Seattle’s LGBTQ community members say they hope that this Friday’s World Cup “Pride Match” between Egypt and Iran, two countries where homosexuality is criminalized, can be an opportunity to change minds.
Seattle, WA
Huard: Watch Darnold's center as Seattle Seahawks target
The Seattle Seahawks have made noise with their moves this offseason, but they’ve been quiet when it comes to their biggest need: the interior of the offensive line.
Salk: Why Seattle Seahawks may get better without a rebuild
There’s a player that would help there that Brock Huard now has his eye on, and it’s one with a connection to Seattle’s new quarterback.
“This would require a trade, and this is to a team that has spent some serious capital on interior lineman – that is the Minnesota Vikings,” Huard said Thursday during Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk. “They give (four-time Pro Bowler) Ryan Kelly two years, $18 million, the big center from Alabama that we liked years and years ago up here in Seattle. They obviously give (tackle) Will Fries the top of the market. And they’ve got a center of their own, a guy by the name of Garrett Bradbury.”
The 29-year-old Bradbury was a first-round NFL Draft pick by the Vikings in 2019 out of North Carolina State, and while he hasn’t earned the kind of honors in his career like Kelly has, he’s been a starter since Day 1 with Minnesota. And there’s something to be said for him protecting Darnold in 2024, which was a breakout year for the 27-year-old QB.
Three reasons Huard likes Sam Darnold as Seahawks QB
Huard, a FOX football analyst and former NFL QB, likes the idea of Seattle pairing their quarterback with a center he’s already familiar with. He also spoke to how chemistry between those positions, something he experienced himself in college with the UW Huskies and his center Olin Kreutz, can be especially valuable.
“In chatting with a few folks around the league, they said to me, yeah, he’s a guy that Sam Darnold loved,” Huard said of Bradbury. “Sam just loved playing with him last year in Minnesota. And you know what I love? QB-center interaction. I love (the former Seahawks pairing of) Max Unger-Russell Wilson. I love (another former Seahawks pairing of) Robbie Tobeck-Matt Hasselbeck. I loved Olin Kreutz being my center.
“When you find that security blanket, it’s kind of like a pitcher and catcher, quite honestly. With (the Mariners’) Cal Raleigh and these young pitchers, they love working with him. And when you can find a center that knows the system, that can communicate right alongside you, it just takes some of the ease and some of the burden off of you. When you love the way he snaps the ball to you, when you guys are simpatico, it’s a good thing. And you traded for Sam Darnold, and if they can find a way to get a guy that he loves who’s still a a very good athlete a really good fit in this system, I’d find that a win-win.”
ANOTHER UNREAL SAM DARNOLD PLAY ‼️
HE FINDS JUSTIN JEFFERSON FOR THE 39-YARD TD TO GIVE MINNESOTA THE LATE LEAD 👏
(via @Vikings) pic.twitter.com/df2NTGs6XO
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 22, 2024
What would it take to get Bradbury
Bradbury has one season left on his current contract with a $6.064 million salary cap hit, and there’s even speculation that Minnesota could release him after its moves in free agency on the O-line. If Seattle wanted to jump ahead in line, though, a trade shouldn’t be too costly according to Huard.
“It’s going to be like a seventh-round pick or sixth-round pick,” he said.
Huard compared that to the three-year, $42 million deal it cost the Chicago Bears to get former Atlanta Falcons center Drew Dalman in free agency.
“You didn’t want to spend $14 million (annually) on Drew Dalman. Will you spend a sixth-round pick and pay this guy $1 million with a couple million in incentives? Sure,” Huard said. “So then I can sign (pass rusher DeMarcus) Lawrence, and I can make other moves. Because every move does affect another move.”
Seattle Seahawks sign four-time Pro Bowl DE DeMarcus Lawrence
NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero was a guest on the next segment of Brock and Salk, and the Minnesota native shared his thoughts on Bradbury as a Seahawks target.
