developed into a solid open field tackler. Shows playmaking instincts when the ball is in the air and he has outstanding ball skills. He has experience returning punts and shows NFL upside in that capacity.

Weaknesses: Recognition skills are below average. Remains too inconsistent in coverage. Gambles too often and will give up too many big plays consequently. He gives away his tendencies and got burnt for it on several occasions as a junior in 2005 (see Minnesota and Texas games). Lacks ideal bulk and strength. Will have some more trouble taking on bigger blockers and taking down bigger runners in the NFL.

Overall: Youboty enrolled during the winter quarter in 2002. He played as a reserve defensive back in all 13 games of his true freshman season in 2003. Youboty started nine of the 12 games that he played as a sophomore in 2004 and finished with 61 tackles, four interceptions and 14 passes broken up. Youboty started all 12 games as a junior in 2005 and finished with 56 tackles, six TFL, one sack, one interception and nine PBU. Youboty is an early entry prospect with loads of upside but also lots of room to improve. He possesses an outstanding combination of size, athletic ability and speed, and he also flashes playmaking skills as a man-to-man cover corner. However, he inconsistent in terms of his technique and recognition skills in coverage, which leads to entirely too many big plays allowed on his watch. In short, Youboty is by no means a finished product but he has the potential to develop into a shutdown cover corner in the NFL, which is why he could come off the 2006 draft board late in the first round.

Kelly Jennings
CB | (6'0", 180, 4.4) | Miami
Scouts Grade: 89

Strengths: Is tall, has decent bulk and very good speed. Is a smooth athlete. Seems to prefer playing off in coverage. He is solid and steady. Shows good recognition skills and diagnoses plays quickly. At his best in man-to-man coverage but also shows good instincts in zone coverage. He is quick in his pedal and shows burst out of it. He closes quickly on the ball in front of him. Will bat down a lot of passes with his long arms. He has smooth hips and the speed to turn and run with most receivers vertically. He shows catch up speed if he makes a mistake. He has the height, long arms and leaping ability to match up vs. taller receivers on the jump ball. He continues to improve with experience and has the natural athleticism to improve even more. He is a solid open-field tackler who will break down in space and drag the ball carrier down if he has to.

Weaknesses: He isn't overly physical and he doesn't have great technique in press coverage. Lacks ideal bulk and will need to improve his strength. He is a solid open-field tackler but doesn't show good pop at the point of attack and he will get pushed around occasionally by bigger blockers.

Overall: Jennings redshirted in 2001. He missed one game in 2002 after tearing a ligament in his left thumb during fall camp, but he wound up started 12 games that season. He was demoted to the nickel DC spot behind Alphonso Marshall, but wound up starting five of the 13 games that he played that season. As a junior in 2004, Jennings started all 12 games and finished with 40 tackles, two tackles for loss, two interceptions and six broken up passes. Jennings started all 12 games as a senior in 2005 and finished with 32 tackles, three TFL, one sack, three interceptions and 13 PBU. Jennings lacks ideal bulk and strength. He isn't overly flashy or physical in coverage. He will do a decent job in bump-and-run coverage but he seems much more comfortable playing with some cushion. He is a solid open-field tackler but supporting the run is clearly not his passion. The bottom line, however, is that Jennings can take away one-third of the field as a shut-down man-to-man cover corner. He is a smooth athlete with good height and great top-end speed. He also is a high-character person and hard-working player who will work at his craft. For a team that employs primarily man-to-man coverage, Jennings will be a good value in the second round of the 2006 draft.

Because Train Demanded It....

So Train found out I had this on Youtube.com and insisted I post in immediately....

X-Men: Execution Trailer

In a nutshell this is a preview to a fan film I shot a year and a half ago. I shot it for a contest and, for a variety of reasons, never finished it. I got as far as cutting it and color correcting it, but I never finished the sound and there are still 3 pick up shots that I need to shoot. Anyway, about a week ago I started working on it again to finally finish it. Since there's nowhere to really submit it anymore I was just going to float it out on the internet. So, this is the original preview I put together as I was assembling the rought cut of the short.

It's geeky, kinda cheesy and ultra low budget. And yes...that's my real hair.

The answer to the question....Why Goose hates Gary Coleman

So this week we all have come to the realization that there are several things that Goose hates.



The Dallas Cowboys
Serenity
Dr. Laura
and yes, I hate Gary Coleman










Lets flash back to 1990.
Tucson Arizona. Gooses senior year of high school.

