Links around the Pac
Malamute, 6 March 2009; updated 8 March 2009

Are you starved for information concerning the Pacific Ten Conference? Well, here are some stories for you to read, so wind up your index finger and get ready to click. 

Also, it's hard to criticize a jokester without looking like a fuddy-duddy who can't take a joke. Here's a critique of Jim Moore, who works for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, you might not have thought about.

-- In this tough economy, I don’t want to see anyone lose his/her job. This even holds true for Husky hater, Jim Moore, who writes a column for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which is about to go out of business. I hope Moore can find another job in journalism which, in my mind, is all about writing with an air of objectivity and superiority, while trying to project, on the sly, your own viewpoint when attempting to report the straight news. There goes that Black Helicopter again.

Moore has always been upfront about his take on things, and he has nothing to feel superior about.

After graduating from WSU, Moore, an idiot savant struck by lightning, fell teapot over kettle and landed a job in journalism.

Moore takes delight in poking fun at the Huskies’ athletic teams and the people behind its sports programs. He throws out the same pejoratives repeatedly, such as “Probation Nation” when referring to the Husky football program, hoping that the thought “I just don’t trust the University of Washington for some reason and don’t know why” will stick in people’s minds. Yes, he's devious, too.

Okay, I can take a joke as well as anyone.

But...

My problem with Moore -- a perfunctory writer -- has always been his penchant for mocking Washington athletes in trouble with the law, particularly minority kids, many of them under the influence of alcohol. Prior to Moore's ridicule, their misdeeds have already been written up in the local newspapers, and the coach has taken corrective action. They don't need Moore's piling on -- whether they are Caucasian or African American student/athletes. In particular, the inner-city kids who go to Washington hope to escape their former gang-infested neighborhoods and find a better environment.

See "College football's White Boy's Gangsta Wannabes."

When added up, Moore's stories project the image that UW is a rogue institution made up of thugs and ne'er do wells. UW is an example of a big-time college football program gone awry. Hence, his repeated use of "Probation nation." Portraying a global image of UW under the guise of humor is his shtick. The small nasty impact of each individual story, though humorous, adds up to a certain perniciousness over a period of time, whether the "schlemiel" planned it that way or not. 

-- John Berkowitz of uwdawgpound.com has been ruminating about the P-I, as of late. You can see what he has to say about the people at the P-I, by reading these two stories, "More PI musings," and "Molly Yanity - New Kid on the block." Click on the link above. He has some stuff on Moore, too. See "Jim Moore, the Merry Prankster." Click on "older stories" at the bottom of the first page of his blog.

Also, catch his take on Art Thiel (8 March). Thiel is a sports-world gadfly who likes to mix it up with Husky fans, but won't mix his obscure metaphors.

Yanity is an infectious read, by the way. My problem with her is that she doesn't write enough stories. Her editor needs to wise up.

-- "It is 15 days until the official start to spring, yet here in the Pac-10, the third school is less than a week away from opening spring football practice. In fact, Stanford is just days away from closing the first of two spring practice sessions," writes Nick Daschel. Go to Buster Sports to read about spring football in the Pac-10. See "Are You Ready For Some Spring Football? We Are."

-- Nick Daschel of Buster Sports hands out his "Pac-10 Awards: give 'em to Brockman, Romar, Thomas." It's hard for me to disagree with him. (8 March).

-- Ted Miller -- a former Husky beat writer for the Seattle P-I, turned good guy now, but always a stylish wordsmith -- takes a look at Arizona's coach Mike Stoops. See his article entitled, "Off the hot seat, Stoops enters 2009 confident."

Stoops took over a moribund program in 2004 and transformed it into a winner in five years' time. Likewise Washington's Steve Sarkisian is taking over a dying program at UW, one that is on the verge of collapse. The records of the two teams in the year prior to both coaches' takeover seasons are prophetically alike. See "More on the Arizona benchmark."

Some answers to your questions:

-- Who is the guy pictured above? Answer: former Washington football player Anthony Kelley.

-- A perfunctory writer? Any tidbit of a writing style Moore once had has been Paloused out of him.