If Bremerton’s Marvin Williams keeps hitting big threes, he’s going to start changing the minds of all those who don’t think he was worthy of being the No. 2 overall pick in the 2005 NBA draft. He’s starting to get more and more national pub. Here’s an ESPN.com story after he scored 21 points and grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds — and, oh yeah, made the game-winning 3-pointer — in Atlanta’s 91-87 win over Washington on Wednesday. He’s now 13-for 23 from beyond the 3-point line this season. A year ago, he only made one, and it was a cast from halfcourt.

There’s six weeks left for the Seahawks during this lost season. Seattle football fans however, can take solace in the fact that there’s still some things to look forward to. And I’ve thrown in a trivia quiz — one for each of the remaining games just to see how much football you really know:

Nov. 23: Washington Redskins come to Seattle. OK, you’ve got to admit that you’re a little bit interested in the return of Jim Zorn and Shaun Alexander. Zorn, hired to be the Skins offensive coordinator, has evolved into a pretty leader of a pretty good team. Trivia question No. 1: Alexander and Clinton Portis have rushed for more than 8,500 career yards each, althougth Alexander has just 22 of his 9,453 this season. There’s only been one other team in NFL history who had two backs in the same year who with more than 8,500 career yards apiece. Name the team and the players.

No. 27 (Thanksgiving): at Dallas. It’s Thanksgiving. It’s Dallas. That’s worth beating a drumstick about. Trivia question No. 2: This will be the third time Seattle’s played the Cowboys on Turkey day. They met in 1980 and 1986. Do you know the scores of those games?

Dec. 7: Patriots visit Qwest. No Tom Brady, but the Hooded One – Bill Belichick – will be here and so will that Brady-like quarterback, some guy named Matt Cassell. Trivia  question No. 3: Who has more 400-yard passing games in their career, Cassell or Brady?

Dec. 14: at St. Louis. OK, maybe there’s not a lot to look forward to this week … except a win!!!! Trivia question No. 4: Before Jim Haslett, there was Scott Linehan. Before Scott Lineham, there was Mike Martz. Before Mike Martz, there was Dick Vermeil. Who coached the Rams before Vermeil?

Dec. 21: The Jets roll into town. Brett Favre plays another game against his old coach, Mike Holmgren. It’s the next-to-last game of Holmgren’s career in Seattle. Favre? He’s probably got 10 good years left. Trivia question No. 5: What’s Favre’s middle name?

Dec. 28: at Arizona. The Hawks close out the season in the desert. How long will it take Mike Holmgren to re-consider his motorcycle ride into the sunset? His hometown 49ers will be calling. Will he listen? His 17^th season has been his toughest. I don’t think he wants to

go out this way. Trivia question No. 6: The 12^th Man didn’t make

much of a difference this season, but the Seahawks’ loud, boisterous crowd – the noisiest in the NFL – has enticed opponents into more false starts than any place in the league. What’s the record for false starts at Qwest Field?

Quiz Answers

1.     Raiders. Marcus Allen and Eric Dickerson.

2.     1980, Cowboys 51-7; 1986, Seattle 31-14.

3.     It’s a trick question. They both have one. Cassell threw for 400 yards in an overtime loss to the Jets last week.

4.     Rich Brooks, the former Oregon coach, was Rams head coach in 1995 and ’96.

5.     Lorenzo. Go ahead, look it up.

6.     In a 2005 game at Qwest the Giants were hit with 11 false start penalties because of the crowd noise.

Some things to ponder on a Saturday afternoon:

What if the Seahawks had opted to match the seven-year, $49 million offer sheet on Steve Hutchinson that allowed the all-pro guard to go to the Minnesota Vikings following the 2005-06 season?

Losing Hutchinson was the start of the decline of the Seahawks. Their running game, with a healthy Shaun Alexander or not, has never been the same. It did free up some money to sign outside linebacker Julian Peterson, a playmaker who’s certainly earned his money. But the Hawks, with Hutchinson, might still be a playoff-calibre team. He’s that valuable.

What if International Speedway Corporation had built an 80,000-seat speedway on 950 acres south of Bremerton National Airport.?

