Week 3: Chowder, flowers & Mountain West uprising

I spent three full days in Seattle during Week 3 of the college football season and came away with several thoughts.

1. This is one of the best cities in America. Great weather. Great scenery. Apparently great economy. Seemingly safe. Fun downtown. Lots to do.

2. How did the NBA ever get away from this city? Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad the Sonics of Seattle became the Thunder of OKC, but with all this city has going for it, how did Seattle lose its NBA franchise and how did the NBA let it happen? Someone should have done something long before Clay Bennett bought the franchise.

3. How could Washington football ever fall this far?

Watch a game at Husky Stadium, and you can see how Don James built a great program that in 1991 won a national championship.

Unmatched setting, with Husky Stadium sitting beside Lake Washington. Beautiful campus, hidden in hills in the middle of Seattle. Fertile recruiting ground, with access to California, too.

For UW to have not been bowling since 2002 is ridiculous.

I don’t know what the problem is. I don’t know if it’s facilities or bad coaching hires or bad luck.

But I know that no way should Washington be bad in football. And that’s exactly what the Huskies are.

PIKE PLACE THANKS YOU

In Oklahoma, we have Pike Pass. In Seattle, they have Pike Place. Sorry Space Needle, the Pike Place Market is the coolest spot in Seattle.

Built on a bluff in downtown Seattle, the market is several blocks long and several stories deep, with the top floor open air and on street level.

The Market is home to the famous flying fish, where the workers in the fresh fish markets will toss your purchases to each other and almost always catch them.

But the Market is much more than just fish. Unbelievable flower stands. Huge, beautiful bouquets priced at $15, $10 even $5. My wife, Trish the Dish, said some of those $10 bundles would run you $80 back home.

Fantastic produce stands. You know me; I love the Farmer’s Market at the Cleveland County Fairgrounds. This is the Farmer’s Market times 10. The most gorgeous fruits and vegetables you’ve ever seen, and at great prices. A flat of blueberries was $14; the Dish, who can bake a mean blueberry pie, said it would be $25 in Oklahoma.

The great thing about the Market is that it’s not just a tourist trap. Locals flood the Market, for the food items. In addition to the fish markets, it’s got a big-time meat market. If you live in downtown Seattle, nothing better than stopping by the Market, buying totally fresh stuff for dinner, maybe pick up some flowers to take home to the spouse, and you’re set.

The Market is home to all kinds of trinket shops, too, which don’t mean anything to me. But it’s got newsstands and a few restaurants, sit-down and short-order, and frankly just all kinds of interesting places.

It’s got a card shop, and I saw a 1968 Al Kaline card. 1968 was my favorite year for baseball cards, and seeing the Kaline card brought back all kinds of great memories.

A day at the Pike Place Market will produce great memories, too.

REALITY RANKINGS

Our records based not on what anyone thinks teams might do, but based on what team have done.

1. Southern Cal: When you play no dogs, every win is a good win.

2. East Carolina: Every win quality, including at Tulane.

3. Missouri: Will neutral-field win over Illinois keep packing a punch?

4. BYU: Rout of UCLA has Cougars thinking BCS.

5. Oklahoma: Win over TCU would move Sooners very high.

6. Alabama: Living off win over Clemson.

7. Wisconsin: Winning at Fresno State impressive.

8. Utah: Win at Michigan meaning less and less.

9. Florida: Win at Tennessee, and the Gators will be near the top.

10. Oregon: Road win at Purdue showed grit.

11. Auburn: It says something about lack of decent schedules when a victory a 3-2 victory at Mississippi State can get a team ranked this high.

12. Kentucky: Win at Louisville was impressive.

13. South Florida: Home win over Kansas the pride of the Big East.

14. Georgia: Winning at South Carolina no small thing.

15. Penn State: After Temple, Nittanys face an interesting stretch.

STREET CRED

Huge cities foster a cottage industry to street performers. We have a little of that in Oklahoma City, and you see some in college towns, but it’s usually Gothams where you see it constantly.

And Seattle is one of the best. I saw all kinds of acts. On every street corner. In outdoor breezeways that lead to elevators that will take you down to the waterfront.

My three favorites:

1. A guy, both Thursday and Friday, sat playing a piano that was on wheels. I know, pianos have wheels. But I’m not talking about the kinds of wheels that let you push a piano from one wall to another. Think a piano attached to a furniture dolly. The guy just pushes his piano to that same street corner, then plays a mean rendition of whatever song strikes his fancy.

