Seattle Sports: In the Morning

FINALLY! The Bedard trade shall be announced today, report both the Times and P-I. Bedard arrived in town yesterday for his physical.

Brandon Roy is not with his Blazers, he's here in Seattle dealing with an unspecified family emergency. Roy likely won't make it to Detroit for the Blazers game there tonight. UPDATE: Blazers broadcaster Mike Barrett writes that Roy is has "an ill family member" and that "it's something he's been dealing with for some time." (Via TrueHoop)

Steve Kelley has a great piece on former Ranger R.A. Dickey, who the M's took a gamble on in the Rule V draft. Dickey is now throwing the knuckleball, and tells Kelley: "To take a new path in order to stay in the big leagues, I've had to let go of everything that got me there. I had to commit. To do that, to become somebody new, to really leave who you were behind, it's really hard. Very difficult."

Shaq won't play tonight when the Suns face the Sonics. Not sure I understand why. I mean, he's in Phoenix. Anyway, the Sonics, who've beaten a Bron-less Cavs, Parker-less Spurs, and Miller-less Kings in the past two weeks, catch another break.

Former Syracuse OC Brian White will be the Huskies' new Tight Ends/Special Teams coach, writes Bob Condotta, citing a source in the athletic department. White's Syracuse offense was 114th in the nation last year and he got fired.

The Coug football player who put rubbing alcohol in his teammate/roommates contact lens case has been charged with felony assualt, reports Craig Smith. The guy, Xavier Hicks, also has a felony charge for credit card fraud. He was the Cougs ninth-leading tackler last year. He's been suspended indefinitely.

P.J. Carlesimo tells Gary Washburn that of guys the Sonics will be evaluating over the next 33 games, Robert Swift is "#1." Swift says his knee is now pain-free, but he still has some discomfort. He's a free agent at the end of the season.

A day after Class of '08 football recruiting ended, you wonder: who will the Huskies target in '09? "That's our draft," new DC Ed Donatell tells the P-I's Molly Yanity. "It's 365 days a year, and you have to know how important that is. You have to get that done." Yanity looks at the state's top class of '09 football recruits.

Tonight's action:
Celtics @ Minnesota (Garnett's return), 5pm, ESPN Garnett's hurt!
Blazers @ Detroit, 5pm
Franklin @ Garfield, 8pm, Old Lincoln High

Also:Will Leitch, godfather of sports bloggers, reads from his new book God Save the Fan tonight at 7pm at Murphy's Pub in Wallingford. I did a little writeup about it/review of the book for Seattlest.