My New Year's Eve Appearance on 102.5 KZOK

Enjoy! (and stay safe out there- I want all of you ready to cheer your guts out for the Seahawks Sunday night!)

Spirit of '83

The last (and only other) time the Seahawks played a "win-and-in" home game the final week of the regular season was way back in 1983- And I was there (and the game is briefly covered starting about the 14:00 point of the '83 Seahawks Highlight film).

I was eight years old, and it was my first ever trip to the Kingdome. When my Dad got us the tickets, we had no idea that the game would have such significance. The Seahawks and Patriots both came in at 8-7, and the winner would take a wild card slot in the AFC playoffs. It would be first playoff appearance EVER for Seattle, after seven years of sitting out of the post-season tournament.

I've written about this extensively before, but here's a taste:

My Dad took me to that game, and EVERYTHING about it was awe-inspiring; from the first moment I saw the Kingdome driving in from I-90, to the dizzying cavernous grandeur of the Dome's interior. Of course, as I grew older I began to consider King County Stadium more or less a shithole, but on that day, it was the Louvre to me.

I screamed for what seemed like 4 hours straight, starting with a shrieking series of boos aimed at the Patriots as they took the field for warm-ups. We were in the 300 level, and there was no way they could possibly have heard me, but I still roared until my voice was gone. What an annoying little shit, huh?

The game itself was perfect: The deafening roar of the 12th Man, a Largent touchdown, and an easy blowout victory. As we left for home, I had no doubt about it: The Seahawks were going to win the Super Bowl. I was too young and ill-informed to think anything else was plausible.

We're so awash in cynicism and defeatism right now. Things have gotten so bad out there that Deadspin has sniffed out the pungent stench of pessimism wafting out from the Twelve Army. But my point today is this: Some 8-year-old boy or girl is going to their first Seahawks game this Sunday, and they won't care that the team is 6-9, or that the adults give the Hawks no chance of winning a playoff game (like I remember all the adults doing before the game at Miami in '83), or that a win would mean a worse pick in the 1st round of the 2011 draft... They aren't reading Steve Kelley's columns, or the comments sections on a dozen blogs dripping with smug, self-satisfied derision for the 2010 Seahawks.

They will be in awe of Qwest Field, and intoxicated by the roar of the Twelve Army- And when the Seahawks win, they will be hooked for life. A million words written about the utility of a higher draft pick can't match the significance of THAT.

What do you think, sirs?

How Will It End?

Despite the utter irrationality of it, us sports fans get attached to, and emotionally connected to, certain players. For me, the first players I felt this way about were Largent and Krieg (big shock, huh?). For a long time, I never had that sort of feeling towards another Seahawk... but then it emerged again between me and Matthew Hasselbeck.

I've talked in this space before about WHY I have this connection, so without rehashing, the last few weeks (hell, last few YEARS) haven't just been painful because of the teams' performance, but also because it has hurt to watch Beck's struggles and overall decline.

It's now become clear that Hasselbeck almost certainly won't be back as Seattle's quarterback in 2011, which lends an even greater level of drama to Sunday's game. Oh, you say Charlie Whitehurst is going to start? Pfft. I'll believe that when I see it. No matter what Carroll or the media says all week, I can't imagine Hasselbeck standing on the sidelines WATCHING what might be his last game as a Seahawk. If he can walk and throw on Sunday, he will play. I simply cannot imagine Hasselbeck's final Seahawks play as that ass-muscle-pulling, un-touched debacle in Tampa, can you?

Will he be effective? I hope so, but that's a leap of faith. He might take the field, and find the ball sailing on him, and Carroll would have to yank him... But what if he has a great game or two left in him? What if we get surprised, and he plays like he did in Glendale and New Orleans? We could see transcendence, or the sad end of a Seahawks legend. Either way, the human drama will be nearly unbearable (for me, at least) if Hasselbeck actually plays.

Near the end of The Truman Show, Phillip Baker Hall exclaims to Ed Harris, as Harris is damn-near murdering Jim Carrey: "He can't DIE on live television!" Harris responds: "He was BORN on live television!" In terms of their professional careers, all NFL players die on live television... As a Hasselbeck fanboy, I want to see the end of his Seattle tenure pushed back at least one more week... After that, who knows? Maybe the 2010 Seahawks can emulate the 1987 SuperSonics?

What do you think, sirs?

This Sucks

I have to sell my tickets for Sunday for various depressing reasons. The auction is here, and ends Thursday afternoon. Please bid on these if you are looking to go to the game. I don't want a Rams fan to get a hold of these seats.

Go Seahawks!

Injustice? Are you fucking kidding?

The Guardians of NFL Propriety are already screaming bloody murder about the possibility that the Seahawks could make the playoffs at 7-9. Unfair! Embarrassing! Disgraceful! Something must be done! They BLEED righteous indignation right now.

Here's what I want to know... Where was this righteous indignation, this sense of grievance, this severe umbrage when:

-Fredd Young's interception in OT of the 1987 Wild Card Playoff was waved off by the officials?

-The 1990 Seahawks missed the playoffs, despite beating the two other teams they tied with at 9-7 head-to-head?

-Ken Behring was dead-set on moving our team to L.A. in the mid-90s?

-The 1998 Seahawks missed the playoffs due to Vinny Testaverde's phantom TD?

-The 2003 Seahawks had a win stolen from them in Baltimore when the officials gave the Ravens damn near an extra minute to come back and win the game?

-The 2004 Seahawks had a win stolen on MNF when the officials blew the call on a Keyshawn Johnson TD late in the 4th?

-We got fucked out of any fair chance to win Super Bowl XL?

Wait.. You hadn't even HEARD of most of those sordid chapters from Seattle's franchise history? Then SHUT THE FUCK UP. Us getting into the playoffs this year doesn't even START to balance the cosmic scales in our favor.