I had finished most of high school by my junior year and was only taking two classes my senior year. So I got out of school around 11am. I was working in a restaurant/deli called Eegees.

Gary Coleman was working at a Train Store near the restaurant. He would occasionally come in. He seemed harmless. a little sad. Im pretty sure this was during the time he was in legal disputes with his parents.

One day we were in the middle of the "Lunch Rush". I was working the register and had a line of about 20+ people. In comes Gary Coleman, looking pissed off at the world. Just in a rotten mood. Walks past the 20 people to the front of the line. "Im on my lunch and I need to get back to the store, I need to have my order taken" he tells me.

Now Goose has met many famous people in his lifetime. Steven Spieberg, John Travolta, and most of them are pretty normal people. Down to earth. nice people. One thing that pisses Goose off most of all is the phrase "Do you know who I am?". This phrase above all others chaps my hide. Anyone who believes there are better than someone else just because of a little fame deserves an old fashioned Goose ass kicking.



So back to the story. Im sitting there in front of Gary Coleman who at that moment as you may have well guessed pulls out the phrase that pays. "Do you know who I am?
Goose had ammo, and figured since this wasnt going to be my career forever, I figure what a better way to get fired. I responded to Gary. "You are Gary Coleman, the has-been actor from Different Strokes, now if you want some food get to the back of the line, or just go back to your Toy Train Store"

I've heard of people having a "conniption fit". I also saw Scanners where that Dudes head gets blown off. Gary Coleman saw Red. In one shining moment Goose deflated the mighty ego of Gary Coleman. He huffed, scowled and stormed out of the restaurant. Lated he called the manager to try to get me fired. My manager actually pissed him off too. she asked him to tell me exactly what he said. When he told her she asked him, Did you actually say to him "Do you know who I am?"

So I didnt get fired, was promoted a few months later and still enjoy visiting Eegees when I am in Tuscon. Seatown, you know what Im talkin' about.

I saw Gary a couple of times after that and he just gives me a dirty look and walks away.I watched him on an episode of the Surreal Life a few years ago, when Vanilla Ice threatend to throw him in a Fryer. He got pissed off and left the set. He has that same look on his face as he stormed off....the Gary Coleman Face. He learned one valuable leasson that day.

Gary Coleman....you dont impress Goose.

First time? No, I've been nervous lots of times.

I found a rare dead spot in my day on this rainy Friday afternoon (no, I didn't just write that so you Seattleites will accept me; it really is coming down) so I decided to enter the blog.

Joe told me about this while I was drinking an $12 apple-cranberry martini. Yesterday, I got a $34 parking ticket for an expired meter (my specialty) from the Minneapolis meter maids; that was my second in the last three weeks. Awesome.

Anyway, you guys probably only wanted me in this so you could hear about PoisonPillGate 2006, but since I am a professional journalist and this is probably searchable on google, I will have to keep those discussions offline.

So, here's something fun to do if you have 10 seconds and a sense of humour (just in case John Cleese is reading) ... go to www.google.com and type "failure" in the search box. Then click on "I'm Feeling Lucky" instead of the usual "Google Search."

You'll find that the google engine is infallibly accurate in directing websurfers to the site that best fits their search.

Serenity vs. Riddick Part Deux

A few weeks back, Devin came blasting out of the gate with a scathing review of Serenity as compared to The Chronicles Of Riddick. I hadn't avoided Serenity, but I also hadn't gone out of my way to see it. But how could thousands of geeks be wrong? Well, it turns out they were only half wrong.

Last week I received Serenity from my Netflix queue and watched the film for the first time. Trying to filter out all of the debate over the movie in this here Lodge, I attempted to clear my mind and come in fresh giving Joss Whedon the benefit of the doubt. My first criticism of the movie spawns from it's use of the Papyrus font. Come on. If you are trying to create an original Scifi show/flick, you'd think you'd come up with an original logo and not use a font that I used for my cover pages on essays back in college 10 years ago. Maybe I'm being fickle, but it was pretty cheap looking.

