How the Seahawks are Keeping Football Weird
January 30, 2015 9:44 AM   Subscribe

"Does football offend you to your very core? If there was any town in this country that was poised to agree, it’s Seattle. But then the Seahawks got good. Like the best. So what’s a town full of anti-establishment nerds to do? Scurry to find a justification for loving them of course!" Nerd City Jocks, a cartoon by Sarah Stuteville and Eroyn Franklin at The Nib.
posted by everybody had matching towels (177 comments total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
How the Seahawks are Keeping Football Weird

If Richard Sherman didn't have such a big mouth I'd be a huge Seattle fan.
posted by uraniumwilly at 9:47 AM on January 30, 2015


KEEP MACKLEMORE AWAY FROM THE T-SHIRT BAZOOKA
posted by pxe2000 at 9:48 AM on January 30, 2015 [11 favorites]


Today's XKCD was pretty relevant.
posted by almostmanda at 9:49 AM on January 30, 2015 [14 favorites]


It's typical of America's socalled liberal, leftie enclaves like Seattle that all the political/ideological objections to handegg get thrown out of the window the moment their team starts winning, to be replaced with all sorts of soft guff about how nice this team of temporarily hired mercenaries are.

Really, the only even remotely acceptable team for a proper leftist to support are the community owned Green Bay Packers.
posted by MartinWisse at 9:52 AM on January 30, 2015 [46 favorites]


I love the Seahawks players but I've never liked Pete Carroll and finding out he's a Truther isn't exactly helping.

If Richard Sherman didn't have such a big mouth I'd be a huge Seattle fan.

LOL
posted by kmz at 9:52 AM on January 30, 2015 [10 favorites]


It's funny, my impression of Seattle was from a weekend where we went to see a Mariners game and a Sounders game, and I left thinking it was a city that loved its sports. They packed an entire NFL stadium with MLS fans for chrissakes. Kinda surprised to hear they are actually fair weather when it comes to football.
posted by Hoopo at 9:57 AM on January 30, 2015 [2 favorites]


They're actually one of my favorite teams in the league, in no small part because of Sherman and Lynch.
posted by codacorolla at 9:59 AM on January 30, 2015 [10 favorites]


Yeah, but isn't liking soccer (sic) the ultimate nerdy sport rebellion in yankland?
posted by MartinWisse at 9:59 AM on January 30, 2015 [2 favorites]


Go Hawks
posted by Windopaene at 10:00 AM on January 30, 2015 [3 favorites]


I have never been a football fan, but I grew up watching the Mariners with my dad so I am thoroughly enjoying the novelty of a Seattle sports team that wins all the things (well hopefully) multiple years in a row. The joke in our house was that the Mariners excelled at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory; after the last game, I realized the Seahawks are kind of the anti-Mariners - they actually can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat!

Hopefully not too much of a derail, but I'm watching the game Sunday with some friends. Can anyone recommend a good website or video to get me up to speed on the rules of the game?
posted by skycrashesdown at 10:01 AM on January 30, 2015 [1 favorite]


When it became apparent that I needed to pay attention to the Seahawks as well as to our football team, Sherman and Lynch made it easy.
posted by tychotesla at 10:02 AM on January 30, 2015 [1 favorite]


I think football is an abomination and I agree that the only acceptable team for a leftist is Green Bay. But I'm going to actually watch the super bowl this year, for the first time in well over a decade. and I guess I'm rooting for the Seahawks. It's an ideologically incoherent act, I admit it.

(In my defense, though, I'm just doing it so I won't get fined.)
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 10:04 AM on January 30, 2015 [7 favorites]


And I'm fine being fairweather for brain-damage sport. I like that our team is different, and as said I love Sherman and Lynch, but as soon as other people in the area stop talking about it constantly I'll be happy to move on. Shrug!
posted by tychotesla at 10:05 AM on January 30, 2015 [1 favorite]


I was in Downtown Seattle during the second half of the epic comeback against Green Bay, and bonded a bit with some fans passing by when they saw I was watching the game from my Slingbox on my phone. The ensuing pandemonium once they won was really fun to watch, even as a tourist who was only in town for a few days. The fans really do seem to connect with the team, and though I share the negative opinion of Pete Carroll as a human being, he's a damn good football coach, and I love the way the Seahawks have built their team. The team and the fans deserve another title, and I'll definitely be rooting for them.
posted by tonycpsu at 10:05 AM on January 30, 2015 [2 favorites]


Uhhh, news alert. Seahawk fans aren`t disaffected spectrum-disorder programming bros as shown on Mike Judd`s Silicon Valley, rather some of the scariest Everett/Tacoma exurb dwelling Russel Wilson worshiping losers. Basically, if you want to meet the prototypical Hawk fan, head to Auburn this evening after ten. Find a Taco Bell or 7-11. Approach the first mini-pickup driver you see, ask where to score some meth and and cap your transaction with GO HAWKS! Congrats, you just interacted with the "average" Seahawk fan.

