February 1, 2015: Pete Carroll Calls a Pass

February 1, 2015, 10 years ago: Super Bowl XLIX is played at University of Phoenix Stadium -- now named State Farm Stadium -- in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona. Over 114 million viewers tuned in to NBC to watch it, making it the most-watched television program in American history.

The defending Champion Seattle Seahawks had a 10-point lead with 8 minutes left in regulation, and blew it. The New England Patriots took a 28-24 lead with 2:02 left. Quarterback Russell Wilson drove the Hawks to the Patriot 1-yard line with 26 seconds to go.

With the ball there, the call seemed obvious: A running play. Possibly Wilson on a quarterback sneak, like Bart Starr to win the 1967 NFL Championship Game, the Ice Bowl, for the Green Bay Packers. Or a handoff to Marshawn Lynch, the running back known as "Beast Mode," a 5-time Pro Bowler, who had already scored a touchdown in the game, and had gotten the ball 4 yards to the 1-yard line on the previous play.

Instead, Seahawk head coach Pete Carroll called for a pass, from Wilson to Ricardo Lockette. Patriot cornerback Malcolm Butler correctly figured out that Lockette was the target, and intercepted the pass. The Patriots won the game.

It's hard to imagine now, with Ohio State University having had Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks and winning National Championships with a great passing game, but there was a time, in the 1960s and '70s, when their head coach was Woody Hayes. Famous for a running game described as "Three yards and a cloud of dust," he was known for hating the forward pass enough to say, "There are three things that can happen when you throw the ball, and two of them are bad." Meaning an incomplete pass and an interception.

Malcolm Butler clinched victory for the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX with the most famous interception in football history.

Cris Collinsworth, a 3-time Pro Bowler who had played in Super Bowls XVI and XXIII for the Cincinnati Bengals, was broadcasting the game for NBC, and spoke for so many people watching:

I'm sorry, but I can't believe the call... You've got Marshawn Lynch in the backfield. You've got a guy that has been borderline unstoppable in this part of the field. I can't believe the call...

If I lose the Super Bowl because Marshawn Lynch can’t get it in from the 1-yard line, so be it. So be it! But there is no way.

He was absolutely right: You tell the other team, "Here he comes. Try to stop him." If they can't, that's expected, and you win. If they can, then they've earned their victory. To use an analogy from another sport, they've hit your best pitch.

Hall of Fame cornerback Deion Sanders, analyzing the game for CBS, called it "one of the worst calls in Super Bowl history." Peter King, the main football writer for Sports Illustrated, and a winner of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Dick McCann Award for writers, used the exact same words: "one of the worst calls in Super Bowl history." Hall-of-Famer Emmitt Smith, the NFL's all-time leading rusher, went even further, calling it "the worst play call in the history of football."

So that's, effectively, 3 members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, 3 guys who really know football -- one on offense, one on defense, and one watching from above -- saying it was a bad call, essentially blaming Pete Carroll for throwing away back-to-back wins in the Super Bowl, a rare achievement, and possibly Carroll's own eventual election to the Hall -- and maybe also Wilson's.

Is there any way to defend the call? Not really. Is there any way to say that Carroll shouldn't be blamed for the loss? Yes. Can any such way be taken seriously? Well, Wilson could have said, "This is a bad call. I'm calling a different play in the huddle." He could have shown the leadership that a great quarterback would show. He didn't.

We can also give Butler credit for pulling off the key play. Then there's the Seahawks' offense. Their 20 1st downs wasn't that bad, compared to the Pats' 25. But they were only 3-for-10 on 3rd down, compared to the Pats' 8-for-14. They also committed more penalties, 7-5, for twice as many yards, 70-36. And had less time of possession, 26:14 to 33:46.

It took them 20 minutes and 13 seconds to get their 1st score. Their last score came with 19 minutes and 54 seconds to go. They blew a 10-point lead, and they blew it with 8 minutes to go. Blowing a 10-point lead tied what was then a Super Bowl record. It would be eclipsed 2 years later by the Atlanta Falcons -- also against the Patriots. Hmmmm...

Did they cheat in this game? There has never been a serious accusation of it. But think of it this way: We have more proven instances of Belichick and/or Brady cheating, and the other benefiting from that cheating, than we have proven instances of them not cheating. So which is more likely: That these were the only times they cheated, or that they cheated in many more games?

In 2019, a poll ranked this game 8th on a list of the 100 Greatest Games of the NFL's 1st 100 years.

