March in Review: Honoring an Icon

A look back at things I thought about, and wrote about, in March.

As I look back on the past month, it’s amazing how the intensity of the state basketball tournament makes the start of March a blast. After that, though, things really hit a low point for me.

Sure, there’s a full spring season to look forward to, but the weather makes it almost impossible to plan which games to attend, which leads to stories, and more content to share here.

It takes a little creativity, like using team photo and headshot days to inquire with coaches directly on features worth writing. Thank you to Sam Reed at Seattle Prep, Eastside Catholic boys soccer coach Adam Moretti, EC baseball coach Kyle Larsen, Eastlake’s new football coach Greg Herd, and the Wolves’ baseball coach Elliott Cribby for providing stories to bridge the gap while waiting for the weather to improve.

With that in mind, I wanted to take a minute and mention the impact Slick Watts left on the community. I talked to Kennedy Catholic coach Al Snow about this in the last episode of Spilled Ink, but there has been one thing I kept thinking about as I read all of the tributes to Slick, who died on March 15.

While he was a Sonics legend, it feels like all of the years working with kids as a physical education teacher had more of an impact on our community than anything else. It’s that part of Slick’s story I want to know more about. So, if anyone knows anyone who would be able to share anecdotes about that part of Slick’s life, I would love to write about it (you can send me a message by clicking the link).

The 1998 Class 3A Boys Basketball State Championship

After watching Rainier Beach with the state title with Jamal Crawford and Dave King on the sideline, I went back and watched the 1998 state title game between Beach and Olympia, and I thought you might enjoy that trip down memory lane (there’s a link to the full game on YouTube).

Also, Dave King sent me this, which is worth a watch.

With that, here is a look back at a few articles from March.

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