Friday, February 3, 2012 @ 7:05pm

Audio: A former teammate's take on Cortez Kennedy

For three seasons, Dave Wyman had a front-row view of Cortez Kennedy's dominance.

Wyman, a former Seahawks linebacker who was teammates with Kennedy from 1990-92, watched as Kennedy got to the quarterback at a rate uncommon for a defensive tackle.

As Wyman and John Clayton discussed during Friday's editon of Cold Hard Facts, Kennedy racked up 58 sacks in 11 seasons despite playing in a defense that often called for Kennedy to take on multiple blockers.

"He wasn't lining up in gaps. He wasn't hiding. They were triple-teaming him," Wyman said. "It was just amazing to watch."

Clayton noted that Kennedy has more sacks than any other defensive tackle in the Hall of Fame (though some HOF defensive tackles predate the NFL's recognition of sacks as an official stat).

Clayton is among the selectors who will decide this weekend whether or not Kennedy and 16 other finalists will make the Hall of Fame.

You can listen to the conversation here.

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Friday, February 3, 2012 @ 4:11pm

Breaking down Washington's win over UCLA

Kevin Calabro and Dave Wyman discuss Washington's win over UCLA on Thursday before Wyman shares his Super Bowl plans.

Friday, February 3, 2012 @ 10:42am

The Go 2 Guy's Super Bowl gambling manifesto

By Jim Moore

If you've ever tuned into "The Kevin Calabro Show," I'm sure I've mentioned pointspreads and betting on football from time to time.

I don't bring it up all that often because it still strikes me as a "taboo" topic even though it's a multi-million-dollar industry in Las Vegas and on the Internet. Part of the mega-interest in the NFL comes from fans who love to bet on the games.

The Super Bowl is the biggest sports-betting event of the year. Most everyone knows the line on the game -- the Patriots are favored by 3. The "smart" money will be on the Giants. I'm calling it "smart" money because that's where my money will be. If the Patriots win by 4 or more, my wager on the Giants will henceforth be called "dumb" money or money that has completely disappeared.

Others who follow this stuff are also aware that the over-under on the game is 55. I plan to take the over, anticipating that the Giants will win 30-27. I like the fact that we're dealing with two relatively high-powered offenses that will battle it out in a climate-controlled domed stadium.

I also plan to bet that the game will be decided in overtime. Why? Geez, I don't know, I just do. At Bodog, you can get 6.5-1 odds on the game going to OT. If you wager $10 on it going to OT, you'll win $65 if it does.

These look like two evenly matched teams to me. The pointspread suggests as much. I'm also counting on the game going into overtime because NO SUPER BOWL HAS EVER GONE INTO OVERTIME.

I know what you're thinking -- if they've played 45 Super Bowls and none of them have gone to OT, why in the world would the Go 2 Guy think this one will when history says that it won't.

One minute, 34 seconds is the over-under for the time it will take Kelly Clarkson to sing the national anthem. John Clayton says take the over. (AP)

If the Cougs don't win that day, Scott believes that they're due to win in their next game, and so on.

Using the Scott Sutton logic, I will put 10 bucks or 20 bucks on the Super Bowl going to OT, and if the game ends in regulation time like all of the other Super Bowls, I will shrug, laugh and tell myself "boy, that was a stupid bet" and wager on next year's Super Bowl to go to OT, too. Sooner or later, according to Scott anyway, it will happen.

Here's one for you: I bet $25 on the Baltimore-New England AFC Championship Game going to OT two weeks ago. I think the odds were 9-1 on that one, meaning I would have won $225 if the game had gone to OT.

As you'll recall, the game did not go to OT because of Billy Cundiff, the Ravens' kicker who whiffed on a field goal that would have tied the game with 12 seconds remaining. Before he kicked the ball, I knew he'd miss because I never win those kinds of bets.

You would think I would have wanted to strangle Cundiff for missing, but I didn't. I felt worse for him and for Ravens' fans than I did for me and my cockamamie wager. When you bet on this stuff, you have to learn to expect the unexpected.

