Winless In Seattle
Steve Sauro
Elliott SmithLooking towards Sunday while remembering our past
December 30th 2010 09:37
:
Should we root for the Seahawks?
Should I root for the Seahawks to make the playoffs? It's a question I've been asked numerous times these last few days. The team is terrible. They're about to start Charlie Whitehurst in a do-or-die game and no one can confidently say that it's a downgrade from our starting quarterback. If they beat the Rams, they almost certainly face a Saints team that has dominated us before and will probably dominate them again. We're a joke, a punch line to talking heads around the sports world. "Whoever comes out of the NFC West is going to get annihilated the following week". "The NFL needs to evaluate the qualifications a team needs to make the playoffs". "Why shouldn't Tampa Bay or the Giants or Green Bay be guaranteed a spot over whoever comes out of the NFC West?" I've been hearing that talk for weeks, talk I couldn't care less about. For me the more important question is: "Would Seattle losing (and getting a draft pick in the top 12) be better than Seattle winning (and getting a pick at 21 in the draft)?" Fieldgulls.com ran a good article on both outcomes (they decided there wasn't a huge difference between the two spots), but that doesn't fully answer the question. The 12th pick is better than the 21st and putting an end to a miserable season sooner than later should appease everyone. Do I want Seattle to make the playoffs? I had to think about it. So, naturally, I went drinking and gambling.
I haven't watched the February 5th, 2006 Super Bowl since it happened. I don't need to. The entire game has been branded into my brain. I couldn't sleep the night before. I remember lying beside my girlfriend at the time, staring at the ceiling all night. As a Seattle fan, it was the first time I had experienced something like this. I was born in 1979; a few months after the Sonics won their last championship. Super Bowl XL was the biggest game of my life, even bigger than the 1991 Rose Bowl when the Huskies beat Michigan 34-14 on the way to splitting a national championship with the Miami Hurricane. For the record, I have played Yahtzee with Dennis Erickson (coach of the Hurricane that year) and after a few beers, he told me (and I quote verbatim) "I'm glad we didn't have to play you guys that year, you would have killed us. That Washington team was the best college football team I have ever seen". I still have his signed Yahtzee card. I watched my Huskies split that championship and then get screwed out of another chance in 2001 (thanks to the BCS). I watched my Mariners choke away the primes of Randy Johnson, Edgar Martinez, Griffey, Moyer (yes), Arod (maybe not his prime, but before he became a huge asshole), and even Ichiro (although I didn't realize it at the time). I watched my Sonics miss numerous opportunities (like Payton and Kemp in the 90's) without realizing they would soon be stolen from Seattle. So February 5th was a huge day, a day that seems bigger as every subsequent day passes.
Again, I haven't watched the game since. I don't have to. I remember all of it. I remember Jackson being called for offensive pass interference early on. I remember Michael Irvin saying at halftime that if that had been called when he played, "I wouldn't have any touchdowns in my career". I remember Big Ben being down at the 1 yard line, but the refs saying he was in the endzone (a call no review has ever shown to be correct). I remember Mike Holmgren screaming at the officials after the call, a visual that grew more poignant during the following months as he fought the NFL to admit they blew some calls. I remember calling my Dad at halftime, asking him if he also saw the 6 or 7 bad calls in the first half (he had). I remember Shaun Alexander getting horse collared without a call being made. I remember the good punt returns we had that were called back by holding they never showed. I remember being down 14-10 in the 4th quarter, watching Pittsburgh jump offside while Hasselbeck threw a dart to Jeremy Stevens at the Steelers one yard line, only to have it called back for holding (a call so atrocious that the referee admitted the mistake years later). I remember Hasselbeck throwing an interception a few plays later, and then receiving a 15 yard "low block" penalty after tackling the man who intercepted the pass. I remember wondering how one could be called for a low block after tackling somebody (no need for the suspense. You can't be). I remember bitching out a house guest for calling Pittsburgh's subsequent double reverse pass for a touchdown "awesome". I remember going outside after the game to call my Dad and ask him how the NFL could do something like that. I remember asking how it was possible to fix a game, and why they would want to. I remember wondering how I could be in my mid-20's and still be so upset about a football game. I remember walking back into my apartment, seeing the celebration on the TV, and watching my phone shatter into a hundred pieces after I threw it against the wall. I remember all of it.
