Colts 34, Seahawks 17

Me at my last semi-happy moment before the game began. All my pics from the game are here...

First of all, I don't want to hear any talk about the season being "over." If they lose next week to Jacksonville, I will concede that it's time to start thinking about 2010... But we are not there yet. There are two winnable home games coming up, then the bye. If the Hawks are 3-3 two weeks from today, Seattle still has a shot at the post-season.

With that sliver of optimism out of the way, let me say this: The Seahawks looked like the suckiest bunch of sucks who ever sucked yesterday. Yes, Peyton Manning shreds a lot of defenses, but overall Seattle didn't look worthy of being on the same field as the Colts.

Any chatter about Seneca Wallace being the answer at quarterback should stop, because his limitations were painfully apparent on Sunday. Quarterback play is the #1 distinction between good and bad teams in the NFL, and the difference between Peyton Manning and Wallace is a yawning chasm. A healthy Hasselbeck is the only hope Seattle has of being consistently competitive in 2009.

What about my experience at the game?

I was able to get up close to the field before the game, and that was the high point of my day. A camera crew from the Seahawks got me on tape yelling and screaming, and I chatted with a few fellow Twelves. There were more Seahawks fans there than I expected, including a few sporting the new bright green jerseys (I envied these folks because my blue throwback jersey completely blended in with the Colts fans). A lot of people flew out from Seattle.. one group came out for the Huskies/Notre Dame game, and another came out for the Sounders game in Columbus. Unfortunately the Seahawks were the low point of their weekends. Sigh.

I saw Hasselbeck warming up, and I yelled at him to get well soon.. and he waved at me. Squeee!

Despite making a couple of token gestures towards their "12th Man," (a spot in their ring of honor, some banners around the stadium) Lucas Oil Stadium has a pretty tame "sit and clap" crowd. They only got even a little rowdy on Seattle 3rd downs, and even then it was a pale imitation of the atmosphere at Qwest Field. Crowd noise was not a factor at all in Seattle crappy offensive performance. The between-plays music/entertainment also seemed to be transported directly from 1987.

On the plus side, they were generally respectful and polite. The only static I got was from a couple of drunk idiots in the bathroom line who got in my face telling me how the Seahawks sucked. My brilliant retort?

"Go fuck yourself."

I couldn't really say the Colts suck, could I?

I also had more than one person ask me who "Easley" was. Nice, idiots. That'd be akin to me asking who "Dickerson" was (I was actually surprised that I didn't see any Eric Dickerson throwback jerseys, though I did see a few Unitas jerseys around).

Lucas Oil Stadium is admittedly a great facility, though I find the retractable roof a tad pointless. There's no way that arena is going to be as loud as the RCA Dome, so why not have a home field advantage based on the weather in Dec/Jan? It's also completely carpeted with advertising at a level far above what you see at Qwest Field. Meijer, hhgregg, Huntington Bank and Sprint each have whole pavilions in the stadium devoted hocking their wares. Revenue streams!!!!

The most embarrassing jerseys I saw were Rick Mirer and Jon Kitna. Really, guys? You couldn't scrape together $80 over the last decade for a new jersey, but you could afford to go to the Colts game? Actually, I retract that.. The MOST embarrassing jersey choice was the dude in the Rex Grossman Bears jersey at a Seahawks-Colts game. WTF?

After the game, I must have looked particularly forlorn, because a cute girl in Seahawks gear came up to me and said "Go Seahawks!" and then told me it would be alright.. I'm not sure if it will be, but that was nice anyway.