Edmonds Beacon - Your Hometown News Source

Big cities have sports teams. That sort of thing builds public spirit and brings people together. So I’ve decided that Edmonds needs a sports team.

Of course, needing one and acquiring one are two different things. I checked my notes quickly and wasn’t able to come up with a billionaire living in the city limits, so financing could be a problem. And even if we could find a team owner, I’m certain they would want a new stadium, and anything proposed would be over our 25-foot-height limit, so that’s out of the question.

No possible owner and no hope for a new stadium puts us in a tough negotiating position. Sounds like Seattle to me, but their mayor will have to deal with that!

After due consideration, I’ve decided the most cost-effective way (no taxpayer dollars involved) to acquire our own sports team is simply to adopt one. And rather than going the professional route, I chose a college team.

No, not Husky basketball; they can’t win on the road. Not Husky football either. I think our new adopted team should be the Washington Huskies Women’s Softball Team, winners of the NCAA 2009 Softball Championship and currently ranked number one in the country!

They opened their season on Thursday, February 11 in Arizona. Their All-American pitcher, Danielle Lawrie, pitched a perfect game…her first.

What a way to start the year for the Edmonds-UW Softball team! Congrats to them. There is no more difficult task in sports than to be ranked number one at the start of a season, maintain that ranking, and win a national championship. You have to be pretty dominating to accomplish that feat.

Last year after winning the national championship, the Huskies went on a cruise with many folks from around the Puget Sound region.

Onboard, there was an auction to have the Huskies bring dinner to your home, serve, and mingle with your guests. An Edmonds couple won the auction item and invited my wife and me to join them at the event in their home. We had a great time meeting Coach Heather Tarr, her staff, and the team. It was a very fun event and reminded me of how much more fun college athletics are than professional sports.

So I hereby ask all Edmonds residents to embrace the University of Washington Women’s Softball team as they try to win back-to-back national championships.

And let’s make them our team and do our best to encourage them as their season progresses. You can follow their progress in a number of ways. Check out gohuskies.com for starters. Their games are often shown on FOX Sports Northwest and ESPN. And if you’re proficient on Facebook and Twitter, you’ll find links there as well.

Go Edmonds Huskies!