Cup Crazy, distraction from lousy baseball and football

Thank the Good Lord for the Chicago Black Hawks reaching the Stanley Cup Finals. Thanks to them, I don't pay as much attention to the lousy baseball that the Seattle Mariners are playing. Additionally, the Cubs and White Sox are no threat to the 1998 Yankees.

Sports thoughts

1) Congratulations to the Chicago Black Hawks for beating Vancouver in 6 games in the NHL's western semifinals. Now it's on to San Jose for the Western Conference Championship. Because I was at a social event, I missed a good portion of the game.

2) Can the Mariners do me a favor and a) cut Sweeney, b) Sign Jermaine Dye and c) trade for A.J. Pierzynski? The Mariners need a bad-ass or a guy with an attitude.

3) If I was running the Seattle Times sports section, I would consider bringing in another sports writer to replace Steve Kelley, who's hopelessly drifting off into liberal rants and stories on rejects like Ryan Leaf. I would consider taking the job.

affirmative action in sports journalism

Affirmative action isn't just giving a chance to "historically oppressed ethnic groups" like Blacks and Spanish speaking people or even those from the Indian subcontinent or of Arabic descent. It also means in sports hiring unattractive women or "tom boys" as sports reporters.

Let's take Fox Sports Northwest for example: They have Jen Mueller and Angie Mentink as their reporters. Neither of them is particularly attractive or that knowledgeable about sports, yet Fox Sports Northwest (or FSNW) continues to trot them out there much to the displeasure of young males, who comprise the majority of the viewing audience. Why? I have no idea.

In Portland, Comcast Sports Northwest (CSNW) has Rebecca Haarlow as the Blazers sideline reporter who a) knows sports, having been a student-athlete at Princeton and b) is an attractive blond woman. She's not as well known as Erin Andrews, but she's clearly superior to the FSNW tom boys.

I wonder if many Northwest sports fans agree with me on this or I am in the minority.