Sporty Blog - The Sport Blog

Funny how the news biz works, as I was hunting around for other riveting news stories – I ran across an article proclaiming that the Legendary New York Cosmos soccer team was potentially one step closer to returning to action, albeit this time in Major League Soccer. (MLS)

As a ‘Wee lad growing up and attending several Seattle Sounders matches in the aging Memorial Stadium at the Seattle Center, when they were part of the North American Soccer League (NASL) the Cosmos were the leagues premiere team with the likes of soccer God Pele, “The Enforcer,” aka Franz Beckenbauer, and Carlos Alberto.

And although I never saw the Cosmos in person, this team still resonates firmly in la Memory banks… As it was none other then the BLEEPIN’ Cosmos who the Seattle Sounders lost Soccer Bowl ’77 to in a heartbreaking 2-1 defeat in front of 35,000+ adoring Pacific Northwest fans at a dreary, wet Portland Civic Stadium, which I’ve read was described as creaky – having been built in the roaring 1920’s…

Yet, the Cosmos along with the rest of their competitors disappeared way back circa ’84 when the NASL folded and haven’t been seen since, thus I was surprised to read that a facsimile of the team had been resurrected and played against the all conquering Manchester United in a celebratory match Across-thee-Pond in Bloody Brittan’s Old Trafford stadium; apparently the first North American team to do so. - As the match was in deference to the retiring Paul Scholes…

This was the first time in nearly thirty years that the signature solitary white Cosmos ‘Uni’s had been seen on a soccer pitch, albeit the team was summarily thumped 6-0 in this match, yet could be the precursor of things to come?

Apparently the team’s new owner Paul Kemsley is trying to convince MLS Commissioner Don Garber to award the leagues next Franchise spot to the club, which would intern see two rival New York clubs playing in Major League Soccer as the New York Red Bulls are currently in the league. And the only sticking point at the moment is the fact that the Cosmos organization doesn’t have a stadium to play in.

But in an effort to entice MLS to award them an expansion franchise; Kemsley and his Cosmos organization have put on a major full court marketing press by purchasing two elite youth soccer development academy’s in New York and Los Angeles along with obtaining an NY soccer tournament and renaming it the Cosmos Copa.

So will this revered soccer entity return to the shores of North America fulltime in Major League Soccer? Only time will tell…

So I’m guessing I’ll get bamboozled for admitting I was hoping the Seattle Mariners would break the Major League Baseball’s All-time consecutive games lost streak of 21-games recently. As it wasn’t like they weren’t hitting the ball – having lost their 15th straight game 12-8 vs. the Boston Red sox while breaking the clubs previous loss record set back in 1992. As nothing seemed to be stopping the losing streak, not even Mariners manager Eric Wedge shaving off his revered and most famous mustache…

Yet, as the Mariners were enroute to snapping the streak by defeating the New York Yankees 9-2 July 27th behind the performance of their ace ‘Bronx Bomber pitcher Felix Hernandez, whilst shelling the Yankees with 17-hits - another piece of local Sports lore was passing away quietly…

Although the Seattle Mariners organization seems to be claiming that Rick Kaminski, revered simply as thee ‘PeanutMann and a mainstay of Safeco Field as the Mariner’s Peanut Man, of which may be true upon his later years – passed away at the age of 67 upon suffering a brain aneurysm Tuesday night July 26th.

Yet I remember Mr. Kaminski as a thin wiry man of medium height with black hair and a very bushy black beard poking out from underneath his requisite (paper?) vendor’s hat as he walked his nearly seven miles of stadium daily whilst lugging his peanut cart around.

You see, the PeanutMann was famous for his amazing amount of wizardry of tossing peanuts to would be purchasers, with his assortment of behind-the-back, under-the-legs and over the shoulder/head seamless blind tosses of requested peanut bags to which he was amazingly accurate with; as one fan even mused upon his passing that he was more accurate with his delivery than Hernandez!

And I recall seeing him in action several times at the Kingdome, where I believe he tossed out peanuts at various Seahawks, Mariners and Supersonics games? Having begun his acrobatic deliveries of said roasted nuts way back in 1977… HELL! I most likely even bought a bag or three from him at some point?

Thus, the PeanutMann now joins a select cast of local Sports figures in the unofficial Ring of Honour alongside Bill-the-Beerman, Dave Niehaus, Wayne Cody and Pete Gross who were all colourful characters of Seattle’s tapestry of local celebrities being fondly admired and greatly appreciated for their tireless efforts of making Seattle Sports Fans happy with their signature personalities…

I’ve previously scribbled ‘bout the Tennessee Titans picking University of Washington Huskies Quarterback Jake Locker No. 8 overall in this year’s first round of the National Football League’s Draft – Y’all remember that? It was before that stupid thingy called the Lockout…

And its funny, as I had a fellow Tennessean Blogger mention to me how he was hoping the Titans would pick-up Matt Hassleback as a tutor for the untested Locker before the news broke in Seattle.