Which brings me to other crazy bets you can make on the Super Bowl. They're called propositional bets, and they're really, really stupid because you have to get really, really lucky to win them. More than anything else, you have to be really, really sick to wager on a "prop" bet, and I guess you could say I'm ICU sick because I probably will.

At Bodog.com, where you can find all of the crazy bets that I'm mentioning here, you can actually bet on how long it will take Kelly Clarkson to sing the national anthem. The over-under is one minute, 34 seconds, and John Clayton has already advised gamblers to take the over, saying that Clarkson will stretch it out, milking every second of the spotlight.

You can also bet on whether the coin flip will be heads or tails. What better way to get things rolling than to bet on the coin flip, sitting on the edge of your chair, the drama, the excitement as the referee shows each captain the head of the coin and the tail of the coin before flipping it into the air. And then when everyone looks down to the field to get the result, Wow!!! You can't beat that with a stick!

Other interesting bets include:

• Whether Madonna will wear a hat during her halftime show.

• The result of the first replay challenge: ruling on the field stands or ruling overturned.

• 10-1 odds on a missed PAT

• Over-under at 1/2 -- the number of times Tom Brady's wife, Gisele Bundchen, is shown on the NBC telecast. (Let's all hope for the over whether we bet on it or not.)

• Who will the Super Bowl MVP thank first? The favorite is teammates at 5-4. God is 4-1, the team owner is 5-1, family is 15-2 and the coach is 12-1. The second-favorite? "He won't thank anyone" at 5-2. So basically if you think the MVP will be an ungrateful, narcissistic jerk, you can get 5-2 odds that he'll talk about himself and no one else.

• And then there's my personal favorite -- which color the Gatorade that's dumped on the winning coach will be: Clear's the favorite at 3-2, followed by orange and yellow at 5-2, red at 13-2, green at 15-2 and blue at 10-1. (Go 2 Guy prediction: This feels like betting on the hydro race at Safeco Field -- go with the green at 15-2!)

Jim Moore also writes for his website, www.jimmoorethego2guy.com, and the Kitsap Sun. You can reach him at jimmoorethego2guy@yahoo.com. Follow Jim on Twitter @cougsgo.

Thursday, February 2, 2012 @ 8:20pm

Analyst: Jeff Lindquist is a better fit for UW's offense

As is often the case with college football recruiting, the Washington Huskies' 2012 class took its shape in the last few days before national signing day.

But unlike most programs, UW was able finish its recruiting effort by signing two highly touted quarterbacks in Cyler Miles of Mullen, Colo. and Jeff Lindquist of Mercer Island. Scout.com ranks Lindquist as the No. 8 quarterback in the 2012 class, while Miles comes in at No. 18.

Quarterback Jeff Lindquist threw two touchdown passes in the Jan. 3 Semper Fidelis All-American Bowl. (AP)

In Lemming's eyes, it's Lindquist who has more potential to become the successor to Keith Price at quarterback for the Huskies.

"I think Miles has gotten more publicity, but I love Jeff Lindquist," he said. "We had him down at our Semper Fi game. He's the first quarterback I selected for that game (Lemming helps decide the rosters for the game) and he didn't disappoint. Jeff's got a great arm [and] he's a tremendous leader both on and off the field."

At 6-foot-3 and 225 pounds, Lindquist has the build of a pocket passer. He threw for just over 1,900 yards and 22 touchdowns in 11 games a senior at Mercer Island.

Miles is considered as a more athletic quarterback than Lindquist. However, as Lemming points out, that may not be the best option for the Huskies under head coach Steve Sarkisian and his pro-style offense.

"[Lindquist] is a good sized player who can run," Lemming said. "He's not a sprinter, but he makes good decisions, better so than Cyler Miles. Miles is a super athlete, great runner, but I think as far as being a pure passer, working with a guy like Steve Sarkisian, I think Jeff is the kind of guy that can really get the job done."

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Blue 42: Comparing QBs Jeff Lindquist and Cyler Miles
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Thursday, February 2, 2012 @ 3:42pm

KC gets new glasses

Kevin Calabro shows off his new glasses and explains what happened to his old pair.