The movie did strike me as impressive, but not without fault. I only gave it a 3 out of 4 stars on Netflix because I did like it. But I had some issues with it, both good and bad. Starting off, the story seemed done to me. Genetic engineering to create passive lifeforms makes some turn into carnage seeking creatures? It was too much like A Brave New World meets 28 Days Later for me. I know art is recycled, but great art is original and inspired. The movies characters were its strength. Great depth in the characters, especially Captain Malcom Reynolds and the smokin hot Inara character. I think having the Firefly headstart really benefitted the film in this instance, because the actors seemed to really believe in their characters. Very seemless, very well done. I'll cut my rant short by ending with the fact that the editing was the worst part of the film. After watching the Special Features and viewing the Deleted Scenes, they all should have been included in the film. Each scene backed up the fantasy world that Joss Whedon (and whats with this guy and female names for males, I think he wrote the man's man character of Jayne to combat his own insecurities about sharing his own name in "Joss" with a female pop singer from the UK, but that's just me) was trying to create. The new worlds scenes in Serenity didn't have the depth of new worlds created in classic Scifi films like Dune, Star Wars, Bladerunner, Star Trek, Pitch Black, The Fifth Element, and many, many more.

And speaking of Pitch Black (which is a far better film than The Chronicles Of Riddick, by the way), that brings my post full circle back to The Chronicles Of Riddick. Devin did a great job getting Jayne's panties up in a bunch a while back. So when I was walking through Best Buy last night and was perusing the DVD racks, I almost got a side ache laughing so hard when I saw Serenity packaged with The Chronicles Of Riddick in a DVD Combo 2-pack. Hilarious. I called Devin immediately and shared my joy. Now I share it with the Lodge.

A Message to the USA from John Cleese

To the citizens of the United States of America:

In light of your failure to elect competent Senators and Congressmen and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately.

Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (excepting Kansas, which she does not fancy). Your new Prime Minister, Tony Blair, will appoint a governor for America without the need for further elections.

Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed.

To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

You should look up "revocation" in the Oxford English Dictionary. Then look up "aluminium," and check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it.

The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'favour' and 'neighbour.'

Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters, and the suffix "ize" will be replaced by the suffix "ise."

Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels (look up "vocabulary"). Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as "like" and "you know" is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication.

There is no such thing as "US English." We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter 'u' and the elimination of "-ize."

You will relearn your original national anthem "God Save The Queen." July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday. November 2nd will be a new national holiday, but to be celebrated only in England. It will be called "Come-Uppance Day."

You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not adult enough to be independent. Guns should be handled only by adults. If you're not adult enough to sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist, then you're not grown up enough to handle a gun. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. A permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and this is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean.

All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the
British sense of humour.

The Former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling "gasoline") -- roughly $6/US gallon. Get used to it.

You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called "crisps." Real chips are thick-cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.

The cold, tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as "beer," and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as "Lager." American brands will be referred to as "Near-Frozen Gnats' Urine," so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion.

Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie MacDowell attempt English dialogue in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater.

You will cease playing American "football." There is only one kind of proper football; you call it "soccer." Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American "football," but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies).

Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the "World Series" for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware that there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable.

You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.

An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776).

Thank you for your co-operation.

HOF Friday

Goose, I'm going to take the reigns here for one Friday and pose a Hall Of Fame question to the Lodge. Is "Neon" Deion Sanders a Hall Of Famer? Is he a first ballot HOF? What does the Lodge think? After Sanders turned into a player for hire, he was both a Cowboy and a Redskin, throwing that bias out the window for Jimbo & Goose. On February 13 of this year, Deion retired for the second and final time. "Primetime" was on Quite Frankly with some guy this past Tuesday, still talking big & flashing style, of course, now it's with his mouth & clothes instead of his game. How ESPN fit the 2 large heads of Steven A. Smith and Deion Sanders in the same room is a mystery to me.

The knock on Deion throughout his career was that he was soft against the run. Do ya'll agree? And do you think this "hole" in his game should keep him out of the HOF? To that same question, posed by Steven A. Smith, Sanders replied with, "When your game is strong, they have to find something wrong." Clever, Deion. Another example of how Sanders mouth & massive ego probably will take some HOF votes away from his cause come voting time. But I think his career numbers & game changing play do hold up his story.

Drafted 5th in 1989 NFL Draft out of Florida State, Deion Sanders was an 8 time Pro Bowl selection, the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1994, and won a Super Bowl with the 49ers that same year. Hate him or love him, you had to admit that he changed the game in his prime, so to speak. Deion's ego probably fueled his move into a two-sport "star" playing in MLB. He never was an All-Star as a part-time baseball player, but he is the only man to have played in a MLB and NFL game during the same day, and is also the only player to play in both a Super Bowl and World Series.