Yet I suppose the writing was on the wall when it was announced on Tuesday that the Seattle Seahawks had done a deal with the Minnesota Vikings to secure the services of perennial Brett “FAX THIS!” Favre back-up Tarvaris Jackson, which clearly signaled that the Seahawks were heading in a different direction at their QB position, after the team’s Head Coach “Mister Excitement,” aka Pete Carroll had previously stated that the re-signing of Hassleback was a priority, albeit that was back in January…

Thus I was only mildly surprised when on Wednesday night I read that the Tennessee Titans had a deal in principal done with the current face of the Seattle Seahawks; as after ten years at the helm, Matt Hassleback at age 35 would be joining the Titans, with previous starters Carry Collins retiring after 16-years in the NFL and Vince Young being dumped, Err traded or released as soon as possible…

Meanwhile in another odd twist, which I think potentially could be a steal for Seattle, its also been announced that the Seahawks have secured the services of Vikings Wide Receiver Sydney Rice for five years… As the talented Rice who was Brett “CHECK OUT MY NEW SHOES” Favre’s favourite target – was apparently let go after spending the majority of last year on the sidelines after suffering multiple migraine headaches. As the six-foot four-inches wideout will give Tarvaris Jackson another tall target to throw at along with Seattle’s Mike Williams, (6’5”) a previous top ten draft choice who dropped out of professional football for two years and fell off of the NFL radar before making an improvable return with his past College Football coach – Pete Carroll during his USC Trojans PAC-10 reign…

Although the Seattle Seahawks have been in Qwest of returning to the Superbowl for six seasons now, and most likely a few more – will now instead be trying to wriggle themselves outta thee “Clink,” as the Seattle venue that was originally named Seahawks Stadium has once again changed Moniker’s…

Qwest Communications (telephone provider) was born out of the ashes of the takeover of US West in 2003, one of the many “Baby Bell’s” from the break-up of the original AT&T, and bought the Seahawks Stadium naming rights in 2004. Yet Qwest has now been sold to Century Link instead, effective April 1, 2011 - who immediately renamed it Century Link Field – having also announced taking up the naming rights option that Qwest held for 2014-2019 upon unveiling the stadium’s new logo…

Yet readers of the Seattle Times overwhelmingly chose to call it Clink Field:

“A natural would be to refer to the field as C-Link, uttered as CLINK Field.
“A little education of the public would have them come to the definition of “clink” as the sound of metal coming together.
A clinker is a mass of incombustible matter fused together, as in the burning of coal … also a hard brick used for paving.
With a little time and promotion our Seahawks would take on a bit of the Pittsburgh Steelers aura as clinker-tough.”
Richard Cardwell, Seattle

As perhaps The Clink would be a good place for Seahawks Wide Receiver Golden Tate to find solitude in right now – after having pissed off legions of ‘RASSCAR Fans by tweeting that NASCAR drivers aren’t real athletes…

Continuing on with le Americana theme… I was most pleasantly surprised to learn that none other then ‘Warshatonian Homeboy Tyler Farrar has won his very first Tour de France stage, with the 27yr old Wenatchee, Washington native no less capturing the stage 3 victory on the Fourth of July. Can Y’all say red, white and blue? As Farrar described it as the icing on the cake; as any stage win is significant, but to capture your debutant win upon the Fourth, it just doesn’t get any better then that! As Tyler becomes the first ‘Yank to win a stage since Levi Leipheimer did so back in 2007 - and as Farrar crossed the line triumphantly, raising his hands he made a very unique fingers & thumbs signal in the shape of a “W” in honour of his recently fallen best friend, training partner and fellow cyclist Wouter Weylandt.

Meanwhile, fellow Pacific Northwest competitor Chris Horner hasn’t been joining in the ecstasy of Farrar’s, as I’ve just discovered that Horner, of Bend, Oregon was involved in a nasty crash during Stage-7, where Bradley Wiggins suffered a broken collarbone, whilst Horner broke his nose, suffered a concussion and also injured his right calf muscle, and has subsequently withdrawn from this year’s Tour prior to Stage-8. Horner has since been recuperating in Hospital as the RadioShack Team has had a very difficult start of this year’s tour with multiple riders involved in crashes…

As this year’s tour has been so overwrought with crashes – that I’ve seen one headline proclaiming it as le Tour de Carnage! And adding to this moniker was the fact that Netherlands Johnny Hoogerland – who wept upon being awarded the tour’s Polka dot jersey somewhat resembled le Michelin Man after having been pitched into a barbed wire fence upside-down after he and Juan Antonio Flecha were flung sideways from their bicycle saddles when being struck by a French TV media automobile in the latter kilometers of Sunday’s Stage-9. As Hoogerland’s Polka dot jersey was quite lumpish from his multiple midriff bandages! Not to mention requiring 33-stiches to his legs…

But the peloton rolls on – as we’re now up to Stage 10 having been completed on Tuesday, (July 12th) after a much needed and most likely welcomed Rest Day (Monday) with Germany’s André Greipel nnipping Britain’s Mark Cavendish at the line, as ‘Cav was ironically defeated by his ex-teammate and arch rival Greipel – who’s called out Cavendish as being Selfish on several occasions prior to leaving the HTC team.

Yet France’s Thomas Volcker, who took over wearing the leaders Yellow jersey after finishing runner-up in Stage 9 from Norway’s Thor Hushovd, retained possession of le yellow for a second consecutive day; Just-in-Time to wear said jersey before flocks of adorning fans from his Home town - and now hopes to hang onto it thru the fast approaching Bastille Day on Thursday. (July 14th)

Meanwhile, the Top three cyclists for this year’s overall honours: Alberto Contador, Andy Schleck and Cattle Evans have just remained vigilant of riding in the pack and conserving their energy whilst awaiting the daunting mountain stages, which I believe begin on Stage 12 in the Pyrénées. As Evans, currently third overall is a scant 2-minutes 26-seconds behind Voeckler, with Schleck in fifth, 02:37 back and Contador, 04:07 adrift from the current leader.

As all three premiere riders will begin their respective assaults upon the Tour’s Yellow jersey in the mountains – where Chris Horner previously decreed: Nobody can stay with Contador!

And for those of you wondering, the Yellow jersey is awarded to the Tour’s overall leader from the day’s prior stage’s combined overall time standings. The Green jersey is awarded to the leader of the Sprint category and the Polka dot jersey is awarded to the leader of the King Of the Mountain (KOM) standings. With the Sprint and KOM – for best climber being separate championships inside of the Tour, along with the Team standings…