When the Seahawks face the Minnesota Vikings tonight in their first pre-season game (5:00 p.m. on KONG-TV, 710 AM, 97.3 FM) there will be a number of sub-plots to watch. Tonight marks the first night in nine seasons without Shaun Alexander on the sidelines (or in the game, if the stars were lined up). After cutting Alexander in the off-season, the Hawks are going with a back-field-by-committee approach that has brought real competition to......

Sports fans around the city are saying goodbye to Shaun Alexander. The former NFL MVP was released by the Seahawks following eight seasons. Now, we may be saying good-bye to Safeco Field. Liberty Mutual’s purchase of Safeco might mean a new name for the city’s baseball stadium. San Francisco’s baseball stadium opened up a few months after Safeco, and was originally named Pac Bell for the phone company Pacific Bell, a few years late......

On Saturday we will be in a land where betting on sports is not only legal, they reward you with free drinks for doing so. We'll be placing some money on the Seahawks, with the understanding that if they lose we are out both happiness and money. Losing bets never has a reward, except in the case of the chefs of Lambeau and Qwest Field. Wouldn’t you know that Levy Restaurants is in charge of......

The Seattle Times breaks the story of just how diseased college sports fans have become. The newspaper got about 1,000 emails that Husky fans sent to University of Washington president Mark Emmert, athletic director Todd Turner, and coach Ty Willingham through a public records request. At least 100 emails, say Times reporters Nick Perry, Bob Condotta, and Ken Armstrong, included threats of withholding financial support. But an email from Ed Hansen, founder of Frontier......

Not sure we've ever seen a win for which the credit belongs so overwhelmingly to the defense. For most of the game, the Seahawks' defensive line was able to get pressure with only four rushers. By establishing that, they were able to drop guys back into coverage, which led to the two pick sixes. The offense? The special teams? Not so great. But let's enjoy this one for now, shall we? Here's the scene at......

This fall we are combining our love of the football and our dream of learning to cook. On Sunday morning, following a trip to a local farmer’s market/major supermarket chain, we will be preparing a meal from the city of the Seahawks opponent. Then at halftime we will throw our badly burned hands in the air and make hot dogs. Seahawks vs. Deep Dish Pizza Preview On Sunday morning while Shaun Alexander was looking deep......

Tonight, the nation's hardcore gamblers' eyes will be on Seattle as our fair burgh hosts Monday Night Football. The Hawks' opponent is the San Francisco 49ers, the team that was everyone's trendy pick to be a darkhorse contender in the NFC, with the eminently predictable result that they've started 2-6. Here's how ESPN's The Sports Guy saw it in his season preview:Call it the Winston Wolf "Let's Not Start Sucking Each Other's Popsicles Yet"......

Lately the Seahawks' offense has been about as offensive as a Bastyr College commencement address. Against Pittsburgh on Sunday, they didn't score once (much like your average Bastyr College commencement speaker, unless we're talking about scoring weed). What's wrong? Well, it sure ain't the coach. Mike Holmgren has called the plays for four Super Bowl teams--as easy as it is to blame the coach, we can rule it out in this case. Thus, it's the......

An NFL-record streak ended today with the Seahawks' loss to the Steelers. Shaun Alexander had had a run of at least ten yards in 68 consecutive games. But not today. Alexander's longest run, which came late in the fourth quarter, was only eight yards. He rushed for 25 yards on 11 carries, his worst game since 11/17/02 at Denver, when he had 18 yards on 11 carries. But, as Alexander himself stated in "The Road......

As we were ducking out of yet another Garfield blowout loss to Franklin, we joked to our friends, "What if the Huskies and Seahawks lose too! That would sure suck." But the Huskies were only three point underdogs, and the Seahawks favored to beat lowly Arizona, so we laughed the laugh of a man who's about to go late to a dinner party. We were still laughing at halftime of the Husky game, having moseyed......

