Northwest Sports: In the Morning

Thierry Henry to the Sounders?
Henry's dissatisfied in Spain and could be looking to leave. The Sounders are his most likely MLS suitors, writes Martin Rogers.

Understand that, to get Henry, the Sounders ownership (or the MLS) would have to pay a $30 million "transfer fee" to Barcelona his current team. You don't trade for players in international soccer the way we do in U.S. team sports--you pay for them. England's Newcastle United is said to be pondering such an offer, though Henry says he'd only play for Arsenal, writes The Times of London.

Also, soccer fans--Man U hosts Barcelona at 11:30 our time in the 2nd leg of their Champions League semifinal. The teams tied 0-0 in the first leg, but my soccer fan friend assured me that it was a very entertaining scoreless draw. Only in soccer, right?

What to do about Mariners' struggling offense...

McLaren's talking tough: "We’ve gone far enough now. We’ve given everybody an opportunity. This game is about winning. It’s not about me being everybody’s best friend. It’s about me doing best (for) the Seattle Mariners.” But will he actually do anything?

You'll see more Greg Norton, writes Tom Wyrwich.

Jeff Clement should be up soon, writes John Hickey, though that doesn't necessarily mean that Jamie Burke would be cut.

Another hot-hitting Rainier, Wladimir Balentien, had three homers yesterday.

The M's start a series today against another struggling offense, that of the Indians. Both the M's and Indians have scored 117 runs this year, that's tied for 8th in the AL.

In other news...
David Stern won't have to testify--yet--in the city's case against the NBA. U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska ruled that if the city uncovers information implicating Stern, he will need to testify.

That #1 vs. #2 baseball game yesterday? #2 Eastside Catholic, behind the pitching of junkballing lefty Matt Boyd, beat Blanchet 5-0. Boyd's committed to OSU, according to the Times. Blanchet's pitcher, Madison Poole, had a much better fastball, but he couldn't get it over the plate. The two teams play again Wednesday at Eastside Catholic.

After two rounds at the Pac-10 men's golf championship, the UW's Tze Huang Choo is tied for the lead with three other golfers. Choo is a freshman from Singapore. Round 3 at The Meadow Club (in Fairfax, CA, about 25 mi. N of San Francisco) is today.

The Storm play their first exhibition game Friday, and coach Brian Alger announced his starters. With Lauren Jackson, Sue Bird, and Swin Cash still playing overseas, this is a significantly different starting lineup than you'll see opening night.

Eric Spoelstra, the new coach of the Miami Heat, is a former Jesuit (Portland) High and U Portland player, writes Geoffrey Arnold. He started his career with the Heat as--a video coordinator? Wow.