Other sports

UW basketball

Ross is boss in crunch time

I've watched Huskies men's basketball for nearly 50 years. In that span there's not a player I'd choose over Terrence Ross for the big shot at crunch time.

Yep, not even Brandon Roy.

— Lew Witham, Seattle

Huskies are more than just Wroten

Tony Wroten Jr. is not the only player on the Huskies basketball team, but one would never know it from your coverage of their games. After the Huskies beat Arizona 69-67 ("Huskies in first place after sweep in the desert," Jan. 29), there were two pictures of Wroten accompanying the story, and Wroten's name was mentioned 13 times. Wroten was quoted six times. It seems like this happens after most games.

Sure, he is the leading scorer, but I think you need to share the wealth a little. Basketball is still considered a team sport, right?

— Steve Hamilton, Bothell

Poor free-throw shooting is costly

The UW men's basketball team can play with any team in the country until it gets to the free-throw line. Against Arizona, the Dawgs made a runaway game close by shooting 44 percent from the foul line and have averaged barely over 60 percent this season. This is a consistent trend the last several years.

I wonder if they shoot free throws in practice under pressure like in a game?

— Warren White, Kirkland

Mariners

Guillen trade among team's flubs

Larry Stone's blog post (Hot Stone League, Thursday) regarding the trade of Carlos Guillen and the demise of the Seattle Mariners is a little late, isn't it? Where was that when it was needed?

It's just like a losing franchise to trade a guy who was getting better every year, just as he entered his prime years. He's starting to play the best baseball of his life, and you deal him? It doesn't make any sense.

However, here's a franchise that actually thought Tim Lincecum had a funny throwing motion, as Bill Bavasi put it. If you like Brandon Morrow better, OK, but don't tell us that Lincecum's got a funny throwing motion and you're worried about him holding up, because anybody with a brain can see how fluid he is. Outside of the Pat Gillick/Lou Piniella years, the Mariners have been so mismanaged it's absurd. And they want me to buy a ticket?

— Mark Gardner, Edmonds

Taking the optimistic view

I have a general response to the pessimistic messages you print week after week re: the Mariners' ongoing efforts to improve. I'm sure they represent just a tiny portion of an unending stream of letters with this point of view. It is strikingly easy to sit back and complain — anyone can do it, and little thought is required. And most of all, it involves no risk. For a person to express optimism — that's where the risk begins, because it implies making a commitment. It means taking an emotional chance.

Mariners fans are so accustomed to disappointment that any move made by the team causes a negative reaction. But if one were to try to overcome this knee-jerk response and really examine the Mariners landscape, one would see progress. It's slow but sure; not spectacular, but persistent and determined. Jack Z has a vision of what is required to build long-term team strength, and he has not varied from it. I am quietly thrilled at the direction he has taken and am unabashedly eager to watch his boys grow over the coming years.

If anyone feels like comparing the status of this team and its future to what it was a few years ago, just think about the following word: Bavasi.

— Tom Likai, Shoreline

Baseball

Fans bear brunt of outrageous salaries

Just read in The Seattle Times that Tim Lincecum and Prince Fielder both got eye-popping contracts of more than $20 million per year.

Tom Hanks famously said in the film "A League of Their Own" that "there is no crying in baseball." An updated version of that could be "there is no recession in baseball."

Both of these players, and a large fistful of others, make more money in one month of a season than almost all of their fans will make in their lifetimes. And whether fans or not, employed or not, we all pay part of those salaries via our cable bills and by buying the products or services of companies that advertise any connection to Major League Baseball.

Yet I perceive that fans — who do support the teams paying these over-the-top salaries — are generally from the same demographic that likely and rightly decries business executives who make huge bonuses and salaries, while cutting the jobs of workers who coincidentally make up a part of that same fan base that teams rely on to pay player salaries. Well-paid baseball executives are also part of the problem as long as they continue to pass on the cost of their teams to fans and non-fans, and via various tax deductions and taxpayer subsidies.

— Tom Wingard-Phillips, Seattle