Blackledge the Surprise of Spring?

UPDATE 10:00 AM 4/11 – Tony has told Oklahoma State to bleep off, BEFORE they went after Self!?!? WOW. Nice job Tony, a Bennett we will always love.

He’s been talked about all spring for how far he’s come, and now there is no doubt he will make his mark next year. The TNT today writes about WR Daniel Blackledge and how he’s doing his best Michael Bumpus impression right now. Blackledge had a big scrimmage a week ago, with 70 yards receiving and showing some great hands. Next to probably Gary Rogers, Blackledge is going to be this spring’s offensive breakout player (photo courtesy of Cougfan).

We’re written about Blackledge before, but the kid has a real upside and the coaches are liking what they see. Levy has some good quotes about him in the story, and if we know anything, we know Levy knows how to coach up the WR’s! It’s hard to argue with his track record. Then again, you don’t want to get too crazy about a good set of spring practices. Blackledge had a total of ONE catch last year, and that came in the 52-17 embarrassment vs. the Beavs in one of the most forgettable games in the modern era. But again, this is what spring ball is all about, and that is there are always some surprises that you just didn’t see coming when it all got started.

The Spokesman last night had a write-up about the kicking game. It sounds as though it’s a tight race, with Patrick Rooney edging ahead of Wade Penner and Matt Myers. Steve Broussard said it’s still wide open so not to read too much into it right now, but we’ll see how it shakes out after things wrap up tomorrow. The good part of this is that there is a good competition, so they are hopefully pushing each other. The other part is that they are actually doing well. All three kickers nailed 48 and 49-yarders to wind down practice yesterday. We still have the mystery JC transfer that coach Wulff talked about this year, who reportedly drills kickoffs repeatedly into the end-zone (sounds good to me!).

Moving on, the Bigger Dance – WHO YA GOT? The brackets are out and it’s an intriguing field. I’ve got Megan Fox from the Transformers movie making a darkhorse run, but with Scarlet Johansson lurking in the other pod, I don’t know if she’ll get past the sweet 16. It will be an interesting match-up! But you could also see Johansson cutting down the nets when it’s all said and done.

I know, it’s a male pig-fest or whatever you want to call it, but it’s all in good fun. And it’s all about the prizes. Have you seen what they are giving away? Imagine winning the grand prize – A trip for two, to any sporting event in the world, including airfare, hotel and tickets to the event? Just for picking the hottest female around in a bracket of 64? Why not. I actually knew a guy who won the whole thing 3 years ago, and if I remember correctly I think they went to Monoco for the grand prix or something like that. Pretty amazing.

I won’t waste time talking about the Sonics, because I know a lot of you don’t care. But wow, those e-mails. I imagine many people reading those things yesterday thought twice about e-mails they may have sent in their own working environment?? If anything it’s a good lesson that yes, anything you send can and WILL be used against you, if necessary! And right now, Clay Bennett looks like the biggest lying, idiotic, embarrassing fool on the face of the earth. The arrogance to think they could just waltz in and steal the team away is one thing. That’s fine if that is what they wanted to do all along. But to flat-out lie to the Mayor of Seattle, the Governor of Washington, the NBA owners and David Stern himself? And to be caught red-handed doing it? What a disgrace. How will it play out? The Save Our Sonics guys think things have changed. There are a lot of very angry people now, madder than ever. But I still think at the end of the day, this is just the tip of the ice-berg and the NBA, Clay Bennett included, does NOT want to go through a court case where many, many more things are going to come to the public forefront. It’s an official mess for a league that doesn’t really need any more bad press after the last few years, does it??

And, imagine this – Howard Schultz and/or Wally Walker COULD be a hero in the end of this? Seth Koellen, a blogger and a guy who occasionally writes for the P-I, writes that Schultz and the prior ownership group could possibly file a legit suit against Bennett for not engaging in a good-faith effort to keep the team here. They now have tangible proof with these e-mails that they were full of crap from day 1. And Shultzie could sure use some good pub.

Anyway, that’s it for today. Hooty will take in the open practice tomorrow. Look for a first-hand account tomorrow evening.

ENJOY YOUR FRIDAY, and GO COUGS!