First, let me say that I made a pretty good guess at how Hasselbeck would play last week. After watching ESPN and nearly insufferable network pregame-shows for a couple of decades, I’ve learned it’s our job to gloat about good predictions and completely ignore it if we make any bad ones. Every loudmouth (except Keyshawn Johnson, as told by a friend) outside Seattle picked N’Orleans to wipe the turf with us last week, but I’ve yet to see a single commentator, analyst, or other goofball acknowledge that they made a bad prediction.

But I digress. As most Seattle fans were hoping, the ‘Hawks will be traveling to the Windy City to face daaa Bears in the next round. A lot of people around here aren’t real intimidated by Chicago’s team, and I’m one of them. Here’s a quick rundown of reasons why.

• They went only 3-3 against +.500 teams this season; more than half their wins were against the crummy Lions, Vikings, Panthers and Bills.
• They got slaughtered at home, albeit by the Pats, less than a month ago.
• They’re relatively bad offensively and are susceptible to the pass.
• I am %100 confident in saying they are not as good as the Saints.
• As we all know, the ‘Hawks already beat ‘em in their own house.

Not only did we already beat this team in front of their own fans, but we beat them pretty convincingly. If not for a late Devin Hester runback, we’d have surrendered only 13 points; this is a big point, I think. As dysfunctional as the ‘Hawks have been at times, I really don’t see our offense being shut all the way down at this point. On the other hand, I have very high hopes for our defense this Sunday. Having faced last week one of the most wily, talented, and competitive quarterbacks of this decade, I think the Seahawks D will be exceptionally sharp and ready to dismantle the Bears attack. Jay Cutler could hardly be more unlike Drew Brees. Cutler is talented, but his decision making, attitude, and will to win are far from impressive.

Still, we shouldn’t get too high on the fact that we beat the Bears in week 6. After all, the Saints beat us week 11, and the Bears are better now than they were if you believe all the national hype (I’m not real sure I do). No, the biggest reason people should like the ‘Hawks this week is because of our momentum. Our morale is about maxed out right now, and that’s incredibly important in competition. Winning breeds winning, as they say, just like losing breeds losing, and most of that is in the psyche. The Bears, conversely, will not have experienced the thrill of victory for three weeks when the ‘Hawks come marching in.

There is one daunting, depressing, demoralizing variable going against the Seahawks: We tend to play really poorly early in the day, in other time-zones. Over the past couple of years, losses in East Coast day-games have almost been like clockwork for our squad, and this truth is difficult to ignore.

Still, I like objectively like our chances. I think if Hasselbeck and friends play like they have the past two weeks, then they will win–simple as that. It can be hard for teams to play their best in hostile environments, but I’m hoping as hard as I can that we will. I won’t predict this game, as I really don’t like predicting my own team’s fate. I will say that either way, Chicago is not going to the Super Bowl.

The gamesmanship is over, and the decision has been handed down. Matt Hasselbeck will start the wild-card-round matchup against the Saints this Saturday afternoon at clammy Qwest Field.

As sick as I am of Hass–and I am–I was actually pulling hard for this choice for a few important reasons:

1. Matt “we want the ball and we’re gonna score” Hasselbeck has started a lot of playoff games–more than any other NFC starter in these playoffs. He hasn’t been great in all of them, but I can’t help but think having nine postseason starts under his belt will be of some benefit.

2. This is the biggest reason I like Hass in this game, and even though it’s weird and circumstantial, I just have a hunch it’ll come into play: Matt was very bad in 5 of our first 7 games this season. Week 8, he missed the game with injury, Whitehurst got the start, and it looked like it could be the end of an era. When Hass came back, he posted monster performances in Weeks 9 and 10… a similar situation now confronts him. I wrote about this when it happened the first time. It’s impossible to know why he had a two-game outburst of excellence. Maybe it was the rest that made him feel so fresh and so clean. I hypothesized that maybe Matt was realizing the mortality of his career during his week on the bench, then came out guns-a-blazing in an effort to recapture and prolong the glory days. Whatever the reason, I, for one, wouldn’t be surprised to see a repeat of that phenomenon.