Construction on what would have been a $250,000 million track would have likely started this year, and we’d be looking forward to an opening in 2009 or ‘10. With the downturn in our economy, the jobs created would have been a good thing. But with NASCAR experiencing a decline in popularity, you wonder if ISC would have been able to produce a major NASCAR race or lure an IndyCar-type race to the facility.

What if Willie Bloomquist came to the ballpark and the manager wrote his name in the lineup every day. What kind of statistics would he produce?

I’m convinced, and I’ve written this before, that if he was on the right team, the current free agent infielder/outfielder would have the same sort of impact David Eckstein has had for all these years. He’s a better athlete than Eckstein. He runs better, throws better, and with steady at-bats, I think he’d hit .290-.300 with 45 stolen bases. Because of the way he plays, however, I do wonder if his body would hold up for a full season.

What if the Seattle SuperSonics were still playing at KeyArena? Would you really care about this team?

Have you checked out the Oklahoma City Thunder roster? Johan Petro, Mouhamad Sene, Earl Watson, Chris Wilcox, Damien Wilkins, Robert Swift. All of those guys are still on the roster. By the way, the Thunder’s had five homes games, and two weren’t sellouts.

What if you wanted to check out some live music in the Kitsap area and didn’t know where to go or who to listen to?

Stop by MD’s Sports Bar at the North Perry Avenue Mall (formerly Ammiratto’s Air Show Pub) on Wednesday night to catch K.W. Miller, one of the best secrets around. If you like the blues and southern rock, you’ll like K.W. and partner Jack Parker (the Dubs also play in the Rocky Point All Stars and Tumbleweed, the group formed by MxPx’s Mike Herrera).

What if you only had three television channels available? What would you pick?

For me, it would be CNN, ESPN and HBO.

What if Jake Locker never lives up to the potential he has shown?

With two years left, and and a new coaching staff coming in — the fifth in 10 years for the Huskies — and a new system to learn, it’s possible we might not ever see the quarterback we thought he’d become. It’s a real possibility. Man, wouldn’t that be a shame.

This is the week Rick Neuheisel returns to Husky Stadium, and there’s a been a lot written and said about the former Husky coach this week.

This is a guy who once stood on stage and sang in the beer garden after a Kitsap Stampede rodeo performance — a guy who flew recruits (South Kitsap’s Ryan Cole included) to his house on Lake Washington in a by-plane. There’s a lot to like about this guy. And, as I said before, I think, given time, he’ll rebuild the UCLA Bruins into one of the Pac-10’s elite programs..

Of course, there’s a lot not to like, too. As candid as Neuheisel was during his time at Washington, he wasn’t always forthright.

I don’t know if there’s ever been a more loved/hated sports personality in Seattle.

Personally, I think he got a raw deal. He shouldn’t have been fired for participating in an NCAA basketball pool. Would the Huskies have returned to elite status under his rein had he not been fired? We’ll never know. I know the old guard - guys of the Jim Lambright regime — didn’t have much respect for him.

Here’s a couple links on Rick. This story by John Boyle of the Everett Herald details how some at Rainier Beach High, including current Husky Vonzell McDowell, see Neuheisel in a positive light.

And here’s an interesting piece by Rick Dufresne of the Los Angeles Times. Dufresne’s not sure he’s ever seen a more conflicted homecoming than this one.

Here’s another link. This one is about Derrell Daniels, former Husky who now works for Neuheisel. Daniels knows his coach made some mistakes when he was at Washington, but he says Neuheisel has learned from those mistakes.

Bremerton’s Marvin Williams, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2005 NBA draft, will be a restricted free agent at the end of the summer and some think the NBA’s salary cap will be reduced because of downturn in our economy. Regardless, Marvin’s probably in a pretty good situation. The Atlanta Hawks appreciate his all-around, selfless game and it’s hard to imagine that this young rising team won’t offer this young rising star a lucrative contract next summer.

Marvin knows how important it is to have a good year. Here’s a good read on the Bremerton High grad, who is still all about his family.

A lot of people forget that the Marvin and the young Hawks took the champion Celtics to seven games last year before losing in the first round of the playoffs. Williams missed the first game of the season, serving a one-game suspension for a hard foul he committed in that Boston series.