Bunch of front running Mackelmore loving losers.
posted by Keith Talent at 10:07 AM on January 30, 2015 [3 favorites]


There's a reason that Seattle Seahawks Fans: Established 2012 is a meme. Protip: if you are just getting into football, and you pick the Seahawks as your team, and you are not from Seattle, you'll be considered a bandwagon jumper. How long? Ask any non-Texan Cowboys fans from the '90s.
posted by graymouser at 10:07 AM on January 30, 2015 [4 favorites]


Not much of a football fan, but I'm still going to watch the Super Bowl and cheer for Seattle, cause go Seattle.

But one of my favorite parts here is the awesome Rat City Rollergirls reference in the top drawing, as I'm a former skater. It's a great reminder that roller derby has made at least some cultural impact in the city, even if it's clearly on the decline now. :(
posted by evilangela at 10:08 AM on January 30, 2015 [3 favorites]


The fans really do seem to connect with the team,

This is a really big deal. Compare their fans to say, the 49er fans and Green Bay fans who wimp out with the chips are down. Their fans rule.
posted by uraniumwilly at 10:08 AM on January 30, 2015 [1 favorite]


Sherman and Wilson are my favorite non-Eagle players ever. I'm glad they are finding success if the Eagles can't. Lynch is great too.

For me, this Super Bowl is the perfect face v. heel matchup, and I don't say that out of disrespect for the Pats. They are the best sort of Ric Flair style heel.

And being a nerd and liking football have never seemed incompatible to me. Thinking they are seems like a relic of a jock v. nerd battle that never really existed, in my experience, in the way it's frequently portrayed.
posted by Drinky Die at 10:08 AM on January 30, 2015 [5 favorites]


If Richard Sherman didn't have such a big mouth I'd be a huge Seattle fan.

I just had to google to see what this is all about, and frankly I think he's now my favorite football player. Different strokes I guess
posted by Hoopo at 10:08 AM on January 30, 2015 [24 favorites]


Hopefully not too much of a derail, but I'm watching the game Sunday with some friends. Can anyone recommend a good website or video to get me up to speed on the rules of the game?

Here's a FPP from last year around this time that has a light-hearted 2:48 take on the basic rules.

The basics of the game are simple enough, but the really difficult part comes from recognizing penalties, and memorizing specific offensive and defensive terminologies.
posted by codacorolla at 10:09 AM on January 30, 2015 [2 favorites]


I've noticed no lack of enthusiasm for the Sportsbowl amongst programmer types here.

"Sporting events are more interesting if your guts might win" is pretty universal.
posted by Artw at 10:10 AM on January 30, 2015 [2 favorites]


memorizing specific offensive and defensive terminologies.

Hell, I actually played one year in junior high and I don't really know what "nickel" and "dime" mean.


What? I didn't say I was good.
posted by Hoopo at 10:12 AM on January 30, 2015 [1 favorite]


If Richard Sherman didn't have such a big mouth I'd be a huge Seattle fan.

It was Richard Sherman's big mouth that MADE me a Seahawks fan. When people bitch about the brand-new Hawks fans, they're talking about me -- a year ago I didn't know Russell Wilson's name, and now I have had probably 25 conversations with STRANGERS about the NFC championship game in the last ten days. Sherman single-handedly destroyed my prejudice of football players as dummies, and now I am eagerly learning as much about the sport and the game as I can. So, yeah, so sorry we have a team so exciting and great that they've brought a bunch of new fans on board, I can see how that's really terrible.
posted by KathrynT at 10:13 AM on January 30, 2015 [31 favorites]


I have never been a football fan, but I grew up watching the Mariners with my dad so I am thoroughly enjoying the novelty of a Seattle sports team that wins all the things (well hopefully) multiple years in a row. The joke in our house was that the Mariners excelled at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory; after the last game, I realized the Seahawks are kind of the anti-Mariners - they actually can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat!