3. One of those monster games Matt had this season was against the Saints, so we know success is technically possible.

4. For all the hullabaloo over “White Shoes” Whitehurst’s performance last week, his impressiveness was farrrrr from convincing. Basically, Charlie did a very good–not even great–job of conducting an ultra-basic offense, in an ultra-friendly setting, against a below-average defense. I’m not saying it’s impossible Charlie would flourish against the Saints. I’m just saying, the idea of having a guy with 2 career TDs and 3 career interceptions starting over a 3-time pro-bowler and 1-time all-pro… frankly, it shouldn’t even be a debatable issue as long as Hass ain’t in pain.

5. Let’s keep in mind that this could in fact be Hasselbeck’s last game as a Seahawk, or even as a starter in this league. It seems to me that this could be a huge motivator. A: If Matt plays well in this game/these playoffs, he could very well extend his career, and consequently, his bank account. B: This game/playoff run could end up becoming a big part of how his career is remembered by Seattle fans. Ballplayers in all leagues tend to play extra hard in contract seasons; how about playing for your legacy and extension of your career?

Well, we did it: we are in the playoffs. I, for one, am thrilled. As I wrote last time, making the playoffs is the entire purpose of the professional sports franchise, and there are exactly zero circumstances under which I’d rather not see my team in the postseason. Racking up high draft-picks year after year is worth nada if your team isn’t improving. Furthermore, it’s entirely possible to get a top pick every single year and not improve… just ask a Detroit Lions fan, those poor schmucks. Over the past 10 years, the Lions have had five top-3 picks and eight top-10 picks, yet they’ve won just less than a quarter of their games (39-121).

Sure, we dropped a few spots in next year’s draft, but we are also one only 12 remaining teams who have a shot–however microscopic–at winning this year’s Super Bowl.

Clearly, the oddsmakers will prefer New Orleans next Saturday against the ‘Hawks. Yet when the two teams squared off in Week 11, the stats were actually very even. Yeah, we lost by 15, but the Saints didn’t come close to shutting down our offense. More importantly, that game was played in the Louisiana Superdome. This contest will be at good ol’ Qwest, where visiting teams usually have a hard time, and that hard time is exacerbated big-time when we’re talking about a raucous playoff crowd. By the way, Seattle has won its past four home playoff games.

Anything can happen, baby.

“Playoffs!?” The infamous, incredulous outburst from former Colts Coach Jim Mora Sr. seems exceptionally appropriate to the Seahawks’ current situation. How does a team go into the season’s final week having lost 5 of their last 6 and realizing a highly possible, if not probably shot at the playoffs!? When is the last time a 7-9 team won a division? The answer to that one, as you may know, is never, yet it’s on the brink of happening. This Sunday night at Qwest, the ‘Hawks and Rams will have a play-in contest, the winner of which will play at home for the first round of the postseason.

The Seahawks, I must forthrightly say, are not great. The much publicized NFC West battle of the bums has given rise to a sweeping debate over the NFL playoffs structure. And I must admit, it would be quite unjust for a 7-9 team to be hosting a 12-4 team, not to mention the possibility of one or more 10-6 teams watching the travesty unfold from their offseason homes. Right now, I don’t much care about that debate seeing as the current structure might very well benefit our beloved, if beleaguered home team. There is another, more local debate occurring, though…

Some people would prefer that the Seahawks lose their final regular season game. In fact, a recent Seattle Times poll showed that those people were a slight majority. Some, apparently, couldn’t cope with the embarrassment of having a sub-.500 team in the playoffs, while most simply want the better draft pick (by making the postseason, Seattle would stand to lose no fewer than 10 draft spots). This cynical view has no place in fandom and must be eradicated!

