Everybody in the media had warned that Idol judges had said Seattle produced the worst talent in the show's history. However, what they didn't note was that the Emerald City might also produce the Season 6 winner.

And, that person is Jordin Sparks, a 16-year-old from Glendale, Ariz., and the daughter of NFL cornerback Phillipi Sparks.

To say she was my favorite singer of the night would be untrue. Jordin belted out Celine Dion's "Because You Love Me," which presents two problems for me. First, I despise Celine Dion. Second, I hate that song.

However, her voice produced a ton of potential, a wild amount of stylistic control for a kid, and she's going to be a gorgeous woman. Gorgeous. She's a tad chunky right now; however, you'll never get me to say a bad thing about Chaka Khan.

Realistically, I think Jordin suffers the same fate as last season's Lisa Tucker. Good, strong voice in an early audition round. Makes it to the Top 12, but can't hang with more experienced singers when it comes to traversing different genres.

But, she's got the look nailed down pat.

Commercially, she's the best of the lot at this point. However, who would have pegged Taylor Hicks as Idol's big winner after two episodes of Season 5?

Nobody.

Seattle produced some scary, scary people, including one little fellow Simon Cowell called a "bush baby," and the kid's buddy, who literally had no neck.

The city also produced a scary-looking blonde woman singing The Pussycat Dolls' "Don't Cha," and a red-headed insane man singing "Bohemian Rhapsody."

For as bad as Seattle was pegged in the press the past couple of days, it actually produced some kids I can get behind. Thomas Daniels, 21, sported kind of a 70's afro and sang a great Amos Lee tune. Rudy Cardenas touted his experience in L.A. and sang the hell out of "Open Arms," a song I despise with every fiber of my being.

Blake Lewis sported a Ryan Seacrest-ish haircut but beatboxed his way to a golden ticket by singing Seal's "Crazy," one of the best songs of the past 25 years.

Of these three, I think Cardenas has a major edge with the L.A. experience. The show has really brought out some people who have already made the trek to places like Nashville, Austin and L.A, and honed their craft. Taylor Hicks had been a professional musician for years. Bo Bice, too. Constantine Maroulis had already starred in a major off-Broadway production.

But for me, the treat of the night was a pair of siblings. Sanjaya and Shymali Malakar.

Over the years, Idol has introduced America to a wide variety of talent in terms of ethnic diversity. Black, white, Hawaiian, Filipino, Spanish. I think there's even been somebody of Japanese or Chinese descent make it to Hollywood.

However, Sanjaya and Shymali hail from India.

You know what? They were both freaking excellent, the brother more so than the sister. She sang "Summertime," and he sang "Signed, Sealed, Delivered." They both already have domain names reserved for them, which indicates to me that they're destined for the Top 24.

Here's the trick. She's gorgeous, and her brother will have girls going kind of ga-ga in a Bobby Brady sort of way. He is already generating a ton of buzz online, and the notion that siblings would be good enough to possibly get to the Top 12 must have Idol producers foaming at their soap-opera mouths.

The primary downside for the boy, though, is that he's terminally shy, it seems. Could be another Will Makar from Season 5, who had the same vibe going for him but never could conquer nerves as the competition heated up.

However, Sanjaya's voice was pure, clean, kind of white-boy (make that Indian boy) soulful, and he's an extremely intriguing contestant at this point. I would be absolutely lying to you if I didn't say I was kind of pulling for him because he's Indian ... for whatever reason, I just think that's cool because there is no chance in hell a young Indian kid gets this kind of shot in conventional music industry circles.

All in all, I think Rudy Cardenas, Sanjaya and Shymali Malakar and Jordin Sparks are Top 24 locks. Mark it down. Blake Lewis has a shot as does Thomas Daniels.

However, there's a long road before the Hollywood weeks begin. Nobody has completely wowed me yet, in terms of story or talent, to make me say that I'm pulling for him or her. Sanjaya is probably a front-runner right now; however, I'm a sucker for pretty girls, and Jordin Sparks has enough talent to win me over pretty fast.

I still don't think we've seen the show's winner just yet ...

Off to Memphis.