Husky Fans Still Rabid at Times

In case you're wondering whether obsessive Husky fans are still upset at the Seattle Times over that Victory and Ruins series, the answer is yes, one thousand times yes. Over at Washington Husky Sports, John Berkowitz pens a very personal and gracious post about Joyce Walker, whose struggle with drug and alcohol addiction was the subject of a fascinating story by the Times' Sandy Ringer. "If Joyce was just coming out today," he writes, "she would be on the cover of every sports magazine in the country, and an all star fixture in the WNBA, she was that good." How nice!

But then, out of nowhere:

Sure there is a story here, Joyce is a local celebrity, and legend who had the great responsibility of being a high school coach. The article allows her to face her demons publically which is part of her 12 step recovery process. On the flip side the Times takes advantage of this tragic story by using it as another controversial vehicle to sell newspapers. Once again the target is an African American just as it was in the 2000 Rose Bowl series. You can't make excuses for the members of the 2000 team that screwed up, and you certainly can't make excuses for what has happened with Joyce. You can however wonder why the subjects of these recent stories are all black, and why local white athletes who have screwed up just as bad, or worse are simply deemed not as interesting a subject.

Hrm...I'm not so sure that the Seattle Times is engaged in a yearlong campaign to smear our city's African-American population, but I do know this--if I were one of those Seattle Times telemarketers, I would not be calling the Berkowitz household.

On Tuesday, Berkowitz had a terrificly informative rundown of all the college football stadiums that have been built recently, concluding that the proposed $350 million renovation of Husky Stadium would be the most expensive college football stadium renovation in our nation's history.