TERRY MOSHER

TOP OF THE TOWN – Just got done watching the Fury-Wilder third fight on YouTube and I had Wilder ahead 57-55 going into the 7th round. The 7th round was crucial because Wilder, who weighed 238, his heaviest for a fight, was obviously getting tired. Fury, who weighed 277, would put his arm around Wilder’s neck and lean on him, which is a way of tiring out your opponent. The referee warned Wilder of that tactic in the 6th round, but by then it had its effect on Wilder. I will say Wilder put up a game fight even though Fury overwhelmed him from the 7th round to the conclusion in the 11th round when Fury landed a short right and knocked Wilder out. Fury was very classy in a post-fight interview. He gave credit to Wilder for putting up a heck of a fight. Fury is a class act. All fighters lose if they continue on too long. But I don’t see Fury losing. He can take a big punch, although he was knocked down twice in the 4th round by Wilder. But each time he got up and fought back. Yeah, I know among heavyweight Rock Marciano finished with an unbeaten record (49-0 with 43 knockouts), but if Marciano had made the comeback he once planned he probably would have gotten beaten. Marciano died in a plane he was piloting on Aug. 31, 1969. The plane crashed in Newton, Iowa. Marciano was one day shy of his 46th birthday. … The finger injury that Russell Wilson suffered Thursday night when he hit his hand against the Rams’ Aaron Donald forced him to have surgery on it and will keep him out of action at least four weeks. He will be replaced by Geno Smith, who looked good when he came in for Wilson against the Rams. I’m going to guess that Smith will play extremely well and may make us forget about Wilson, who I believe is slipping in his ability to be a miracle worker. Wilson has great confidence in himself and pumps up those around him, but if you are honest there are plenty of quarterbacks around the NFL that now are as good if not better, including a slew of young ones who will be very good within a year or two. I know folks about here are crazy for Wilson because he is so up-beat and because he has had the ability to escape danger repeatedly and make big game-changing plays. My analysis may be imperfect because some of the blame could be the imperfect Seahawks’ offense that is dialed up. Look around the NFL and you see offenses being very creative and successful. I don’t see that with the Seahawks. It’s the same ol’ run up the gut for two yards and then try to connect on a bomb. If the bomb doesn’t work, the Seahawks punt with one of the best in the league – Michael Dickson. I would like to see more trips and more crossing routes, using more receivers other than Freddy Swain, DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. And the defense?  Wow, what is going on there? The Seahawks can’t guard in the center of the field. Kirk Cousins feasted there. Matt Stafford did the same in the second half of their game. I think I could throw for 350 yards against that defense, and I’m 125 years old. Even if Geno proves to be a worthwhile replacement, the Seahawks won’t go far unless the defense is corrected. And no matter how much Pete Carroll praises Jamal Adams, the view from my TV screen tells me he is out of position often. … If you saw the Oklahoma-Texas or the Arkansas-Mississippi football games you were witnessed to some unbelievable happenings. Oklahoma came back from an early 28-7 deficit to beat the Longhorns 55-48 and Arkansas scored with one second left to pull within a point of Mississippi. The Razorbacks lost 52-51 when they failed on a two-point conversion. It was obviously a gutty call to go for two.  I would have done the same thing. … The Mariners win 90 games to the surprise of everybody and now the expectation is next year will be even better. Wrong. The Mariners had an improbable record in one-run games (33-18) and a -51 run differential. Don’t expect that to translate to a winning season if it happens this way again next season. You can be so lucky only once. The Mariners need at least two big-bats and a starting pitcher to be added next season. And who is going to play third base now that Kyle Seager is gone? They do have a good positive in manager Scott Servais, who is expected to be named the American League Manager of the year…. Don’t get me started on the Washington Huskies and the football program. I covered the Huskies for almost 30 years for the local paper and I sense more talk than real effort. This year’s team is not anything like the teams I covered. Win or lose, and the Huskies mostly won, opponents knew they were in for a fierce battle when they played them. But I don’t see that Husky toughness from this group. The 2-3 Huskies have seven games left – home with UCLA this Saturday (Oct. 16), at Arizona, at Stanford, home with Oregon and Arizona State, at Colorado and home with Washington State on November 26 to close out the regular season. I see two wins. That would make the Huskies 4-8.  Could they win all remaining games? Sure if the Mariners would share their 2021 magic. Okay, that is enough for today. Stay safe.

Be well pal.

Be careful out there.

Have a great day.

You are loved.