No, I'm not Dave Krieg. I'm just an incredibly huge dork who LIKES Dave Krieg.

We've got some new readers after getting a mention on Danny O'Neil's Seattle Times Seahawks Blog (yay!). Welcome! Have fun poking around here, and spread the word to your friends, y'all.

Just to be clear: I am NOT Dave Krieg. I just thought Dave Krieg's Strike Beard was a cool name for my blog. As I said when I opened up shop in January 2008:

I was 12 in 1987, and even then I had some notion that the scab games were deeply wrong. I watched the last one where Largent crossed the picket line and torched the Lions, but I still felt kind of dirty about it. I still refuse to watch The Replacements because of the contempt I held for those scab games in '87.

When the players came back, I vividly remember that Dave Krieg had grown a glorious, Castro-level beard during the strike. I was convinced that beard led Seattle to a 35-13 road win in L.A. against the Raiders, and as I remember it (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) we lost the first game after he shaved it off, and the season ended with a crushing OT loss in the Wild-Card game at Houston.

Yes, my little douchbaggy 12-year-old ass cried after that one.

So, I'm calling this thing Dave Krieg's Strike Beard, or DKSB.

If you actually want to get a hold of Dave Krieg himself, here's his official site. Here's a letter I wrote to him in 2006 when he got inducted into the Ring of Honor:

Dear Dave,
I just stumbled upon your site, and I wanted to belatedly congratulate you on your induction into the Seahawks Ring of Honor. It was an honor that was long overdue for you. I started rooting for the Seahawks at the age of 8 back in 1983, and the stirring near-comeback against Pittsburgh which won you the starting QB job also made you my co-favorite player along with Steve Largent. So many of the great moments you authored were also among the happiest moments of my childhood. Leading us to victory at Miami in the 1983 playoffs (and recovering nicely after throwing that late INT), throwing 32 touchdown passes in 1984 (and carrying us to the playoffs after the loss of Curt Warner), your amazing 5-game run at the end of the ’86 season, the drive to tie up the ’87 wild card game at Houston and your spectacular play late in ’88 (and your gutsy comeback attempt in Cincinnati) were just some of the highlights that brought excitement being a Seahawks fan in the “ground chuck” era.

Of course, your greatest (and defining) moment was at KC in 1990, when you were sacked NINE times (seven by the great Derrick Thomas) but slipped away on the final play to throw the perfect winning strike to Paul Skansi. I leapt in joy so enthusiastically that I smacked my head on the basement TV room’s ceiling. I was devastated when our idiotic management pushed you out of town (a move our franchise paid dearly for), and though I still was devoted to the ‘Hawks I also took great joy in seeing you lead Detroit to the playoffs with another Dave Krieg hot streak. I truly believe that if you had played your prime years in a larger media market, you’d probably be in the Canton by now.

I’m still a Seahawks season ticket holder after 7 years living in Ohio, and I was lucky enough to be able to fly out to Seattle for the NFC title game last January. It was a special treat to see you out on the field for the coin toss. Symbolically it was the merging of my great childhood memories with the greatest day in Seahawks history. In any case, I really enjoyed your site and I wish you well in everything you do.

So there you go. Not Dave Krieg. Just a fan, and a huge geek.