December 20, 2009

The End of All Things

The Seahawks today proved why Mike Holmgren would have been a terrible choice to lead the franchise into the next decade: He's too loyal and too invested in this franchise. He, like myself, might be sentimental when it comes to players and coaches he shared the glory days with.

We don't need that right now.

We need a Wet Boy, an assassin. Someone with no connection to or investment in the current incarnation of this franchise. We need someone who will cut heroes and legends. We need someone who will trade or release talented guys who are nonetheless too old/expensive. We need someone who will fire a local boy made good after only one season, because that homegrown coach has made Tom Flores look like Chuck Fucking Knox.

The Seahawks are broken. Some parts can be salvaged, but this football team needs to be completely rebuilt, from the front office to the long snapper. I didn't really believe this until today. I clung onto the comforting fiction that Seattle wasn't THAT bad, that we were only some minor tweaks away from contention... I was brutally proved not just wrong, but stupidly naive today.

I haven't been this embarassed to be a Seahawks fan since 1992, and even that awful team could boast the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year, a 1,000 yard rusher, and a memorable MNF win over the hated Broncos. The '09s are a lethargic, rudderless bunch who have shown almost no fighting spirit over fourteen motherfucking games. The blame falls squarely upon Jim Mora, who has quickly become a stain on his father's legacy. Whoever the new GM is, his first act should be to fire the man who sent our team out completely unprepared and unmotivated most Sundays this fall.

I wish I could put some sort of positive spin on this, but I can't. The next moment we are likely to feel any excitement or joy is the shitcanning of Mora, then hopefully some smart moves in Free Agency and the Draft. There will be a lot more unpleasantness though. Walter Jones will have to be cut, as will Hasselbeck unless he accepts a huge pay cut and a diminished role. We're going to have to let go of some decently talented guys in an effort to get younger and cheaper, too.

Frankly, no one SHOULD be safe. No one involved in this disasterous campaign is above scrutiny, and I hope the new boss is a cold hearted, ruthless sumbitch. This is going to get even uglier, and I'm glad Holmgren isn't going to be the one who has to get tits-deep in blood, bile and guts to cure this cancer-ridden team.

Happy Christmas, Everyone!

3 comments:

AJ and Kandice said...

I'm with ya. Rip this ugly mess down!

Baked McBride said...

Word.
I too, haven't felt this despondent since the days they used to run Stan Gelbaugh out there each week.

I've been there since Day One (August 1, 1976, in person, by the way), and I'll be there till they bury me in my custom-made Hawks coffin. But this is low man. I'm always emotionally invested in all-things Hawks, but this feels like PTSD or something.

I think I've pinpointed why I feel like pulling a Cobain this morning:
a. Hass is done. Fuck it. Pains me though. I love that dude.

b. Mora sucks, not because of X's and O's (but that maybe true as well - jury's still out), but because he's an asshole, and he'll say anything he thinks will sell in the media. Remember how he was tagged for being too close to his players while he was in the ATL? Well, he's sure corrected that perception, huh Olindo, et.al.?

c. It's going to take more than a year to get this thing off of the sand bar on Bainbridge they're currently aground on. That said, hiring a good wonkish GM (see: "Mariners, current GM of") and if they brought in Jon "my wallet is the one that says 'Bad Motherfucker' on it" Gruden.

Love the blog, and don't be surprised if some random dude comes up to you in the Dry-Shitties and out of the blue asks you if you are "DKSB".

bleedshawkblue said...

I, too am thinking this is lower than the darkest days of the early 80s because those overmatched Patera teams were at least attempting fake field goals and stuff to get ahead.

They had moxie, even if they sucked. This is a leadership problem, and it starts at the top.

How the hell can a zillion dollar professional who has been getting ready for games since the age of 9 not be ready? It has to do with the life getting sucked out of them by those in authority. Who have no concept of how to get ready for a game. Fucking absolutely inexcusable.

There's plenty of talent on this team, no way should they EVER be beaten that bad, that often. Regardless of the state of the line.

This is a failure of the coaching staff to speak the language of the players. An organization made up of that many diverse personalities will NEVER respond effectively to a one-size-fits-all tough guy rah-rah approach. Better learn how each and every player responds best to which type of input, there, Jimmy, or you're finished.

Same problem that Microsoft experienced - they'd be 50 times bigger than they are if they had installed people with leadership skills into their leadership positions instead of putting in supertechies or super beancounters who are near-complete social retards.

Don't matter how good your X's and O's are (debatable...) if your people don't buy in, to you first, then what you're selling.