My wish list for 2012:
• I want the Mariners to call Scott Boras’ bluff and make an offer for free-agent slugger Prince Fielder that doesn’t exceed, say, five years and $100 million. Take it or leave it, big guy.
• I want Aziz N’Diaye, Washington’s potentially dominant but brittle center, to avoid getting anywhere near UCLA’s Josh Smith when the Huskies face the Bruins on Feb. 2 and, later, on March 3. Smith, a Kentwood High grad listed at 305 pounds – he looks closer to 400 than 300 – can be a one-man wrecking crew when he throws his body around.
• Now that Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III has ascended to a Top 5 selection of the NFL draft, I want the Seahawks to set their sights on Boise State QB Kellen Moore. If the 6-foot (maybe, sorta) Moore is available in the fourth or fifth round – and he should be, because scouts are wary of his size – he’ll be a steal.
• I want Seattle boxer Queen Underwood to emerge as the surprise star of the 2012 London Summer Games: The Queen of England. Women’s boxing has been added to the Olympic program – there will be three divisions – and Underwood is considered the USA’s best threat to win a medal in the new sport.
But the lightweight has some work to do. She must qualify at the team trials scheduled for Spokane in February, then finish among the top eight at the world championships in China.
• I want Lance Burton, master magician on the Las Vegas Strip, to perform the ultimate magic trick: arrange the disappearance of ubiquitous caddie Steve Williams.
• I want – just once, that’s all, just once – to overhear a really interesting cell phone conversation on a Sound Transit bus trip between Tacoma and Seattle. Something like this: “Are you kidding me? Roger Goodell got thrown out of a bar for challenging your brother to a sword fight?”
• I want to lace up some hockey skates and take the ice for a lap, maybe two. There’s no feeling, in all of sports, better than that first glide off a rubber walkway, onto a rink.
• I want Steve Sarkisian to emphasize onside kicks when his team reconvenes for spring practice. Washington scored eight touchdowns the other night in the Arena, er, Alamo Bowl. Each touchdown found Baylor, moments later, at midfield. If the Huskies take the onside “gamble” on all nine of their kickoffs, there’s a decent chance they recover three of them – a 21-point swing.
• I want to go to Cooperstown, N.Y., for the Hall-of-Fame induction of the late Ron Santo, one of my childhood heroes. I won’t get there – it’s easier to travel to Tierra del Fuego than Cooperstown – but, like Santo, I can always dream.
• I want to see Isaiah Thomas stick with the Sacramento Kings. The former Huskies guard from Curtis High – both the shortest and final player selected in last summer’s NBA draft – is averaging five points in limited minutes off the bench, but Saturday provided a reason for optimism: He got to the free-throw line a team-high 10 times, draining seven.
• I want some college bowl games with a different spin. For instance, I paid no attention to the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl between UCLA’s interim-coached Bruins and Illinois’ interim-coached Fighting Illini, but I would’ve looked forward to a certain Seattle Seahawks center taking on all challengers in the Kraft Fight Unger Bowl.
• I want MLS players to enjoy an offseason that began an hour ago and will conclude sometime next week. OK, maybe I’m exaggerating, but does any sport have less down time than professional soccer?
• Speaking of golf, I want the story line of the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, which leads off the 2012 PGA Tour season starting Thursday, to dwell on the mysterious disappearance of Steve Williams in Las Vegas.
• I want the last day of the 2012 regular-season baseball schedule to pack the same excitement as the last day of the 2011 regular-season baseball schedule, when the playoff fates of four teams – the Cardinals, Braves, Red Sox and Rays – were decided almost simultaneously.
That won’t happen, of course. The last day of the 2011 regular-season schedule was a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon.
• I want to win the lottery that gives me a lucky-for-life check equivalent to what Prince Fielder figures to take home in a month.
After I win this lottery, I’m moving into a mansion, and hiring a chauffer for ’round-the-clock limo service, and treating everybody I know to a surf-and-turf dinner at a five-star restaurant, and donating the rest of it to one of those charities whose 3 a.m. TV advertisements make me feel guilty for coveting the excesses of my material world.
But first, I’m buying some new socks.
• In 2012, I want the Seattle Seahawks to win more games than they lose, and the Mariners to win almost as many games as they lose – hey, let’s be reasonable – and I want an Apple Cup pitting the explosive Huskies against Mike Leach’s combustible Cougars decided by a score of 6-3.
• I want Walt Cronkrite, grandson of the late television icon Walter Cronkite, to earn a promotion from his reporter’s job at CBS News’ D.C. bureau. Because if Walt Conkrite ever presides over the anchor desk for the nightly national news, he’ll be able to combine his grandfather’s famous sign-off line with three words consistent with the jargon of 2012.
“And that’s the way it is what it is.”
JOIN THE DISCUSSION | Register here
We welcome comments. Please keep them civil, short and to the point. ALL CAPS, spam, obscene, profane, abusive and off topic comments will be deleted. Repeat offenders will be blocked. Thanks for taking part — and abiding by these simple rules. A thorough explanation of rules of conduct can be found in our Terms of Service. If you have any questions, including why your comment may not be showing immediately after you submit it, be sure to visit the commenting FAQ.