I'm doing a public service announcement for the Hawks. Here is their press release if you have an interest in improving your skills:

Kirkland, Wash. – The Seahawks All-Pro Varsity Skills Camp, the premier camp for junior high and middle school athletes who want to make their high school varsity football teams, will be held at the Seahawks Training Facility in Kirkland on June 25 and 26 from 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Space is still available until the online registration closes at 5:00 p.m. on Monday, June 23.

The two-day camp is for football players ages 11-15 that are serious about football. This non-contact NFL curriculum will include position drills, combine testing, and a 7-on-7 redzone session lead by top local high school coaches. There will also be daily classroom sessions taught by receiver Nate Burleson and defensive tackle Marcus Tubbs.

The camp will include lunch, individual souvenir photos and autograph sessions with Seahawks players. All campers will also receive Seahawks jerseys.

To register for the camp, please visit seahawks.com and click on the Seahawks Summer Camps ’08 ad icon in the upper right corner or copy and paste http://www.seahawks.com/Community/Community.aspx?id=49504 in to your web browser.

I spent a few minutes with almost all the rookies before they departed for the summer. Here is an interview with Red Bryant:

What types of things were you able to pick up in this latest camp? I feel like I am able to pick up the plays a little better and am able to play a little faster compared to the first camp. And so I see improvement with me in being able to play faster.

Why is that? Just familiarity with the system? I am just getting used to it. The first mini-camp, everything was happening so fast and you are just thrown into it. This one, I have a better understanding of what I am supposed to be doing so I am playing with more confidence.

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Here is the press release:

Kirkland, Wash. – The Seattle Seahawks signed running back Justin Forsett to a multi-year deal, the team announced this afternoon.

Forsett, drafted with the first of two seventh round picks (233rd overall) from California in this year’s draft, becomes the first draft pick signed by Seattle.

To make room on the roster, the Seahawks released cornerback Donovan Alexander. Alexander originally signed with Seattle as an undrafted rookie free agent on April 27.

Seattle Seahawks middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu entered a lawyer's plea of not guilty in his DUI case in Kirkland Municipal Court this morning.

Tatupu's attorney, Jon Fox, said the lawyer's plea allows things to remain status quo while Tatupu keeps his options open. Fox said he continues to have dialogue with the prosecutor's office. Fox said they hope to come to a "positive resolution" of the case.

The whole thing took about five minutes once court actually started. Lofa's case was the first to be heard, creating some grumbling from other defendants in court that the "star football player gets preferential treatment." Personally, I think Fox just knows how to work the system and gets his client processed in a timely fashion.

The judge initially tried to have another hearing scheduled for Aug. 4, but Fox had it moved up to July 7, presumably because Aug. 4 is during the Seahawks' training camp.

Tatupu was charged with DUI on May 10 after registering a 0.155 and a 0.158 on a breathalyzer test. He had not spoken to the media since the arrest.

Tatupu did not speak to four reporters at this morning's arraignment, and only spoke to the judge to clarify his first name (Mosiula). Fox spoke to us just to clarify what the lawyer's plea was, and Tatupu was trailed out to his car by a local television cameraman. Otherwise, that was really it.

Hopefully everybody had a good Father's Day weekend. I have a prior commitment so I will not be at Rocky Bernard's pre-trial hearing this morning, so no cell phone pictures as there have been in the past. I am trying to get the office to post the Associated Press story once that comes across the wire, though we have just a few things going on in the office today. (Do a search on McClatchy's announcement this morning for more details.) Anyway, I wanted to post the transcript of an interview I did with rookie fullback Owen Schmitt last week, right before he left town.

Owen Schmitt

Can you talk about this camp relative to the last camp, where you were just trying to get acclimated? It’s been good. I think I am getting the plays down pretty well. When they put me in I tend to do what I am at least supposed to do. I guess we really won’t be able to gauge what I can do until we throw pads on and whatnot because that is I guess my specialty. But yeah, I am starting to get ahold of everything, grasp the offense, so I think I am doing alright.

What do you do between now and training camp? I’ll go back to West Virginia and train. Just work out with the guys, get into the whole routine, which will be nice because it’s kind of hard doing stuff by yourself. It’ll be nice from that whole aspect.

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This is obviously WAAAYYYY in advance of reality, but here is a preliminary prediction of how the roster and practice squads work themselves out:

OFFENSE

QB: Matt Hasselbeck, Seneca Wallace, Charlie Frye

RB: Julius Jones, Maurice Morris, T.J. Duckett, Leonard Weaver, Owen Schmitt (My guess is that if Duckett was not given such a sizeable signing bonus, they may not keep him given that they haven't figured out how to use him. But since he is making significant cash, they don't have much choice.)