So now I'm picturing Russell Wilson getting pulled in the 4th quarter and replaced by... Bobby Ayala.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 10:14 AM on January 30, 2015 [6 favorites]




TBH I think a lot of our proper antiestablishment types fucked off to Portland anyway.
posted by Artw at 10:14 AM on January 30, 2015 [1 favorite]




Yeah, but isn't liking soccer (sic) the ultimate nerdy sport rebellion in yankland?

Baseball is nerdiest, with college basketball being second. So. Many. Stats!

Soccer is for political refuseniks who insist that the United States is an oppressive hegemon for not embracing a sport introduced to the entire world by European imperial colonialism.
posted by Slap*Happy at 10:16 AM on January 30, 2015 [8 favorites]


Hell, I actually played one year in junior high and I don't really know what "nickel" and "dime" mean.

Nickel means that you have 3 cornerbacks plus 2 safeties, so 5 defensive backs (a "nickel"). The extra cornerback, covering a slot receiver, is called the slot corner, or "nickelback" (not to be confused with the Canadian band). A "dime" is means that you have a 4th cornerback - two nickels makes a dime.

(The slot receiver is a third wide receiver lined up in the "slot" between the offensive line and the outside receiver.)
posted by graymouser at 10:17 AM on January 30, 2015 [3 favorites]


memorizing specific offensive and defensive terminologies.

Hell, I actually played one year in junior high and I don't really know what "nickel" and "dime" mean.


Heh, me in pee-wee football:

Coach: Here's the playbook, you need to memorize it.

Me: I've memorized only the parts that say if I block the opponent left, block them right, or pass block. Is that good enough?
posted by Drinky Die at 10:18 AM on January 30, 2015 [2 favorites]


Seahawk fans aren`t disaffected spectrum-disorder programming bros as shown on Mike Judd`s Silicon Valley, rather some of the scariest Everett/Tacoma exurb dwelling Russel Wilson worshiping losers.

For the closing weekend of the Seattle Opera's run of Tosca last weekend, the singers all took the stage for their curtain calls wearing Seahawks jerseys. I performed Charles Ives' Symphony #4 last night at the Seattle Symphony, on a stage that was all lit up blue and green. Not saying there were NO meth heads in the audience for either of those works, but I'm guessing they weren't in the majority.
posted by KathrynT at 10:19 AM on January 30, 2015 [27 favorites]


Kinda surprised to hear they are actually fair weather when it comes to football.

You should be surprised because nothing could be further from the truth. I've been a fan since I moved to Seattle in 1979. I've been through the brilliance from the likes of Zorn, Largent, Moon, Kennedy, et.al. and through the dark times. I don't let anyone tell me what kind of a fan I am....Go Hawks.
posted by spacely_sprocket at 10:20 AM on January 30, 2015 [3 favorites]


I'm supporting the Patriots. It's like rooting for the bad dojo in the Karate Kid.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 10:20 AM on January 30, 2015 [17 favorites]


Although I do live in Bothell, so I guess the "exurban" part is accurate, at least for me.
posted by KathrynT at 10:21 AM on January 30, 2015 [1 favorite]


"Sporting events are more interesting if your guts might win" is pretty universal.

Depends how hot the wings sauce is.
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 10:21 AM on January 30, 2015


Me: I've memorized only the parts that say if I block the opponent left, block them right, or pass block. Is that good enough?

ah, the good old offensive line. The place to throw all the big, uncoordinated kids.
posted by Hoopo at 10:21 AM on January 30, 2015 [2 favorites]


If I only hate the Seahawks because they and their fans seem to have a massive (and undeserved) inferiority complex. Does that make me a bully?

The Seahawks are not underdogs. They have demonstrated that they are one of the best teams in the league for several years running. Other teams are sometimes straight up scared of playing them. The best team in the league simply can't complain about unfair reffing without coming off as a sore winner.
posted by muddgirl at 10:21 AM on January 30, 2015 [1 favorite]


Soccer is for political refuseniks who insist that the United States is an oppressive hegemon for not embracing a sport introduced to the entire world by European imperial colonialism.