The draft argument has slight, conditional credence. I will admit, when my home team is in dead last by a long way midway through the season, I will sometimes become indifferent, knowing that we might score a Dustin Ackley, Russell Okung or (gulp) Kevin Durant as restitution for our suffering. However, this current predicament does not qualify.

First of all, the difference between the 10th and 20th pick, in the NFL, is likely to be negligible. The disparity of quality from spot to spot in the NFL is significantly less notable than in other sports. It is widely known how many future superstars are taken late in the draft (Steve Largent, 4th round; Tom Brady, 6th round; Kurt Warner, undrafted). As shrewdly pointed out by Danny O’Neil, Randy Moss was taken with the 21st pick–the pick Seattle would have should they host and lose the first playoff round. Sure, Moss is… not well adjusted, but he might be the best WR in history.

Secondly, IT’S THE FLIPPIN’ PLAYOFFS! Did the early 2000s make us so fat and happy that we don’t thirst for postseason football with every microgram of our soul? For 10 years of my childhood, from ‘89 to ‘98, the Seahawks went playoff-less–what a dreary existence. In ‘99, when Holmgren (in his first year here) took our fellas to Miami to face Dan Marino and the ‘Phins in the first round… only then could I say I’d truly lived. Sure, we lost by 3 (thanks, Olindo Mare, for nailing a 50-yarder), but still, there’s nothing like playoff football, and we should savor ever opportunity.

We’ve looked pretty bad lately, but anything can happen on any given… weekend day. Remember, this team beat the currently second-seeded Bears on the road, so success is entirely possible. We played well for awhile at home against Atlanta and away at New Orleans. The point is, there’s nothing like the playoffs, and in an emotional, momentum-dictated game, we should dream big.

First we gotta beat the Rams, though. Come on, Charlie, come on, 12th man, let’s do it!!

Well, the ‘Hawks were atrocious in San Fran yesterday. All games are almost equally important, despite the media’s gross overuse of the term “must win.” But a win would’ve put Seattle in sole possession of first place. Also, it was against a division opponent, so it’s always nice to try and display divisional dominance. I think it’s safe to say we did the opposite of that. The ‘Niners, of course, were pegged as the best team in the NFC West before the season, and they’ve been showing some of that talent lately. After starting out 0-5, their owner, I believe it was, proclaimed that they would still make the playoffs. That seemingly preposterous assertion has now all but come to fruition, as San Francisco is only one game out of first. They’ll have to do it without one of their two best players, RB Frank Gore, but it could happen.

If not for a fortuitous second half last week against the worst team in football, Seattle would be out of the playoff hunt for all intents and purposes. Instead, they have a heartbeat, albeit faint. It’s hard to believe they’ll beat a very good Falcons team next week, but crazier things have happened I suppose.

Unless Matt Hasselbeck has some really noteworthy play into the playoffs (well, noteworthy in the positive sense. He’s already been remarkably BAD), then he will not be the starter next year, and may not be on the team. I personally think he should’ve been benched long ago, but I see the reason in sticking with your longtime franchise-QB, only because we’re still in a playoff hunt. I have a hunch that Carroll is smart enough to pull the plug on Matt as soon as we’re out of it, and he can’t possibly be naive enough to roll with Hasselbeck to start next season. To be fair, a lot of Seahawks played poorly against the ‘Niners, but Matt was stunningly awful, and it doesn’t just seem that way because he’s at center stage. Five turnovers? By my count, there have been no fewer than four games (probably more like six) in which Hasselbeck has played so terribly so as to prevent any chance of winning. They say you want your QB to at least keep you in the game and give you a chance, but I think you especially need that when it’s a QB who rarely/never makes up for mistakes with stellar/big-play performances. I don’t want to kick the guy when he’s down, but I don’t think it would be a stretch to say that he has single-handedly ruined several Sundays for a lot fans this year.

Here’s to getting some guys healthy, especially Mike Williams. If the ‘Hawks don’t make the playoffs, I want them to go down kicking and screaming instead of fizzling out quietly. Come on, fellas!!

