UW's Locker to play summer baseball

After a 4-9 freshman season in which he was alternately brilliant and bewildered, the general consensus was that Jake Locker needed a stronger supporting corps and an off-season of hard work.

Locker got the former, as the Huskies brought in a recruiting class ranked 24th in the nation. But if Locker plans to study the playbook and hone his accuracy on timing route passes, he'll have to do it in between baseball games.

Locker, who was named the state's most valuable baseball player as a senior in high school, will play outfield and designated hitter this summer for the Bellingham Bells of the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League.

UW coach Ty Willingham, who himself played baseball and football at Michigan State, supported Locker's decision to spend the summer on the diamond, saying, "I don’t believe that playing baseball this summer will have a negative impact on his development as a football player."

Everyone involved in the situation agrees that when a scheduling conflict arises between the two sports, football will take first priority.

Still, Huskies fans have to be scratching their heads at this news. Locker is a phenomenal athlete who probably would have been drafted as a baseball player had he elected to go that route. But he chose football, calling the sport his first love.

So does a summer of baseball constitute some kind of an affair? Not exactly; Locker isn't a paid professional, so he has a right to do what he'd like with his free time. But given Washington's struggles last year and Locker's low completion percentage (47%), you would think the fun and games could wait for at least another year.

When Oregon coach Mike Bellotti learned last spring that quarterback Dennis Dixon would be playing summer ball in the Atlanta Braves organization, he quipped, "I think he'd be better served, in my situation, reading defenses rather than reading curveballs."

Until an injury ended his season prematurely, Dixon's dual-sport experiment turned out surprisingly well; the quarterback turned in the best season of his career and had the Ducks on track for a BCS bowl.

Washington can only hope that a stint on the diamond has the same effect on Locker.

Separated at Birth: Sean "P Diddy" Combs & Larry Hughes?

I meant to post this when Hughes (left) was traded to the Bulls last week, but I'm just getting around to it now. Thanks to Gary for the tip.

Greg Oden backs Obama; surprised Hillary does not concede immediately

Greg Oden isn't doing much in the way of basketball these days, but he sure is blogging up a storm, and Tuesday he wrote that Barack Obama will be getting his vote come November.

"We are all citizens of this great country and I know I'm putting in my one vote. I know it's just one small vote, but it's big to me. If the person I vote for wins it's gonna be because of my one little vote, at least that's what I'm gonna think. I think everyone should think that way."

So long, Hillary. Now that Oden is on the campaign trail for Obama, you're toast! Think of all the money, the influence, and time -- oh, the glorious hours and days of free time -- Gregory has at his disposal. Now that Oden is a man with a purpose, all that's left for Obama is to choose a Vice President.

Perhaps he should start his search in Portland?

LeBron, Jay-Z, and the Brooklyn Nets

It seems preposterous to think about -- much less talk or write about -- LeBron James leaving Cleveland, the franchise that drafted him and the NBA city closest to his native Akron.

But just as every parent knows their children will grow up someday, James' looming free agency becomes an increasingly tangible reality for the Cavaliers. True, Cleveland has the rights to King James for the next three seasons, after which James' contract allows him to opt out in the summer of 2010.

The harsh present reality for the Cavaliers, however, is that James may already be developing aspirations grander than Cleveland could ever contain. Part of that reality is attributable to the star power that James has amassed in a relatively short period of time: rarely, if ever, has a basketball star dominated the game so early in his career, and never has there been so much hype surrounding a player from such a young age.

A second component of James' aspirations, though, may have been passed on to him, planted like a seed in his mind, by none other than the rapper Jay-Z. As Adrian Wojnarowski at Yahoo! Sports wrote in an excellent column today:

At an All-Star weekend banquet that he hosted with James, "Jay-Z talked of a tomorrow when these two monuments to music and basketball will transform the rules of engagement for the iconic performer, one witness said. He talked of making history."

Wojnarowski points out that Jay-Z, who has a minority ownership in the New Jersey Nets, has been acquainted with LeBron since James was in high school. The rapper has become a mentor of sorts to LeBron, who has made it known that he wants to transcend the game of basketball.

The Nets are moving to Brooklyn, and they are already pinching their pennies in anticipation of James' availability. If James is looking to make an even bigger name for himself -- we're talking the stuff of Michael Jordan, here -- could there be a better place to do it than New York City?

LeBron knows this. Jay-Z and the Nets know this. Cleveland probably knows this, but denial has to be a pretty attractive option right now.

Should Olympics have political undercurrent?

Every other year, people from all over the world drop what they are doing, gather around a television, and watch the Olympics. Could there be a better platform for making a political statement?

Peter Ueberroth, chairman of the U.S. Olympic Committee, thinks so. To the International Olympic Committee, the Olympic Games should be a two-week display of goodwill between the nations of the world. And Ueberroth, who as a representative of the United States reports to the IOC, refuses to diverge from that thinking.

"We don't just go there, we get invited there. We accept the invitation, and then there's a set of rules that are IOC rules. We accept those rules. We expect and are sure that our athletes are going to respect their own country, respect their flag, respect the flag of every other country and operate as we all will, under the IOC rules of the Olympic Games."

If those aren't carefully chosen words, I don't know what are. It seems to me, though, that Ueberroth is forgetting that Olympic history is rife with political statements.

In 1968, Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists during the Star Spangled Banner to show their solidarity with the Black Power movement. The USOC initially supported Smith and Carlos, but later agreed to ban them from the team when the IOC tightened the clamps.

In 1980, the United States and 61 other countries boycotted the Moscow Olympics altogether in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Four years later, many of the nations on the other side of the fence boycotted the Los Angeles Olympics, which Ueberroth was instrumental in organizing.

I'm not one to protest just for the sake of protesting, but as we can see, there is precedent for speaking out by way of an Olympic platform. And as we all know, there are many issues arising from China that activists, American or otherwise, might like to speak out against.

Communism, human rights, freedom of religion, and pollution are some of the headliners. There's also the fact that China buys much of its oil from Sudan, which has been less than effective in ending the situation in Darfur.

There are many injustices in the world, and the United States is responsible for some of them. But our country is and always has been a nation with strong values and principles, one of which is freedom of speech. And in my view, that freedom shouldn't be limited to the borders of the United States, nor the confines of debate between elected politicians.