While on Quite Frankly, Deion said he eventually wants to be Head Coach in the NFL. Do you believe it? I don't. I just can't believe his ego won't get the way of being a "company man" for an NFL franchise. An NFL Head Coach needs to check his ego at the door at times, and I don't believe Deion can ever do that. That's why he hung it up finally after this past season. "Primetime" was no longer what his nickname claimed and his ego couldn't take it. That being said, I believe Deion Sanders is a first ballot Hall Of Famer. He dominated the game for around a decade, he changed the game when he was on the field, both defensively and returning punts. Sure, he probably changed the game in bad ways too with his antics. But Sanders is a HOF. Like a 50 Cent prose... hate it or love it.

Resistance is Futile

I actually did resist the empire two weeks ago. Courtesy of the Seattle Times they caught me frontside of the Che-PR custom flag. (btw - i do not condone communism) Of course if you know what this issue is about you likely may not have an opinion. Because really i didn't even know about this rally until the day of. But my consideration of it forced me to leave work early because the application of any law pro/con immigration makes me look bad. Why? Because my family is now in its 5th generation in the United States yet I am mistaken as a foreigner or assumed to be from somewhere else. The passing of any legislation in addition to media hype will force me to constantly reprove my identity on a regular basis. This after affect may not matter to some of you. To me that is my only concern, not letting people in or getting people out; the generalization and marginalization of people is incorrect and disregards that color exists within the major citizenship of the nation now. Don't get your panties stinky over this, this is a socio-relational issue for me, not political.

#3 Draft Pick

Goose has been wanting to know who Vic Johanson is. Well, my friends... Vic Johanson is my #3 Draft Pick. Apparently Vic Johanson has been reading the Lodge everyday for the past couple of months and wants to chime in with his own thoughts and opinions on things. Alas, Vic Johanson is my old roommate, Greg Swinehart. Greg knows entirely way too many good and bad stories about my life (since we've known eachother for over 10+ years), so I'm a little nervous about letting him in the Lodge. And before ya'll start b!tching about me getting 3 draft picks... let's review the fact that Jimbo offered places in the Lodge for the first two, I was only their sponsor. Plus, they've both added a certain flare to the Lodge. And Jayne has a Sci-fi geek to hang out with in The Duke. But basically it comes down to if Jimbo likes a guy or not. And Jimbo has thrown down bones with Greg, and apparently that's good enough for him.

Greg became my roommate our Senior year at Western and later again in Seattle a few years after graduating. Greg is a drummer, addicted to caffeine, loves him a Guinness, Tim Hortons and will talk to you about movies & music until the wee hours of the morn. Trust me, we've done it many a time. Just an all around good guy. Greg is getting married in June also, to a smart-ass girl who's hilarious herself.

So there's a brief synopsis. Tuesday night, after Greg sat in on drums to play with another close friend BWard (aka "Short Bus" to The Dude) for a Graham Travis set at the Croc, I sat down with him at the bar and found out that Greg read the Lodge everyday, and that he wanted in. So basically Greg wanted to join the Lodge, and Jimbo obliged in kind, and I blame Guinness. Vic Johanson folks... but let's just refer to Greg as "Greg" though, because Vic Johanson is only a funny name for so long, then it just gets pretty weird. Kinda like Greg himself. I kid... I kid! In addition, Swinehart has been told that we expect 2 posts for the first 3 weeks and frequent commenting on other Lodge members posts hereafter. So bring it, Greg... like Dae-su with a hammer. Bring the hammer. Or just bring a Korean, that'll do too. Or maybe just a shrubbery. Then, when you have found the shrubbery, you must place it here, beside this shrubbery, only slightly higher so you get a two layer effect with a little path running down the middle.

Who the Hell is Vic?

So while we count down Thursday and get ready for Victor J. to give a proper introduction post (or at least an intro post by his sponser)...in keeping with the political tone that Train set earlier this week...I give you:

"It won't feel like Saturday's in the Fall...

...because I know the Huskies won't lose"

So this Saturday 04.22.06, in addition to 2.0 evening gathering, I'm trying to gather the troops for the Huskies Spring Game happening at 1245pm and for the very low price of free (how else am I going to get Dude and Train out?) Here's how it shapes up:

-Women's Soccer Scrimmage at 10am
-Volleyball Scrimmage at 10am
-Football Scrimmage at 12:45pm (autographs on field following game)
-Men's Tennis vs. Oregon at 2pm
-Softball vs. Oregon State at 2pm

Here's the Lodge's Itenerary (pending):

*Head down to the Dutchess at 11-ish or so and have a few tankards, then make the walk down to the Stadium to watch the complete lack of gamebreakers on the offensive end..

Let me know if anyone is interested.

You Can't Have One Coleman Without The Other...