Seattle Sports: In the Morning

Ken Armstrong and Nick Perry of the Seattle Times have a special investigative report on the 2000 Huskies, based on documents that weren't available at the time. Their conclusion: "An unprecedented look behind the scenes — based largely on documents unavailable at the time — reveals a disturbing level of criminal conduct and hooliganism by the players on that team. Former coach Rick Neuheisel and athletic director Barbara Hedges accepted most of it, demanding little discipline or accountability from their athletes. And other community institutions, including prosecutors, police, judges and the media, went along."

Part I of their report is the long story of Jerramy Stevens' repeated run-ins with the law, leading with a stomach-turning account of the night he allegedly raped a co-ed. Stevens was never charged, but here's what the detective who handled the case now says: "I thought he should have been charged. I think most people in the Police Department thought he should have been charged. From the police perspective, I think there was overwhelming evidence that a crime had occurred. And then I think we should have left it to a jury to decide. I think we just felt, in our unit and in the Police Department as a whole, that this case was handled differently. And we felt it was because he was a University of Washington football star."

The Oregonian's John Canzano has a neat column on former Blazers' radio play-by-play guy Bill Schonely, a.k.a. "The Schonz": "He'll tell you that when he sits in his season-ticket seats, fourth row, behind one basket, with his wife, Dottie, he watches Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge and, in his head, Schonely pretends he's still calling the game. And at halftime, every game, he walks up to the 100-level concourse and wades through the crowd, high-fiving, and it takes him 25 minutes to go 50 yards."

The new Mariner coaching staff--headlined by Mel Stottlemyre--won't be as shy about offering criticism as last year's staff of younger, more player-friendly coaches was, writes John McGrath.

Joe Wolfinger got his first extended run of the Pac-10 season yesterday, and played well, scoring 11 points in 16 minutes. Wolfinger understands that his poor defense is the reason he hasn't been playing, and he's pretty realistic about it, telling Bob Condotta: "People can go right around me pretty easy. But I've been working on that."

A long profile on Michael Cage, by Nick Walker of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Learned something I didn't know: that Cage played high school ball with Keith Lee (who's Memphis St. number hung above the court during the Memphis/Zags game yesterday). Lee played three years in the NBA. Cage and Lee's high school team, the West Memphis Blue Devils, had back-to-back undefeated seasons and state championships. Says Cage: "To me, we were just all guys from the neighborhood. All the sudden people started talking to us about how special we were. We just wanted to win. We were all guys from a neighborhood who liked to play with each other. That was the most special team I ever played with." Cage lives in L.A., doing some pre-game and post-game studio stuff on Lakers broadcasts and providing color on WCC games. He's also, by dint of being a father in Southern California, had to get into soccer: "I had to learn how the game was played and the tactics. I learned so much about it and I got to love the sport so much that I got into officiating." I'm trying to imagine 6-9 Michael Cage in a soccer ref's uniform, and I'm having a tough time.

Tonight: Sacramento @ Seattle, 6pm, FSN. The return of Spencer Hawes. Kurt Thomas may not play, he has a severely bruised knee.

Photo of Michael Cage and wife Jodi: Dexter Jones/Legends of Basketball