I haven’t been following sports too closely lately, but I’m pleasantly surprised at how Seattle’s basketball scene has played out. Last summer the Seattle Storm won the WNBA title. Now the University of Washington Huskies men’s college basketball team is on the verge of winning its first Pac-10 title in 20 years. The Seattle SuperSonics have also been stellar this season in the NBA. As a Seattle sports fan I’m used to letdowns and disappointments, late season meltdowns and bonehead roster moves. It’s finally nice to see that two area teams have overachieved this season. I wish their mojo would rub off on the Mariners, but I’m not optimistic the M’s will do well this season. All the best M’s players (except Ichiro) now play for the New York Mariners…er Yankees. I would not be surprised in the least if Ken Griffey, Jr. ends up in pinstripes too.

The #10 Huskies demolished the University of California Golden Bears 106-73 last night to improve their record to 24-4. They are tied with the University of Arizona Wildcats for a share of first place in the Pacific 10 Conference. If they beat the Stanford Cardinals, they could win the conference outright if Arizona loses or if they have a better record against the Pac 10’s third-place team. It’s quite a change from the 1990’s, when Huskies football was the only college game in town. The football team is terrible now, so the men’s basketball team has stepped in to give Husky fans something good to root for. The women’s basketball team has also done well in recent years, although they were disappointing this season. The Huskies should be ranked #1 or #2 in the NCAA Tournament. An NCAA championship would be great, but I’ll settle for a Pac-10 championship.

The Seattle SuperSonics have also been a joy to watch this year. The team wasn’t expected to contend for an NBA title, but now it’s March already and they’re 12 games up in the Pacific Division. Other teams such as the San Antonio Spurs have better records, and the Phoenix Suns have been the darling of the NBA this season. Still, I’m glad to see the Supes doing well. It’s better than the alternative! Whether they can translate their dominance during the season to an NBA championship is debatable, but it’s nice for a change to see the Sonics atop the standings.

On a personal note, I fell ill today. The flu bug has been roaming the halls at work, and several people stayed home this week. I really wanted to go home early, but I was too busy. When I got home I slept for several hours. I feel a little better now. I’m planning to have a nice long sleep tonight and hope to be healthy again by Monday.

It seems that the St. Louis Rams have the Seahawks’ number this year.  After beating the ‘Hawks twice during the NFL regular season, the 8-8 Rams just made football history by being the first .500 team to win a playoff game.  They beat the ‘Hawks today 27-20 in Seattle to advance to the divisional playoff round.  And for the sixth time since 1984 the Seahawks lost yet another playoff game in the first round.  The excitement and anticipation of a Superbowl that came when Coach Mike Holmgren arrived from Green Bay is long gone.  Soon too will Coach Holmgren, I imagine.  What a fall for a team that was a dark-horse favorite to win the NFC this year.  They barely made won the division and are out after one game.  It’s very likely that Mike will be gone soon and another veteran coach will try to patch together a broken team (Flores, Erickson, take a number).  The only Mike who will be left in town will be Mariners Manager Mike Hargrove.  Over the years the ‘Hawks primary obstacle to winning is a solid quarterback.  Meier, Salisbury, Kitna…all started out as princes who turned into toads.  Matt Hasselbeck showed sparks of brillance last season and during the beginning of this season, but like so many others he has also fizzled.  The team is also of victim of perpetual mediocrity.  They have hovered between 9-7 and 6-10 virtually every season since the heydays of the early 1980’s.  Perhaps they need a 1-15 season so they can win the QB sweepstakes for a change.  Granted, the Bengals have done that and more and still have not turned themselves into winners, but they’re the exception.  More often what happens is what happened when the hapless Chargers drafted Pursue QB Drew Brees and handily won the AFC West.  I don’t think ‘Hawks fans will be back in the seats in droves again at Qwest Field until they see a winner on the field.  Seattle fans just don’t have the dedication in the face of adversity and disappointment that Red Sox fans do.

Weather is again the topic du jour.  It was windy and cool here today in the D.C. area.  My wife checked the weather in Seoul just for kicks and saw that it was 14 degrees Fahrenheit with an average of 38 degrees during the entire winter.  For a marine climate dweller like myself, 14 degrees is cold!  Fortunately, we aren’t out west where the snow is falling in waves.  Dozens of motorists were stranded in the Sierra Nevada range in California, and it’s snowing across much of the west.  Ohio has been hard hit too.  Earlier this week the weather was balmy, almost summeresque here.  I personally hope it doesn’t snow again until we leave D.C.!  Still, I’m not looking forward to the Siberia Express that goes right through Seoul.  At least we get to enjoy Hawaii for a week before we arrive in Seoul.

I finished a bunch of miscellaneous tasks in anticipation of our move to Korea.  It feels great to check off a few more to-dos from my list.  I’m dragging my feet studying Korean of course, but everything I did today had to do with getting ready to go.  Writing this blog is my one free pass today.  Now that I’ve mentioned I guess I should get back to studying Korean.  *sigh*