A little scandal for the Seahawks

Sure, the NFL finally got rid of “Deflategate” last year with the eventual suspension of New England quarterback Tom Brady for the team’s first four games of the season.

Thanks to some forgetfulness from Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll, fans might be in store for another scandal during the offseason.

Call it “Shermangate” if you must.

BUT WHAT exactly was gained by Carroll not telling those with the league offices that Sherman played with a significant knee injury for a majority of the second half of the season?

Sure, it was never announced that Sherman was a step slower than normal so teams couldn’t try to take advantage of that during games. Sure, Sherman didn’t look like himself at times all season, but teams still weren’t willing to take that chance.

Thanks to Carroll not reporting Sherman’s injury during the season on the team’s injury report, released usually on Wednesday, the team is now subject to a fine and losing a second round draft pick.

Maybe Carroll was protecting Sherman, or just didn’t feel it was necessary to tell reporters, but either way it could be a big mistake.

And who knows, had Carroll just reported that Sherman had a foot injury, and just listed him as probable, it could have been avoided.

Somehow I don’t think a little bit of a scandal for the team is out of the question. Since the team came up short in the Super Bowl to New England a few years ago, they’ve had more eyes on them for the things that have gone wrong rather than right.

Chances are, Carroll isn’t the only one in the league that is stretching the truth about what player is healthy and which one isn’t.

He’s just one that got caught, whatever he did wrong.

MAKE NO mistake about it, the Gonzaga men’s basketball team appears to be a step above where it has been in previous years.

And that’s saying something, considering it had a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament a few years ago.

They’ve got players that mix together well with guards that can score and guard the basketball, as well as depth in key positions in the post to carry them on a deep run in the tournament when the time comes.

Gonzaga has also won neutral site games against Florida, Iowa State and Arizona, teams that are well known for tournament success in their respective program histories.

Thanks to a postponement a few weeks back, the Zags will get the rare chance to play Portland today in Spokane, then have to board an airplane and try to beat them again in Portland on Monday. After West Coast Conference games against San Diego, then back on the plane to face Pepperdine in under a week, fans will get a good idea of just what this team is made of in the next week.

And hopefully a little deeper into March than in previous years.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at (208) 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JEPressSports.