For the first half of Sunday’s game–at home, mind you–against the Carolina Panthers, who by all accounts are the worst team in the NFL, the Seattle Seahawks were beyond terrible. By halftime, Spockian logic could only deduce that the ‘Hawks were, in fact, the worst team in the League. They couldn’t cover receivers, they couldn’t plug monster-sized running holes. The O-line couldn’t run or pass block, and Hasselbeck was as crummy as ever (the announcers were insistent upon the fact that Matt had had three straight excellent games, which was erroneous–he was quite bad against Kansas City last week).

After halftime, the ‘Hawks were, well, almost as good as they were bad in the first half. Suddenly, we were tackling correctly. Suddenly, Lynch and Forsett were gashing the Panthers, as well they should’ve. What happened?! The coaches and players explained that the halftime discussion was all about just executing the fundamentals. Who knows; football is a crazy game. I think the biggest difference was simply a couple of big plays (Tatupu pick-six, Washington’s long return), and a general improvement of play by the defense against a lame offense headed by a rookie.

The Seahawks’ second half was not nearly as impressive as their first half was embarrassing. They were supposed to destroy Carolina, at home, and the fact they looked like the far inferior team for 30 minutes is extremely unsettling. This team is probably the most difficult to analyze in the league thanks to their bi-polar performance(s) thus far. I guess unpredictability can be construed as a positive, but really, I prefer being able to make sense of a team. However, I will GLADLY take a 6-6 team that is squarely in the playoff hunt. Oh, and I also know that this offense is a helluva lot better with Mike Williams in. I wanted to cry when Forsett crashed into Mike’s legs, producing a first-degree ankle sprain Get better, big fella!

The Mariners officially parted ways with lame-duck infielder Jose Lopez whom they’ve had to deal with for the past seven seasons.

It appeared last year as though the M’s were eager to trade Lopez to some unsuspecting team that might deludedly believe they were receiving a rare power-hitting second baseman. Unfortunately, no team was dumb enough to be bamboozled, and so the Mariners now have to settle for trading him to the Colorado Rockies for some minor-league (and minor talent) pitcher who had an ERA of about 6 last season in Triple-A. Oh well. Addition by subtraction, as they say.

I feel slightly guilty ragging on the guy, but I suppose that’s what sports writers do. The once promising (and always pudgy) Venezuelan was a big disappointment. In his first full season, at the tender age of 22, Lopez hit .282 with 10 homers. That’s pretty darn respectable for such a young guy and could definitely be construed as reason for optimism, so long as you didn’t look at this peripheral numbers. Three years ago, he it .297, and two years ago, he hit 25 home runs. Put those together and you have above-average production from a middle infielder. However, last year, like many Mariners, he was just awful. Hitting in the cleanup spot most of the season, Lopez racked up only 58 RBI. That has to be some sort of record for futility.

The thing is, it wasn’t so much of a surprise. The guy had a terrible batting approach: He never took walks and he only tried to pull the ball. Maybe that schtick would fly in Boston where you only have to hit a ball 3/4 as far to left field for a positive result, but not in the vast plains of Safeco Field. Throw in the fact that he is a very mediocre fielder, bad baserunner and has a slow and funny-looking running motion that has been likened to Fred Flintstone’s, then you have on your hands about a zero-tool player (hint: five-tool is the best). More importantly, you want your youngish players to be developing and getting better, not becoming substantially worse.

All this bashing aside, Lopez will probably go win an MVP award this year because, after all, players coming to Seattle nosedive, and players moving away from Seattle excel. Here’s just a small sample of the myriad of examples:

Adrian Beltre

Jeff Cirillo

Miguel Olivo

Chone Figgins

Richie Sexson

Milton Bradley

Carlos Silva

In other news, Seattle gave Erik Bedard another 1-year contract. There’s not much to say about it. Bedard is extremely good–better even, I think, than a lot of people realize–when he’s healthy. Based on recent history, you’re much more likely to find the guy reading a Highlights for Kids in a doctor’s waiting room than you are to see him on the mound. Still, if he pitches even a portion of the season, then it’s probably much more than worth the million or so we’ll pay him.