In his first game back this year, he struggled: two points, five rebounds and two blocks in a win over Orlando.

“My timing was all messed up,” Williams told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It was my first game back, and I was just off. But it’s not anything I’m worried about. I’ll be fine.”

And he has been.

He hit all three of his 3-point attempts in a win over New Orleans last week, including a big one inside the final three minutes to give Atlanta an 83-74 lead.

Marvin scored 16 points Sunday night in a win over Oklahoma City, hitting another big 3-pointer — this one giving the Hawks an 80-77 lead in a game they won. Atlanta’s off to a 5-0 start and Williams is a big part of it.

Olympic College will hold its third annual Ranger Dinner and Auction on Nov. 21 at Bremer Student Center.

The event starts with a 6 p.m. social hour and silent auction.

Seattle comedian Fred Northrup will be the master of ceremonies and KING 5 weekend sports anchor Lisa Gangel will be the keynote speaker.

The Outback Steakhouse will provide a three-course dinner.

Individual tickets are $30. Business sponsors can purchase a table for 10 for $250. Call (360) 475-7443 if interested in buying tickets or donating items for the auction. For more information, call athletic director Barry Janusch at  (360) 475-7458.

This was news to me, but Port Orchard native Willie Bloomquist is now represented by high-powered agent Scott Boras. I’ll try to run Willie down in the next day or two, but it sounds like he might be hunting at his brother’s lodge in Montana and out of cell phone range. Meanwhile, here’s a link to a blog item that was posted in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer this week.

And here’s another link to a story written by Larry Larue of the Tacoma News Tribune after Willie became a free agent.

And while we’re at it, here’s a free plug for Joe Bloomquist’s Missouri River Lodge and X-Treme Fly Fishing business in Wolf Creek, Mont.

Want to go online to get tickets for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C.?

You better get busy. The deadline is today.

According to this story in the Los Angeles Times, the most expensive Opening Ceremony ticket will go for $1,294. The highest-priced admission to the gala figure skating exhibition will cost $650, while the top-end ticket for the men’s gold medal hockey game will cost $930.

Here’s the full story:

By Greg Johnson
(c) 2008, Los Angeles Times=
Olympic mascots Quatchi, Miga and Sumi will enjoy guaranteed seating when the Olympic torch is lit on Feb. 12, 2010, to start the Vancouver Winter Games. But humans who hope to be sitting nearby have until Nov. 7 of this year to request admission tickets to the Opening Ceremony, the Closing Ceremony and the myriad athletic competitions sandwiched in between.
Vancouver Games organizers say that 1.6 million tickets will be sold before the Games begin. Of that total, 70 percent will be sold to the general public, with the rest going to Olympic-related entities, including corporate sponsors.
U.S. ticket sales again are being handled by privately held CoSport. The Far Hills, N.J.-based company also is licensed by the Vancouver Games Organizing Committee to sell tickets in Australia and European Union countries. (For a list of ticket agents in other countries, visit the Vancouver 2010 website.
CoSport won’t be awarding tickets on a first-come, first-serve basis. That should mean that folks who used their high-speed Internet hook-ups will have no advantage over a ticket request that the U.S. Postal Service delivers next week to CoSport’s office.
CoSport is using a random lottery that company President Jean-Paul Modde characterized during a telephone interview as giving consumers an equal chance at getting their requested tickets.
Though CoSport expects to sell most of its allotted tickets, stock that remains unsold will be offered for sale in February or March, Modde said.
As is Olympics custom, the process of allocating tickets to various countries remains frustratingly murky. Vancouver organizers won’t say how many tickets are being allocated to the U.S. market, or how that number is determined. Modde also declined to say how many tickets are being sold in this country.
“We’re still negotiating on the last tickets we’re going to get for this allocation,” Modde said. CoSport might eventually provide consumers with some idea of how many tickets were available, or what percentage of requests ultimately gets fulfilled.
Modde also said that the roiled financial markets haven’t seemed to scare away travelers.
“Demand has been high, in line, if not a little more than, what we expected,” Modde said. “A large number of requests are coming from the Northwestern part of the country — Washington state, Oregon — and I suspect a lot of them will be driving rather than flying.”
As is the case with most things in life, fans who want to get close to the action will pay more for a seat than fans who are content with the nosebleed section. Here’s a look at what the highest-priced admissions to the most popular events will cost. Prices are for tickets only, not lodging.
The most expensive Opening Ceremony ticket will go for $1,294. The highest-priced admission to the gala figure skating exhibition will cost $650, while the top-end ticket for the men’s gold medal hockey game will cost $930.
Vancouver organizers allow CoSport to charge a 20 percent commission based upon a ticket’s face value. That value was set in September, before the U.S. dollar grew noticeably stronger in relationship to the Canadian dollar.

