Blog Poll Monday, Plus Other Stuff

Good morning Cougs, happy Monday to you all.  And a great image from the M’s game yesterday!  What a nice turnaround season for the M’s, 85 wins from a team everyone thought would stink, or at least be beyond lucky to win anything more than 70-75 games.  If this is the end for Junior, it was cool to see it end this way.  He was reportedly a big reason for the turnaround, at least not at the plate but behind the scenes in keeping guys loose in a clubhouse that was a mess last year.  Larry Stone wrote about the turnaround today, and he nails it.  And Junior seemed to be enjoying himself, back in front of an adoring fan base.  Per Jerry Brewer yesterday, Junior actually wept when it was all over.  Sure sounds like a guy who is ready to call it quits?  Although Brett Favre has balled like what, four times at the end of the season when he was going to walk away…..yet here he is starting tonight vs. Green Bay.

Still, it was fun watching baseball again this year.  There were some pleasant surprises, such as Felix finally becoming that GIVE ME THE BALL ace that every contender needs.  We’ll see if he’s still a Mariner next spring, but to see him put together a Cy Young-like season at the tender age of 23 was wonderful.  And Franklin Gutierrez was such a great find!  All that amazing defense, but the kid put together a decent season at the plate.  He needs to cut down on the K’s, and he doesn’t get on base a whole lot, but still, .283 with 18 HR’s and a gold glove centerfielder who gets to everything, all at the age of 26?  Those guys aren’t so easy to find.  It was fun watching Ichiro this year, who had a fantastic season while showing some personality for the first time, like, ever.  .352 this year, second-best in his career, and the fourth time he’s hit at least .350.  Just amazing.  Anyway, thanks Junior!  It would be cool if he came back next year on the cheap, as a pinch-hitter or VERY part-time DH.  The guy can still hit the longball on occasion, as he did still hit 19 of ’em in 387 AB’s, but it’s clear the end is near/here.

Moving on, the Cougs.  Oh yeah.  Lots of links from late yesterday/early today, and you can find them all in the news feed to the right.  There are a few stories after Wulff spoke with the media yesterday, and they are all pretty much the same thing.  Oregon was fast, started fast, played fast, stayed fast.  We weren’t fast, we started slow, we played slow and stayed slow.  That’s the general theme.  You know WSU has been outscored 77-0 in the first quarter this season?  WOW.  But we’ve harped on the slow starts already, so why repeat it now?  And we’ve harped on the lack of speed since the season started, about how the offense lacks play-making speed while the defense, overall, is just not fast.  But let’s not go down that road again today.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Florida
2	Texas	1
3	Alabama	1
4	LSU
5	Boise State
6	Southern Cal	7
7	Virginia Tech	1
8	Cincinnati
9	TCU	3
10	Oregon	3
11	Ohio State	3
12	Iowa	2
13	Miami (Florida)	3
14	Kansas	4
15	Oklahoma State
16	Auburn
17	Penn State
18	Brigham Young	2
19	Mississippi	2
20	Missouri
21	Stanford	3
22	South Florida
23	Nebraska
24	Georgia Tech
25	South Carolina	2
Last week’s ballot