I love the Seahawks. I’ve got it so bad, it’s starting to exclude other loves: reading, the Mariners, music. But there’s love and there’s creepy, suffocating obsession. That’s why June is just murder for me. I don’t worry every niggling detail about the Hawks respective public lives. Who spoke where or donated money to what. Great, it’s great you do that, but the point of charity is not recognition. I don’t mistake a hack for fact no matter the size of their megaphone. So, mind me if I ignore your unit rankings, draft grades and division predictions. And—this one isn’t going to win me any friends—I loathe the game of telephone I must endure to get some sense of what’s happening at mini-camp. I can’t understand how every report is so spare and convoluted. The experience has only bolstered my resolve to get up to Training Camp this summer.

Despite a mess of news, very little has occurred between the draft and now that will impact the 2008 season. Nevertheless, it’s what we have, so without further prickish, self-rightousness here’s some short responses to trifling matters.

Bobby Engram: Engram attended mandatory mini-camp in May and has since skipped Seattle’s voluntary mini-camps. That tells you about everything you need to know, doesn’t it? Engram is attempting to get a pay raise. Holding out is about his only leverage as he’s all but worthless on the open market. When it mattered, when it was mandatory, Engram showed. There’s a ~0% chance that Engram misses any part of the season. Engram’s as seasoned as curry powder and a virtuoso in Holmgren’s West Coast, so missing mini-camp is really just saving his body some wear and tear, reducing the chance he suffers an injury pre-season and allowing the Seahawks foursome of young receivers some extra snaps with the first team offense. Win-win-win-win, right? Non-story.

Red Bryant: Bryant is blowing guys up in non-contact drills. You kind of expect a big guy to do that when everyone’s running half speed. There was a big foofaraw about Bryant blowing up Justin Forsett a week back, ignoring the fact that Bryant wasn’t supposed to collide with Forsett and Forsett was blindsided. There’s very little within that exchange that should encourage anyone about Bryant or Bryant’s ability. Bryant’s got a temper on him and it sounds a bit like he’s running a little less half-speed than those around him. Bryant was and continues to be an excellent talent. His presence brings might to an otherwise mighty flimsy second team tackle unit, but I encourage everyone not read too terribly much into his performance so far. The good news is he’s playing hard. The rest we can revisit in the preseason.

Injuries: No one except Deion Branch is injured. It’s pointless to scrutinize a player’s every bruise, bump or arthroscopic surgery. I think that final one worries people a bit, perhaps because arthroscopic surgery often precedes something far more dramatic. Arthroscopic surgery, by itself, is not a cause for concern.

This is what it looks like

via www.yorkshirekneeclinic.co.uk

And this is what it does:

During an average knee arthroscopy, a small fiberoptic camera (the endoscope) is inserted into the joint through a small incision, about 4 mm (1/8 inch) long. A special fluid is used to visualize the joint parts. More incisions might be performed in order to check other parts of the knee. Then other miniature instruments are used and the surgery is performed.

When Rob Sims undergoes Arthroscopic knee surgery May 6 and is potentially able to participate in a June mini-camp, there’s no reason to worry about his health.

Did I miss anything? The team has cycled a few free agents, none of which have stuck. It’s tough being without the Seahawks for a few months, but scraps, hype and hard worrying about non-stories is hardly a substitute for a Tatupu obliteration or a Trufant pick-6. So I’m going to give my beloved some breathing room, but the blog will go on. Football Explained returns tomorrow. We’ll zip through the three linebacker positions this week and next week will be dedicated to explaining the workings of the Seahawks front seven. Lots of diagrams, real plays, and second by second breakdowns of how things went down. Maybe something else, I’m working on it with Scruffy Lefty. Stencil will continue to yuck it up about the stuff I wouldn’t touch with a ten foot clown pole, and should anything real come down, like news, we’ll be around.