And football is for those who are ok with a beer commercial, then another really loud commercial, then a commercial about pizza, then a commercial about a zoomy car, then a commercial about a truck then...

the game returns and the announcer, before the game starts has the opportunity to read some short spots about some television program and a "sponsored by" promotion then...

maybe 7-10 minutes of football. Then...

a beer commercial and then another really loud commercial, then a commercial about pizza, then a commercial about a zoomy car, then a commercial about a truck then...

the game returns and the announcer, before the game starts has the opportunity to read some short spots about some television program and a "sponsored by" promotion then...

maybe 2-3 minutes of football. Then...
posted by uraniumwilly at 10:22 AM on January 30, 2015 [8 favorites]


I live in Seattle. In the University District to be precise. I knew who won last year's Super Bowl when people started hollering "SEEEEEEEEEE!" "HOOOOOOOGGGGGGS!" at each other outside. For several hours.

This year I have been quietly enjoying the two-step dance of "downvote, hide" on every Seahawks-related story that bubbles into my vision from /r/seattle. It is fruitless, I know. But it is satisfying.

The Saints winning the Super Bowl after Katrina devastated my home town of New Orleans couldn't make me care about them. I seem to be immune to the sport's subtle charms.
posted by egypturnash at 10:22 AM on January 30, 2015 [2 favorites]


I am a lifetime 49er fan and I am no fan of Pete Carroll, but I really like Richard Sherman and Marshawn Lynch, and Wilson is twice the quarterback Kaepernick is (hurts to say). I don't think any football fan doesn't at least secretly love Lynch's Beast Mode runs.

And I have so many memories of poor old Steve Largent gutting it out every year up there, surrounded by ninnies and feebs. Dave Krieg setting fumble records... I like seeing Seattle get a taste of being awesome. And it makes the NFC West a great division, after years of horrendousness.

Anyway, they're not universally reviled.
posted by Kafkaesque at 10:22 AM on January 30, 2015 [5 favorites]


I'm supporting the Patriots. It's like rooting for the bad dojo in the Karate Kid.

TEAM EVIL
posted by Artw at 10:24 AM on January 30, 2015 [4 favorites]


And I have so many memories of poor old Steve Largent gutting it out every year up there, surrounded by ninnies and feebs.

I stopped feeling bad for him after he ran for congress as a republican. It's weird that his punishment came before his crime, but, whatever, it's still just.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 10:27 AM on January 30, 2015 [8 favorites]


Me: I've memorized only the parts that say if I block the opponent left, block them right, or pass block. Is that good enough?

ah, the good old offensive line. The place to throw all the big, uncoordinated kids.


Heh precisely. I blocked great that year, we had a counter play where I blocked right that went for a touchdown like every time and our team was undefeated. Then next year we lost every game and I quit. Kind of wish I had stuck with it to high school, but I had a ton of fun playing in the Pep Band instead.

Seattle fans do the one job football fans are supposed to do, which is being crazy loud while their team is on defense. Philly loves to talk about how passionate our fans are, but there are some third downs at the Linc that sound like a library. I don't think that's a fair weather thing for Seattle, the stadium is just well designed for it and it's part of their identity now.
posted by Drinky Die at 10:29 AM on January 30, 2015


Left Coast hipster city learns to stop worrying and love its football team? Sorry, but San Francisco & its 49ers have been there, done that over 30 years ago. And better yet, they always got to beat the sanctimonious, Bible-thumping Dallas Cowboys on the way to the Super Bowl.
posted by jonp72 at 10:29 AM on January 30, 2015 [1 favorite]


Also, Seattle has such a limited sense of community

Could you expand on this a bit? I only spent five days there, so I didn't get any kind of impression one way or another, but I'm curious if this is something particular about Seattle, or the general trend of Americans retreating to their bedroom communities and not bothering to talk to neighbors.
posted by tonycpsu at 10:30 AM on January 30, 2015


People in Seattle are allowed be fair weather fans.

Yes, this is a good point. Being a die hard sports fan can be MISERABLE and painful. It can also be expensive as hell if you attend games and buy team merchandise. It's not for everybody. I don't mind when people just show up for the good times, that's me about every Philly team besides the Eagles who I am obsessed with.

Just make sure to give the die hards the recognition they have earned. Anybody who has been a die hard Browns fan, for example, deserves a special amount of appreciation for that dedication.
posted by Drinky Die at 10:34 AM on January 30, 2015 [6 favorites]


And better yet, they always got to beat the sanctimonious, Bible-thumping Dallas Cowboys on the way to the Super Bowl.

