Art Thiel

Art Thiel is a longtime sports columnist in Seattle, for many years at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and now as founding editor at SportsPressNW.com.

Fanfared and Fabulous: MLB All-Star Show Sends the Fans Home Chanting

Trifles? Well, yes. So? It is a frothy exhibition game, and we are Americans. As noted baseball historian Stephen Sondheim once wrote: Something appealing, something appalling.

The Mariners’ Participation Ribbon: The 2023 All-Star Game

As you may have heard, team and town are hosting the 93rd MLB All-Star Game, a four-day seamhead festival climaxing at 5 p.m. July 11 at T-ball Park with the nationally televised game on Fox. Since the award of each season's host city is done several years in advance, it is not merit-based.

State of the Pac-12: Everything Everywhere All at Once

It is a bad time to be last into a disrupted marketplace, particularly after the chaos of the new rules governing legal payments of private money to players (NIL) and the transfer portal.

Mariners are a Top-shelf Financial Success. But on the Field?

Baseball fans know well the hoary bromide that player payroll does not automatically convey success. But those in Seattle, with considerable justification, ask: We've tried it one way for 47 years, and remain the only team in MLB never to have made the World Series; can we try it the other way once?

The Difference a Year Makes: Kraken Make a Mark

By now, even rookie fans have learned that playoff hockey is like no other postseason in sports, and that seventh games are the acme of the sports orgasm. In their 47 years, the Sonics had only seven such games, and the Kraken now have two.

Game-Changers? Seahawks Mine Day One of the Draft for Rare Earth Metals

Simply put, the talent level of the NFC West leaders was notably above Seattle's last year. The Seahawks pursued the mantra of Best Players Available, instead of drafting to fill needier positions. If closing the gap on the 49ers and regaining NFC West supremacy is the 2023 prime directive, the only way to do it is with game-changing, rare-earth materials.

Kraken Rise — NBA Return?

The task is formidable. Then again, what about this project has been otherwise?

A NIL-Sum Game: What’s Discombobulated This Year’s Final Four

Since seeding began in 1979, this is the first time that none among the No. 1, 2 or 3 seeds advanced to the tourney's final weekend. In its 34-year hoops history, Florida Atlantic has never won a tourney game until this month.

Seahawks Off-Season so Far: Diving into the Deep End

What's clear is that the performance of Smith, as well as the relatively light weight of his subsequent contract, affords the chance for the Seahawks to do many things.

Speak No Ill: Pete Carroll’s Ocean of Calm with Russell Wilson in the Rear View

Many sports fans indulge the reverie that teams most of the time share an overarching camaraderie and purpose. That's often true. But it's just about as often that managers and laborers would be thrilled to step out into the street and settle things.

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