Just back from the roast for former Husky coach Don James where the barbs tossed almost outnumbered the wine bottles downed.

In other words, a good time was had by all as a panel of four former Husky players, a few local media personalities, and some video tributes from former players and rival coaches paid good-natured tribute to the Dawgfather in front of a packed ballroom at a hotel in downtown Bellevue.

James took the podium at the end of the two-hour program and asked for a solemn moment of silence.

"We'd like to pray for all the previous speakers and all the jokes that have died here tonight,'' James said as he began to get the last word.

A good number of the jokes hit, however, during what is officially called The Rod Long All-Star Good Sport Awards. Last year's honoree was former Seahawk QB Dave Krieg, and if tonight's show is any indication, this event could become a Seattle sports institution.

There were a number of former Husky players in the audience, as well, and one -- defensive lineman Mike Ewaliko -- highlighted an auction to start off the night by bidding $2,200 to put together a foursome to golf with James.

Long, a Seattle-area comedian, began the roast by joking that he knew James was done coaching "when I saw him pimping RV's on TV'' -- a reference to James' ubiquitous ads for a local RV company.

Kicker Chuck Nelson was the first speaker and said, "It's just nice not to be introduced as Jeff Jaeger.'' Nelson told a few tales about James' notorious attention to detail, saying that every Tuesday and Thursday at 5:17 p.m., he still gets ready to attempt eight kicks -- four from the right hashmark, four from the left -- as was the practice custom during his playing days.

Nelson also noted that James' office on the second floor of the Graves Building was known to players as "the gates of hell'' -- players knew when they were summoned for an audience that the outcome might not be good.

"Players would go in and they wouldn't come out,'' he said. "That's what really happened to Willis Ray Mackey," a running back who notoriously transferred in 1979.

Nelson also made reference to James' college career as a quarterback at Miami, saying, "He had a good chance to win the Heisman. The only problem was John Heisman hadn't been born yet.''

Nick Saban, who played for James at Kent State and then began his coaching career there under James, appeared via video and said that he couldn't bring himself to make any jokes about James. "If it wasn't for coach James, I would never have been in this profession,'' he said, adding he has tailored much of his coaching philosophy from what he learned from James.

Former QB Hugh Millen followed and said a perfect game for the notoriously conservative James was a 20-0 win -- "six field goals and a safety.''

When one joke didn't go so well, Millen said that "no matter how bad it gets, Chris Chandler is not walking up to this podium,'' a reference to how James replaced Millen with Chandler late in the 1985 season.

Millen said players were so afraid of going to James' office that despite what the coach said was an open-door policy, he once saw a cautionary wet paint sign outside the stairway leading to the office and thought, "Why bother?''

Former RB Greg Lewis then took the podium and mostly took shots at his fellow players.

"I saw every play of Hugh Millen's Husky career,'' he said. "That was a long game.''

Of Nelson, he said, "He's most famous for the one he missed,'' a reference to a late field in the 1982 Apple Cup that went awry in a 24-20 loss that cost UW the Pac-10 title.

Lewis noted that announcer Bob Rondeau, also a roaster, gets paid mostly for saying "touchdown Washington." Lewis said, "As few times as he's said that this year, he owes KJR money.''

Lewis then noted the James still holds power over him. "If you thought I was going to talk about him, you're crazy,'' he said.

Former Oregon coach Rich Brooks paid video tribute and retold the memorable story about James firing a bus driver on a trip to Eugene. Seems James wanted all the buses to stay in order and didn't like it when the driver of bus No. 2 passed bus No. 1 -- which James was on -- on the way to a rest stop. "That was the end of bus trips,'' Brooks said with a laugh. "I heard a lot of stories about what he said to the bus driver, but I shouldn't say that in a mixed crowd.''

Rondeau followed, and, noting how Brooks said he rarely beat James, asked, "Remember what it was like to beat Oregon?''

Jim Mora followed with a video tribute and noted that he couldn't be there because he was at the Seahawks office, "at work trying to win a game.''

Cornerback Nesby Glasgow was next and mostly paid tribute to James, saying that "hopefully UW will find another man like coach James to turn this program around.''

KJR's Mike Gastineau, Seattle's most fervent Indiana Hoosier fan, noted that James lost twice to Indiana in the 1970s and asked loudly, "How could you go 0-2 against Lee Corso?'' Corso was the coach of the Hoosiers at the time.

Gastineau then looked at the panel and said, "There are so many great players that Don coached. Apparently they were all busy tonight.''

He then ended his stint by asking Long, whether "we should let the folks enjoy themselves or let you talk again.''

The most entertaining video tribute came from former WSU coach Jim Walden, who noted that he and his wife, and James and his wife, Carol, often took off-season vacations together, once going to Scotland. Walden noted that James was famous for his frugality and once asked a caddy if he was good at finding balls. When the caddy said yes, James said great and asked the caddy to go find two so James and Walden could begin their round.

Walden, who noted again that James once said he was "a 2,000-word underdog'' against Walden, told a couple of other stories that I can't do justice to here and concluded by saying, "I hope I didn't offend anyone, which I usually can do with the best of them.''

Dick Baird, who was recruiting coordinator for most of James' tenure, was the last roaster, and I really can't do justice to his 15 or so minutes on the podium.

But I'll pass along a couple.

Baird, noting how different his personality is from that of James, said that one of the questions James gets the most is, "How did hell did Baird ever get hired by Don James? It is a good question.''

Baird also recalled how in 1988, when the Huskies didn't make it to a bowl for the first time in nine years, James bought watches as Christmas gifts for his assistants. The team usually got a watch for going to a bowl game and the watches James bought were meant to remind the coaches every time they wanted to know what time it was that they hadn't made it to a bowl game that year.

James took the stage last and, after introducing his family, noted that he and Carol had been married for 56 years. They wed when they were 19. "Everyone said it would never last,'' he said. "Most of them are dead.''

Of Baird, he said: "Of all the guys I hired in 18 years, he's one of them.''

Of Millen, he said: "We wanted to get a great Husky quarterback [to be a roaster] but we couldn't get Chandler or [Warren] Moon.'' (Moon was one of the video presenters.)

Of Nelson, James recalled the 1982 Apple Cup and said "it's his fault,'' though he quickly noted that the Cougars won the game by four.

He concluded by talking about his famous tower, from which he would watch practice.

"I just wanted to see what was going on on both sides of the field,'' he said.

He got the idea, he said, from a coach he thought had had a little success: Bear Bryant.