Top > Sport > 2004 > September > 2004-09-20

If Huskies lose today, maybe Gilby gets bronzed

It`s been 35 years since Washington lost its first two home games in a season, a start the Huskies seek to avoid in today`s 4 p.m. battle.

Of course, the bad news is a defeat today would put the Dawgs in a position unseen in Montlake since that 1969 stinker of a season, when Washington lost to Ohio State and Oregon State in its first two home showings en route to a 1-9 finish for coach Jim Owens.

Yeah, the same Jim Owens now immortalized in bronze out front of Husky Stadium.

Imagine a UW coach now surviving a 1-9 season, let alone having a statue erected in his honor. Owens not only survived that disaster, he went on to go 6-4, 8-3 and 8-3 the next three years.

So, yes, stability sometimes is the best thing for a sports program. Which, of course, is what Keith Gilbertson will soon be preaching ...

* Gilby isn`t the only coach trying to sort out his quarterback quandary. Every program with inexperienced signal callers goes through an adjustment period. It should come as no surprise that Washington and WSU are among those squads, given that both were in the bottom 10 in the nation in terms of passes thrown by returning quarterbacks this year.

Over in Pullman, Bill Doba second-guessed himself after yanking sophomore co-captain Josh Swogger so early in last Saturday`s loss to Colorado. Doba has the luxury of a third nonconference game today against Idaho to help sort out his situation.

The Huskies don`t have that wiggle room, with the UCLA opener looming as a big swing game in both team`s Pac-10 hopes. Which is exactly why junior Casey Paus gets the start over freshman Carl Bonnell, even if his leash is shorter than Sun Dodger`s ...

* In case you`re wondering, the Huskies have started 0-2 at home just three times in the school`s 114-year football history. Prior to 1969, the other two such stumbles came in 1939 and 1946.

If you`re looking for bad omens, guess which team handed Washington its second home loss in both `39 and `46?

Uh, yeah. That would be UCLA ...

* While an 0-2 home start is a huge historical indicator of trouble for the Huskies, the reverse isn`t quite so true for the Seahawks.

If Seattle wins Sunday at Tampa Bay, it`ll be the fifth 2-0 road start in franchise history. Yet only one of those led to a postseason appearance.

The Hawks finished 9-7 and lost in the first round of the playoffs in 1999. But the other 2-0 getaways wound up being a 6-10 mark in 1994, an 8-8 record in 1985 and a 4-12 effort in 1980.

Interestingly, that `80 season was the only time Seattle has ever started with more than two straight road wins. That Jack Patera-coached squad started 4-0 on the road ... but lost the remaining games that season ...

* My predictions usually are worth about as much as a Bob Melvin motivational tape, but the guess here is the Huskies will beat UCLA and avoid that dreaded 0-2 start. And the Seahawks will slip up in Tampa, thus unleashing the first wave of bandwagon jumpers among those who forget nobody wins every week in the NFL.

And just to improve my winning percentage, I`ll take WSU to beat Idaho ...

* Speaking of stunning upsets, who could have guessed that a lawsuit would emerge so quickly out of Oakland after Texas reliever Frank Francisco bounced a chair off the nose of A`s fan Jennifer Bueno?

Clearly Francisco made a huge mistake. But the idea -- presented by Bueno and her husband, Craig -- that fans have a right to endlessly heckle players, is just as disgusting.

``It`s an American tradition,`` said Craig Bueno, a 42-year-old firefighter.

So, apparently, is hiring a personal injury lawyer and suing for damages, even when the only damage is a bloodied nose.

I`m not sure why athletes are supposed to sit calmly and listen to screamed taunts and insults in the name of our entertainment. Yeah, the fans pay their money. But I don`t buy the second part of that oft-stated equation, that fans thus have the right to do whatever they want.

You buy tickets to a movie or play, but nobody is going to stand for somebody hurling insults at the actors at the top of their lungs for three hours. Buying a ticket to the zoo doesn`t give you the right to scream at the gorillas. Heck, ticket buyers at golf tournaments are asked to hush to complete silence every time a competitor lines up a shot.

I don`t care if baseball fans boo or whistle or even yell at players. But when the taunting gets up close and personal, when the line of common decency is crossed, then fans should be asked to either shut up or leave.

It`s not hard to figure where that line is, as long as fans remember that athletes really are human beings. If you`re yelling something you wouldn`t want to be yelled at your own son or daughter, then it`s inappropriate. Because these athletes are someone`s son or daughter.

So, in review. Throwing chairs at people is wrong. But so is berating and taunting athletes while hiding cowardly in a huge group of people behind a fence.