I could go into the different times the Huskies lost in March Madness (Hamilton's buzzer beater, the no call goaltending on Roy's shot in the OT game against UConn, being overmatched against West Virginia), or the times the Mariners lost in the playoffs (2001 especially). I could point out the bad calls the Sonics got during their playoff runs (I don't remember any bad calls the one time in my lifetime that they made the Finals. That was against Jordan and the 72-win Chicago Bulls. The Bulls were better, end of story). None of those defeats come close to hurting as bad as that Super Bowl does. Even now, as I rehash all of those memories, a feeling of sorrow rushes over me. Am I embarrassed to admit it? That a football game still affects my mood, almost 5 years after the fact? No. Well, maybe. I guess it might seem strange to a random sports fan, or any non-sports fans out there. But to a Seahawk fan who watched that Super Bowl, I'm guessing that they might feel the same way.
Anyways, I'm in Montana and I decided to stop and do a little gambling tonight. Missoula (where I'm at) has numerous bar/casinos in town (they have video poker and keno. And beer). I got word that Whitehurst would almost certainly start, and began to wonder if that was good or not. He seems terrible, maybe that would be a good thing. Maybe a loss would be okay. Then, someone at the bar started talking about Pittsburgh. I don't know what he was referring to, all I heard were the words "Pittsburgh" and "Super Bowl". I don't know if he was talking about the Super Bowl against us or the Super Bowl against Arizona. I don't know if he liked Pittsburgh or hated them. I tuned everything out once I heard those words. I cashed out (Up a whole $5), drove to my Dad's house (where I'm staying) and wrote this. Yeah, I want Seattle to make the playoffs. I want them to beat the Rams Sunday. I don't care that they might drop ten spots in the draft because of it. I don't care that we are one of the worst teams in all of football. I don't care that everyone considers our division a joke. I don't care. I have never seen a Seattle team win a championship outright (Storm, Sounders, UW softball...I'm sorry, you don't count). The Hawks may be horrible, and they may be brutal to watch, but somehow they still have a chance. And after enduring that Super Bowl in 2006, and after a lifetime of sports disappointments, I don't care that we're terrible. I care that we have a chance. Because sometimes, having a chance, is all it takes to keep being a fan.
I haven't watched the February 5th, 2006 Super Bowl since it happened. I don't need to. The entire game has been branded into my brain. I couldn't sleep the night before. I remember lying beside my girlfriend at the time, staring at the ceiling all night. As a Seattle fan, it was the first time I had experienced something like this. I was born in 1979; a few months after the Sonics won their last championship. Super Bowl XL was the biggest game of my life, even bigger than the 1991 Rose Bowl when the Huskies beat Michigan 34-14 on the way to splitting a national championship with the Miami Hurricane. For the record, I have played Yahtzee with Dennis Erickson (coach of the Hurricane that year) and after a few beers, he told me (and I quote verbatim) "I'm glad we didn't have to play you guys that year, you would have killed us. That Washington team was the best college football team I have ever seen". I still have his signed Yahtzee card. I watched my Huskies split that championship and then get screwed out of another chance in 2001 (thanks to the BCS). I watched my Mariners choke away the primes of Randy Johnson, Edgar Martinez, Griffey, Moyer (yes), Arod (maybe not his prime, but before he became a huge asshole), and even Ichiro (although I didn't realize it at the time). I watched my Sonics miss numerous opportunities (like Payton and Kemp in the 90's) without realizing they would soon be stolen from Seattle. So February 5th was a huge day, a day that seems bigger as every subsequent day passes.