Thursday, February 2, 2012 @ 10:55am

Mike Leach targets OL in first WSU recruiting class

It would be natural to assume that Mike Leach's spread offense would lead the coach to make quarterbacks and receivers his top priority in recruiting.

His first recruiting class at Washington State, which was completed Wednesday with the addition of 28 players, suggests otherwise.

Leach and the Cougars received letters of intent from seven offensive linemen, a total that makes up a quarter of their total signees. That wasn't by accident.

"This is a little-know fact -- and part of it is because our quarterbacks have gotten tremendous stats over the years, we've got two marquee receivers in the NFL with Wes Welker and Michael Crabtree -- but the single position we have the most guys in the NFL is offensive line. It's probably the position I cherish the most because I coached offensive line for 10 years," Leach told "The Kevin Calabro Show" on Wednesday.

"Offensive line and defensive line is why they have football to begin with, so you can see huge people collide with others of various shapes and sizes."

According to ESPN.com, three of Texas Tech's 13 NFL players are offensive linemen. The most notable is San Diego's Louis Vasquez, a guard who has started in each of his three NFL seasons.

Leach said offensive and defensive line were top priorities, as was establishing a presence in southern California and the Hawaiian and Samoan islands. Washington State will lose at least two starters to graduation. A third, starting right tackle Wade Jacobson, is applying for a medical redshirt.

The offensive linemen who signed with Washington State on Wednesday include guards Denzel Dotson (Glendale, Ariz.), Alex Mitchell (Portland, Ore.) and Niu Sale (Wilmington, Calif.) and tackles Barrie Salmonson (Nooksack Valley HS), Samuel Flor (O'Dea HS), Pierson Villarrubia (Mandeville, La.) and Eduardo Middleton (Oceanside, Calif.).

The highest rated of that bunch are Mitchell and Dotson. Mitchell is ranked by Rivals.com as the 16th-best guard prospect in the country. The same site ranks Dotson 46th.

Here's video that includes Mitchell doing some pass-blocking drills:

Wednesday, February 1, 2012 @ 6:02pm

Jay Bilas: Tony Wroten is among nation's top freshmen

Washington guard Tony Wroten made a statement in front of a national TV audience last Saturday, scoring 17 points and blocking a last-second shot to secure a win over Arizona.

ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas joined "The Kevin Calabro Show" Wednesday, and said that Wroten is among the nation's best freshmen.

Wroten averaged 17.5 points per game in January. (AP)

While Bilas acknowledged that the Huskies have some work to do in order to erase a lackluster non-conference schedule, he thought they looked like an NCAA tournament team Saturday.

If the Huskies make the tournament and Wroten continues to shine the way he did in the month of January -- he averaged 17.5 points per game -- the possibility of him declaring for the NBA draft is a realistic one.

As a senior at Garfield high school last year, Wroten was a player that Bilas tabbed as the best passer in the 2011 recruiting class. Bilas still distinguishes him as a top distributor, but also believes that Wroten has grown as a player this year at the UW.

"He's an elite level passer," Bilas said. "I think he's really improved his decision making. He's not trying to knock the ball out of the park every time. ... I think he's really improved his reads."

As of Jan. 26, NBADraft.net had Wroten as the 20th pick in its latest mock draft, while Washington sophomore Terrence Ross was 13th. But the decision to enter the draft, Bilas said, shouldn't be based purely off mock drafts and rankings.

"There are so many different variables that go into that," Bilas said. "It's such an individual decision [that] I tend to think that it's not so much about your preparedness to be drafted. It's whether you're fully committed to be a pro."

The nation will get another chance to see Wroten, Ross, and the Huskies Thursday as ESPN will televise their game against UCLA at 6 p.m.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012 @ 3:23pm

Bad news for Go 2 Guy and the Cougars

Jim Moore was distracted during Tuesday's edition of the Warmup, keeping one eye on a live stream of Cedric Dozier's college announcement.

The Lakes High School wide receiver stuck with his commitment to Cal after considering Washington State.

Not that the Go 2 Guy is bitter or anything.