I don't know about bible thumping, but i see some of the greatest 49ers these days point at the great bearded sky wizard after a great play, and take a knee for a the J-man prayer, probably more times than Dallas. And I speak as a 9er fan.
posted by uraniumwilly at 10:36 AM on January 30, 2015




If Richard Sherman didn't have such a big mouth I'd be a huge Seattle fan.

Richard Sherman on the NCAA:
"I don't think college athletes are given enough time to really take advantage of the free education that they're given, and it's frustrating because a lot of people get upset with student-athletes and say they're not focused on school and they're not taking advantage of the opportunity they're given.

"I would love for a regular student to have a student-athlete's schedule during the season for just one quarter or one semester and show me how you balance that. Show me how you would schedule your classes when you can't schedule classes from 2-to-6 o'clock on any given day. Show me how you're going to get all your work done when after you get out at 7:30 or so, you've got a test the next day, you're dead tired from practice and you still have to study just as hard as everybody else every day and get all the same work done.

[...]

"[T]hose aren't the things that people focus on when talking about student-athletes. They are upset when a student-athlete says they need a little cash. Well, I can tell you from experience, I had negative-40 bucks in my account. Usually my account was in the negative more time than it was in the positive. You've got to make decisions on whether you get gas for your car or whether you get a meal for the day. You've got one of the two choices. People think, 'Oh, you're on scholarship.' They pay for your room and board, they pay for your education, but to their knowledge, you're there to play football. You're not on scholarship for school and it sounds crazy when a student-athlete says that, but that's those are the things coaches tell them every day: 'You're not on scholarship for school.'"
Big mouth, indeed.
posted by no regrets, coyote at 10:38 AM on January 30, 2015 [47 favorites]


People in Seattle are allowed be fair weather fans. If you live in a city, you can like your team only when they're good. It's okay. You can also get, like, superfan bonus points or something if you also like them when they're terrible, but it's dumb to criticize residents of a city for being more excited about their winning football team and not caring about them much when they lose.


There are reasons bandwagoners aren't loved by a lot of fans. Here's this thing I love and you just want to barge in and start acting like it's your thing now too? I mean sure, you're allowed to be a fair weather fan, but if you are it's totally not dumb to get criticized for being one. If you don't like it then don't be a bandwagoner. People who care deeply about something aren't always thrilled when you pop in for emotional tourism.
posted by Carillon at 10:41 AM on January 30, 2015


Big mouth, indeed

Sherman: "Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman is famous for his big mouth and trash-talking, but the two-time All-Pro took it to another level during his postgame interview Sunday, after Seattle beat the 49ers 23-17 for the NFC championship.

Following his tipped ball that led to a game-clinching Malcolm Smith interception, Sherman had a few choice words for his detractors when he was interviewed by Fox sideline reporter Erin Andrews.

“I’m the best corner in the game,” he said. “When you try me with a sorry receiver like Crabtree, that’s the result you gonna get…Don’t you open your mouth about the best or I’m gonna shut it for you real quick.”

Class act.
posted by uraniumwilly at 10:41 AM on January 30, 2015 [1 favorite]


What's up with that dig at the end about "midtown Manhattan"? I'm pretty sure that all of New York City, midtown Manhattan included, will be rooting for the Seahawks on Sunday.

And not just because we hate the Pats. We also love guys with laudably big mouths who speak truth to power. And guys who are willing to blow tens of thousands of dollars using silence to do the same.
posted by evidenceofabsence at 10:42 AM on January 30, 2015 [3 favorites]


Uh that was literally seconds after it happened, I mean cut the guy some slack given the adrenaline and jubilation I'm sure he felt. I'm a niners fan and I can't exactly hold it against him. If you want to look down on anyone look down on the crew that thought now was the best time to get some soundbite.
posted by Carillon at 10:44 AM on January 30, 2015 [7 favorites]


Class act.

Am I mistaken, or was this not after Crabtree refused to shake his hand and grabbed him by the facemask?
posted by Hoopo at 10:44 AM on January 30, 2015 [21 favorites]


Yeah, I don't totally get the idea that the rest of the country hates Seattle. They have a weird chip on their shoulder about sports. Marshawn Lynch, especially, is such an embraceable guy!
posted by everybody had matching towels at 10:45 AM on January 30, 2015 [3 favorites]


Class act.