TE: John Carlson, Will Heller, Jeb Putzier

OL: Walter Jones, Mike Wahle, Chris Spencer, Chris Gray, Rob Sims, Sean Locklear, Floyd Womack, Mansfield Wrotto, Ray Willis

WR: Bobby Engram, Nate Burleson, Courtney Taylor, Ben Obomanu, Logan Payne

Physically Unable to Perform: Deion Branch

DEFENSE

DL: Patrick Kerney, Lawrence Jackson, Darryl Tapp, Baraka Atkins, Rocky Bernard, Brandon Mebane, Craig Terrill, Red Bryant, Marcus Tubbs, Chris Cooper

LB: Julian Peterson, Lofa Tatupu, Leroy Hill, D.D. Lewis, Will Herring, Wesley Mallard, Lance Laury

DB: Marcus Trufant, Kelly Jennings, Deon Grant, Brian Russell, Josh Wilson, Jordan Babineaux, Kevin Hobbs, C.J. Wallace

SPECIAL TEAMS: Ryan Plackemeier, Olindo Mare, Tyler Schmitt

So here are the issues: What do you do with Marcus Tubbs? Obviously you will have a better idea come training camp of his ability to recover from back-to-back knee injuries, but if you want to keep around the former first-round pick, then you not only can't keep Larry Tripplett, you likely have to sacrifice somebody on offense; to me, that person is Jordan Kent. As talented as he is, he has not developed quite enough and is a perfect guy for one more year on the practice squad. The danger is that he gets plucked by somebody else (Jim Zorn). But I think it's a chance they might have to take because it would be hard to keep only six linebackers because of special teams, it would be hard to keep less than eight defensive backs and it would be hard, with the type of money they have paid T.J. Duckett, to keep less than five running backs. Beyond that, when Deion Branch comes back, they will have to make a decision on one of the other WRs, probably Logan Payne (though that is assuming there are no injuries, which we all know is not likely). With the roster the way I have it set up, they already had to make tough decisions on Tripplett, as well as Mike Green, Omare Lowe, David Kirtman, Joe Newton, Kyle Williams and Howard Green. That being said, here is a possible practice squad:

K Brandon Coutu
OT Kyle Williams
TE Joe Newton
WR Jordan Kent
RB Justin Forsett
WR Michael Bumpus
OL Steve Vallos
FB Dan Curran

There was actually a spot of blue sky peering through the clouds at Thursday's practice, just enough to make everyone want to jet out of town and get someplace warm.

The early part of practice was instructional, while the final part was the team coming together and running plays. The practice ended with Matt Hasselbeck and then Seneca Wallace running the hurry-up offense, and you as a fan would not have been pleased were this a regular-season game.

Hasselbeck's stint -- which included a dropped pass by Nate Burleson -- ended with a miscommunication with one of his receivers, his errant throw intercepted by Kelly Jennings. Wallace never even got off a final pass; he tried to down the ball and failed. Hasselbeck said afterward the Holmgren got into them pretty good for it.

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Mike Holmgren did in fact attend the last day of this mini-camp and met with the media afterwards. Some of the things he said:

* He had a minor surgery on Monday, the reason he missed two days of this camp. He did not want to go into detail about what it was but said he took two days to recover and is all set.

* His biggest question marks are the running backs and the wide receivers. He said he has a better idea about the running backs, while he has absolutely no idea what to make of the wide receivers and which ones are going to be able to contribute.

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1) Somebody asked about rings for non-players of Super Bowl teams as it relates to several Giants rings recently being stolen. From what I am told, virtually everybody in the Seahawks' front office received NFC championship rings when the Hawks went to the Super Bowl, including folks on the sales staff. Equipment guys, PR folks, administrators, everybody receives one.

Which reminds me of a pretty good story: When I was covering the Sonics, there was a PR staffer who was assigned to do Storm public relations the year they won the WNBA championship. A year or two later, the employee was let go by the organization. He never had a great deal of money anyway, but a lack of wealth combined with acrimonious feelings toward the organization prompted him to put his championship ring on ebay. The organization was not happy, even less so when it learned that he got about $2,000 for the ring.

