It's not too often that the people who write the stories can become the story. But once in awhile, you recognize and appreciate the persons that act as a faithful conduit for the information and insight you avidly consume.

In the Seahawks fan cyber-universe, Mike Sando is widely regarded as being among the best in the business. Not being content with delivering regular stories in Tacoma's fish wrap, he has used his blog to become the motherload of bright, honest and deep Seahawks information. Maybe Seth from Seattlest put it best, describing Sando as a 'Seahawks Monster':

"This man covers the Seahawks like Cookie Monster eats cookies. Sando's got Seahawks crumbs flying out of his mouth, cascading down his front, like C.M., he probably has his own Seahawks covering song...or movie.

In the past week, Sando's provided on his Seahawks Insider blog:

--An Excel spreadsheet displaying the results of 13 different Seahawks mock drafts.

--Another spreadsheet showing--just for fun--every pick in the 1996 draft.

--A PDF file showing upcoming public appearances by Seahawks players.

--A revealing chat with Titans coach Jeff Fisher about drafting defensive backs (which is what the Hawks are expected to do).

Last week, Sando posted an Excel spreadsheet of the Seahawks roster...sortable by position, by draft number, even by height. Unfortunately, the blog's been redesigned and we can't find that post.

Note: this isn't the place for smartest-guy-in-the-room commentary. Sando keeps his opinions to himself and simply provides information. An avalanche of information. This may be the best blog of its kind anywhere."

I tend to agree. I can't think of anyone that even comes close.

Which leads me to another worry -- will someone this effective stay in this position? I can't help but think of the ESPN.com's Senior NFL Writer, John Clayton. Although he got his start covering the Steelers in Pennsylvania, it was his work at the same company, the Tacoma News-Tribune, that became his springboard to a career on the national stage.

Will Sando follow suit? Recent developments make me wonder. For example, ESPN2's Cold Pizza has been spending the recent offeason taking a five minute look at an NFL team each day. Who do they call on to be the Resident Seahawks Guru? Who else.

In case you missed it:

http://www.dropshots.com/videolink.php?userid=88103&cdate=20070225&ctime=200306&showVideo=1

Sure, he was a stiffer than The Watchdog at a petting zoo, but he was good for his first try.

But why does this feel like he's getting ready to ride off into the sunset? He just cleaned up this town. Now it seems like he is getting ready to hop on his white horse and find his next big adventure, ala Clayton.

Add to this his recent blog entry regarding the rare and special access given to him at the NFL combine, it appears the national stage is ready and waiting for him.

I bet he's here one more season. After that, we'll have a huge empty cookie jar in Seahawks land.

bloof@seahawkblue.com

[Comments taken in SeahawkBlue Forums]

Labels: Bloof, Mike Sando

1) Indianapolis Colts - SuperBowl XLI champs. Nowhere to go but down.

2) New England Patriots - 2 first round picks after a re-building year that took them to the AFC Championship game.

3) New Orleans Saints - Last off-season saved the Saints franchise in New Orleans. Thanks Houston.

4) Baltimore Ravens - Stifling defense, but an offense that depends too heavily on McNair.

5) San Diego Chargers - The best team in the NFL. Too bad the owner and GM are idiots.

6) Chicago Bears - Pushed their DC out the door, can't re-sign Lovie and don't have a QB. Aside from that, all is well.

7) Jacksonville Jaguars - A QB away from something magical.

8) San Francisco 49ers - Beat Seattle twice, but with Turner heading to the Land of Oz, the offense may stumble.

9) Seattle Seahawks - Two Josh Brown FGs away from being 1-5 in their division. One and five.

10) Carolina Panthers - Getting older, window is closed.

11) Kansas City Chiefs - Solid D, strong running game and a great TE. Weak at WR and questionable at QB.

12) St. Louis Rams - Linehan has to lower the boom on stupid penalties. And stop the run.