To the fainting couch, stat!
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 10:45 AM on January 30, 2015 [25 favorites]


Ah man, I could go off about how "Richard Sherman has a big mouth" is a racist dogwhistle, and I think it basically is, but here's the thing: in the end it's basically like assuming people with southern accents are dumb. If you let that stereotype / opinion short circuit your reasoning on the issue, they're just gonna keep running circles around you and you're just gonna get madder and madder. If you're going to keep shouting about how Richard Sherman is "a loud mouth" or "low class" or any of the other dodgy crap that gets said about him all the time, he's going to keep catching your passes. So, fine. Fine. If that's the way you want to play it, he'll just keep winning.

Also, let it be noted that all the horrible atrocious unclassy loud-mouthed stuff that Richard Sherman keeps saying amounts to either (1) bragging about his own accomplishments or (2) non-obscene, non-bigoted smack talk against other highly-paid professional athletes. Would that the rest of the NFL players were equally offensive.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 10:45 AM on January 30, 2015 [30 favorites]


** Marshawn Lynch Ghostrides the Injury Cart.

I know that's what the video is titled too, but then... he doesn't? I am disappoint.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 10:46 AM on January 30, 2015 [3 favorites]


For me, this Super Bowl is the perfect face v. heel matchup, and I don't say that out of disrespect for the Pats. They are the best sort of Ric Flair style heel.

That would be the Dallas Cowboys.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 10:49 AM on January 30, 2015 [1 favorite]


(that was not sarcasm about Lynch, btw, I've been a fan since he was with the Bills)
posted by everybody had matching towels at 10:49 AM on January 30, 2015


Also, the NFC championship game this year was like something out of a movie. I mean, that game was so incredibly improbable, it was like it had writers.

The University of Washington seized the opportunity presented by the BeastQuake legend, and got the sportsball people to pay to wire up CenturyLink field with very, very sensitive seismic detectors. This is actually for science, not football; extremely sensitive seismic detection is a crucial part of earthquake prediction, but testing very sensitive detectors is always fraught with difficulty, because it's so hard to tell if your sensors are broken or if they're working properly but nothing is happening. So having a reliable and observable source of very small seismic disruptions, in the form of Seahawks fans going completely apeshit when something cool happens, is an incredible boon to the discipline. These seismic detectors output to a web page called QuickShake, where you can watch the seismic activity at the field live.

And by "live," I mean "as live as possible, given the small delays in processing the output of the sensors, piping them to the web site, etc." It results in about a 2 or 3 second delay over actual reality. But the NFL feed that goes to the TV is on a ten second delay. So by watching the QuickShake feed, you can see about 7 or 8 seconds into the future. You can't see WHAT is happening, but you can see that SOMETHING is happening.

I watched the entire fourth quarter of that championship game just staring at QuickShake because my heart couldn't take watching the TV (which was on behind me). When the first touchdown happened, I called out "Something big is happening!" and my husband said "What? What on earth could be happening?" When they made the 2-point conversion, I said "Lots of movement here!" and my husband said "Oh my god how are they possibly going to make this work?!" And when they scored the game-winning touchdown in overtime, I just said "well, that's a good sign" and pointed to the seismic feed -- they were still lining up for the snap on the TV -- and we watched that beautiful throw (to Kearse, god love him) grinning like idiots, knowing that it was going to work.

My least favorite thing about the Super Bowl (or the Superb Owl, as all my dork friends and I refer to it) is that it won't have QuickShake.
posted by KathrynT at 10:49 AM on January 30, 2015 [38 favorites]


Also, Seattle has such a limited sense of community

- Could you expand on this a bit?


Contributing factors: We have a standoffish Scandinavian/Japanese influenced culture. We are one of the most educated cities, and the most introverted as well. The weather is not conducive to a culture of public socializing. It's a city with strong geographic features (big hills, multiple bodies of water, the freeway) that divide the city into fairly well defined neighborhoods.

Seattle has always been a boom/bust town. Right now it's booming because of tech and because people love it here, so it's growing rapidly with a lot of transplants. Every time this happens there's some friction.