2) Somebody asked about rookie Lawrence Jackson compared to Baraka Atkins and Darryl Tapp. I think Jackson has looked pretty good, most noticeably in individual drills. He is not so much powerful as he is quick, but he obviously knows how to play the game. Jackson had a nice play in team drills yesterday where he stuffed a play a few sequences after Rocky Bernard stuffed Mo Morris. I have not really noticed Atkins but Clare Farnsworth has written about him several times this week. (Hey, we all watch different things during practice.) Tapp has been very vocal and demonstrative, jumping up and chest-bumping teammates whenever they make a good play. He has been starting at right end because Patrick Kerney has been hurt.

3) Jamar Adams, burned regularly. Eric Wicks, barely notice.

Yes, Mike Holmgren was indeed back and he brought some guests with him -- the Seattle SuperSonics' coaching staff. Apparently Holmgren and P.J. Carlesimo have formed some sort of relatonship, and Holmgren invited P.J. and the boys out to practice. P.J. got carried away and started yelling at Red Bryant, who went over and choked Carlesimo. But not before:

C.J. Wallace returned from Sacramento following his appendectomy, though he did not participate in the practice. Neither did Courtney Taylor, who has an undisclosed injury, which I will update later. Marcus Tubbs and Deion Branch were off to the side doing some agility drills together.

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DSAHawker,

For two guys who are not wearing pads going against a bunch of other guys not wearing pads, Mansfield Wrotto and Ray Willis look pretty good. The one thing I have noticed is that Wrotto seems to be pulling more, which goes back to what Rob Sims was saying the other day about zone blocking and pulling on certain plays.

Also, both Joe Newton and Zac Alcorn have been pedstrian -- which is to say they have not really stood out to me. There is a pretty high likelihood that Newton is headed back to the practice squad, I'd find it hard to believe that Alcorn stands much of a chance with Carlson, Heller and Putzier already around, and Newton next in line.

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Mike Holmgren's car is in the parking lot, which unless the PR staff had it towed here to throw off inquiring reporters would suggest that Holmgren is back running mini-camp practice after a two-day medical hiatus. He is not scheduled to meet with the media until after tomorrow's final day of practice.

Former Seahawks fullback Mack Strong came out to practice to dodge some raindrops and take a gander at his old team. I caught up with him before practice for a few minutes. Here is the audio, which includes his explanation of why he turned down Mike Holmgren for the job of running backs coach.

Here is a link to Seahawks rookie Lawrence Jackson having his Inglewood High School jersey retired recently.

Veterans must report to training camp on July 24, and the first practice is on Friday, July 25.

The first few weeks of training camp will be held at the team's practice facility in Kirkland, but sometime after the second preseason game they will break camp and move to the new digs in Renton permanently.

Mike Holmgren once again was not at Tuesday's practice, though the Seahawks said on Monday he is expected back today following a minor medical procedure. The Seahawks refuse to say what it is that is ailing Holmgren, and are not giving a reason for his absence today. They say that Holmgren wants his privacy on the matter. No word on if he will be back tomorrow. Gil Haskell once again ran practice.

Just as an observation, I would say practice was not very crisp. There seemed to be a lot of dropped passes, though I'm sure that had something to do with the slick grass from -- yup, you guessed it -- more rain. I asked John Marshall if the rain limited the team in anything it was trying to accomplish, and he said they are trying to maintain the mindframe that regardless of what is going on, they need to prepare the same way and practice the same way.

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Here's the Associated Press obituary on Catlin:

TULSA, Okla. -- Tom Catlin, a longtime NFL assistant coach and a two-way star in the 1950s at the University of Oklahoma who played for Cleveland, has died. He was 76.

Catlin died Saturday at a hospice in Seattle of complications stemming from recent surgery, said his brother, Charles Catlin, who added that his brother recently had Parkinson's disease.

Catlin was assistant head coach and defensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks, where he coached from 1983-1995. He earlier worked as an assistant coach for the Dallas Texans and Kansas City Chiefs in the American Football League, then the Los Angeles Rams and Buffalo Bills in the NFL.

Catlin played center and linebacker at OU from 1950-1952, and was a member of the Sooners' 1950 squad that won the national championship under coach Bud Wilkinson.

Catlin was selected in the fourth round of the 1953 draft by the Baltimore Colts, and was traded to Cleveland and played for the Browns in 1953-54. He was an Air Force pilot in 1955-57, and returned to the Browns in 1957-58 before finishing his playing career a year later with the Philadelphia Eagles.

He is survived by his wife, Betty, daughter Kimberly Ekdahal and son Thomas Jr., four grandchildren and his brother.

