KC at the Bat: Reviving a sports column, the best sporting event I've been to, and other thoughts

Sports memories, Abdul Gaddy returns to Montlake, and getting excited for Jonah Coleman

When I was in college at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) I wrote a sports column called “KC at the Bat.” It was my first crack at speaking my truth about sports to the five people that read my writing (myself, my dad, my dad’s friend who my dad sent my articles to, my friend Woody, and one of my editors). If you don’t get the reference, google “Casey at the Bat.”

All these years later (a decade to be exact), I’m bringing back this column to SeaTown Sports, and it feels great. I took a quick at the archives. Some of the topics I covered are still relevant. See Realignment favors greed over fans (lamenting schools changing conferences); see also March Madness allegiances: Go Gonzaga Bulldogs? (questioning whether I should cheer for Gonzaga since LMU will never make the NCAA tournament). Some maybe not so relevant anymore. See e.g., The NFL’s biggest rivalry (declaring the Seahawks-49ers rivalry, the best in the NFL).

• Speaking of living in the past, Brian and I discussed the best sporting events we’ve ever been to live in our podcast this week. During the discussion, we came to the conclusion that most of the best games we’ve ever been to were with our dads. And that’s what makes a live sporting event special. It’s one thing to witness something cool happen in person, it’s another thing to witness something cool happen in person with another person you care about.

• One event I neglected to mention, but should have mentioned during the podcast was the 2016 Peach Bowl. This was probably the best live sports event I have ever attended. This was the first College Football Playoff game for the Huskies. The Huskies got crushed 24-7. The score seems close, but if you were there and watched, you could clearly tell that one team was on a mission, and another team was just happy to be there.

• So why was the Peach Bowl one of the best games I’ve ever been to? I went with my dad and it was the last one I went to with my dad. Six months later, we lost him unexpectedly to a brain aneurysm. It sucked. It still sucks. But over time, the good memories are accessed much more than the traumatic memories of losing him. One of the best memories was the Peach Bowl. From us deciding to spend big on plane tickets and game tickets knowing we might never get this chance again, to seeing him marvel and smile at all the purple, gold, and all the pageantry (the alumni band playing its classic game-day songs and taking our ceremonial crown shots), to walking home disappointed with the result, but happy with the experience. All of this I will carry with me for the rest of my life, knowing I got this memory with him.

• I was reminded of this memory during my visit to Seattle this week. My best friend’s mom (who is a diehard Husky and season ticketholder) made the point that going to events, like the National Championship, are so important to go to, because you just never know if it’ll ever happen again. Imagine deciding not going to the playoffs in 2001, and having to wait 21 years until you got to see another Mariners playoff game, or not going to a Sonics game in 2008 and having to continue to wait until the Sonics return, or not going to the Rose Bowl in 2001 and having to wait until 2019 to see the Huskies play in it again.

• One last thing on this. Coach Chris Petersen will always be my favorite UW football coach. Shortly after my dad’s passing, a family friend gifted our family with the below football from Coach Pete. It was such a meaningful gesture that took him a few seconds. Kindness matters.

  

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Brian and I also discussed “bucket list” events. One of the ones for me is seeing the Huskies and seeing LMU in the NCAA tournament. Maybe I’ll get a chance during the Sprinkle era. The team announced more hires this week, including former Husky point guard Abdul Gaddy as “Director of Player Development”. I’m not exactly what that role means, but I would guess that he’s helping train the players, which would mean he’s a coach without the coaching title.

• Gaddy was a five-star prospect coming out of Bellarmine Prep in Tacoma. At Bellarmine, for a moment, he was in the same high school backcourt as former NBA star Avery Bradley (who transferred to Findlay Prep). Most would say that Gaddy did not live up to his five-star ranking while he was at Washington. That’s probably fair. Looking back, he was maybe more in the three-star range. His legacy at Washington is actually decent. He ranks No. 4 all-time in assists (behind Will Conroy, Isaiah Thomas, and Sahvir Wheeler); No. 6 in assist percentage; and No. 4 in minutes played (behind Jaylen Nowell, David Crisp, and Detlef Schrempf).

• After Washington, Gaddy had more than a respectable career. He played overseas for five seasons after his time at Washington, then a few seasons at a stint with the OKC Thunder G-League affiliate, Oklahoma City Blue, then another three seasons overseas, and then two more years with the Blue.

• He definitely does not have the same accolades or name recognition as Will Conroy and Quincy Pondexter who were on Mike Hopkins’ staff, but nonetheless, Gaddy experienced two NCAA tournament berths while at Washington, so it will be good for this team’s players to learn from someone that’s been there.

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Washington Athletic Director Pat Chun shared on KJR this past week that it is “not on the table” for UW to cut any of its 22 sports. That’s a good thing, but I still am skeptical that it won’t be very difficult for the school to sustain its sports. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, some schools are already beginning to cut sports.

This is the dark part about the House settlement. Yes, it’s great that players are going to get paid, but those dollars come from somewhere. Schools may not have enough money to go around for their “non-revenue” sports. This would mean that if a sport doesn’t make money (like tennis), then that sport would be the first to go.

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As important as recruiting rankings, or maybe even more important, are transfer rankings. PFF college graded Washington transfer running back Jonah Coleman as the team’s best transfer.

• Coleman is a 5-9, 225lb bowling ball. Last season, at Arizona, under Jedd Fisch, Coleman rushed for 871 yards on 128 carries, averaging 6.8 yards per carry. He can also catch the ball, totaling 283 receiving yards at 11.3 yards per catch last year. He had 95 total yards against the Huskies in a game that gave UW a scare.

• He has a physical running style and runs into contact. USC had a soft defense last year, so the highlights below are not the best representation of his abilities, but they do show his ceiling against a bad defense:

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As I write this on my July 4th evening, the Mariners are coming off of a much needed offensive-centered victory.

Two weeks ago, I said the Mariners have collapsed. I was referencing the 2023 August and September collapse. But Brian jumped in and thought I was referencing that week’s events when the Mariners went 2-4. Even though he misinterpreted me, we’d be in agreement now. The Mariners have collapsed.

Yet, they are still in first place and two games up on the Astros.

One of the benefits of building that ten-game lead, is that we’d have to absolutely collapse and the Houston Astros or Texas Rangers would have to go on a hot streak. That’s happened, but the Mariners are still in the ring.

There’s one glaring issue and it’s the offense. They can’t suck forever. They just can’t. The weather is getting hot. And last night was a perfect example. Julio Rodriguez is great. Great players go through slumps. They get out of them. Hopefully last night was a sign that he’s back. He belted a 428-foot solo shot at T-Mobile park and then ripped a double at 113 mph. His post-game quote on his breakout was great: "If I start crying or complaining or beating myself up for what's happened, I'm not going to take the best advantage of the moment I have now. So that's just what I went out there and did today ... Just going out there, and competing my ass off." Way less corny than Russell Wilson.

Jerry Dipoto will get this team some help before the trade deadline. That’s as optimistic as I’ll get. The next three months are going to be a dogfight to stay in the playoff race. Buckle up.

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I’ll end this with a few call for actions:

1. Have a mailbag question for us? Leave us a comment and we’ll get it answered in our column next week.

2. Give us a follow on Instagram @seatownsports_official.