This is known as the Seattle Freeze (wikipedia article).
posted by tychotesla at 10:50 AM on January 30, 2015 [12 favorites]


I think, to add constructively to the Sherman discussion, I think the contrast of style of talking of that little Hobbit quarterback named Wilson is interesting. That dude is a friggen miracle worker. He's cool. Radically different to Sherman, and gracious, no matter the adrenalin and loud mouthed bullshit that swirls around him.
posted by uraniumwilly at 10:50 AM on January 30, 2015


IIRC, Crabtree thought the handshake offer was a condescending gesture and not a genuine shake. So yeah, two people with incredible adrenaline going on in polar opposite extreme emotional states screw up a bit on communicating with each other.

That doesn't excuse poor sportsmanship, but it's understandable. That quote is indirectly why I love Sherman. Not because it was a great piece of trash talk, it was true for the most part but should not have been said. It's more because of how he handled himself in the wake of the completely disproportionate and definitely racist backlash to the comment. He comes off as one of the smartest people in football. I think he could have a future in coaching too if he wants to go that direction.
posted by Drinky Die at 10:51 AM on January 30, 2015 [2 favorites]


Marshawn Lynch is my favorite NFL player. Here are a few reasons why:

** Marshawn Lynch uses velvet ropes to surround his Lambo on the streets of Seattle.
** Marshawn Lynch finds a wallet at a gas station and drives it to the dude's house.
** Marshawn Lynch is a babysitter.
** Marshawn Lynch Ghostrides the Injury Cart.
** Marshawn Lynch does local commercials for plumbers.
** Marshawn Lynch is just about that action, boss.


Here's another reason: Marshawn Lynch playing videogames with Conan O'Brian (and Gronk!)
posted by jeremias at 10:52 AM on January 30, 2015 [3 favorites]


There was nothing offensive about Sherman's statement.

As someone bandwagoning into Seahawks fandom because of how great Sherman and Lynch are, I intend to show respect for the long-suffering real fans. The way I think of it, I'd hate it if people bandwagoning onto Socialist Alternative because of how great Kshama Sawant is started disrespecting the old party stalwarts. So I should therefore show respect for the Seahawks' old stalwarts, right?
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 10:53 AM on January 30, 2015 [3 favorites]


Yeah, I don't totally get the idea that the rest of the country hates Seattle. They have a weird chip on their shoulder about sports. Marshawn Lynch, especially, is such an embraceable guy!

Yeah, exactly. According to an (admittedly unscientific) ESPN survey, while 55% of the country thinks that the Patriots will win (Slide 1), 54% of the country are rooting for the Seahawks (Slide 2).
posted by muddgirl at 10:55 AM on January 30, 2015


Class act.

For fuck's sake, if you're going to post the quote, at least give the full context.

Forty seconds before the end of that game, Sherman jumped in the air in the endzone, tipping a ball away from Crabtree. It was the play that decided that game, and sent the Seahawks to the Super Bowl.

Immediately after the play, Sherman ran up to Crabtree and said "Hell of a game, hell of a game!" and extended his hand to Crabtree for a sportsmanlike handshake. Because you know what? He is a class act.

Crabtree responded by pissily shoving Sherman in the face. Video, including helmet audio, here.

Twenty five seconds after that, Sherman was being interviewed, and yes, was angry. The whole thing, from the beginning of the play to the beginning of the interview, took less than a minute.
posted by evidenceofabsence at 10:55 AM on January 30, 2015 [19 favorites]


I apologize if this is a derail, but man do I hate the pejorative use of "sportsball". You know that we know that you know it's called football, right?

Back on topic, I am a Patriots fan who hates Richard Sherman because he is so good, not because he can be vociferous when he plays. I'm sure he's a great guy, but he is too darn good and we are playing the Seahawks this Sunday. ENEMY!
posted by joelhunt at 10:55 AM on January 30, 2015 [10 favorites]


He comes off as one of the smartest people in football.

The line I've heard around here is "Smartest guy in the NFL, toughest guy to graduate from Stanford."
posted by KathrynT at 10:55 AM on January 30, 2015 [2 favorites]


FWIW coming to Seattle from London it doesn't really seem all that standoffish at all.

(Also New York doesn't seem all that rude.)
posted by Artw at 10:57 AM on January 30, 2015 [1 favorite]


Not to get on an epic derail, but apparently talking too much to the media, like Richard Sherman makes you a distraction and not a good player or a class act. However, not talking to the media about random bullishit, a la Lynch, makes you a poor sport and bad player.