Yesterday some guys from SFist emailed about a bet of some kind they wanted to make. When the Seahawks beat the 'Niners on Thursday night we'd get to post some gloating thing on their site. That was the gist of it. Well, it blew up in our faces, in play-by-play form, no less. Here's SFist Christopher Rogers reporting for Seattlest: Holy fancy baby Jesus on a Kaiser roll, the 49ers beat the Seahawks? In storm......

- Tonight: Seahawks vs. Packers, 5:30 pm on ESPN and Channel 11. -Thanks to the Rams, a Seahawk win would give them a two game lead in the division. A loss would cause the KJR phone lines to explode. -Quarterbacks Matt Hasselbeck and Brett Favre will play, but Old Man Tobeck's hip is acting up, and he will not. -In Wisconsin they are wondering if Shaun Alexander and former Seahawk turned Packer Ahman Green are......

--Last night's Frontline was on ex-Spokane mayor Jim West, and today the Spokesman Review has posted a reaction. --Some of these Zune backgrounds lead us to believe that Microsoft execs have been shopping at American Apparel recently. --This is the best sports-related post by Charles Mudede that we can recall. Also the only... --Shaun Alexander practiced today and looked great, but keep your fingers crossed prayers coming--the real question is: Will his foot feel......

--Miss Kirkland has a tip for beauty crown aspirants: Lose weight! --The Mike Jones that Ted Haggard may have gotten meth and massages from isn't a rapper who invites you to call him on his cell phone at (281) 330-8004. There is a Mike Jones like that, though. --Matthew Baldwin's election guide at McSweeney's Internet Tendency will gently scrub away the memories of all the other voting guides you've had to endure these past......

--You may be surprised to hear that Shaun Alexander's foot isn't completely healed and he won't play next week, but we aren't because we know that foot injuries don't fully heal until your favorite player starts kicking ass in the playoffs for someone else's team. --The Seattle Times proved it doesn't get the story of itself today when it buried this tidbit in an article about its sinking circulation: "But the NAA also said......

Doctors found damage to Matt Hasselbeck's medial-collateral ligament, injured Sunday on what some Hawks say was a dirty hit. He could miss as much as a month. Mike Sando of Seahawks Insider assesses the situation thusly: Every individual is different, so we don't want to rule out an earlier return. But remember when Mike Holmgren suggested Shaun Alexander might miss a couple weeks? They seem to err on the side of caution, which makes sense......

On the last day of September, the Huskies beat Arizona for their third consecutive victory, and the Seahawks were in Chicago, feeling pretty good about inaugurating October against the Bears. Sure, Shaun Alexander was out, but their potent four-receiver attack had rolled over the Giants. But that night the gridiron gods turned their calendars. Maybe theirs had a particularly ugly picture of the EMP, or Ken Schram, or that WTO protester in the turtle suit,......

God was evidently too busy granting the prayers of this guy, or perhaps there is no God at all, as Shaun Alexander's foot is still broken. From the Seattle Times: Alexander spent most of Tuesday at the Hawks' training facility getting a barrage of treatments. He said he had a bone machine and "all kinds of gadgets" delivered to his house and by the end of the day he was "feeling pretty good." Even now,......

According to Seahawks Insider, Shaun Alexander says his foot doesn't hurt anymore--not after he spent a few days praying about it. Says Mike Sando, the Insider: The foot stopped hurting Tuesday and word spread as Alexander began alerting friends and family. Alexander's brother, Durran, confirmed this today and said his famous brother plans to undergo additional tests today. These stories are rare but not without precedent. Reggie White credited prayer for healing his injured......

If you saw any of the Hawks win yesterday, you saw Shaun Alexander hobbling around gingerly. Turns out he's got a broken foot, and he could miss as much as a month. Here's the thing about foot injuries--they can recur, they don't heal well, and they are impossible to ignore. A guy can play football with a broken wrist, but you can't stay off your feet, no way. Maurice Morris, who's a good back but......