Lynch retired after the 2019 season. He becomes eligible for the Hall of Fame this week. Carroll and the Seahawks parted ways after the 2023 season. He is eligible for the Hall of Fame, but is not in. On January 24, 2025, he was named head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.

In Seattle, he outlasted Wilson, whom he traded to the Denver Broncos in 2022. It was a disaster, and he was released after 2 years. For the 2024 season, he signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was 7-2 in postseason games before Carroll called that pass, but has been 1-6 afterward.

On February 12, 2023, Super Bowl LVII broke this game's record for highest U.S. television audience: 115.1 million watched on Fox. The next year, on February 11, 2024, Super Bowl LVIII broke the record: 123.7 million watched on CBS. Both times, it was almost certainly due to the fact that millions of women and teenage girls, who wouldn't ordinarily have wanted to watch, wanted to see clips of singer Taylor Swift in the luxury boxes, cheering on her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, tight end for the victorious Kansas City Chiefs.

Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame Pete Carroll for the Seattle Seahawks Losing Super Bowl XLIX

February 1, 2015: Super Bowl XLIX is played at University of Phoenix Stadium -- now named State Farm Stadium -- in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona. Over 114 million viewers tuned in to NBC to watch it, making it the most-watched television program in American history.

The defending Champion Seattle Seahawks had a 10-point lead with 8 minutes left in regulation, and blew it. The New England Patriots took a 28-24 lead with 2:02 left. Quarterback Russell Wilson drove the Hawks to the Patriot 1-yard line with 26 seconds to go.

With the ball there, the call seemed obvious: A running play. Possibly Wilson on a quarterback sneak, like Bart Starr to win the 1967 NFL Championship Game, the Ice Bowl, for the Green Bay Packers. Or a handoff to Marshawn Lynch, the running back known as "Beast Mode," a 5-time Pro Bowler, who had already scored a touchdown in the game, and had gotten the ball 4 yards to the 1-yard line on the previous play.

Instead, Seahawk head coach Pete Carroll called for a pass, from Wilson to Ricardo Lockette. Patriot cornerback Malcolm Butler correctly figured out that Lockette was the target, and intercepted the pass. The Patriots won the game.

It's hard to imagine now, with Ohio State University having had Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks and winning National Championships with a great passing game, but there was a time, in the 1960s and '70s, when their head coach was Woody Hayes. Famous for a running game described as "Three yards and a cloud of dust," he was known for hating the forward pass enough to say, "There are three things that can happen when you throw the ball, and two of them are bad." Meaning an incomplete pass and an interception.

Malcolm Butler clinched victory for the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX with the most famous interception in football history.

Cris Collinsworth, a 3-time Pro Bowler who had played in Super Bowls XVI and XXIII for the Cincinnati Bengals, was broadcasting the game for NBC, and spoke for so many people watching:

I'm sorry, but I can't believe the call... You've got Marshawn Lynch in the backfield. You've got a guy that has been borderline unstoppable in this part of the field. I can't believe the call...

If I lose the Super Bowl because Marshawn Lynch can’t get it in from the 1-yard line, so be it. So be it! But there is no way.

Hall of Fame cornerback Deion Sanders, analyzing the game for CBS, called it "one of the worst calls in Super Bowl history." Peter King, the main football writer for Sports Illustrated, and a winner of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Dick McCann Award for writers, used the exact same words: "one of the worst calls in Super Bowl history." Hall-of-Famer Emmitt Smith, the NFL's all-time leading rusher, went even further, calling it "the worst play call in the history of football."

So that's, effectively, 3 members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, 3 guys who really know football -- one on offense, one on defense, and one watching from above -- saying it was a bad call, essentially blaming Pete Carroll for throwing away back-to-back wins in the Super Bowl, a rare achievement, and possibly Carroll's own eventual election to the Hall.

Is there any way to defend the call? Not really.

Is there any way to say that Carroll shouldn't be blamed for the loss? Yes. Can any such way be taken seriously? Read on:

Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame Pete Carroll for the Seattle Seahawks Losing Super Bowl XLIX

5. Pete Carroll. He got the Seahawks into that Super Bowl. And into the one the year before, and won it. He, Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer are the only head coaches to win both an NCAA National Championship and an NFL Championship (either before or during the Super Bowl era, 1967 onward).

Did he make a mistake with that play-call? Almost certainly. But he got them to within 1 play of back-to-back Super Bowl wins. Here's all the head coaches who have reached back-to-back Super Bowls: Vince Lombardi, Tom Landry, Don Shula, Bud Grant, Chuck Noll, Joe Gibbs, Dan Reeves, Marv Levy, Jimmy Johnson, Mike Holmgren, Mike Shanahan, Bill Belichick and Pete Carroll. 