13) New York Jets - Eric Man'Genius' caught lightning in a bottle. I'm wondering if he can screw down the cap before it gets out?

14) Dallas Cowboys - Jerrah hired himself a puppet. This is the first step along the walk of ineptitude.

15) Cincinatti Bengals - On paper, a powerhouse. Too bad the paper has been filed with the rest of the court documents. Ended the season with more arrests than wins.

16) Pittsburgh Steelers - Getting older, in cap hell, and Jerry Porter might want a raise.

17) Philadelphia Eagles - McNabb will be back for the start of the season. Taking Garcia out drops the Eagles 4 spots.

18) Denver Broncos - An unimpressive debut for Cutler, and now, because of tragedy, they need to find a corner in the draft.

19) Green Bay Packers - Favre is coming back. Lombardi isn't.

20) New York Giants - Weak everywhere, except left tackle. Oh, yeah, they released Petitgout. Now, weak everywhere.

21) Atlanta Falcons - Fired Mora, kept Vick. Owner is obviously confused.

22) Minnesota Vikings - Lost Mike Tomlin (DC) to the Steelers and Tavaris Jackson could be their starting QB. Enough said.

23) Arizona Cardinals - Leinert makes the O-line better than it is. Now that they've got a real coach, the light at the end of the tunnel might not be the front of an oncoming train.

24) Tennessee Titans - Young is what Vick was supposed to be.

25) Washington Redskins - With a thin free-agent market this year, the 'Skins might have to try to get players through the draft. Of course, they've got no money to sign them, but they'll figure that out. Really.

26) Buffalo Bills - Now that Levy has a year under his belt, maybe he can coax Flutie back.

27) Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Releasing Chris Sims, one organ at a time.

28) Miami Dolphins - Joey Harrington is at the top of the depth chart!??!?

29) Detroit Lions - I almost feel sorry for their fans. But, then they cheered for the Steelers.

30) Houston Texans - Passed up Leinert, Young and Cutler last year for David Carr. I thought they knew football in Texas?

31) Cleveland Browns - Poor coaching, no QB, no O-line, terrible defense (but, when your on the field that often, who wouldn't be?). But still, they are better than the Raiders.

32) Oakland Raiders - Don't worry Raider fans, Al Davis couldn't live that much longer, could he?

[Comments taken in SeahawkBlue Forums]

Labels: Power Ranking, Tfer

What do Mike Martz and Norv Turner have in common? They both can do outstanding things for any NFL teams offensive attack - that's no-brainer number one. The other screaming no-brainer is they should never be given the keys to the whole show again -ever.

Tell that to the San Diego Chargers, or rather, explain it to their long suffering fans.

The hiring of Norv Turner as the new Charger HC is mind-boggling at best. His eight year totals at the helm of the Redskins and Raiders are a discouraging 58-82-1. But this time the Chargers are not the only losers. The 49ers will suffer because of this as well.

Norv Turner is once again headed for disaster when he should have stayed put doing the thing he does best, namely, backing up a good Head Coach in Mike Nolan. That's his calling, and he's very good at developing young offensive talent. A look at the 49ers resurgence over the last couple of years is testimony of that.

At the same time, one look at his last attempt to fit in the big chair reveals a Raider team that is still in shambles largely due to his inability to motivate and control an entire team rather than just the offense.

I'm don't have my crystal ball back from the shop yet, but in this case I don't think I need much more than my seven brain cells to see the fall-out from this debacle.

Everyone loses.

The 49ers lose a key building block for their puzzle. The Chargers will lose their hard-earned progress and end up on the wrong side of .500 within two years, and the fans will lose their minds in San Diego and form a lynch-mob for Turner.

Yes friends I predict that being a Chargers fan is going to suck immensely over the next few years.

Can you say "Raiders South?"


[Comments taken in SeahawkBlue Forums]

Reaction Threads
49er fans a wee bit pissed off.So are Charger fans.

Labels: NFC West, The Watchdog

Labels: albaNY Hawker, Front Office