Seattle Sports: In the Morning

You've heard the Huskies have a tough schedule--but I wanted to know how tough, historically. So I spent an afternoon digging through all the Husky schedules since 1950, matching them up with pre-season polls, and what I came up with is a column in the P-I this morning.

Bats getting colder, M's lose 6-0.
Detroit shitcans Yankees 16-0, Mussina may get dropped from rotation.
M's 73-56, 2nd place, 3 GB (1st in WC, NYY 2 GB, DET 3 GB).

McLaren got tossed in the first.

Lackey's now thrown 26.2 consecutive scoreless innings against the M's, dating back to last year.

The Times' Geoff Baker says the mood in the M's clubhouse was relaxed after the loss.

Ex-Huskies released: Zach Tuiasosopo by the Bucs, Sonny Shackelford by the Chargers. Here's the full list of waived dudes. More today.

The Seahawks cut 11 guys I've never heard of.

Lyndale Burleson, a Franklin grad now with Nevada, is academically ineligible for December ball, though he could return in January.

Taylor Tharp will be Boise State's QB in their opener, beating out Bush Hamdan, the younger brother of former Hawks backup Gibran.

This profile of Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen by the Times' Bud Withers is worth a read.

So is this profile of the Mariners' "catcher of the 80s," Orlando Mercado, by the P-I's Dan Raley.

Husky special teams assignments are set, you'll see deep in this notebook. Jared Ballman will punt, Ryan Perkins is the placekicker, Brandon Johnson will return kicks, and Anthony Russo will return punts.

Save Our Sonics is having a petition signing party on Thursday.

OKC's mayor says he and Clay Bennett never "formally discussed" the Sonics moving there.

The Rams' Torry Holt has a knee problem that will likely bother him all season, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.