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Larry Henry Sports Columnist |
SEATTLE — Let’s look on the bright side.
Alex Rodriguez hasn’t ruled out the Mariners yet.
Lou Piniella is still pondering their offer.
Jay Buhner hasn’t said he isn’t coming back.
Al Martin has put away his glove.
The fences at Safeco Field are still where they were when the season ended.
Spring training is only 31/2
months away.
The election will soon be over.
And politicians can stop lying.
The Sonics are undefeated.
Gary Payton and Paul Westphal are still talking.
Patrick Ewing is still walking.
Joe Torre won a World Series.
And Bobby Valentine didn’t.
Nobody outside of New York City really cared.
The power in Pac-10 football resides in the Northwest.
This is the most entertaining Husky team in years.
It hasn’t snowed yet.
Thanksgiving is less than a month away.
Flea season is over.
The Seahawks have only seven more games.
That many?
Egads!
Seems like the season should be over.
For all practical purposes, it just about is.
Hawk cornerback Shawn Springs remarked a week ago that things were going to get better because they couldn’t get any worse.
Guess what?
They got worse.
The Hawks lost again Sunday, falling to Kansas City 24-19.
"I deal with realities," coach Mike Holmgren said afterward, "and what our record is, which is the bottom line."
Bottom line for this team — it’s operating in the red.
It is 2-7 with a five-game losing streak.
All is not lost. Hope is less than a week away. San Diego — one of the teams the Hawks have beaten — comes calling Sunday at Husky Stadium.
Too bad the teams only meet twice.
Didn’t anything good come out of Sunday’s game?
Cortez Kennedy got a sack. His first of the season. In the ninth game.
The defense showed some life in the second half, holding the Chiefs to a field goal.
Ricky Watters ran well.
Quarterback Jon Kitna had his good (26-for-42 for 224 yards and two touchdowns) and bad moments (three interceptions). Unfortunately, in a loss, we remember primarily the bad ones. The play that will weigh most heavily on his soul came in the final moments of the first half with the Seahawks at the KC 4.
Kitna threw a pass into the end zone. And it was caught. But not by the man he intended it for (Sean Dawkins). No, it ended up in the hands of KC cornerback James Hasty.
"If we could have gotten a field goal before half, it would have been a whole different game," Kitna said.
As it was, this game had a familiar look.
"Again, penalties and untimely turnovers," Holmgren said, referring to 10 violations (for 99 yards) and four giveaways.
"That usually is going to win games for you."
It did. But for the wrong guys.
Kitna hadn’t started a game since Oct. 2, the last KC game. Which got him demoted. He started Sunday only because Brock Huard was sidelined with a concussion. Kitna needed a game he could feel good about. "I can’t recall ever feeling good after a loss," he said.
Kitna always tries hard. Maybe too hard. "Jon Kitna, God bless his heart, wants to make every play," Holmgren said. "He tries to make something good happen when there is nothing there. He should throw it away."
He did on occasion. He should have done it more.
One man who could feel good about his own performance was Watters. But we’ll never know his thoughts because Watters doesn’t speak to reporters. And hasn’t for some time. The guessing is he got miffed about all the to-do over the rookie running back, Shaun Alexander.
Watters has feelings, too, you know. He doesn’t like to hear that some kid is going to come in and take carries away from him.
There’s only one way to muffle that kind of talk. Run like the devil himself.
At 31 and with nine-plus seasons in his resume, he is doing just that.
Watters, the No. 7 rusher in the AFC this season, ran hard again Sunday. He got 90 yards on 21 carries. He also caught five passes for 38 yards and one touchdown.
Holmgren called him a warrior.
Tight end Christian Fauria said Watters is running "as hard as I’ve ever seen him run."
Kitna labeled him "our MVP."
Right now, the competition for that honor is slim.
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