Dave 'Softy' Mahler and Dick Fain

We all knew it was coming. If the incident in Dallas on Christmas Eve 2017 didn't confirm it, the desert digit last season did; Earl Thomas was going to leave Seattle. Now it's official as he agrees to a deal with the Baltimore Ravens. Even though today's news was inevitable, it still stings to have it confirmed that we're not going to see Earl in a Seahawks uniform again. We get Hugh Millen's reaction to today's news. What kind of player are the Ravens getting from a 30-year-old Earl Thomas? What will the secondary look like without him? With another big piece of the Super Bowl-winning defense gone, did the team underachieve? We only got one trophy out of it after all. The Ravens and the 1985 Bears only won one championship also, but those teams didn't have a quarterback like Russell Wilson.

Earl Thomas may be gone, but the discussion of his legacy here in Seattle continues. With everything that's happened with ET, good and bad, should he have his number retired here? With the latest bribery scandal the problems at USC continue. Have they hit rock bottom? We get Petros' thoughts on that, and outsider's take on the Hawks and the LOB era, and more. Textimonials react to the Earl Thomas news, plus the "12's since '12" discussion.

Now that free agency is officially underway, and we've got a better idea of who is going and who's staying, we check back in with The News Tribune's Gregg Bell for his thoughts on the Hawks. With Earl leaving, what is his legacy in Seattle. New prices added, and others dropped in Put Up or Shut Up. Will you be able to root for Earl Thomas now that he's with the Ravens? He's in a different division, in a different conference, so the circumstances are a little different than Sherman playing with the Niners. We'll see the Ravens at CenturyLink this season which is going to be interesting. Speaking of Earl, Softy and Dick spend a few minutes speaking with "Earl Thomas" about the move. Eamonn Brennan from The Athletic ends the show talking about the Dawgs, the NCAA Tournament, and all things college basketball.

With Trey Flowers (not Tre Flowers) reportedly agreeing to a $90 million deal with the Lions, Frank Clark must be a happy man. Clark has equal or better numbers in almost every category. The saga continues. Russell Westbrook can't stop getting into it with fans at games. This one might have been a bit more serious with the fan allegedly using racist language, although said fan tells a different story. It's one thing to boo a fan, it's another to use abusive language. There's another scandal in college athletics, with this one involving parents allegedly paying bribes in order to get their kids into schools. In some cases the kids were made out to be student athletes which they were not. Tomorrow we'll probably have a whole new scandal. Mike Hopkins was named Pac-12 Coach of the Year yesterday. The Dawgs lost their final game of the regular season, but still find themselves in great position for the NCAA Tournament. We get the latest on how the team is preparing to re-group after the last few games.

We knew we were losing Justin Coleman and Mike Davis to free agency. Now, reportedly J. R. Swezy will be headed to the Cardinals. Last year felt like the Seahawks offensive line took a big step forward, and Sweezy was a part of that, but they've still got a decent core to build around. Scandals just keep popping up in the Pac-12, between the bribery scandal, and Larry Scott's $7,500-a-night hotel room in Vegas. We get Jon Wilner's take on all of that, plus his expectations for the Pac-12 Tournament, and how many teams from the conference will hear their names called on Selection Sunday? Textimonials react to the first two hours of the show at 49451.

The Sounders are off to a great start this season, winning their first two matches. Head coach Brian Schmetzer explains why things are so much more cohesive so early this season compared to last. On Fun with Audio, Russell Westbrook and the fan he fought with tell their respective sides of the story. Both don't come off great. Klay Thompson says fans need to do more, and a Knicks fan tells James Dolan to sell the team. We narrow the prizes even further for Put Up or Shut Up. Since we had to take off early for the WCC Championship game between Gonzaga and St. Mary's, it's a special podcast-only edition of Tuesdays with Tipp with arena updates, training facility updates, timeline for hiring scouts, and more.

The Huskies men's basketball team lost Saturday night, ending a great regular season on a disappointing note. Now, the question is, are they in the tournament? If they win on Thursday, they're almost definitely in, but if they lose...? Are you sweating the Dawgs' chances of making the tournament given the last few games? Free agency season has begun today (sort of) and moves are already taking place all over the league. One of those moves is nickelback Justin Coleman taking a massive deal with the Lions. Softy feels the secondary suffers without Coleman, but Dick is pretty sure the Hawks can find a reasonable replacement for far cheaper. Frank Clark will reportedly hold out if a new contract isn't agreed on. Have we reached a point in the NFL where players constantly play games to get what they want? We seem to be seeing more and more of it. Washington's Athletic Director Jen Cohen checked in to talk Husky basketball, the state of the Pac-12, what she looks for in new hires, and everything UW athletics.

Felix Hernandez will not be the Opening Day starter for the M's for the first time in over a decade, and when he was asked, he said he was upset about it. Not surprising, because Felix is a competitor. The Mariners though, are doing the right thing. They've put him in the back of the rotation. Some might argue that the time for him to improve has past, and the team should cut their losses and move on, but for now, he'll continue to be here. In a somewhat similar situation, Ichiro will be on the roster in Japan, and maybe for those opening games in his home country, having him on the roster makes sense. Maybe he'll even surprise us, but it isn't likely. If he's still on the roster when the team gets back to Seattle, a new conversation will have to be had. Who deserves a roster spot more at this point; Felix or Ichiro? It's been over a month since we last heard from Mike Holmgren. With free agency getting underway, and the comments by Frank Clark's agent, today seemed like the right day to bring him back. We get his thoughts on everything happening with the Hawks, and around the league. Textimonials react to the first two hours of today's show.

