Seth over Sports NW just tipped us off to the bad news regarding the Tacoma News Tribune's Seahawks Insider blog, which won't be updated until training camp. Ironically, the blog's tagline reads: "Where there is no off season." *cough* Frank Hughes explains the situation in a post:As you may have heard last week, the chain that owns the paper, McClatchy, announced that it is laying off 10 percent of its work force, which in our......

We'll be the first to admit Hillary Clinton's embarrassing statement last week (and other occasions), when she recalled RFK's assassination in June of 1968 as an example of things that can happen late in a campaign. We all know there's a possibility the first viable black presidential candidate could get shot. It's been talked about and analyzed and discussed (and, yes, joked about by the other party). But, somehow, to hear another Democratic candidate......

When he named Sam Presti the Sonics' new GM yesterday, owner Clay Bennett also stripped Lenny Wilkens of the title of President and retitled him Vice-Chairman. A source told the Tacoma News Tribune Bennett wanted "to put Lenny out to pasture." Ranching metaphors: just one of the many joys of having your team owned by guys from Oklahoma City.From Wilkens’ unsavory handling of the announcement of his position of president to his perceived mismanagement of......

Gary Washburn Frank Hughes of the Tacoma News Tribune reports that real estate developer David Sabey (at right) has offered to buy the Sonics from an increasingly disillusioned Clay Bennett. Last month, Sabey bought a 55-acre parcel south of Boeing Field from Associated Grocers (you know the land, it's that depot with all those container trucks that's just before I-5 makes a right turn toward the airport). He offered that land to Bennett for an......

The Tacoma News Tribune had their big Seattle cruise season preview a few weeks ago: 191 cruise ship calls, 3,000 busloads of passengers from the airport to the cruise terminals, 14,082 cruise industry jobs created in 2005, 1 article we couldn’t get completely through. Harpers index it ain’t. Unless this is it, we’re still waiting for the Seattle dailies to publish their yearly love poems to the cruise industry. Empress of the North The Empress......

We love Sanjaya. We love Eric Schwarz. And we love YouTube. Happy Friday! Thanks to our friends at the Tacoma News Tribune Grit City blog......

USS Mariner called Mike Hargrove "delusional" today for his advocacy of going north with 22-year-old pitcher Brandon Morrow on the basis of eight innings of spring training relief work. Hargrove, speaking to the Tacoma News Tribune, defended his stance, saying that people called him an "idiot" for wanting to go north with Manny Ramirez when he managed Cleveland in '94. Good point, Hargrove. Except that you are completely full of shit, as anyone with a......

It ain't easy being a mid-sized professional theatre: not that long after Seattle's Empty Space declared empty pockets, the 30-year-old Tacoma Actors Guild has closed down. In January of 2005 TAG faced a coronary-inducing $400,000 debt, and though it had made some progress retiring it, their Board president Jim Handmacher said in the Tacoma News Tribune that key foundations were standoffish: “We were optimistic with (new director Charlotte Tiencken) that TAG would get back......

In a hallway, at about 7:30am. Witnesses say they heard three shots. Police caught the suspected shooter two hours later, about a quarter of a mile away. The dead student's name hasn't been released, and it's unclear what the shooter's motive is, or if the shooter is a student there as well. The Tacoma News Tribune interviewed a parent:Valerie Marshall, whose son attends Foss, said the violence wasn’t a surprise. Gang activity has been on......

--The Zero Boss investigates the holy triumvirate of Seattle neon (above). Actually, we thought it was "deli," "teriyaki," and "coffee," but his works too. --As if the pain of Fremont News closing weren't enough, we gotta hear about it second hand from the NYT. Third hand if you're just learning it now. --Starbucks is no longer imposing Seattle design on the world. They're now going regional in the appearance of their stores. --The Tacoma......

Seattlest finds the fact that a team of rowers from the Northwest have almost completed a trans-Atlantic crossing very cool, despite a couple of things, but first, it's cool. It seems like a truly difficult endeavor and the bigness of the Atlantic (big waves, big distance, big cold, etc) and the smallness of a rowable boat are somehow attractive to us. It does smell a little like rich guys ballooning around the world in......

The almost universal reaction to Howard Schultz's pathetic attempt to spin his sale of the Sonics as the best step for keeping the team in Seattle has been this: how stupid do you think we are? Art Theil: Hey Howard, We're Not Morons. Steve Kelley: Schultz Sold Out Seattle. John McGrath in the Tacoma News Tribune, calls the news conference "fake." Schultz did an interview this morning with KJR's Mitch Levy, in which he......

No, we haven't said much about Seahawks minicamp. We forgot about Seahawks minicamp, frankly. But nothing could be more important to the handful of guys trying to stick as a sixth wide reciever, a fifth running back, or a fourth QB. One of these is Skyler Fulton, an Olympia product who starred in NFL Europe this year, and is trying to fight through a shoulder injury to stick with the Hawks this year. How's he......

Sometimes history provides the right man for the times. Napoleon for post-revolutionary France. George Marshall for post-war Europe. Don Knotts for post-Roper Three's Company. And, in our modern times, the Tacoma News Tribune's Mike Sando for coverage of the Seattle Seahawks. This man covers the Seahawks like Cookie Monster eats cookies. Sando's got Seahawks crumbs flying out of his mouth, cascading down his front, like C.M., he probably has his own Seahawks covering song...or movie.......

-Is there a haze to the air today? A certain weight suspended in the atmosphere? Have you noticed anyone discreetly masking a shotgun blast to the face? Is it... sniff sniff... Cheney! -Here's the audio track to a Q&A session with the liberal blogging All Stars who came through Seattle recently. Might help to wash off some of the evil. -Mediocrity? Good enough for the Sonics, who are bringing back Coach Bob Hill for......

Knight Ridder, minority owner of the Seattle Times, got picked up by an outfit called McClatchy Co. this week which is unfortunate because McClatchy, while having a generally good reputation as far as journalism goes, also owns the Tacoma News Tribune and the Times and the News Tribune compete for readers who happen to live somewhere between the two cities. We realize that you may be comatose after reading that last sentence, if in fact......

Yesterday's paper had a mention of Seattlest's favorite boat (see the dramatization to the right from Seattlest's early months in 2005). At least it was our favorite boat before we had to give it up to Tacomaist. The Kalakala made the paper yesterday after its owner sent some email to a number of preservation groups in Seattle outlining his plan to get the ferry back to Seattle within three years. His target slip? Coleman Dock.......

While exiled on the East Coast, we relied on the Internet for Mariner coverage. And we learned something surprising. The local paper that covers the Seattle Mariners best is the Tacoma News Tribune. Too often, the Times and the P-I are content to share the same story. But the Tribune reporters, Larry LaRue and Corey Brock, always seem to have something different. Today, it's a thorough recap of second-base hopeful Fernando Vina's career. Brock maintains......

What can you say about the Seahawks yesterday? They dominated the Panthers on offense and defense. They held Steve Smith to 33 yards receiving and a disputed return touchdown. They didn't turn the ball over and they took the ball four times. All in all, their 34-14 win was the best performance by a local team in a big game since, well, since the Huskies' 34-14 win over Michigan in the 1992 Rose Bowl. 34-14......