As a lifelong Seahawks fan, I've assumed my customary football viewing position. Curled up in a tiny ball on the couch hoping nothing bad will happen again.
Something bad did happen. With less than a minute left in the half, Brett Favre, eluded a sack on third and long, and while stumbling to the ground and under-hands the ball to his receiver and pulls something out of nothing.
Plays like that are not supposed to work. Plays like that are supposed to result in embarrassing gaffes which are returned for points and shown on NFL blooper reels for decades.
Which is why Favre is inarguably one of the three greatest signal callers to ever play the game alongside Elway and Montana. He's certainly the most enthusiastic. Watching him throw snowballs at teammates after driving down the field its hard to really be upset losing to a clearly superior opponent.
So as the final seconds tick away, what is better for the psyche of the 12th Man? Being blown out in near blizzardlike weather conditions on the road? Or losing heartbreakers in overtime like in Chicago last season or Green Bay - "We want the ball and we're going to score" - four years ago?
No we won't even discuss Super Bowl Extra Large and six of the worst referee calls in NFL history.
They can win against teams with losing records but don't do well against better teams.
They've gone 1 game farther than I thought they would.
Posted by: Norm on January 12, 2008 02:52 PMJoke of the day: here's what Businessweek calls the most affordable suburb in Washington:
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/07/12/1213_bestaffordable_subs/index_01.htm?campaign_id=msn
Snohomish
Median home price: $549,999
Median household income: $90,351
Yep...sounds like a real steal! A place where homes are 6 times average income.
Or, you could be sensical and move to a normal place...how about Broken Arrow, OK
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/07/12/1213_bestaffordable_subs/index_01.htm?campaign_id=msn
Median home price: $172,900
Median household income: $61,996
Where homes are only 3 times salary...
If the Mariners win a lot of games they will inevitably tank at the end of the season like they always do. How I miss Lou. You just get used to this if you've lived here long enough. Why bother to get your hopes up? Not quite the same as being a Cubs fan. But it's getting close. And geez, they've at least got Lou!
The Sonics were flushed down the toilet by that creep that owns Starbucks and can't understand why everyone doesn't like his bitter over-strong coffee. He happily sold them to that Oklahoma City jerk who promptly sold off our best players and whose mission in life is to make sure the Sonics lose as many games as possible so he can prove that we don't support the NBA in Seattle.
We are good at one thing that no one cares about anymore. We win more hydroplane races than any city in the country. We've been doing that for years and years.
Posted by: Bill Cruchon on January 12, 2008 05:33 PMSeattle will always have one winner: Jim McDermott.
There. Feel better?
Posted by: Rey Smith on January 12, 2008 05:52 PMGeez, how could I be so dumb?
Posted by: Bill Cruchon on January 12, 2008 06:06 PMI'm not bitter about it. It's only sports. Now we'll hear cries for Holmgren's head. You can see it coming. A coach can only do so much. It's no excuse to replace him with some unknown college coach, which is what the stupid Seahawks will do.
I do wonder what is is about Seattle that makes it one of the loser capitals of the country. We haven't won a national title since 1979 and we are letting that once proud basketball team go to Oklahoma City without so much as a whimper.
Where's Bill Gates? He could buy the Sonics, add some good players and a decent coach without opening his wallet. He won't though because he's still bitter about being picked last for his intramural basketball team at Lakeside. Thanks for nothing, Bill.
Posted by: Bill Cruchon on January 12, 2008 06:43 PMThe historic 1897 schooner Wawona rots in the midst of Paul Allen's Lake Union development.
Allen and Gates don't give a tinkers damn about the Wawona. Allen would just as soon see it's remains bulldozed into a landfill. He knows nothing of the Wawona's years of hauling lumber across the Pacific. He is ignorant of her years codfishing in the Bering Sea. To Allen, it's just an annoying hulk. What a fine person to represent the preservation of Seattle's history.
Allen and Bill Gates grew up here and yet they are willing to let a huge piece of our maritime history rot away. I don't have the kind of money to restore the old schooner. Neither do the museums and foundations that want to preserve her. Bill Gates and Paul Allen have the funds to save her and they could do so in an instant. Bill Gates could save her much as San Francisco recently saved their historic schooner C.A.Thayer,(Wawona's sister ship). The Wawona could be restored to sail again and teach history to generations of children. Gates probably doesn't even know about her, and I imagine he probably could care less about saving her. I'd be more than happy to tell him all about her and why she is worth saving. I'll even buy the coffee.