2. Some guy played a guitar while hula hoping. Think about that one for awhile. I don’t know how long he can last, but I watched him for 60 seconds and he showed no signs of slowing down.

3. But the runaway winner, the act that drew crowds instead of just looks from people walking by, was a four-man quartet, singing Negro spirituals in perfect harmony. They stood in front of the original Starbucks, which is across the street from the Market but is really part of it. The quartet sang “This Little Light of Mine” and “I’m Going Up” and drew 50 people at a time standing around, listening to the impromptu concert.

RUSH HOUR RUSH

I’d heard that Seattle traffic is awful, and I suppose it is. I left downtown about 7 p.m. Thursday, headed back toward my airport hotel, and I hit some pretty good backup trying to get on Interstate 5.

So Friday, when I got in the rental car at 4:45 p.m., I figured I was doomed. I decided to try Highway 99 south.

It was tough reaching 99 from bumper-to-bumper downtown congestion. But my theory is, never sit in traffic if there’s an option. Get the heck off. I’ll take Sunnylane or Sooner Road home. I’ll go down Portland when I leave WWLS after doing radio, if the Hefner Parkway is backed up. I just don’t sit in traffic, in Oklahoma or Seattle.

So I went down the Alaskan Way for several miles, hit some traffic but not bad, and linked back up to Highway 99.

Let me say this. It’s a lot easier to navigate when you’ve got the Pacific Ocean to work with. You can’t get too lost knowing the roads can’t veer much west. Hug the water, keep going south and I figured I wouldn’t get too far from Tukwila, the suburb by the airport where I was staying.

Amazingly, the traffic wasn’t bad. If someone can explain to me why all those Seattle residents inching along on I-5 weren’t on 99, I’m open. Anyway, I made it to my hotel in 35 minutes. Driving into downtown, it took me about 25 minutes. Driving from downtown back to the hotel, AT RUSH HOUR, it took me 35 minutes.

Maybe that kind of pioneer spirit will get you in trouble in Houston or Chicago, and the Lord knows I’ve wasted a bunch of time in my life trying to save time on roadways.

But in Seattle, I felt like the king of the road.

TEN BIGGEST WINNERS FROM WEEK 3

10. East Carolina: Remember 2005 TCU? The Horned Frogs beat OU, then lost to SMU. They finished 11-1 but could have been in a BCS bowl with a little focus. The Pirates, coming off wins over Virginia Tech and West Virginia, rallied to beat Tulane 28-24. That could be the difference between a good year and a great year.

9. Ralph Fridgen: The shine was off the Maryland coach, after opening with a narrow win over Delaware and a loss to Middle Tennessee. But the Terrapins waxed California 35-27 Saturday to right the ship.

8. Ball State: The Cardinals beat Akron 41-24 and now, just two weeks into September, are the only Mid-American team with an unbeaten record.

7. Butch Davis: North Carolina hasn’t had a winning season since 2001, but after a 44-12 rout at Rutgers, the Tar Heels are 2-0 and thinking big again.

6. SEC: Check the AP top 10. No. 3 Georgia, No. 4 Florida, No. 6 LSU, No. 9 Alabama, No. 10 Auburn. That’s five Southeastern Conference teams in the top

5. David Cutcliffe: Ole Miss never should have fired Cutcliffe, but Duke is glad the Rebels did. The Blue Devils hired Cutcliffe last off-season, after going 22-125 since its last winning year, 1994. Now Duke is 2-1 after a 41-31 victory over Navy, and the loss was narrow, 24-20 to Northwestern.

4. Hail Marys: Buffalo beat Temple 30-28 on a last-play, 35-yard touchdown pass, and Middle Tennessee’s 61-yard Hail Mary on the last play of the game came up one yard short, allowing Kentucky to win 20-14. The lesson is clear. Never give up.

3. Southern Cal: 35-3 over Ohio State. I’d say that’s a good week’s work.

2. Charlie Weis: Notre Dame football seemed on the brink of Never-Again Land. Then the Irish whacked another staggering power, Michigan, 35-17, and suddenly, an Irish run doesn’t seem so far-fetched.

1. Mountain West: College football’s oft-forgotten conference went 4-0 against the Pac-10 Saturday. TCU routed Stanford. New Mexico popped Arizona. BYU humiliated UCLA. And Nevada-Las Vegas stunned Arizona State.

STADIUM CRITIQUE

Seattle’s new stadiums – the Mariners’ Safeco Park and the Seahawks’ Qwest Field – sit side by side, where the Kingdome used to stand, just south of downtown.