Again, I haven't watched the game since. I don't have to. I remember all of it. I remember Jackson being called for offensive pass interference early on. I remember Michael Irvin saying at halftime that if that had been called when he played, "I wouldn't have any touchdowns in my career". I remember Big Ben being down at the 1 yard line, but the refs saying he was in the endzone (a call no review has ever shown to be correct). I remember Mike Holmgren screaming at the officials after the call, a visual that grew more poignant during the following months as he fought the NFL to admit they blew some calls. I remember calling my Dad at halftime, asking him if he also saw the 6 or 7 bad calls in the first half (he had). I remember Shaun Alexander getting horse collared without a call being made. I remember the good punt returns we had that were called back by holding they never showed. I remember being down 14-10 in the 4th quarter, watching Pittsburgh jump offside while Hasselbeck threw a dart to Jeremy Stevens at the Steelers one yard line, only to have it called back for holding (a call so atrocious that the referee admitted the mistake years later). I remember Hasselbeck throwing an interception a few plays later, and then receiving a 15 yard "low block" penalty after tackling the man who intercepted the pass. I remember wondering how one could be called for a low block after tackling somebody (no need for the suspense. You can't be). I remember bitching out a house guest for calling Pittsburgh's subsequent double reverse pass for a touchdown "awesome". I remember going outside after the game to call my Dad and ask him how the NFL could do something like that. I remember asking how it was possible to fix a game, and why they would want to. I remember wondering how I could be in my mid-20's and still be so upset about a football game. I remember walking back into my apartment, seeing the celebration on the TV, and watching my phone shatter into a hundred pieces after I threw it against the wall. I remember all of it.
I could go into the different times the Huskies lost in March Madness (Hamilton's buzzer beater, the no call goaltending on Roy's shot in the OT game against UConn, being overmatched against West Virginia), or the times the Mariners lost in the playoffs (2001 especially). I could point out the bad calls the Sonics got during their playoff runs (I don't remember any bad calls the one time in my lifetime that they made the Finals. That was against Jordan and the 72-win Chicago Bulls. The Bulls were better, end of story). None of those defeats come close to hurting as bad as that Super Bowl does. Even now, as I rehash all of those memories, a feeling of sorrow rushes over me. Am I embarrassed to admit it? That a football game still affects my mood, almost 5 years after the fact? No. Well, maybe. I guess it might seem strange to a random sports fan, or any non-sports fans out there. But to a Seahawk fan who watched that Super Bowl, I'm guessing that they might feel the same way.
Anyways, I'm in Montana and I decided to stop and do a little gambling tonight. Missoula (where I'm at) has numerous bar/casinos in town (they have video poker and keno. And beer). I got word that Whitehurst would almost certainly start, and began to wonder if that was good or not. He seems terrible, maybe that would be a good thing. Maybe a loss would be okay. Then, someone at the bar started talking about Pittsburgh. I don't know what he was referring to, all I heard were the words "Pittsburgh" and "Super Bowl". I don't know if he was talking about the Super Bowl against us or the Super Bowl against Arizona. I don't know if he liked Pittsburgh or hated them. I tuned everything out once I heard those words. I cashed out (Up a whole $5), drove to my Dad's house (where I'm staying) and wrote this. Yeah, I want Seattle to make the playoffs. I want them to beat the Rams Sunday. I don't care that they might drop ten spots in the draft because of it. I don't care that we are one of the worst teams in all of football. I don't care that everyone considers our division a joke. I don't care. I have never seen a Seattle team win a championship outright (Storm, Sounders, UW softball...I'm sorry, you don't count). The Hawks may be horrible, and they may be brutal to watch, but somehow they still have a chance. And after enduring that Super Bowl in 2006, and after a lifetime of sports disappointments, I don't care that we're terrible. I care that we have a chance. Because sometimes, having a chance, is all it takes to keep being a fan.
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