It was 7-0, then 14-0, then Seattle got left behind in a cloud of snow.
Clearly, when you have to make it up about where you've been, and what you're doing, you smack of the fringe left, and reek with the questionable veracity of the rest of your posts.
Posted by: Hinton on January 12, 2008 07:55 PMI customarily accompany this curled up position with a stiff shot or two of bourbon, which is often needed in the second half of any Seahawks contest. If you are a sports fan in Seattle I think it's required.
Posted by: Bill Cruchon on January 12, 2008 08:01 PMIt was tossed from behind the line of scrimmage.
Defense really let them down in that game. Couldn't stop Favre or the running game after the initial scores. Oh well. It was still a good season, and the Hawks made it farther than many expected - most "experts" didn't even pick them to win the division this year.
Posted by: Palouse on January 12, 2008 08:51 PM
This is not to be confused with a "homer call," which is what the re-spotting of the ball to make a first down qualifies as.
Posted by: Organization Man on January 12, 2008 08:57 PMThat sort of legal miraculous play is why everyone knows the name Brett Favre.
The Seahawks were simply overpowered. Sure, they made some mistakes, but the Packers -- after those turnovers -- just turned it on and dominated.
But as a lifetime New England fan -- even when my Pats were 1-15, seemingly forever ago -- I don't feel too bad about Seattle losing, although it woulda been fun to see the Pats-Seahawks.
The two best teams in the NFL this year that the Pats didn't play in the regular season are the Packers and Jags. They beat the Colts, Steelers, Chargers, Cowboys, Giants ... now all that's left -- other than having to beat the Colts or Chargers again, which will be no easy task -- is hopefully facing Favre in the Super Bowl again.
I am pretty sure Favre is the only one left on the Packers from the Super Bowl 11 years ago. There are two Patriots, though, that remain on their team: Tedy Bruschi and Troy Brown (who has only played a few downs this year due to injury).
Go Pats!
Posted by: pudge on January 12, 2008 10:09 PMJust started following football this year, huh? Just stick with it. It took my wife a couple of seasons to figure out the rules, too.
"This is not to be confused with a "homer call," which is what the re-spotting of the ball to make a first down qualifies as."
Which was equalizer because of the "force out" TD pass call. So, things even out.
"No we won't even discuss Super Bowl Extra Large and six of the worst referee calls in NFL history."
Oh my God. How long are we going to have to endure HeeHawk fans whining about a game they clearly lost due to bad clock management by Holmgren and Hasselbeck? No one ever seems to bring that tup.
Democrats = Seahawks. Even when it looks like they're going strong they don't have what it takes to win when it counts. They might manage to get lucky and make it to the final rounds, but they'll never win on their own merits.
I agree! And that's why I persist in calling him Brett Fav-ra. Same with Duke's basketball coach. I refuse to call anyone Sha-shef-ski whose name by proper rules of proununciation should be Cry-zoo-ski. Just another of my quirks, I guess.
Posted by: Saltherring on January 13, 2008 06:24 AM1. Kudos to you for being a good sport.
2. Great idea trading Holmgren for McDermott. Then, if Baghdad Jim ever merits a Gatorade bath, someone can secretly fill the jug with battery acid, and we'll finally be rid of that lugubrious traitor.
Posted by: Rey Smith on January 13, 2008 04:03 PMAnd Seattle based boats have taken most of the Unlimited Hydroplane Championships for decades. for the uninitiated, Unlimited Hydroplanes were (and still are IMHO) the only game in town before the Pilots.
Posted by: rbb on January 14, 2008 06:02 AMAnd how many people go to the Storm games?
Posted by: Army Medic/Vet on January 14, 2008 07:41 AMI did mention hydroplanes, too.
Posted by: Bill Cruchon on January 14, 2008 08:36 AMI'm not sure about whether Holmgren will stay or leave. My gut reaction is that he'll stay for one more year. All season he's been talking more about how the losses are harder to take, so there is some doubt in my mind as to whether he still wants to continue, but I think he will.