“I do think that Garrett Bradbury would be a potential option. I would think that the Vikings will have some level of trade interest in him,” Pelissero said. “They did sign Ryan Kelly. I think it’s fair to believe that Garrett Bradbury most likely will have a new home. Right now he’s still on the Vikings roster. There’s no trigger in his contract, so they don’t have to do something right now, but certainly that’s a name that would that would potentially make some sense.”
Hear the full conversations from Thursday’s Brock and Salk in the second half of the podcast at this link or in the player near the top of this post. Catch Brock and Salk from 6-10 a.m. weekdays on Seattle Sports.
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SEATTLE — Seattle police are investigating a shooting that left a 17-year-old boy injured early Thursday morning in the High Point neighborhood.
At about 12:48 a.m., dispatchers received multiple reports of rapid gunfire near Sylvan Way Southwest and Southwest Morgan Street.
Officers arrived and found a 17-year-old boy suffering from a gunshot wound to the hip area. Medics transported the teen to Harborview Medical Center in serious but stable condition.
Before officers located the victim, they found a car that had crashed and become disabled near Sylvan Way Southwest and Delridge Way Southwest. Police said multiple suspects were seen running from the vehicle through a nearby Home Depot parking lot.
Officers cordoned off the area and searched for the suspects with assistance from the K-9 Unit, but were unable to locate them. Police recovered the vehicle and impounded it for processing.
During the incident, gunfire struck at least three vehicles and two buildings. No other injuries were reported.
Officers processed multiple nearby scenes and recovered evidence before clearing the area. Detectives with the Gun Violence Reduction Unit will lead the investigation.
Seattle, WA
Council eyes street barricades in fight against violence, sex trafficking in north Seattle
SEATTLE — The Seattle City Council is expected to vote next week on a plan that would give the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) the authority to close off street access for public safety reasons.
The proposal comes after months of outcry from residents in north Seattle who say sex traffickers and sex buyers are looping through the streets surrounding Aurora Avenue North.
The street-closure proposal passed the council’s Public Safety Committee on Tuesday and is expected to be voted on by the full council next week.
“I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say the crime has gotten much worse, much more violent, and much more predator,” said District 5 councilmember Debora Juarez. “I think that we do have the authority to shut down a street for bullets flying and endangering the lives of those who live there.”
Frustrated neighbors have installed their own homemade barricades after a spate of gun violence between sex traffickers in May.
RELATED | SDOT removes street barricades near Aurora Ave; neighbors doubtful of temporary measures
Councilmember Bob Kettle says street closures will help tamp down sex buying in certain areas, but he emphasizes it must be accompanied by an increase in outreach and enforcement.
“We have to have a sustained effort,” Kettle told KOMO News. “My concern is for every action, there’s a reaction. We need to take this flex and then really attack it … because if we do just a bit and our attention wanders, we could have this conversation three months from now and we’re talking about the same thing.”
A 15-year-old boy was shot near 95th Street and Aurora Avenue North around 10:45 p.m. last night. The teen initially claimed he had been shot while walking down the street, but investigators now say he was shot by a passenger in his car.
RELATED | Seattle police say ‘drive-by’ on Aurora Ave. was actually passenger shooting teen driver
Kettle credited the city’s Real Time Crime Center cameras with helping investigators quickly piece together the events of the shooting.
“Just as important to finding out what happened, the cameras help police determine what did not happen,” Kettle said.
According to Seattle police data, reports of shootings and shots fired in the north precinct area are at their lowest levels since 2021.
Through the end of May, there were 48 total reports of shootings or shots fired, with one fatal shooting and seven nonfatal injury shootings.
That’s down from 63 total reports of shootings and shots fired – one fatal and seven injuries – in 2025; and 64 shootings or shots fired reports – one fatal and 17 injuries – in 2024.
At Tuesday’s committee meeting, councilmembers pointed out residents are calling for a new police precinct to be built on Aurora Avenue.
Ten years ago, a new North Precinct building was slated to be built at 130th Avenue and Aurora Avenue North to replace the existing precinct building, which was decades old and did not have enough space for the department’s needs.