There are some Seattle sports fans who complain that our teams don't get enough national media attention. Yeah, we know it's true, and there are times when it irks us a bit, but we understand. Seriously, have you seen where we are on a map? Ultimately we really don't care because know it doesn't matter. There is one national publication, however, which has been giving our local squads a lot of attention recently, The Onion.......

Last night the Seahawks re-signed NFL MVP running back Shaun Alexander to an eight-year, $62 million contract. Alexander gets $15 million of it up front. Goodbye, credit card debt. Don't be fooled by the eight years. It's unlikely that Alexander will still be playing in 2013, when he's 36. NFL contracts are typically front-loaded, and players are asked to restructure their contracts as they get older. Alexander may not even be playing in 2006,......

Rainier Beach, Seattlest's favorite high school hoops team, got upset in the state quarterfinals last night, by Lynden High. But, really, what chance did they stand against a team that has players with names like Dirk Dallas and Brady Bomber. Dallas had 19 points, Bomber had 15. Is this a high school basketball team or a 30's detective novel? The Seahawks released two defensive starters and a no-name, possibly to free up the money they'll......

Feeling lucky? The Super Bowl's the time to enlarge your wallet by beating the bookmakers. You can bet on practically anything about the game. To wit: Who will be the first offensive lineman called for a holding penalty? The Hawks' Sean Locklear is the favorite, at 11/2. What player will have the longest single reception in the game? Darrell Jackson is the favorite, at 7/2, but the value bet is Joe Jurevicius at 8/1. Who......

Google added a couple of zoom levels to their satellite maps two days ago and while we were panning around downtown Seattle trying to spot ourselves we came across Qwest field filled with fans and the away team pinned inside the five. One hundred Seattlest Credits (absolutely no value) to the fanatic who can tell us when this game happened, what the final score was, and how many times Shaun Alexander pointed at heaven.......

Some things are gone, or going. Any remaining pith in the song Sweet Home Alabama: Originally penned as a retort to Neil Young's Southern Man (message: shut up, Neil, you ignorant shit), it's been co-opted to honor the Seahawks' playoff run. "Dustin Blatnik and the 12th Man Band" have repurposed the anthem as "Sweet Shaun Alexander." KJR-AM is playing it, and other Seahawks-inspired rock. Full non-sensical lyrics (and a hot picture of Alexander's wife) on......

It's six days until the biggest NFL game of his life, and where's Seahawks' starting right tackle Sean Locklear? In jail! Cops are holding Locklear, part of an offensive line that paved running back Shaun Alexander's path to the NFL MVP award, on suspicion of domestic violence. Allegedly, Locklear choked his girlfriend because he was angry that she danced with another man. Now, everyone has their own ways of expressing displeasure in a relationship. But......

As our roommate put it: "How old was I the last time the Seahawks won a playoff game? 28!" After Sunday's dramatic 20-10 win over Washington, the team's first playoff victory since 1984, the Seattle Seahawks (or "Shithawks" as they are known in other cities) will host the NFC Championship game next Sunday against the Carolina Panthers. The winner goes to the Super Bowl. The Hawks have advanced this far in the playoffs only once,......

When he tied Priest Holmes' touchdown record, Shaun Alexander gave each member of the Seahawks offensive line a hug. Before the Packers game, he gave them each a Christmas gift--a portable digital video recorder. Today, Alexander became the first Seahawk to be named the NFL's MVP after breaking the single-season TD mark. So the lineman probably deserve something extra, no? Maybe our gift guide would help? Regardless, the names of all five offensive lineman, who......

The Seahawks finally made the cover of Sports Illustrated. Shaun Alexander, on the verge of breaking the all-time rushing touchdown record, is deemed worthy of the honor. The Dec. 19th edition's cover also has a small pic of Gonzaga star and Spokane native Adam Morrison. Northwest, represent! The Mariners have had five players on an SI cover--Gaylord Perry, Ken Griffey, Jr. (four times), Jay Buhner, Randy Johnson, and Ichiro. Griffey's first SI cover was the......