That's 13 guys. Of those, just 10 won at least 1 of them: Lombardi, Landry, Shula, Noll, Gibbs, Johnson, Holmgren, Shanahan, Belichick and Carroll. Both of them? 6: Lombardi, Shula, Noll, Johnson, Shanahan and Belichick.

Going back to the pre-Super Bowl era, back-to-back NFL Championship Games were also won by George Halas, Greasy Neale, Buddy Parker, Paul Brown and Weeb Ewbank. So, 11 guys since 1932. That should give you and idea of how hard it is.

(No, Bill Walsh never did it. Only once have the San Francisco 49ers made back-to-back Super Bowls: In 1988-89, Walsh's last season as head coach; and 1989-90, George Seifert's first.)

Pete Carroll got the Seattle Seahawks to within one yard of back-to-back World Championships. They would not have gotten that far without him.

4. Russell Wilson. He threw the pass. He also could have said, "This is a bad call. I'm calling a different play in the huddle." He could have shown the leadership that a great quarterback would show. He didn't.

3. Malcolm Butler. He made the interception. Give him credit for pulling off the key play.

2. The Seahawks Offense. Their 20 1st downs wasn't that bad, compared to the Pats' 25. But they were only 3-for-10 on 3rd down, compared to the Pats' 8-for-14. They also committed more penalties, 7-5, for twice as many yards, 70-36. And had less time of possession, 26:14 to 33:46.

It took them 20 minutes and 13 seconds to get their 1st score. Their last score came with 19 minutes and 54 seconds to go. They blew a 10-point lead, and they blew it with 8 minutes to go. Blowing a 10-point lead tied what was then a Super Bowl record.

It would be eclipsed 2 years later by the Atlanta Falcons -- also against the Patriots. Hmmmm...

1. The Patriots Cheated. We don't actually know that the Patriots cheated at any point in the 2014-15 NFL season, much less in this Super Bowl. We only know that they have been caught cheating multiple times. They have forfeited the presumption of innocence.

So we have heard the case for the prosecution, and we have heard the case for the defense. It's time to decide.

VERDICT: Guilty. Going over the Top 5 Reasons again:

5. It doesn't matter what Carroll did before, only what he did at the moment in question.

4. Wilson was following orders. If he had disobeyed that order, and run the ball, and had gotten stopped, he would have been blamed for losing the Super Bowl, in spite of the fact that he had won one just the year before. If there's one thing the powers that be in the NFL value more than money, it's control.

If Wilson had rebelled, and gotten it right, he could be headed for the Hall of Fame. But if he had rebelled, and gotten it wrong, they could have made bullshit stuff up about him, as has been made about countless players, including quarterbacks (and not always as brazen as what was said about Colin Kaepernick), and he could have been run out of the game.

3. Butler wouldn't have intercepted the pass if Carroll hadn't called it.

2. The Seahawks' offense put themselves in position to win the game. Granted, this would seem to contradict the rebuttal to Reason Number 5. But it does emphasize the fact that Carroll blew it.

1. If Carroll had made the right call, it wouldn't have mattered if the Patriots cheated: The Seahawks would have won anyway.

Yes, the New England Patriots have cheated their way to 6 Super Bowl wins in the 22 seasons that they have been coached by Bill Belichick. But they have also failed to win the Super Bowl 16 times, including losing the Super Bowl 3 times: XLII and XLVI to the New York Giants, and LII to the Philadelphia Eagles.

It is possible to beat the Patriots, even when they cheat. Carroll had a great chance to do so. He didn't. He is to blame for that.

Should the NFL Play the 2020 Season?

There are 55 players on an NFL team roster. There are 32 teams. That's 1,760 players. The COVID-19 death rate in America is 3.75 percent.

Imagine. It's 2040. It's been 20 years since the pandemic. At the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, an official memorial is dedicated to the 66 players who died from it.

There were 131 players selected to the Pro Bowl at the end of last season. At that rate, 5 Pro Bowlers will have died from it. It could be 3 players who might make the Hall of Fame anyway.

Because the NFL remains as tone-deaf as ever, the unveiling of the memorial is done by the Commissioner, Jared Kushner, who bribed the team owners into selecting him.

*

This past Wednesday, the NFL mandated that all fans coming into games wear masks. The Giants and Jets went a step further: In line with Governor Phil Murphy keeping restrictions on large gatherings in New Jersey, they won't let any fans into their respective home games at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford.

