Detente with the Cleve?

That's me and my little brother at a Cavs game back in 2006...

I've hated on the Browns in the past, and I'll continue to call things like I see 'em, but let's face it: Our common hatred of the Steeler menace should sooth any ill-will between our franchises. In fact, I'd love to form some sort of loose blog alliance of Pittsburgh-haters... but that's a bigger idea for another time.

Anyway, tomorrow the Browns blog No Logo Needed will be publishing my brief preview of the 2009 Seahawks. Keep an eye over there for it... should be up at some point on Wednesday. Also mosey over to Cleveland Reboot if get a chance... More good stuff there.

I'll leave you with a picture of perhaps the greatest Browns fan in the world:



Would you like to know more?

HALP!

At 5 pm and 9:30 pm pacific time Monday, NFL Network is replaying the 1990 "Krieg to Skansi" game from Arrowhead. Unfortunately I'm without a DVR or NFLN right now, so I'm sending out a call to my minions: Someone PLEASE tape it or burn it onto a DVD for me. I will pay you back for postage of course. If you can do this for me, I will be eternally grateful, an give you mad dap here on the blog. Please contact me on gmail (dksb17) or on facebook and we can work out the details.

10 Games I Want to Attend

I've been blessed over the years to see a LOT of awesome Seahawks moments in person... Just peep what I've witnessed up close and personal over the years:

1983: Seahawks beat Pats in regular season finale to clinch playoff berth
1988: Seahawks beat Raiders on MNF
1988: Largent fustigates Mike Harden
1997: Warren Moon throws for 409 yards and 5 TDs in win over Raiders
1999: Win over KC in final Kingdome regular season game
2005: NFC Championship win over Carolina
2006: Tony Romo drops the ball
2007: Wild Card win over DC

I'm not sure what games I'll be attending in 2009, but here's the top 10 games I'd LOVE to see in person:

10. Tampa Bay (Dec. 20)
This one could be a real stinker... UNLESS both teams wear their '76 unis. DO IT!!!!

9. St. Louis (Sept. 13)
Another beatdown of the Rams? Zzzzzzz... However, it's Kickoff Weekend. Qwest will probably be beautifully sundrenched, and everything will be possibility and excitement as a new season begins. I've been to my share of Kickoff Weekend games, and it's always been a blast.

8. Detroit (Nov. 8)
The Lions may be coming to Qwest riding a 24-game losing streak (or, they might still be celebrating a home win over the Rams from the week before)... So why does this game make the list? Julian Peterson and Maurice Morris both return to Seattle, and I hope both get a nice welcome from the 12th Man... until the game starts, of course.

7. @ Houston (Dec. 13)
The Seahawks return to Houston for the first time since 1996, and make their first visit to Reliant Stadium. Since Houston is also my darkhorse pick to represent the AFC in XLIV, this could be a (long-shot) Super Bowl preview.

6. @ Green Bay (Dec. 27)
Any game at Lambeau in December could be a snowglobe-type affair, but this could also be a game both teams need to win to make the playoffs. As Beatrix Kiddo might say, we have some unfinished business with the Pack after the 2007 Divisional Playoff.

5. Chicago (Sept. 27)
A big early-season test for both teams, and Jay Cutler's first start at Qwest Field. Expect a lot of sausage-chomping, artery-clogged Chicagoans to scarf up tix from Craigslist and Stubhub, so us Twelves will need to be extra vocal. Like Alec Baldwin said once on The Simpsons, this time it's personal...

4. @ Indianapolis (Oct. 4)
Let's be honest... even if the Seahawks start 3-0, very few people will take us seriously. Win this one at Lucas Oil Stadium? People will sit up and take notice of us right quick. This is also the one game I'm most likely to go to... Indy is only a 3-hour drive from Columbus. If you're gonna go, make sure you don't buy these seats... Yipes.