The Seahawks said yesterday that Mike Holmgren was going to be back today following a "minor medical procedure" yesterday. Well, his car is not in the parking lot. There is a chance, perhaps, that his wife drove him to work today, which we will find out in a half hour. But it is rare to see his parking space empty, as it is this morning.

By Frank Hughes
Frank.hughes@thenewstribune.com

KIRKLAND – Seattle Seahawks linebacker Lofa Tatupu has officially been charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, for which he was arrested on May 10.
Tatupu has an arraignment hearing in Kirkland Municipal Court on June 17 at 8:45 a.m.
His attorney, Jon Fox, was not immediately available for comment. Tatupu practiced with the team at Monday’s morning’s mini-camp at the team’s practice facility but the team did not make him available for interviews. The Seahawks had no immediate comment.

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Because he practiced today for the first time since having arthroscopic surgery on his right knee, right guard Rob Sims met with the media. He said he was thrown off for a while because this is the first surgery he has ever had, so he's glad to be back out on the field, especially since he learning a new position.

I asked him about his offseason because, as I mentioned last week, he looks much bigger to me. He said he went to the coaching and training staffs and said that while he was in shape last year, he didn't feel strong enough so he asked if he could put on more weight. He said he has gained 10 pounds and now weighs 320. He said he is back to doing lower body workouts, which he gave up for a while, doing a lot of squats, and he works out with Pat Murray, who he said is easily the strongest guy on the team. He said the additional weight and strength gives him more "pop," though he wants to see more when he is actually able to wear pads. He said when he was in college, he could bench in the mid-500s. He said he is regularly lifting in the 400s now, so if he had to get back up to that level he could do it.

Ryan Plackemeier has a torn pectoral muscle from lifting weights and will have surgery tomorrow. The extent of the injury will not be known until after the surgery.

Lance Laury missed practice for personal reasons and was an excused absence.

C.J Wallace still is not able to fly after his appendectomy.

First, Mike Holmgren was not at practice. According to the PR staff, he had a "minor medical procedure" and will be at tomorrow's practice. Though the procedure was minor, they still chose not to disclose what the "procedure" was.

With Big Show a No Show, no, it was not Jim Mora running the practice -- unless he was able to disguise it from the secondary, where he remained the entire practice. Gil Haskell ran practice, which once again was under cold, gray skies and in the rain. Hard to believe it is 90 degrees elsewhere in the country because these practices have been miserable. The result has been that there has been a lot of slipping and sliding, particularly by the wide receivers in drills with the defensive backs. Mora was imploring his players to keep playing through the entire play even if a receiver went down.

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Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren last week said he is certain Bobby Engram will be at training camp. On Sunday, my good friend Scott "Short Bus" Johnson caught up with Engram at a golf outing and Engram told him that he in fact may not show up for training camp. Posturing? Perhaps. But the fact that he is going against what Holmgren said is news in and of itself, given Holmgren's certainty when he made the statement. We don't speak with Holmgren until the last day of mini-camp on Thursday so his reaction will have to wait.

Somebody asked about if Mike Holmgren will have a different strategy in certain situations because he will have a new kicker. Honestly, I think it is WAY too early to tell on that. He doesn't even know who his kicker is going to be. I would think they would have some discussion at some point about how they are able to utilize either Olindo Mare or Brandon Coutu, but that is not going to take place until sometime in training camp or the preseason.

There was another question about the chances that Justin Forsett makes the roster. Honestly, that is a very long shot. I think they like the kid because he is a good football player, but his size or lack thereof severely limits him. Beyond that, the numbers just don't work out. You figure they are locked into Julius Jones, T.J. Duckett, Leonard Weaver Owen Schmitt and Maurice Morris. And that just about does it. If they were to keep an extra RB, my guess is it would be somebody better suited to special teams like David Kirtman or even Dan Curran.

Here is a story about Seahawks WR Bobby Engram's charity softball game, which took place yesterday in Lacey. The story was in the Olympian.

Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio had previously written a story that said the Seahawks are going to be a playoff team that does not make it back to the postseason. He also wrote that the Cardinals are not going to be the team to replace the Seahawks -- which means he had to pick either St. Louis or San Francisco. In his latest installment, Florio picks Josh Brown's new team.

