The Monday Morning Wash

Good Morning Husky fans!

I spent the weekend helping frame around 750 square feet of deck at our new house. It has always been a goal of mine to build my own deck, and I finally have the chance to do it. I have to say it is a lot more work than it looks like, and I am officially pretty sore this morning as I wait around for the building inspector to come by to approve the rough framing before we start attaching the decking.

I of course spent the Winter reading books on how to build a deck, and doing plans. One thing all the books have in common are photo's of cute women carrying lumber, wheeling cement, dumping gravel, cutting boards, and getting things level. One photo that amused us was two women using an auger to dig holes. We had 30, 42 inch deep footings to put in, and we went through a couple of augers digging in wet clay. The first hole took two pretty strong guys over an hour to complete, and we knew we were in trouble. I kept joking that if the girls in the book could do it, we could too, but at the rate we were going it was going to take around 28 hours without a break. We ended up bring in a Bobcat which finished the job in around 4 hours.

Derek Johnson over at Dawgman has a nice article on the new Legends Center which will open up this Fall the weekend of the USC game. From what I have read it is going to be an instant focal point that will greatly aid future recruitment.

"Husky Football in the Don James Era" is a book by Dawgman's Derek Johnson which was just released. It covers the years 1975-1993, when Don James was head football coach for the University of Washington Huskies. In eighteen years, James led his team to six Rose Bowls and one Orange Bowl, as well a national championship in 1991. His sudden retirement in 1993 was in protest of Pac-10 sanctions against his team, and was very controversial. In this book, James purportedly discusses his retirement publicly for the first time. Don James wrote the book's introduction, and former players Lincoln Kennedy, and Dave Hoffmann wrote forewords.

Bob Condotta over at the times is doing his best to keep his blog rolling as Husky football news starts to dry up as we head into summer. He did a little research and found that there are currently 30 Huskies playing in the NFL which is actually a little more than I thought during this downswing. Check out Bob's blog because he digs up new and interesting things to post each week. Bob is also going back in time as he argues that Rick was a poor recruiter. I personally think he was a great recruiter who didn't spend much time evaluating which of course would make his results poor. No doubt about it that Rick could sell, he just needed to do a lot more homework and listen to Chuck Heater who has done a marvelous job at Utah, and Florida after his Husky stint.

Nathan Ware who does the Seattle PI Husky Fan Blog gave us a link on his page this month which should help us pick up quite a few readers once the season gets under way. Nathan does a great job with his blog. He did a nice review after the Spring game so check it out if you haven't been there lately.

2007 Husky Coach Tour

Join the University of Washington Alumni Association and the Department of Athletics!
Enjoy a day of golf, meet local alumni, get the inside scoop on Husky sports straight from the coaches and support scholarships for UW students from your region.

Tacoma - Monday, May 7 Fircrest Golf Club
Spokane - Monday, May 14 Manito Golf & Country Club
Everett - Monday, May 21 Everett Golf & Country Club
Longview - Wednesday, May 23 Longview Country Club
Port Orchard - Tuesday, June 12 McCormick Woods Golf Course
Bellingham - Thursday, June 14 Bellingham Golf & Country Club (banquet only)
Yakima - Monday, June 18 Yakima Country Club

If you enjoy golf this a great way to get to know the coaches when they visit your neck of the woods!

Spring Sports Round Up

The No. 6 seed Washington softball team used a RBI-single from sophomore Alicia Matthews in the bottom of the seventh inning to defeat Georgia in the Lincoln Regional Championship game to advance to the program's third consecutive Super Regional.

Washington men's golf came three shots shy of qualifying for a spot in the NCAA Championships, as the Huskies carded a final round score of 1-under 287 to finish 14th at the NCAA West Regional that wrapped up at Arizona State's Karsten Golf Course, Saturday.

Arizona's Bill Rhinehart hit for the cycle with four RBI and C.J. Ziegler went 4-for-6 with six runs batted in as the 14th-ranked Wildcats completed a series sweep of the Washington baseball team with a 17-8 win Sunday at Kindal Field. Arizona retained second place in the Pac-10 with the win, improving to 39-13 overall and 14-7 in the conference. Washington dropped to 27-26 overall and 9-12 in the league.

Tia Jackson rounds out her staff

University of Washington head women's basketball coach Tia Jackson has solidified her coaching staff with the hiring of highly-successful former Missouri State University head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson as an assistant coach. Abrahamson-Henderson began her duties at Washington this week and joins Fred Applin and Loree Payne on the Husky coaching staff. Tia Jackson commented that they have a great understanding of each other and a remarkable bond, having both played for Coach C. Vivian Stringer at Iowa and become a part of a trusted sisterhood. She will be integral in helping rebuild the great tradition of Husky women's basketball and helping bring us to national prominence