In this space yesterday, it was noted that reader Michael Marty felt it was the “Seahawks duty” to remember Edward McMichael, Seattle’s “Tuba Guy,” who died after being beaten up by three teenagers. Marty thought the Hawks should fly the 12th man flag at half mast at the next home game.

Somebody was thinking along the same line.

The Seahawks sent out this press release Thursday, inviting fans to a public tribute:

WHO: Edward McMichael, “Tuba Man,” Seattle’s beloved sports & entertainment fan.

WHAT: A public celebration and memorial event to honor the passing of Edward McMichael. The event is free.

WHEN: Wednesday, November 12 at 6:30 p.m.
Doors will open at 5:30 p.m.

WHERE: Qwest Field Event Center
Please enter the Qwest Field Event Center through the marquee entrance off Occidental Avenue.

PARKING: Fans are invited to park complimentary in the North Lot of Qwest Field at Qwest Field Event Center garage starting at 5:30 p.m.

DONATIONS: “The Commentators” on KOMO 1000 Newsradio are facilitating donation drop-offs at any Bank of America branch. Fans can send donations to cover funeral expenses to the following address:

Edward “the Tuba Man” McMichael Memorial Fund
P.O. Box 4985
Federal Way, WA 98063

###

After a week in Banff, Alberta, where there’s almost as many elk in the streets as there are tourists this time of year, it’s been a little tough getting back into the real world.

After Banff, my wife and I headed to Waterton National Park, another beautiful spot if you’ve never been, before driving into Montana to check on some of my Indian ancestors. Stopped in Babb, where the waitress turned out to be a distant cousin and there was a sign on the door: “First Americans for Obama.” Stopped in Choteau, where my dad and uncles and aunts were born and the grandmother I never knew is buried.

Made it back to the office on election day. That’ll be a day most of us will never forget. Didn’t fall asleep until 4 a.m. Couldn’t stop watching and re-watching the TV. I don’t know if more tears of joy have ever been spilled in this country.

I’ll leave it at that. This isn’t a place for political discussions, but it is a place to share some opinions.

Here’s one from Michael Marty, who e-mailed me this message in response to the beating death of Edward McMichael, Seattle’s own “Tuba Guy.”

“It is an outrage how he met his untimely death and I and many like me believe it is the Seahawks duty to remember his staunch loyalty to Seattle sports teams and to the people of Seattle by flying the 12th man flag at half mast at the next home game. Please join us in this campaign with any support you the Kitsap Sun staff can offer to remember this sports and human icon.”

Michael Marty, whoever you are, that’s a good idea. I hope the Seahawks pick up on it.

While I was in Canada, the Huskies fired Ty Willingham, and the Huskies (56-0 at USC) and Cougars (58-0 at Stanford) lost by a combined 114-0. The Seahawks won a game at San Francisco, but the good times didn’t continue at home against Philadelphia as they lost 26-7, slipping to 2-6 at the halfway point of the season. All of this after watching the Sonics leave for Oklahoma City and the Marineros stumble to a 101-loss season.

“It’s so bad around here,” wrote Art Thiel of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, “that people turn from sports to the financial pages to cheer up.”

The way things are going, it seems likely that the Huskies and Cougars could play to a 0-0 tie. Hey, don’t laugh, there’s precedent. It’s happened three times, in fact — in 1932, 1934 and 1942.

Here’s a question for you. Let’s rename the Apple Cup for a year. Somebody’s already suggested putting a Cr in front of Apple. Got any other suggestions?