Gonzaga faces off against Pepperdine tonight as their conference tournament continues. It's Gonzaga's first game of the tournament, however Pepperdine has already had to win three games to get here. Gonzaga had a triple bye. Is it fair? Maybe not completely, but it does reward teams for doing well in the regular season. Most conferences reward teams far too much for what they do over three or four days rather than over the course of the regular season. It's also a little absurd that every conference can make up its own rules. Every team in every conference should have to go through the same process to get to the NCAA Tournament. Tons of news in the NFL today with free agency getting underway, Frank Clark threatening to hold out, and more. The News Tribune's Gregg Bell covers all of it for us. While we've been on the air, Jaylen Nowell has won Pac-12 Player of the Year, Matisse Thybulle won Defensive Player of the Year, and Mike Hopkins is Pac-12 Coach of the Year. All three of those guys deserved the honor. We begin going through the Put Up or Shut Up submissions. We'll have that all nailed down by the end of the week.

It looks like Michael Bennett is on his way to New England and could potentially be re-united with his brother who may come out of retirement. This made Softy wonder, which former Seahawk who is still playing should come back to Seattle? Golden Tate is one that comes to mind, but Max Unger would also fill a need. The offensive line, and the team to some extent, fell off when Unger left. Antonio Brown is probably not going to Buffalo after all, but it seems pretty unlikely that he's going to stay in Pittsburgh either, so what happens next? Pittsburgh either cuts him or maybe Oakland takes a shot at him? That's about the only team that would make sense. This also shows how tough it is to be a Buffalo fan. Nobody wants to go there, and that's not going to change. Paul Dottino covers the Giants for WFAN. We talk with him about the future at quarterback after Eli, the tradeability of OBJ, and whether Landon Collins would be a good fit in Seattle.

We announced the return of Put Up or Shut Up yesterday and offers are rolling in. We'll start making decisions on which ones are the best next week. It's the Friday edition of Fun with Audio complete with LeBron talking about meeting Michael Jordan while annoyingly clicking a pen, Charles Barkley recruiting LeBron to the TV side since he won't be in the playoffs, and Enes Kanter falling into "The Leopard Lady". On Textimonials, which former Seahawk would you like back on the team next season, plus someone comparing Seattle to Buffalo. The Mariners might be the closest thing to the Buffalo Bills of baseball, but the two cities are nothing alike.

Proposed NFL rule changes for the 2019 season have been released, and not surprisingly, a lot of them center around challenges and reviewable plays. Let's just make this simple; coaches don't need an unlimited number of challenges, but they should be able to challenge any call, period. Spring Training continues, in fact it's only another week until the M's head off to Japan. Corey Brock is in Peoria covering the team for The Athletic. He updates us on the "red hot" Mariners (yes really) who are tearing up the Cactus League. He let's us know when some of our top prospects will be ready to play in the Big League, who we aren't talking about but should be, the state of the starting rotation, and if we can expect Ichiro to be on the 25-man roster when the team hits Seattle. The Husky baseball team went on an incredible run last Spring. Can they do it again? Coach Lindsay Meggs certainly hopes so. He discusses the impact last season had on recruiting, the return of Joe Wainhouse, and this weekend's Seattle Baseball Showcase. It's the final regular season game for the Dawgs in basketball tomorrow night against the Ducks. How confident is Dixon in a victory? We get a DPI update.

In Hour 2, we'll have Colin Cowherd on the show and hopefully we can get to the bottom of this whole moving to New York thing. Look, he's probably not going anywhere. Quarterbacks rarely play their entire career for one team, but usually they're near the end of their career when they go elsewhere. It's important though to be prepared for anything in case the unexpected happens. The Dawgs won again last night, although again it wasn't pretty. Are they in the tournament now no matter what happens on Saturday and in the conference tournament? Dave Rice, assistant coach for the Husky men's basketball team talks about the game last night, the season, and the game plan for Saturday's game against Oregon. The Huskies football team have been dominant in the Pac-12 in recent years, but in big games against Penn State, Alabama, and Ohio State, they haven't looked so great. There's clearly a talent gap. How do they overcome it?

Washington beat the Beavers last night, although not convincingly, so are they absolutely for-sure in yet? Mike DeCourcy answers this, plus a look at other stories around college basketball. Colin Cowherd caused quite a stir in Seattle when he implied that Russell Wilson and Ciara might be looking at a move to New York where the Giants quarterback job will be open. He calls in to elaborate on the comments he made, plus a little Huskies talk, and thoughts on LeBron and the Lakers. Texts come in at 49451 and are read back by our robot Texty on a segment we call Textimonials.

With the Dawgs a virtual lock (probably) in the tournament, Dick poses a You Can Only Have One scenario. Scenario 1: The Dawgs make the Sweet Sixteen, and Jaylen Nowell leaves to go pro. Scenario 2: The Dawgs lose early, and Jaylen Nowell stays another year to increase his draft stock. Softy says the answer is easy. Players get asked all kinds of questions at The Combine just so teams can see how they react.Softy and Dick answer a few of these themselves. Tim Benz has his thumb on the pulse of everything Pittsburgh sports. He fills us in on everything happening with Antonio Brown, Le'Veon Bell, and everything happening in the Steelers off-season. Is it worth it for the Hawks to go after Brown? To end the show, we play You Don't Know Dick! for passes to the Back Nine Parlor in Lynnwood.