Link

I wonder if he left on his own or was politely nudged out.  He is going to a lesser conference, so he might have been told to get his resume updated.  This could be a good thing.  With the trouble that they had raising money for the stadium, getting new blood could help.  What are your thoughts?  Moos?  Who else?

EDIT Dancing Football:  This is obviously very big news if it is true and comes out of nowhere.  We'll have more later.

Cougar Alum and Times husky writer makes writes an interesting article regarding Scout and Rivals.  It has been written on here and other Cougar sites that Rivals is no good or that they are only good if you live down in the south.   Condotta writes that is not necessarily so.

Scout basically counts up the stars a team has and makes its rankings based on that.  Rivals counts up the stars, but they also give more weight to getting players at positions that are more important like a QB or lineman. 

To me that makes sense.  Many of us were wondering where was the beef in this class.  That is why WSU ranked so low, not any bias.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/huskyfootballblog/2011015428_scout_vs_rivals_---_what_gives.html

I believe everyone thought he did steroids, so yesterday's announcement did not come as a shock.  Is his and other players doing steroids a big deal?  Should he get into the HOF?  I was over on Lookout Landing and the majority of peole think one way. 

I have thoughts and will post them, but first I want to hear from everyone else about the subject, not just the questions that I posed.  If you plan on going to LL, post here first so your mind is not swayed one way or another.  Thanks everyone.

Even Coach Bone reads Cougcenter.  Very nice.  In an article from favored Cougar son Jim Moore, Bone said Nuss laid the circumstances out perfectly.  We are not worthy of your greatness Mr. Nusser.  :)

http://www.seattlepi.com/moore/413974_moore08.html

I thought this was interesting from the article:

But the coach hasn't been able to let it go. It's still eating at him. Every night since the Oregon game, he wakes up and can't get back to sleep, thinking about potential ramifications down the road. That game could be the difference between an NCAA and NIT berth for the 11-3 Cougs. And imagine if that call costs Washington State the Pac-10 championship -- it's a possibility in the hodge-podge conference this year.

"Each game is very, very important," Bone said. "I thought for a moment that we won the game. What took place is hard to swallow."

More and more information keeps dribbling out that makes the Pac 10 even worse.  They should have admitted their mistake and moved on.  Instead, this will be brought up time and time again.  I just hope the Pac 10 refs do not make sure that the Cougars have no chance at being on the bubble to save themselves from being ridiculed for perhaps keeping the Cougars out of the tournament.

I have an idea and it may be stupid, so I hesitate even posting it.

Since the season has ended, it has been a little boring and has lead to thinking about the Sounders in other ways.   Sometimes I like to think outside of the box.

We have all heard the saying that “It is better to be quiet and be thought a fool, than to opens one’s mouth and remove all doubt.”  Well, here is my chance at being an idiot.  Of course, you all may think that I am an idiot already, so this may just reinforce the notion.  Oh well, I just hope that you all have short memories.

OK, here it is and it is related to the second point in Sounder-at-Heart’s post :  attendance.

But first, this idea actually takes care of another thing that bothers me about the stadium as well – Pat Onstad.  No opposing player should be prominently displayed at the stadium.  Onstad showed himself to be a jerk and I don’t want to see his face.  Yes, I know the Sounders must have spent some money on the tarps, but he really needs to be taken down.

So, what replaces him?  When the players do interviews, they usually stand in front of a wall that is a combination of the X-Box logo and the Sounders logo.  So replacing him with this just gives the team more advertising.

Now, the current 35,500 capacity is an artificial attendance cap because we all know the stadium actually holds over 60,000.  The Sounders ownership wants to cap attendance in order to keep the tickets scarce, which they hope will create demand.

My idea is based on a moving cap.  If you look at a picture of the stadium, you can see vertical aisles on the 300 level that separate each section.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/juwee/1692710602/

So, the Sounders set the initial cap of say 35,500.  In my scenario, the Sounders would also set an artificial cap date that could be two weeks, three weeks, a month, five weeks, six weeks, etc., before a game.  This cap date would be a date that is set where another section is not automatically opened.

For example, if the cap date is one month before a game and the attendance cap of 35,500 seats sold is reached and the game is still two months away, a designated section (likely at midfield) is automatically opened.  If it is still over a month before the game and that section sells out, the section next to it is automatically opened and if that sells out and it is still over a month, the next section is opened and so on in a predetermined order.

Once it reaches the cutoff date of a month before a game, then the section that is currently being sold is the last section.  This still gives the ticket office a month to sell out the section (and therefore, the stadium) and still creates enough of a demand that any person cannot just walkup on game day and be guaranteed a ticket.

Now, the reason that I said put the X-Box and Sounders logo on the tarps for the 300 level is that they can be made without disrupting the integrity of each logo.  You cannot pull out Onstad’s midsection and have his picture look natural, but you could pull out any one logo if it is made to fit in a section.

I know that the front office likes the consecutive sellout streak, and this does not necessary stop that.  But, what I think is more impressive than the sellout streak is being in the top 50 in world attendance.  The higher the Sounders are on the list, the more impressive it is.

Ok, so there is my idea.  Thoughts anyone? 

This is an article from the Seattle Times. I have posted a few excerpts.

"We will only get better as we get more mature," Wulff said.

That, however, makes a little bit of an assumption that when it comes to the Pac-10 Conference, only the Cougars and Huskies have room to grow."

and "However, the unfortunate reality is that while UW and WSU are admittedly experiencing growing pains, it's not as if the rest of the Pac-10 is ready for the Denny's Senior Menu."

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/huskies/2010357172_apple26.html