Photo: Will Giersch

Hi y’all.

I apologize to my possibly dozens of loyal readers for not having posted in awhile. I was very busy last week lazing by the pool, observing tropical shorebirds and meandering the links in 80+ degree southern Florida. But it’s great to be back in beautiful Seattle, where the air is so clammy and dewey you have to wear a rain jacket even if it’s not raining.

A lot of things have happened in Northwest sports lately, so I’ll try to quickly touch on several.

THE SEAHAWKS

The loss two games ago against the Saints actually left me feeling relatively optimistic. Yes, our defense couldn’t stop Drew Brees and friends from scoring touchdowns on five consecutive drives, but most teams have trouble with New Orleans, in New Orleans, and it looks like the Saints are really coming on stronger as the season progresses. On the bright side, Hasselbeck delivered his second straight outstanding start, which was such positive news because the offense–not the defense–had been the unit holding us back for most of the season.

Well guess what: The (entire) defense looked equally dismal against the mediocre Chiefs, and what’s worse, the two-week aberration of a good Matt Hasselbeck disintegrated as quickly as it materialized. Matt Cassel for the Chiefs is playing as well as any QB right now, but enough with the excuses. Cassel threw it to the talented and large Dwayne Bowe repeatedly, and the Seahawks had no answer. Perhaps they are not talented enough, but when the guy the opposition is throwing to on every pass play is open by about 15 yards for a touchdown midway through the game, that’s just deplorable execution. Even the announcers were saying after every play how they ought to step up and jam Bowe at the line, but they never did. Jamaal Charles is ridiculously good, by the way, and a certain fantasy team would thank the Chiefs’ coaching staff to stop wasting time handing the ball to Thomas Jones.

Also, I love Coach Carroll’s personality, but I’m starting to doubt some of his strategies. The 4th-and-short play in the first quarter was disgusting…

HUSKY BASKETBALL

As many of you probably know, the University of Washington has a very good basketball team this year. Last week at the Maui Invitational tourney, they had a chance to exclaim their case as one of the 10 best teams in the country. Tragically, they instead played like a team just outside the Top 10. After three absolute dismantlings of decent-to-poor teams, the Dawgs suffered heart-breaking back-to-back losses against #9 Kentucky and #2 Michigan State. Now, I’m a homer, but there is no doubt in my mind that UW didn’t play nearly up to their ability against UK and MSU. The Dawgs made a stellar 42 three-pointers in their first three games; they made only 9 in the two losses. Until he can make two lay-ups or two free throws in a row, Matthew Bryan-Amaning needs to stop flexing and shouting like he’s Kevin Garnett. He also need to learn how to block out: He averaged 4 rebounds against the tougher competition, and his ineptitude down low led to many demoralizing offensive rebounds for the opposition. Despite national announcers who seem to think Isaiah Thomas is the next Allen Iverson, which he most definitely is not, I think Justin Holliday is the best all-around player on this team, and I think NBA scouts will agree.

This team is still very good–possibly the most complete UW squad of the decade–and right now I would confidently predict at least another Sweet 16 appearance. If MBA gets to work in practice, and the whole team gels and improves, they could definitely go even deeper.

HUSKY FOOTBALL

Who woulda thought the University of Washington football team would give us the most riveting moment and outcome of the week!? They always say you go for the win instead of the tie when you’re on the road, and this one shows why. On fourth-and-goal at the 1-yard line, Coach Sarkisian elected to have his very talented, somewhat underrated tailback Chris Polk try to run it in, and that he did for a game-winning, bowl-hopes-sustaining TD. The Apple Cup this year will mean more (well, at least for the Huskies) than it has in forever, and it will be decided in the unfriendly, frozen confines of Pullman’s historic Martin Stadium. Go Dawgs, and to my Cougar brethren who might be attending the game: Please remember to place your refuse in an appropriate recycling or trash receptacle instead of hurling it onto the field post-game.