Somebody once told me that, with the TV rights and the merchandising, the NFL could play all 16 games a week behind closed doors, and still make a profit for that week.

It may come to that.

None of the major sports played in North America has as much physical contact as football. No sport is sweatier. No sport gives the Coronavirus a greater chance of being spread.

The NFL is considering special helmets, with faceguards, as shown in the sample Baltimore Ravens helmet shown above, to better protect against the virus.

Will it work? I don't know. Several people in sports have caught it. Nearly all have recovered. But all it takes is one death to make us wonder what else we could have done, short of canceling the season.

Given how much damage football does to the human body, even without COVID-19, maybe canceling one season wouldn't be the worst of ideas.

Exhibition games may end up being canceled outright. For now, the regular season starts on Thursday night, September 10, with the defending champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, hosting the Houston Texans at Arrowhead Stadium. That gives the current Commissioner, Roger Goodell, 47 days -- a little under 7 weeks -- to make the big decision.

We shall see.

*

Each of the following is tentative, and we don't yet know which of them will actually have anyone in attendance:

Days until Arsenal play again: 1. They play tomorrow, at 11:00 AM my time, home to Hertfordshire team Watford. Arsenal can finish as high as 8th in the Premier League if they win, as low as 10th if they lose. Either way, it will be the worst finish for the team in 25 years. And all the "real fans who actually go to the games," and "care," told us that anybody could do a better job managing the team than Arsène Wenger. They were wrong. Unai Emery couldn't. Mikel Arteta is trying, and he's gotten Arsenal into the FA Cup Final on the following Saturday, at 12:30 PM my time, at the new Wembley Stadium in London, against Chelsea. As for Watford, they need to win to avoid relegation, so they will be ready for us.

Days until the next Yankees-Red Sox series begins: 20, on Friday, August 14, at Yankee Stadium II.

Days until the New York Red Bulls play again: 21, on Saturday night, August 15, home to the Chicago Fire. They crashed out of the MLS is Back Tournament, which is being held entirely behind closed doors at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, which is part of the Walt Disney World Resort, in the Orlando suburb of Bay Lake, Florida.

Days until the Red Bulls next play a "derby": 29, on Sunday night, August 22, home to New York City FC.

Days until the next North London Derby: Unknown. The 2020-21 Premier League season is now scheduled to begin on Saturday, September 12. That's 49 days, or 7 weeks. But the fixture list can't be set until the League knows who's getting promoted and who's getting relegated, and it will take another couple of weeks to get all the answers. But it's incredibly unlikely that Arsenal will open the season against Tottenham.

Days until Rutgers University plays football again: 63, on Saturday, September 26, at noon.Just 9 weeks. The Big Ten's non-conference schedule has been canceled. So it's only league games this season, presuming they don't cancel it all outright. The 1st game is away to Ohio State. Pray for the Scarlet Knights. And Greg Schiano is back as head coach, but he is no god.

Days until East Brunswick High School plays football again: Unknown, and if they play at all this season, we don't know if fans will be let in. I have heard that it will be on Friday night, October 2, which would be 69 days, almost 10 weeks, but I can't be sure.

Days until the next East Brunswick-Old Bridge football game: See the previous answer.

Days until the next Presidential election, when we can dump the Trump-Pence regime and elect a real Administration: 101, on November 3, 2020. A little over 3 months.

Days until the next Rutgers-Penn State football game: 126, on Saturday, November 28, at home.

Days until the New Jersey Devils play again: Unknown, since the 2020-21 NHL schedule has not yet been released. We do know that the regular season won't start until at least December 1, which is 129 days away, and it is unlikely that the Devils will open the season against a nearby rival.

Days until the New Jersey Devils next play a local rival: See the previous answer.

Days until the U.S. national soccer team plays again: Unknown.

Days until a fully-Democratic-controlled Congress can convene: 162, on January 3, 2021. A little over 5 months.

Days until Liberation Day: 179, at noon on January 20, 2021. Note that this is liberation from the Republican Party, not just from Donald Trump. Having Mike Pence as President wouldn't be better, just differently bad, mixing theocracy with plutocracy, rather than mixing kleptocracy with plutocracy. But it is now under 6 months. You've made it this far. Stay with us.

Days until the Yankees' 2021 Opening Day: 250, on Thursday afternoon, April 1, 2021, home to the Tampa Bay Rays.

Days until Euro 2020 begins, a tournament being held all over Europe instead of in a single host nation: 321, on Friday, June 11, 2021. Under 11 months.