By all accounts, both are splendid coliseums.

But aesthetically and architecturally, both are very unattractive. You know how the Ballpark in Arlington looks so regal? How even Houston’s mammoth Reliant Stadium is awesome in appearance?

Not so with Qwest or Safeco. I think it’s because of the retractable roofs on both. It’s hard to gussy up a retractable roof. They look like something out of Terminator.

GOOD EATS

You have to work at it to have a bad meal in Seattle. And I didn’t.

Saturday before the game, we went to Fisherman’s Terminal, where some of the boats headed for Lake Washington were docked.

The Terminal is a picturesque setting, with a marina full of fishing boats and the smell of sea air. In the Terminal is a fish market and other shops, but the flagship enterprise is Chinook’s seafood restaurant.

I had halibut with fantastic garlic bread and the best chowder I’ve ever tasted. Thick and chunky. I don’t go for thin chowder. Chinook’s was excellent and not that expensive. Most every entree was between $10 and $17.

I also ate at Ivar’s Fish Bar on the Seattle waterfront, where the prawns and the chowder were excellent; at a Dungeness crab place in a hopping alley off the Market, where the crab roll sandwich was OK; and at Mizu, a Japanese steakhouse that was the same as most every Japanese steakhouse. Which is to stay wonderful.

TEN BIGGEST LOSERS FROM WEEK 3

10. Mississippi State defense: How would you feel? Play a top-10 team, give up three points and lose, 3-2? The Miss State locker room can’t be a pleasant place.

9. Ohio State: No one expected the Buckeyes to beat USC, and no one with a clue expected the Buckeyes to keep it close. But another nationally-televised humiliation has got to be getting old for this proud program.

8. Utah State: 58-10 loss to Utah was the Aggies’ 11th straight in the series. Utah State hasn’t recorded a winning season since 1996 and isn’t likely to end the drought.

7. Kansas: The Jayhawks had a 20-3 lead at South Florida and seemed on the verge of joining four other Big 12 schools in the AP top 12. Then KU squandered the lead, and after a comeback, quarterback Todd Reesing threw a late interception that allowed South Florida to pull out the win.

6. Greg Siano: Rutgers is 0-2 after a 44-12 loss to North Carolina. Siano might should have jumped at one of those job offers when the Scarlet Knights were riding high.

5. State of Washington: Washington State is 0-3 and Washington is 0-3. They combined to lose 100-31 Saturday, WSU at Baylor and UW at home against OU.

4. Fresno State: The Bulldogs blinked on their way to a possible BCS bowl. Their 13-10 loss to Wisconsin means no Orange Bowl for Fresno State.

3. Fans. Hurricane Ike caused games to be postponed, moved to other cities and started earlier. People make their schedules around football games. t should always be remembered.

2. State of Arizona: Mike Stoops’ bowl hopes took a hit with a 36-28 loss at New Mexico. But Arizona losing has become standard. Arizona State’s 23-20 overtime loss to UNLV is a different matter. The Sun Devils had high hopes, with Georgia coming to the desert this week.

1. Syracuse: From 1944 through 1990, the Orange played Penn State every year. Then the Nittany Lions joined the Big Ten and ended the series. The rivalry resumed Saturday in Syracuse – and Penn State won 55-13, extending the misery of a program that is 7-31 under coach Greg Robinson.

TICKET EXCHANGE

On the plane ride out to Seattle, we chatted with two men at different times.

Joe Hamra is in the oil business; I met him coming back from the 2005 Holiday Bowl. He was interesting then, fired up about the Sooners and the Hornets, and he was interesting now, fired up about the Sooners and the Thunder.

Hamra was upset, though, about the Thunder’s ticket policies, how Hornet season-ticket holders got no standing in the Thunder lottery. Still, Hamra told me how he bought four season tickets down low, spending $21,000 for the tickets that cost him $11,000 when it was the Hornets.

Later, we talked with Michael Dean, an OU fund-raiser who recently returned from the Beijing Olympics. Dean talked of how uplifting it was to be around the Chinese people, who treated American visitors like virtual gods from Olympus. Dean was there five days and attended six events: track, men’s basketball, baseball, team handball and I can’t remember what else.

Here’s what’s interesting. Total cost for Dean’s Olympic tickets: $76.

Think about that. One guy spends $21,000 for tickets to the NBA, another $76 to watch, among other things, Yao Ming play basketball FOR China IN China.

-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.

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