It was a good game all around. Pretty clean game, the Packers were gracious winners and the Seachickens were gracious in defeat. It's the way the game ought to be played.
And then go look at Dallas. . . .
Posted by: Frank Black on January 14, 2008 12:10 PMUh Allen, did you somehow miss the NY Giants and their amazing victory over favored Dallas yesterday?
Chicago, and the Steelers? Seattle went farther this year than both of them.
I don't think the Seahawks embody left wing latte drinkers particularly. I think most Hawk fans likely live outside the Seattle city limits as do most of the players. I like Holmgren and the team in general. I just hope we don't trade off some of our best players in the off-season,(such as Marcus Trufant). A Seattle tradition that I swear must have something to do with too much salt in the air, or too much rain, or something.
Posted by: Bill Cruchon on January 14, 2008 01:02 PMMe either. Especially Hasselbeck, who caught alot of flak from the hard core lefties for showing up at a Bush event.
Trufant's not going anywhere. If they don't sign him to an extension, he's getting franchised. They won't make the Hutchinson mistake ever again. Bigger question is what to do with Alexander. Alot of people (I was one of them) questioned giving such a big contract to a RB on the wrong side of 30, and it has turned into as big a blunder as the Hutchinson move. Might be time to cut their losses, and start Morris and draft a young RB.
Posted by: Palouse on January 14, 2008 01:21 PMAnd you know this how? Miami's team that year went undefeated, gave up 100 points the entire season which was less than UW, and beat Nebraska 22-0 in the Orange bowl, a team that UDub also beat, 36-21. Miami beat the teams that finished #3 (Penn State) and #4 (Florida State) that year. UW best win was against Michigan who finished #6.
Miami was voted #1 in the more prestigious AP poll, UW was #1 in the coaches poll. We'll never know who was better on the field, but there's plenty of reasons to choose Miami.
Posted by: Palouse on January 14, 2008 01:44 PMWhat team is going to want to trade for a thirty-something RB who has missed double digit games over the last two years due to injury and looks like a shadow of his former self? Hawks would be lucky to get a sixth rounder for him at this point.
The biggest problem is the cap hit they would take in the year he was cut/traded, where his huge signing bonus would get accelerated. That might cripple them from signing free agents, so for that reason alone, they might have to just eat it and hope he can produce something next season.
He is signed for SIX more years, and the signing bonus is spread out over those years (I don't have the exact numbers), but the total contract was $62 million, more than the younger and better Ladanian Tomlinson. One of the worst contracts the Seahawks ever signed.
Posted by: Palouse on January 14, 2008 02:06 PMHe's history.
Posted by: Bill Cruchon on January 14, 2008 02:20 PMMy prediction is more of the same. He splits time with Morris and they draft one. Unless there's a sucker GM out there who will give a high pick for him (I doubt it).
Posted by: Palouse on January 14, 2008 02:27 PMFWIW, I thought the UW awarding itself a "National Championship" for 1960 was lame as well.
Posted by: Frank Black on January 14, 2008 03:36 PMI don't know how you ever solve this problem unless you turn college football into an NFL replica, complete with divisions and playoffs. That really doesn't seem to be workable when you have more than 100 teams.
I don't want to give them any ideas though. Otherwise we'll be starting the college football season in May. I love football but I don't want it to become an 8-month season. I'll leave that to NASCAR.
Posted by: Bill Cruchon on January 14, 2008 03:45 PMMy own pet idea is to largely keep the bowl games as they are, but use either one or two weeks at the end of the regular season for a small 4 or 8 team "playoff". 1-vs-3 and 2-vs-4 with the winners going to a rotating BCS bowl. I suspect the universities are probably angling for an 8-team thing, since they've set up the BCS system more or less that way.
Posted by: Frank Black on January 15, 2008 03:21 PMThe only thing that concerns me is how teams would be determined as eligible for the playoffs. We'd still be stuck with the arbitrary rankings and endless discussions about who had the toughest schedule and so on. Perhaps there is no avoiding that.
Posted by: Bill Cruchon on January 15, 2008 03:36 PM