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
Why Seattle Seahawks OC likely to come from Super Bowl team
In the world of sports, expectations and performance boil down to “What have you done for me lately?” In that vein, after the initial excitement and expository phase for new Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald wore off, the speculation and questions soon pivoted to figuring out what the rest of this Seahawks coaching staff will look like.
Seahawks to hire Aden Durde as defensive coordinator, per report
Because of Macdonald’s defensive background, the single most important assistant will be whomever the Seahawks hire as their offensive coordinator. It’s a position that will operate with plenty of independence and creative control, but what that also means is there will be outsized pressure on the man who assumes the role.
So… why haven’t the Seahawks hired anyone yet? They are the only team in the NFL without an offensive coordinator (the Saints job is technically still vacant, but it has been publicly reported that they will hire 49ers assistant Klint Kubiak after the Super Bowl ends) and the fervor in discussing the vacancy grows with each passing day.
Much like the Saints, it feels like the Seahawks’ next offensive coordinator will come from one of the two teams playing on Sunday. They were patient in waiting for Macdonald to finish the season as Ravens defensive coordinator, and with only three reported interviews for OC candidates so far, it feels like another patient, thorough assessment of a guy whose season is still in progress.
Seattle Seahawks Breakdown: The three big roster decisions this offseason
So, if this is the path the Seahawks have chosen, which of these 49ers and Chiefs assistants could it be? Ah, well I’m glad you asked. I’ve boiled it down into three categories for the potential hire.
The Favorites
• Anthony Lynn: The 49ers assistant head coach and running backs coach has plenty of experience, and it would be a safe bet if Macdonald stockpiles veterans around him. Lynn has been coaching in the NFL since the 2000 season, including four years as Chargers head coach and a recent offensive coordinator stint with the Lions in 2021. That was not the most resounding endorsement for what Lynn would bring as an OC, as he was stripped of playcalling duties midway through the season, but perhaps that experience leads to new ideas if he does get another chance in Seattle.
• Brian Griese: The 49ers quarterbacks coach is the most fascinating name out there because of the dichotomy between his long, successful career as an NFL quarterback and the lack of experience coaching. Griese only decided he wanted to get into coaching two years ago, but as this article outlines, it was Griese who helped identify what could make Brock Purdy a successful NFL quarterback. The intuitive knowledge that comes from having been a quarterback in the league for a decade is highly appealing in this era. An offensive coordinator and his quarterback have to be of like mind and have almost a telepathic understanding of how to run and implement an offense. Griese’s nascent coaching background does lead to questions about whether he is ready to handle the entirety of an offense instead of simply a position group. But you don’t stick in the NFL as a quarterback for as long as he did without knowing how to run an offense, and it feels like that translates to what he has done so far as an assistant coach.
• Klay Kubiak: The 49ers assistant quarterbacks coach is certainly well-versed in the coaching world. When your dad was a successful head coach (Gary Kubiak) and you work under San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan, doors open up. Klay Kubiak was also mentioned in that San Francisco Chronicle article about helping to identify and develop Brock Purdy. Former quarterbacks possess the innate knowledge of how to teach offensive concepts and attack defenses because they went through it as a player. Any hire of a first-time coordinator comes with a risk but some of that uncertainty could be mitigated by hiring a guy who was been around the NFL his entire life.
Video: The reason Seahawks may be waiting to hire an offensive coordinator
The Dark Horses
• Joe Bleymaier: The Chiefs passing game coordinator is among the stable of well-respected minds that are part of one of the most successful offenses in the NFL. The inevitable question that hovers over any Chiefs assistant is whether their success is due to Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes. Bleymaier has been with the Chiefs for eight seasons and is well-positioned to bring that system to Seattle – if the belief is that he can replicate that offense without Patrick Mahomes.
• Brian Fleury: The 49ers tight ends coach interviewed for the Patriots offensive coordinator job and played quarterback in college (if we’re working under my preferred assumption that playing that position is the best precursor for the skills needed to dictate and lead an entire offense). Fleury is relatively inexperienced coaching on the offensive side of the ball, though, with his first crack as an offensive assistant coach coming in this position with the 49ers in 2022.
The Longshot
• Matt Nagy: The Chiefs offensive coordinator would be a home run hire and the best choice out of any assistant coach in the Super Bowl. However, there is no indication that he would want to leave Kansas City. Because it would be a lateral move, the Chiefs could block the Seahawks from interviewing Nagy (as the Giants did with Mike Kafka). The appeal would be if Nagy yearns to call plays, but unlike Eric Bieniemy leaving to try and break free of the Andy Reid shadow, Nagy has already been a head coach. On the surface, it doesn’t seem like there is a need to prove anything or leave the stability of Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs dynasty.
Who will be the Seattle Seahawks’ pick?
Kyle Shanahan’s track record of developing assistants speaks volumes. His coaching tree already includes Robert Saleh, Mike McDaniel, and DeMeco Ryans as head coaches, along with Mike LaFleur and Bobby Slowik, who were assistants that moved into coordinator roles, plus the impending hire of the elder Kubiak to the Saints.
The working relationship with Macdonald is a fundamentally important component of this hire. The Seahawks’ reported move to hire Leslie Frazier as assistant head coach brings a veteran voice and mentor for a young head coach, and I vacillated between applying that same principle for an offensive coordinator or taking a chance on a similarly young, bright mind for that position.
Bumpus: How hire of Leslie Frazier helps Seahawks’ Macdonald
Ultimately, by giving Macdonald a six-year contract, the Seahawks are giving him the freedom to take risks. He can afford to make a mistake the first time on a coordinator hire, especially if the payoff maximizes what the offense can accomplish with its myriad of talent.
I believe Macdonald will take that gamble and make a bold choice when he names Brian Griese as the Seahawks offensive coordinator.
More on the Seattle Seahawks
• 2024 Pro Football Hall of Fame class includes two who were briefly Seahawks
• What’s up with the JSN comments about ex-Seahawks OC Waldron?
• What are Seattle Seahawks’ options with crucial QB decision looming?
• Report: Seahawks OL coach Dickerson to take same role with Browns
• Senior Bowl’s Jim Nagy shares a Seattle Seahawks fit for NFL Draft
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.”
LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — Las Vegas could be years away from landing an NBA expansion team, but the league’s commissioner is now offering a clearer sense of the timeline.
On Tuesday, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told “The Dan Patrick Show” that Seattle and Las Vegas remain the cities the NBA is focused on if it expands. “If we expand, at least we’re thinking ’28-29 season,” Silver said.
Silver had previously signaled before that March meeting that Seattle and Las Vegas were at the center of the expansion discussion, while cautioning that no decision had been made.
“We will make decisions in 2026,” Silver said in February.
At the time, Silver said the league was not expected to vote in March but could emerge from those meetings ready to take the next step and begin discussions with potential ownership groups.
Las Vegas has long been viewed as Seattle’s most likely expansion partner if the NBA grows from 30 to 32 teams. Silver, however, has repeatedly said the league could expand by two teams, one team, or not at all.
The potential of an NBA Las Vegas expansion team has already drawn interest. This week, majority owner of the Vegas Golden Knights, Bill Foley, announced he is putting together a bid for the expansion team in Las Vegas.
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