3. @ Minnesota (Nov. 22)
The Hawks don't have a nationally televised game on the sked right now, but this game takes place during the first week of "flex games" for SNF. If both teams are in 1st place, the lure of Purple Jesus might just get us on national TV. Plus, as I've said before, the Vikings are emerging as our biggest non-NFC West rival besides Pittsburgh.

2. @ Dallas (Nov. 1)
First of all, I hate Dallas like any red-blooded American. Second, it's our first trip to Jerry Jones' Billion-Dollar Monstrosity. Finally, our guys should want Mel Gibson-quality payback after the beating they absorbed in Big D last Thanksgiving.

1. Arizona (Oct. 18)
This is where we should be on the NFC West food chain:

The only way to get there is over the broken bodies of those usurpers that hold the crown right now: The Arizona Cardinals. Qwest will be rocking, and I'd love to be there adding my piercing shriek to the cacophony of pain that will rain down upon Kurt Warner and Co.

What do you think, sirs?

Let's Party Like It's 1976

On December 20th, the Seahawks will host the Bucs at Qwest Field. Given that Tampa Bay is already planning to bust out the creamsicle unis anyway, why not match our expansion bretheren by also wearing OUR 1976 duds? If your memory is fuzzy, this is what they looked like... We last wore these in 1994 as part of the NFL's 75th-anniversary extravaganza of throwbackage...

How bad-ass would Lofa Tatupu look in THAT? Yes, it would be orange-on-blue, but I don't think anyone will be watching that game on a black-and-white TV, do you?

Seriously, how can we make this happen? Because this is too awesome of an idea for it to NOT happen.

Wanna be surrounded by Steelers fans, but don't want to move to PA? Howsabout Ohio?

Despite having two NFL teams of their own, Ohio is a HOTBED of Steelers fandom. Why?

A) As people flee the dying steel towns and coal mines of Western PA, what is the first place they are apt to run out of money and squat? Ohio. They bring their piss-yellow rags with them.

B) Roethlisberger is from Findlay, Ohio, which proudly declares itself "Flag City USA." At least that's what the signs say as I zip through it on the way to Columbus.

C) Remember, most Ohioans couldn't give a wolverine's shit about the NFL, at least compared to the beloved Buckeyes. To quote myself:

Also, in Columbus, people wear NFL jerseys as a statement of their Buckeye love, unlike normal humans who buy a jersey because they like that TEAM. I remember having a Shawn Springs jersey that I pretty much couldn't wear, simply because if people saw me wearing it around town they wouldn't even know I was a SEAHAWKS fan.

My wife didn't buy this until we went to the Seahawks/Browns game in Cleveland back in '01. I wore my new Hasselbeck jersey, and I was accosted and abused for 3 hours non-stop. More than once, my wife was explicitly spared... she was wearing my Springs jersey, and I heard a lot of "he's ok... He's a Buckeye!"

So you see a lot of Santonio Holmes Steelers jerseys out and about. I just assume they are black-hearted Yinzers, because once you don those colors, you've passed over the the dark side forever as far as I'm concerned.

D) The Browns and Bengals suck. Sure, if you're in Cincy or the Cleve, you'll see plenty of Browns or Bengals fans. Anywhere else in Ohio, Steelers fans probably outnumber Browns/Bengals fans combined. In Toledo, about an hour's drive from Detroit, Steelers fans probably outnumber all Lions, Browns and Bengals fans put together.

So, being back in Ohio, I do a lot of muttering of profanities under my breath and stealthy bird-flipping. Sometimes, though, you see or hear something that gives you hope... like the kid at Five Guys Burgers and Fries yesterday who was talking about getting burgers at Dick's, and turned out to be a Seahawks fan visiting relatives in Ohio... or this kid at one of Columbus' many gihungous malls, who was sporting a D-Jack jersey:

We might be vastly outnumbered, but The 12th Man has agents proudly serving and fighting deep behind enemy lines. Someday we will triumph over the Yinzer Menace.