Led by former councilmember Kshama Sawant, the “Block the Bunker” movement successfully got the North Precinct replacement project killed in city council.
Kettle said the city’s current financial issues make it essentially impossible to bring back a project similar to the one the previous council defeated.
“We have to connect the dots back,” Kettle said. “If we want to know why we are where we are today, we have to look at decisions made over the last two councils.”
Seattle, WA
Iran and Egypt to play in Seattle ‘Pride Match’ despite earlier complaints | The Jerusalem Post
Seattle revels in its reputation as a welcoming place and Pride flags are visible all over the city, all year round. Its June Pride weekend is one of the biggest in the United States.
So, ahead of December’s World Cup draw, it was only natural that local organizers designated the June 26 match to be held in the city as a “Pride Match.”
Then the draw happened — and the two teams scheduled to play the game were Egypt and Iran.
Egypt’s Football Association urged global soccer governing body FIFA to prevent any Pride-related activities, arguing such events clashed with the Muslim-majority country’s cultural and religious values. The governing body in Iran, where same-sex relations can carry the death penalty, filed an objection with FIFA.
Some in Seattle have doubts over the teams in the ‘Pride Match’
But in Seattle, there is no question that the Pride Match will go ahead as planned.
“The World Cup is going to come and go in three weeks,” Hedda McLendon, from Seattle’s local World Cup organizing committee, told Reuters. “The Pride celebration … has happened on this weekend for 50-plus years.
“It is going to happen this weekend, it is going to happen long after the World Cup.”
Some in the city’s LGBTQ community had mixed feelings given the participants, said Jon Cairns, 49, manager of local LGBTQ+ club Kremwerk.
Cairns, however, said his own view was that it provided a platform to promote acceptance that only the world’s biggest sporting event could offer.
“My reaction is let’s have them,” he told Reuters. “International sports is one of the biggest brokers historically of social change and individual rights and freedoms worldwide, including in the U.S.”
He cited black U.S. sprinter Jesse Owens’ four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games in Nazi Germany and Tommie Smith and John Carlos’ raised-fist protest in 1968 as moments where “only international sports could reach that big of an audience.”
“They’re not going to turn off the World Cup on state television in Iran or Egypt to block out a Pride flag in the audience,” Cairns said.
The Pride Match is “a host city initiative” and separate of FIFA, a spokesperson for soccer’s governing body told Reuters.
Seattle’s LGBTQ community sees an opportunity
Egypt and Iran’s involvement in the Pride Match is not the first time the World Cup has grappled with stark differences in attitudes between hosts and visitors.
In 2022 World Cup host Qatar, the emir said visitors should “respect our culture” when asked about gay people attending the tournament.
FIFA threatened yellow cards for captains wearing the “OneLove” armband, citing its rules against political slogans. Teams including England and the Netherlands that had been planning to wear the armbands to protest Qatar’s laws against same-sex relationships abandoned the plan.
For Ryan Webster, a 40-year-old lifestyle manager who was at Kremwerk the weekend before Pride, Seattle’s “Pride Match” was an opportunity to show solidarity with people in countries where their sexuality was outlawed.
“I’m choosing to believe that this is our moment to allow the members of the LGBTQ community that come from those countries to have the opportunity to celebrate themselves in totality that they might not have otherwise,” he said outside the club, which will host a watch party for Friday’s game.
Inside, ‘Venus Fengz’ lip-synced to Cher’s “Believe” before introducing fellow drag performers to the stage, clapped and cheered by a raucous crowd.
Fengz, who only wanted to provide their stage name, said Pride coinciding with the World Cup would bring increased visibility, anticipating perhaps some new audience members.
“I think it’s always great for us to be able to share space and share places with people who don’t have the same experiences as us,” they told Reuters.
“Sometimes you just have to be the bigger person and show grace where you can and know that everyone is a human learning (from) different experiences, but also it can get hard — because you’re on the shorter end of the stick, always trying to have to explain yourself around people who don’t grow up with the same worldview.”
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