Days until the next Summer Olympics begins in Tokyo, Japan: 363, on July 23, 2021. Under 1 year, or under 12 months.

Days until Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz become eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame: 535, on January 11, 2022. Under a year and a half, or under 18 months. We will then find out if it's okay for a Red Sox steroid cheat to be in the Hall, but not for a Yankee steroid cheat.

Days until the next Winter Olympics begins in Beijing, China: 559, on February 4, 2022. Under 2 years, or under 19 months.

Days until the next World Cup is scheduled to kick off in Qatar: 849, on November 21, 2022, in Qatar. Under 3 years, or under 28 months.

Days until the next Women's World Cup is scheduled to kick off: 1,080, on July 10, 2023. A little under 3 years, or a little under 36 months. Australia and New Zealand will be joint hosts.

Seattle's 10 Greatest Athletes

This week, the Yankees are hosting the Seattle Mariners.

Seattle's 10 Greatest Athletes

Remember: These performers are being measured only by what they did with Seattle teams. Some of them, had they spent their entire careers in the Emerald City, would rank considerably higher.

Honorable Mention to Seattle Seahawks Hall-of-Famers, who are not otherwise in the Top 10:
Kenny Easley, Cortez Kennedy and Walter Jones. Shaun Alexander should be allowed to join them.

Honorable Mention to Seattle SuperSonics Hall-of-Famers, who are not otherwise in the Top 10: Lenny Wilkens (also the coach of their 1979 NBA Champions), Spencer Haywood, Dennis Johnson and Ray Allen.

Honorable Mention to Lauren Jackson, forward, Seattle Storm, 2001-12. A 3-time WNBA Most Valuable Player and 2-time WNBA Champion, she also won 4 MVPs in her native Australia. The Storm retired her Number 15, and she was named to the WNBA's 20th Anniversary Team.

Honorable Mention to Jack Walker and Frank Foyston, members of the Hockey Hall of Fame, who helped the Seattle Metropolitans become the 1st American-based team to win the Stanley Cup, in 1917.

Honorable Mention to members of the original Seattle Sounders, 1974-83, who were, admittedly, typical of North American Soccer League players in that they were well past their best: Bobby Moore, Mike England, Alan Hudson and Roger Davies.

10. Edgar Martinez, designated hitter, Seattle Mariners, 1987-2004. He had a .312 lifetime batting average, was a 7-time All-Star, and led the American League in batting average in 1992 and 1995, and in RBIs in 2000. The Mariners have never reached the postseason without him; with him, they did so in 1995, 1997, 2000 and 2001.

The M's have retired his Number 11, and named him to their team Hall of Fame. Their fans believe he should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame. But his career numbers don't hold up: He collected only 2,247 hits, and only 309 of them were home runs. He was not a good runner. He was not a fielder at all. He was a one-dimensional player.

9. Clint Dempsey, forward, Seattle Sounders, 2013-present. Perhaps the greatest American soccer player ever, he has now played longer with the Sounders than with any other team, scoring 128 of his 467 professional goals for them. He helped them win the Supporters' Shield and the U.S. Open Cup in 2014, and the MLS Cup in 2016.

8. Harry "Hap" Holmes, goaltender, Seattle Metropolitans, 1915-17, with a return 1918-24. He and Jack Marshall, a teammate on the 1914 Toronto Blueshirts and a fellow member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, are the only 2 men to have won the Stanley Cup with 4 different teams.

Holmes, along with Georges Vezina for whom the annual award for best goaltender in the NHL is named, was 1 of the top 2 goaltenders of the 1910s. He won the Cup in 1914 with Toronto, then helped the Metros become the 1st American-based team to win the Cup, in 1917. He joined the brand-new NHL in the 1917-18 season, and won the League's 1st title and another Stanley Cup, with the Toronto Arenas, the team that became the Maple Leafs.

After just that 1 season away, he returned to the West Coast to play out his career. He helped the Metros win the Pacific Coast Hockey Association title again in 1919 and 1920. He won another Cup in 1925 with the Victoria Cougars, the last team from outside the NHL to win the Cup. This team, sort of, moved to Detroit in 1926, and eventually became the Red Wings. He was posthumously elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

7. Russell Wilson, quarterback, Seattle Seahawks, 2012-present. He's been in the NFL 6 seasons, and has reached the Pro Bowl in 4 of them. He was NFL Rookie of the Year in 2012, and on February 2, 2014, at the Meadowlands here in New Jersey, he led the 'Hawks to fulfill their destiny, winning Super Bowl XLVIII.

