Like a lot of folks out there, I'm scuffling just to get by day-to-day. I haven't had a full-time job in the last 19 months, I've been living with my in-laws for a year, and I pay a therapist $240 a month in an attempt to tamp down my various mental inflammations. I'm not a beacon of stability or success.
A while back I tried to turn this little blog into a profit machine, but it never took off. I don't post often enough, I go off-topic quite a bit... I swear, I offend, I talk politics, etc. So to all of you out there who have stuck around, I thank you. It's nice to have a loyal following, even if it's a small one. :)
So why do you keep reading? I'd like to think it's because I try to be honest, and I try to speak for a slice of the Twelve Army that isn't reflexively negative or pessimistic. I also think my loyalists can relate not just to my love for the Seahawks, but to my love for this game.
I truly believe NFL football is the greatest game in the world. No other sport matches its complexity, its speed, its athletic skill, or its intensity. And WE get to be a part of that spectacle. Yeah, we got screwed in XL, and I think we still get treated as "less than" by the league sometimes, but I still catch myself thinking "Wow, we get to be a part of this. That's amazing."
Those guys that suit up in blue for us put it all at risk every time they take the field. Yes, they are very well-compensated, and we all expect a full, professional effort from them... But each play they gamble their health, even their lives, to entertain and represent us. That earns my respect, because I lack the skill, discipline and courage to do what they do.
The other thing I love about the NFL? It's far too complex for anyone to predict what will happen. Sure, if one accumulates more knowledge about the game, their guess will be more educated than your average schmoe's... but it's still just guessing. No one had any idea the Saints would win it all last August, and no one has ever gotten this system clocked. If anyone had, they'd be as rich as Paul Allen, don't you think? Why can't the Seahawks be this year's Saints? Right now, it's still possible.
So I'm ecstatic that I am here, talking about this team and this game I love, and that I have a cadre of elite shock troops heeding my words. My life might not be perfect, but it will feel close to perfection when I'm sitting on the berm at the VMAC in a couple of weeks. When I'm screaming in section 325 on Opening Day, watching us brutalize the Niners, all these problems will be forgotten, if only for 3 hours or so.
Go Seahawks!
5 comments:
I definitely appreciate reading your stuff. Keep up the good work, bro.
I live in T town and have been a Hawks fan ever since I was a young kid in the late 70's. Vividly remember Krieg, Skans, D. Thomas, KC duck under game. I enjoy the fact that you see the full reality of Seahawk footbal, and you write about it honestly. Fuck the ECB You are also damn funny.
Football is a blood sport, I haved played it enough to know that. You have to have the guys who are out for blood and the ability to achieve it.
Thanks again for providing the REAL. You put yourself out there good and bad. That is reality
You present the perspective of a lifelong, hardcore, unashamed Seahawks fan, and it really resonates with others like you. You're writing is honest, personal, and not afraid to be irrational (which all sports fandom is at its core).
I'm especially happy that you're contributing to Field Gulls as well. You and John Morgan are both good writers, and having his brand of frank analysis of the game balanced with your brand of nostalgia-tinged rumination on what it means to be a Seahawks fan makes for one hell of a blog.
Nobody gets it, or gives it, like The Bearded One!!!
What the hell is the point of being a fan if you're looking for what sucks? How about you just all go post on everythingsucks.com you buncha whiney little bitches!
Polish your craft by posting often, O Bearded One, and the rest of the world (the ones that can pay!) will begin to catch up to your wealth of perspective on all things truly important.
And we've got more overall talent than last year's Saints, so all the whiners can include balls in their sucking over at everythingsucks.com, too.
Umm... Can't really say anything that hasn't already been said, but your a fan's fan and you talk from the heart, which is why we keep reading. So keep posting!
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