September 4, 2010

We Are Standing on the Edge

There's been so much angst and frustration amongst Seahawks fans in the last few days, I feel sort of obligated to talk about the things I am EXCITED about seeing this season. Here we go:





-I'm excited to take my seat at Qwest Field next Sunday, and scream myself hoarse with 67,000 of my closest friends. No other venue in the NFL is as beautiful as Qwest Field, and no experience in sports is quite like being part of that roaring din when the enemy has the ball on a critical 3rd down in a close game.

-I'm excited to see Matt Hasselbeck try to regain his Holmgren-era Pro Bowl form. Beck is one of my favorite Seahawks of all time, and I'm going to savor every snap he takes this season (in part because every snap he takes might be his last as a Seahawk).

-I'm excited to watch Mike Williams and Leon Washington complete what would be two amazing career resurgences, one from two years OOF (out of football) and one from a horrific broken leg.

-I'm excited to see the development of the young talent that will lead us in the coming decade: We will watch players like Okung, Curry, Thomas and Tate take strides towards (hopefully) long and productive NFL careers.

-I'm excited to watch Seahawks legends Lofa Tatupu and Marcus Trufant return to form, and continue their twin march into the Ring of Honor.

-I'm excited to watch Pete Carrol and Jeremy Bates try crazy new shit. Yes, they will fail sometimes, but it would be nice to see the Seahawks take some risks, and I think that's exactly what we'll see this season.

-I'm excited to see all the unpredictable shit that always happens in an NFL season, for good or ill. We might lose a game or two we are supposed to win, but I'm damn sure we are going to sneak up and steal a couple games no one gives us a chance to win.

-I'm excited for that terrible, queasy, not-at-all pleasurable feeling I get for 3+ hours every Sunday when the Seahawks are playing. That feeling has become very familiar over the last 27 years, and I don't know what I'd do without it.

-I'm excited to watch this team learn and grow. If this is the start of something special, I will be able to say I was there from the start. Imagine if you were a Rams fan in 1997... a Patriots fan in 2000... and so on... and you were able to say "I was there when they started to turn things around. I was there from the beginning."

It begins next Sunday. Will you be there?

Bonus: Radiohead performing "Lucky"

5 comments:

Ricardo Slick said...

Amen brother!

Conor said...

Ooh I am so envious of you right now. I happen to live a mere 4799-ish miles (7723 km) away so might struggle to make kickoff. I will, however, be raising the 12th man flag here (with an occasional beer), whilst wishing all manner of calamities (fumblitis, myopia, sackability, etc) upon Alex Smith. Can't wait :)

lordtd said...

Oh yeah baby. Section 145. I have the same feeling you do prior to a game, and have since 1976 when I was 13 years old.

We will stomp the 49ers. I feel it, 4-0 at the break.

Don't worry about the purging, if you read Pete's book it's all in line with his philosophy. He fills his team with guys who win the competition and buy in. Anyone who doesn't fit in his philosophy is out. This team will be successful. Take a look at the reaction people had to him at first at USC. We'll be singing his praises shortly.

bleedshawkblue said...

This team won't lose many that it was supposed to win, as it's only supposed to win a few.

It will, however, win a whole bunch that it wasn't supposed to win, which is what happens when you "Always compete" as opposed to liking where you are so you never bother to get any better, which is what was attempted with the 2005 team. Not realizing that in te NFL, just like life, you're either moving forwards or backwards, or "Dead fish...float".

Schneider pointed out that the cuts to 53 would put 700 guys good enough to wear an NFL jersey on the market, so it would be like the draft all over again, only better, since there was more proven talent available.

Mistakes will be made due to young guys not playing together before, but games will still be won on hustle and talent alone, and young guy mistakes have a way of getting corrected.

CoachOwens said...

Just bought season tickets Monday night. Hope your prediction comes true, Johnny. ;)