He got them back into the Super Bowl the next year, and made a mistake: He should have disobeyed head coach Pete Carroll and done a Bart Starr-style quarterback sneak. Had he done so, he'd have back-to-back titles, and be Seattle sports' greatest hero. He still might become that, as he doesn't turn 30 until this coming November, and could lead them to a 2nd World Championship, something no other Seattle sports team has (unless you count the Storm). Oh yes, he's also married to singer Ciara.

6. Gary Payton, guard, Seattle SuperSonics, 1990-2003. A 9-time NBA All-Star, all with the Sonics, "the Glove" led them to the 1996 Western Conference Championship, being named Defensive Player of the Year. Unfortunately for Seattle fans, he didn't win an NBA Championship until 2006, with the Miami Heat.

He is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, and, while this has nothing to do with the Sonics, he won Olympic Gold Medals with the U.S. teams at Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney in 2000. He has been working to get the NBA back to Seattle, stating that he doesn't want his Number 20 to be retired by the Oklahoma City Thunder. To their credit, they have not reissued it since the 2008 move. His son Gary Payton II now plays for the Los Angeles Lakers.

5. Sue Bird, guard, Seattle Storm, 2002-present. The native of Syosset, Long Island, New York has led the Storm to the 2004 and 2010 WNBA Championships, and is the league's all-time assists leader. She is a 10-time WNBA All-Star, including last season, which ended with her turning 37. She was named to the WNBA's 20th Anniversary All-Time Team. Presuming the Storm survive, they will almost certainly retire her Number 10.

4. Steve Largent, wide receiver, Seattle Seahawks, 1976-89. A 7-time Pro Bowler, he helped the Seahawks to their 1st Playoff berth, reaching the AFC Championship Game for the 1983 season, a feat they wouldn't achieve again for 22 years (by which point they were in the NFC). His 819 catches, 13,089 receiving yards and 100 receiving touchdowns were all records, since surpassed.

The Seahawks retired his Number 80, and named him to their Ring of Honor. He was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the NFL 1980s All-Decade Team, and The Sporting News' 100 Greatest Football Players in 1999, ranking 46th. Oddly, he was not named to the NFL Network's 100 Greatest Players in 2010.

In 1994, he was elected to Congress from his home district in Oklahoma. He was re-elected until 2002, when he decided to run for Governor, getting the Republican nomination, but losing by less than 7,000 votes.

3. Randy Johnson, pitcher, Seattle Mariners, 1989-98. He might be the last pitcher ever to win 300 games (303, 130 with the M's). He's the all-time strikeout leader among lefthanders with 4,875 (2,162), had a career WHIP of just 1.171 (1.250), an ERA+ of 135 (128), made 10 All-Star teams (5), won 5 Cy Young Awards (just 1 in Seattle), led the league in strikeouts 9 times (4) and ERA 4 times (once).

He reached the postseason with the Mariners in 1995 and '97. He pitched 2 no-hitters, 1 with the Mariners. He became the 1st AL lefthander to strike out 19 batters in a game, then did it again, then became the 1st lefty in either league to strike out 20 in a game.

He was one of the all-time great Yankee Killers, due to his performances in the 1995 ALDS with Seattle, the 2001 World Series with Arizona, and the 2005 and '06 ALDS with… the Yankees. He has been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Mariners have not yet officially retired his Number 51. They may be waiting for a dual ceremony with...

2. Ichiro Suzuki, right field, Seattle Mariners, 2001-12, with a brief return in 2018. After 9 seasons with the Orix Blue Wave in Japan, he came to America and set the baseball world on fire with his bat and his arm, winning the American League's Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player awards. (Despite his being 27 years old and it being his 10th season of top-flight baseball, he still met MLB's definition of a "rookie.")

In 2004, he set a new major league record with 262 hits in a season. He reached the postseason with the 2001 Mariners and the 2012 Yankees, but never won a Pennant. He retired earlier this season, with 3,089 hits. Counting his 1,278 in Japan, that's 4,367, more than Pete Rose, but neither MLB, nor the Elias Sports Bureau, nor the Hall of Fame counts it that way.

The Mariners will almost certainly retire his Number 51, although they may do it for both him and Randy Johnson. Barring doing something stupid like Rose or a revelation that he was once caught using PEDs, he's going to the Hall of Fame, probably in his 1st year of eligibility, which will now be 2024.