MISCELLANEOUS

Two awesome plays occurred this weekend.

During the Texans/Titans contest, freak athlete/all-around good guy Andre Johnson finally had enough of world-class pill (definition #3) Cortland Finnegan and proceeded to go UFC on him. Johnson is widely known to be a very soft-spoken, kind and generous man, while Finnegan is known to be perpetually obnoxious and dirty on the field. Well, Andre stood up for wideouts around the league and gave Cortland some lumps that hopefully he’ll remember.

The other noteworthy highlight is simply one of the best defensive football plays I’ve ever seen. People are saying play of the weekend, which seems like an understatement. Oklahoma State cornerback Brodrick Brown went airborne near the sideline in pursuit of pass. Knowing he had no chance of landing inbounds, Brown had the wherewithal to deflect the ball accurately to a teammate. I love stuff like that.

Just when I’m at the point where I never want to see Matt Hasselbeck again, he goes out and plays as well as he ever has in his career.

I am simply amazed. After watching the beleaguered QB crash and burn the past few seasons, I would never have guessed he would go to Arizona with literally three healthy wide receivers and a makeshift offensive line and then play the way he did yesterday. He was throwing absolute dimes all over the field. When he tossed a picture-perfect, 40-yard pass over the shoulder of backup tight end Chris Baker, I thought to myself, “He hasn’t made that throw since 2006.” In fact, Matt hadn’t thrown this many yards (333) since 2007, and even that was in a shootout loss against the Saints. Yesterday’s victorious performance was well-managed and nearly flawless. He was laser-accurate, and thanks to offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates, he actually threw passes longer than seven yards with some regularity. The only theory I have regarding his sudden excellence is that he sat out a week with a concussion and became extremely motivated as he reflected everyday about how quickly and easily his career, at least as a starter, could be permanently over if he didn’t take the bull by the horns in a big way. Or, maybe the knock on the head opened up some previously non-existent neural pathways and he now has superpowers. Either way, he looked phenomenal–let’s see if he can do it a few more times.

Mike Williams is proving to be a one-of-a-kind commodity. He’s a huge dude, and when the quarterback throws the ball to the right side of his body, away from the defender, as Matt continually did yesterday, then Mike is pretty indefensible. When he snagged a pass backhanded–one-handed–for a first down, that was something that just doesn’t happen.

Yesterday’s win was invigorating and unexpected. Aside from Hasselbeck, the most impressive thing about it was that our team is still drastically undermanned. There’s a chance we’ll get healthy at the perfect time. This win is why we love sports. We love unexpected triumph. Most of all, though, we love being in contention as the end of the regular season nears.

Photo: Chase N.

As most of you probably know, our beloved, Hall of Fame baseball announcer Dave Niehaus passed away yesterday at his home. Niehaus was our primary Mariners game caller since the very first pitch of the inaugural season 34 years ago. There was hardly a single July night since the day I was born when I couldn’t hear Dave call a game.

This is, of course, about as solemn an occasion as a Seattle sports fan can experience. For me, and all dedicated M’s fans, Dave truly felt like an uncle, cousin, grandfather or old friend. Calculating conservatively, I probably listened to about 3,000 hours, or 125 full days, of Mariners games on the radio between ages 6 and 16 alone, and Dave was the main announcer for more than 99 percent of them. That’s considerably more time than I spent listening to my parents during those years, and although it’s arguable that that is not a sound model for children to follow, it just goes to show how big a part of people’s lives Dave was. That figure is counting only home games, which couldn’t be seen on TV without cable at that time; radio is where you truly develop an emotional closeness to your sports broadcasters. I probably spent close to a thousand evenings lying on my back, bouncing a tennis ball off my bedroom wall and listening to Dave for nine or more innings on my clock radio.

It’s a sad occasion, but we should be happy for what a satisfying, fun-filled life Dave had, and for all the joy he brought to millions of people.