Hardwood wins ease gridiron blues

Football is undeniably the most popular of all American sports in both the amateur and professional ranks. It is by far the one sport that can rev up gigantic audiences like no other game.

Maybe it is the lack of redundancy that football provides with the once-a-week format, or the way rivalries linger more than a year -- only 354 days left until we can get revenge for the Apple Cup. There is something about the game of football that captures the hearts of many American sports fans.

This year, football fans are still suffering from the heartbreak caused by the Husky football team, historically the worst football team to ever grace the shores of Montlake. On the professional level, the frustration is not any less, as the Seahawks are muddling their way through a disappointing year, as well.

Seattle is fresh off a 38-9 bashing by the Buffalo Bills Sunday, a team that had no business even competing with Seattle.

The Seahawks, one of the favorites to get to the Super Bowl out of the NFC when the season began, have fallen on hard times lately, going 3-5 in their last eight games.

What are the die-hard football fans supposed to do? What about the baseball fans that had to sit through the embarrassment of the Mariners in 2004? How about NHL followers who have no hockey at all?

Here is the answer -- go check out any of the teams that are playing on the nearest hardwood. A trio of Husky squads along with the Supersonics is quickly becoming the toast of the town and has proven to be more than capable of carrying the load for us sports fans.

The latest AP ranking has the Dawgs at No.14 and the undefeated Huskies face cross-state rival Gonzaga tomorrow in Spokane. Continuity and teamwork make this team one of the most exciting to watch in all of college hoops, and its biggest attribute is one that held over from last year -- confidence.

The Husky women's basketball team also is turning up the heat, beginning the season 3-2 including a big win over Minnesota. The squad is filled with young and exciting players trying to find a consistant squad now that the AM (After Mendiola) years have begun.

The third team doling out remedies for suffering sports fans is the Husky women's volleyball team. The UW gets NCAA volleyball tournament action underway Friday in Seattle against Idaho, and Washington looks to continue the dominant play it has been attacking opponents with all season.

Then there are the professionals. The Seattle Storm spent the summer gearing up for the WNBA crown it won this fall and set the stage for the Sonics, a team expected to do very little. The exact opposite has happened -- the Sonics are the best team in the NBA and has the record to back it up.

Pessimists keep waiting for their glass slipper to be smashed by the mighty Spurs or Timberwolves, but the Sonics continue to turn heads so far this season. The maturation process of Rashard Lewis has finally come to fruition and the off-season acquisition of Danny Fortson has so far been a stroke of genius.

So cheer up sports fans. There is a lot of excitement and energy in an arena near you. Let the athletes of the indoor sports erase the anger and frustration that the ones who play outside have heaped on us.

Their shoulders are broad enough to carry the burden of those of us who are aching for a winner, and their bandwagons are always accepting clientele -- welcome aboard.