1. Ken Griffey Jr., center field, Seattle Mariners, 1989-99, with a return in 2009-10. In 1999, while not yet 30 years old, "Junior" was selected by The Sporting News as one of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and by fan balloting for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. He batted .284 lifetime (.292 with the Mariners), with a 136 OPS+ (144), 2,781 hits (1,843) including 630 home runs (417) -- 4th all-time among honest men, including the 2nd half of back-to-back jacks with his father on the 1990 Mariners -- and 1,836 RBIs (1,216), including 8 100+ seasons (7).

He was a 13-time All-Star (10), a 10-time Gold Glove winner (all in Seattle), the 1997 American League Most Valuable Player, and, in 1995, told the Mariners to "Jump on my back," and he carried them all the way to the AL Championship Series, probably convincing voters to approve the funding for what became Safeco Field, and saving Major League Baseball in the Northwest.

Ironically, the new ballpark was, unlike the homer-happy Kingdome, a pitcher's park, and it's one of the reasons he left. In 8 seasons in his adopted hometown of Cincinnati (Number 24 had been retired for Tony Perez, so he switched to his father's number, 30), he and the Reds never made the Playoffs, and they traded him to the Chicago White Sox, and he helped them win the AL Central Division, after 2 AL West titles in Seattle. But he never appeared in a World Series, giving him more career home runs than anyone who didn't.

He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his 1st year of eligibility, with a record 99.32 percent of the vote. The Mariners retired his Number 24, and both they and the Reds elected him to their team Halls of Fame.

Russell Wilson, a Yankee?

The New York Yankees desperately need a 2nd baseman.

The New York Jets desperately need a quarterback.

The New York Giants aren't yet desperate in their need for a quarterback, but Eli Manning's not getting any younger.

Yesterday, Yankee general manager Brian Cashman brought Russell Wilson in from the Texas Rangers' organization, for that great amorphous term "future considerations."

As for the Yankees:

On the one hand, Wilson is a 2nd baseman, who has played professional baseball.

On the other hand, he hasn't played in a professional game since 2011, and that was in Single-A ball, where he batted .228. In other words, he's even further from being a major league 2nd baseman than Gleyber Torres is. It's been announced that he would play for the Trenton Thunder, the Yankees' Double-A affiliate, in 2018. He's 29, and hasn't picked up a bat in anything besides Spring Training in 6 1/2 years.

As for the Giants and the Jets:

On the one hand, he is a quarterback. And, like 1993 Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward before him, he is now the best quarterback in New York.

On the other hand, like Ward before him, he's not going to be playing quarterback for the Giants or the Jets. Just as Ward was playing basketball for the Knicks, Wilson's NFL rights are still held by the Seattle Seahawks, whom he led to victory in Super Bowl XLVIII -- which, to be fair, was played in the New York Tri-State Area, at Met Life Stadium.

So, why trade for Wilson? I have nothing against him, either personally or professionally, but this trade makes absolutely no sense. It solves nothing.

Except maybe for Wilson's wife. He's married to singer Ciara. Maybe she got bored with Seattle, and wants to live in New York.

And to get Wilson, Cashman traded "future considerations." This gets funnier when you remember that Ciara's ex is Nayvadius DeMun Wilburn, a.k.a. the rapper Future. Who cheated on her after they were engaged and had a child, showing that he didn't consider her an important part of his future, so he became no longer a part of hers.

*

The countdown has been corrected:

Days until the U.S. national soccer team plays again: Unknown. While the women's team has 4 games scheduled between now and April 8 -- including Sunday, March 4 at Red Bull Arena in the "She Believes Cup" -- for the men's team, no further matches have been scheduled. They were supposed to play at the World Cup in June. Alas...

Days until the next Winter Olympics begins in Pyeongchang, Korea: 1, tomorrow.

Days until The Arsenal play again: 2, this coming Saturday, at 7:30 AM our time, a North London Derby against arch-rival Tottenham Hotspur, at Wembley Stadium in West London, where "Spurs" are playing their "home games" until the new stadium they're building on the site of White Hart Lane opens the following August.

Days until the next North London Derby (after this one): Unknown, but not until next season.

Days until the New Jersey Devils next play a local rival: 5, next Tuesday night, against the Philadelphia Flyers, at the Prudential Center. They next play the New York Islanders on Saturday, February 24, at home. They won't play the New York Rangers again until the last week of the regular season, on Tuesday, April 3, at the Prudential Center.

Days until the New York Red Bulls play again: 30. They open at home against the Portland Timbers on March 10. Just over 4 weeks.