I sat down with safety Brian Russell the other day to write a piece about the secondary, which was in the News Tribune on Thursday. Here is the extended version of that interview:

A year into this, and with everybody familiar with both each other and the system, what do you try to accomplish as a group now? I think we have hit the ground running. We are really trying to improve on last year. I think we did some things well, but we have evaluated ourselves, really studied our mistakes last year, and there are some things we can correct, and that should help us be a shutdown secondary. I think we did a good job of limiting big plays last year, we didn’t give up many touchdowns, we had a number of interceptions. But I think we can really dominate games and limit passing yards in total and be better in third down, and I think that will really help the team. That is kind of what we are focusing on.

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Well, for his charity softball game in Olympia. Here is a link in the Olympian to the happenings on Friday evening. Engram apparently did not address his contract dispute or was not asked about it.

This post will admittedly be shorter than others because A) I can't feel my fingers to type a&^%$$&*())__nd B) my notebook got soaked every time I pulled it out of my pocket and it would not retain ink.

Having said that, newly acquired WR Chas Gessner made two really nice catches along the sideline, standing out for the first time.

Most of the practice looked slow, in part because players were very wary while trying to gain their footing. Patrick Kerney was on the side field pulling weights on a sled, and Rob Sims was off to the side doing some work on the blocking sled. I swear Sims' arms look twice as big as they did last year, which is to say 8 times as big as mine.

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It is raining in Kirkland right now equally as hard as it was raining on Tuesday, when the team moved its practice to UW. However, the Seahawks have decided to stay and practice at the Kirkland facility. This should be interesting because I know offensive coordinator Gil Haskell has been anxious to have a good practice. I'll update after practice.

This is an unedited version of my story for tomorrow's News Tribune:

Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Gil Haskell said he notices something very distinctive each time he sees young wide receiver Jordan Kent line up across the ball from cornerback Kelly Jennings during practices.
Almost subconsciously, Haskell said, Jennings, a staunch defender in his own right, tends to backpedal slightly as the count gets closer to the snap.
Jennings doesn’t do that with Nate Burleson or Bobby Engram or Courtney Taylor or any of the other receivers on the Seahawks’ roster.
Of course, none of those other receivers were all-American sprinters in college, as Kent was at Oregon, the proverbial mecca of college track. And so none of them quite inspires the type of fear in an NFL defensive back, especially a Seahawks’ defensive back, whose top priority is not to get beat deep.
“You just see (Jennings) creeping back, creeping back, creeping back,” Haskell says with a grin. “Speed kills.”

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I briefly spoke with first-round draft pick Lawrence Jackson, who said his agent has not even had discussions yet with the Seahawks about a contract. HE said that is more on the Seahawks' schedule than his own. Talks are likely to ensue after next week's mini-camp ends.

The 90-minute practice was dominated by teaching, and once again was under overcast skies, though the sun broke through at the end.

During a blitz drill, Marcus Trufant had an interception of Matt Hasselbeck pass, while Kevin Hobbs picked off a Charlie Frye pass.

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The Seahawks released former UW WR Anthony Russo, who has missed the last few days of mini-camp with some undisclosed injury, and signed Trent Shelton.

Shelton, 6-0, 202 pounds, came into the NFL with Indy as a rookie free agent, spending the first two weeks of the 2007 season on the practice squad before being released. Apparently the team just ripped Russo's name off the back of his jersey and velcroed (sp?) Shelton's because Shelton is wearing the same No. 17 that Russo vacated.

Former Seahawks receiver Peter Warrick, signed by the Montreal Alouettes this week, was released by the team. Here is the link.

First, I am standing in for Elise Woodward on KJR tonight, hosting from 7-10. There will be plenty of Seahawks talk if you want to call in and chat about whatever is on your mind. There also has been some Sonics discussion on this site in the past week, so that is open for discussion, as well.

Second, I had a funny Chris Gray anecdote to relay. I was interviewing him yesterday for the story I wrote today about him being the player rep at a time that labor strife can be seen in the distance. I thought it was interesting because while he is the player rep now, he is not even going to be around when the negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement come to a head.

Anyway, as I was interviewing him, Walter Jones comes walking by with an enormous goofy grin on his face. And Chris Gray says, "What do you think of my clothes?" I tell him they are sporty, a nice golf shirt. Whatever. He says, "What do you think of the jeans?" They were clearly designer jeans, no creases, a little long, hanging over his sparkling white tennis shoes. I didn't really know what to say. Really, what was I supposed to say? Apparently, the offensive linemen all chipped in to buy Gray new clothes so he could be more stylish. He said his 9-year-old daughter was killing him at home because he looked so un-Gray-like. She said she thought he was going to break out some hand gestures used by rappers. Pretty funny.