Days until Opening Day of the 2018 Major League Baseball season: 49, on Thursday night, March 29, as the Yankees open away to the Toronto Blue Jays. Exactly 7 weeks. The Yankees still don't have a 2nd baseman or a 3rd baseman who can both play those positions and hit major league pitching well, so the only way we Yankee Fans will see the postseason is if we've paid our cable bills.

Days until the Yankees' 2018 home opener: 53, on Monday afternoon, April 2, against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Days until the next Yankees-Red Sox series begins: 61, on Tuesday, April 10, at Fenway Park.

Days until the Red Bulls next play a "derby": 86, on Saturday afternoon, May 5, home to New York City FC. Their 1st game against the Philadelphia Union will be on Saturday night, May 26, at Red Bull Arena in Harrison. Their 1st game against the New England Revolution will be on Saturday night, June 2, at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro. Their 1st game against D.C. United, and their 1st game ever at the new Audi Field, will be on Wednesday night, July 25.

Days until the next World Cup kicks off in Russia: 126, on June 14. A little over 4 months. But the U.S. team won't be playing. At least now, Donald Trump doesn't have to choose, and can root for his favorite country, the host nation, Russia.

Days until the 2018 trading deadline, after which we won't have to fear Yankee general manager Brian Cashman trading any proven good players for "prospects": 174, on Tuesday, July 31. Under 5 months.

Days until September 2018 roster call-ups, when we can finally start to expect seeing most of these wonderful "prospects" that Yankee general manager Brian Cashman wanted: 206. A little under 5 months.

Days until Rutgers University plays football again: 206, on Saturday, September 1, home to Texas State University. 

Days until East Brunswick High School plays football again: Unknown. The 2018 schedule hasn't been released yet. But the season opener is usually on the 1st Friday in September. that would be September 7, which is 212 days from now.

Days until the next Congressional election, when we can elect a Democratic Congress that can impeach and remove Donald Trump from the Presidency: 272, on November 6. A little under 8 months.

Days until the next Rutgers-Penn State game: 283, on Saturday, November 17, at High Point Solutions Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey.

Days until the next East Brunswick-Old Bridge Thanksgiving high school football game: 288, on Thursday, November 22. A little over 8 months.

Days until a Democratic Congress can convene, and the impeachment process can begin: 325, on Thursday, January 3, 2019. Under 11 months.

Days until the Baseball Hall of Fame vote is announced, electing Mariano Rivera: 350, on January 23, 2019. A little over 11 months.

Days until the next Women's World Cup kicks off: 485, on June 7, 2019, in France. Under a year and a half, 15 months. The U.S. team, as 3-time and defending Champions, has, as usual, a better chance than the men's team would have had in 2018 anyway.

Days until my 50th Birthday, at which point I can join AARP and get discounts for travel and game tickets: 680, on December 18, 2019. Under 2 years, or a little over 23 months.

Days until the Baseball Hall of Fame vote is announced, electing Derek Jeter: 715, on January 22, 2020. A little under 2 years, or a little over 23 months.

Days until the next Summer Olympics begins in Tokyo, Japan: 900, on July 24, 2020. Under 2 1/2 years, or a little over 29 months.

Days until the next Presidential election, when we can dump the Trump-Pence regime and elect a real Administration: 1,002, on November 3, 2020. Under 3 years, or a little under 32 months.

Days until Liberation Day: 1,080, at noon on January 20, 2021. Under 3 years, or a little over 35 months. Note that this is liberation from the Republican Party, not just from Donald Trump. Having Mike Pence as President wouldn't be better, just differently bad, mixing theocracy with plutocracy, rather than mixing kleptocracy with plutocracy.

Days until the next World Cup for which the American team will be eligible is scheduled to kick off: 1,752, on November 21, 2022, in Qatar. Under 5 years, or about 57 months. The charges of corruption against Qatar may yet mean that they will lose the tournament, in which case it will be moved to a nation where it would not be too hot to play it in June and July.

Worst NFL Season Ever

Cheaters 28, Seahawks 24.

Seriously, Russell Wilson: You had the bastards right where we all wanted them. How could you throw that pass at that time? Goat City.

Or maybe it was a play called by head coach Pete Carroll. Moron.

Of course, Carroll has his difficulties coaching in the NFL. Unlike at USC, there's a salary cap.

Between the Cheatriots, domestic abuse, concussions, the local teams both being terrible, and Roger Goodell clearly looking at the records of MLB's Bud Selig, the NBA's David Stern, and the NHL's Gary Bettman, and deciding to try to become as big an asshole as the 3 of them combined.

Worst NFL season ever.

Bring on baseball.