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KIRKLAND, WASH. - The Seattle Seahawks and the C.A.S.T. for Kids Foundation will host the 2nd Annual Seattle Seahawks Fish and Feast Charity Fundraiser June 7, 2008, at Southport on Lake Washington (adjacent to Gene Coulon Memorial Beach Park in Renton). All proceeds for the event will benefit the C.A.S.T. for Kids Foundation, to provide recreational fishing opportunities for disabled and disadvantaged children.

“The Seattle Seahawks are proud to partner with C.A.S.T. for Kids and the Renton community to bring outdoors experiences to children with special needs,” said Vice President of Community Outreach Mike Flood. “Our players and coaches really enjoy the experience of fishing with the kids and competing to see who catches the largest bass. But the greatest reward is in knowing that C.A.S.T. will provide children with fishing and outdoors experiences throughout the year.”

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Surprisingly, the Seahawks' practice got started only about 15 minutes later than they said it would start (11) even though they had to get shipped over to UW's indoor practice facility on three buses. They brought all their own gear, including blocking dummies, so they weren't subjected to hitting purple and gold pads. (From what I could tell, the purple and gold pads had not gotten a lot of use. Read into that what you will.)

The most notable body on the field was that of Rocky Bernard, who missed all of the last mini-camp recovering from offseason foot surgery and who spent Monday morning in court defending himself from accusations that he has been trying to live up to the reputation of his namesake. Bernard took part in individual drills, but did not get involved in team drills. Still, it was a surprise to see him out there. Even more of a surprise, the PR staff didn't allow him to talk to us. Or didn't allow us to talk with him. I'm not sure which.

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The Seahawks just told us that because of the inclement weather today's mini-camp practice has been moved to the indoor practice facility at the University of Washington. It has been pushed back to 11. I would venture to say we will not get as many players available for interview purposes because everybody will be running for buses to shuttle back and forth. Also, things on the blog may be running late because my guess is there is no internet access over there, and we have to get back here to try to get guys in the locker room.

Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren addressed Deion Branch's injury situation during his news conference yesterday, and admitted that he really doesn't know when Branch is going to be able to return from his knee surgery.

Holmgren said that he thought Branch could come back early, but when pressed he admitted that the injury is generally a nine-month recovery -- which puts Branch's return in October. That is not to say he can't be on the field before that, but it is to say that he probably will not be 100 percent until then. (As an aside, I had contacted an orthopedic surgeon a few months ago, who said regardless of body type and being in shape, nine months is what it takes this injury to properly heal. There just has not been enough progress in medicine to increase the recovery time.)

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Seahawks safety C.J. Wallace apparently had an appendectomy last week in Sacramento, California and was told not to fly for a week, the reason he was missing from today's mini-camp.

Seahawks PR says he will be at next week's mini-camp, though it is unclear if he will participate or just be present. Kelin Johnson was filling in for Wallace at the safety spot on the second unit.

The Seahawks held a mini-camp practice for a little more than 90 minutes this morning, and it was a wild sensation because there is a huge cottonwood tree that sits along a row of trees bordering the field. With the wind blowing, there were little white puffs of cotton floating through the air, making it seem as if it was snowing even though it was 60 degrees out. The entire field was covered in the stuff.

There were a lot of non-participants, though most were expected: Marcus Tubbs, Walter Jones, Chris Spencer, Rob Sims, Deion Branch, Bobby Engram (contract), Rocky Berard (court, toe), Mike Green, Patrick Kerney, Will Herring. C.J. Wallace was the only one that was a surprise; I am still waiting to hear from the PR dept. about his absence.

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Seahawks defensive tackle Rocky Bernard was granted a two-week continuance this morning, meaning his pre-trial hearing will be held at 10 a.m. on June 16.

"This will give us a chance to do some more investigation," said Bernard's attorney, Jon Fox (the man on the far left in the picture above). "We also could have some meaningful discussion with the Prosecutor about the case."

What might that discussion entail?

"We would discuss the facts and see if there is a way to resolve it," Fox said. "We would also go over discovery and procedural standards."

While many of the other defendants were dressed in street clothes, Rocky was wearing a dark blue suit with a pinstriped dress shirt and tie. He entered the courtroom just before his case was called, sat down for less than five minutes then had his case called. From the beginning to end, it took about five minutes.

I'm heading out to Kirkland right now for the team's mini-camp, which started two minutes ago and ends in about 88 minutes.