So explain to me what is the appropriate level of media contact to maintain "nice guy"/good player status.

Is it shilling pizza like Peyton Manning? Is it selling insurance like Aaron Rodgers?

This whole "I don't like the Seahawks because of Lynch and Sherman" thing annoys me to no end. In part because I see it as the insane racial double standard that it is, and because as a Titans fan, the closest I can get to such a combination of awesome talent and fabulous presence is Bernard Pollard. Don't get me wrong, I love him and want 10 more dudes like him. But he's no Beast.
posted by teleri025 at 10:57 AM on January 30, 2015 [12 favorites]


Heck, a slight majority of respondents from California are rooting for the Seahawks, and they're the division rivals of the San Francisco 49ers.

For fuck's sake, if you're going to post the quote, at least give the full context.

There's a lot more "context" to that rivalry that make Sherman's on-field actions seem much less sportsman-like and much more like taunting, but that's the game, and Sherman knows that he's playing it.
posted by muddgirl at 10:58 AM on January 30, 2015




Do people really hate on Lynch for that? Most of the fans I know love it purely because they love anything that whiffs of "stick it to Goodell." Maybe that's more of a hardcore NFL fan opinion though.
posted by Drinky Die at 11:00 AM on January 30, 2015 [2 favorites]


but man do I hate the pejorative use of "sportsball". You know that we know that you know it's called football, right?

I use it self-pejoratively. I'm new to the fandom, it's a vastly more complex game than I had previously realized, I know virtually nothing about it. I'm not used to being this far behind the learning curve on something I enjoy this much, and I like having the shorthand for "I know I am a dummy about this, please treat me kindly." I have never heard it spoken except with love; I spent an hour last night talking to a lifelong Pats fan who capped off the conversation by saying "Kathryn, I cannot believe I am having a conversation about sportsball with you! With YOU, of all people!"
posted by KathrynT at 11:01 AM on January 30, 2015 [5 favorites]


Do people really hate on Lynch for that?

I don't think people hate on Lynch. That dude is funny.
posted by uraniumwilly at 11:02 AM on January 30, 2015 [1 favorite]


I'm 32 and have lived in Seattle most of my life. Most of my memories of the Seahawks are of them losing, like, all the time, for years and years, when I was a kid and adolescent. I grew up understanding the Seahawks to be a loser team and I complained like everyone else when they built that big-ass stadium.

I considered our Superbowl run a few years back to be a fluke, and since it was such a bad game (this was versus the Steelers) with bad plays on both sides and bad, bad calls by the refs throughout, that just reinforced my ideas that the Seahawks were actually pretty crappy and only got to the Superbowl because the rest of the league was as crappy as them that year.

The last few years though I've learned a huge amount about football because we not only have a winning team, we have a record-breaking team full of powerful, interesting players doing plays I've always wanted to see happen. It's been exhilarating, and the peaceful riots after we won last year reminded me how unused to victory Seattle is, and really, how little we have riding on it. We're just having a great ride.

So yeah, I'm a new fan. But if you ask me, that's a good thing.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 11:04 AM on January 30, 2015 [7 favorites]


Time for the annual re-tweeting of one of my all time favorite tweets.
posted by slogger at 11:09 AM on January 30, 2015 [1 favorite]


Yeah, despite the many ways I dislike sports, it exists anyway and it's a communal activity that this city will have an increasing demand for as it grows.

I just hope that it continues to do it in NW style. I couldn't be happier that Lynch and Sherman are on our team and I hope this is a sign of our future.
posted by tychotesla at 11:11 AM on January 30, 2015


My boss is wearing temporary tattoos on her cheeks today, AND her division champs t-shirt from last year. She's been a fan since the very beginning, apparently, and is just over-the-moon delighted that her team is so good now after years and years of being pretty terrible. Last year she went to the big party after the Super Bowl, spending all day on the Sounder with her teenage kids and taking the day off of work, and if they win again, I imagine she'll go again. She has basically the worst employees for a football fan, since my coworker and I are both somewhere between ignorant of and hostile to professional sports. But we appreciate it because it just makes her so goddamn happy. :)
posted by epersonae at 11:12 AM on January 30, 2015 [3 favorites]


So explain to me what is the appropriate level of media contact to maintain "nice guy"/good player status.

Media people HATE IT when you cut them off. They will talk about it endlessly. Also, appearing for media stuff is part of the players contract, because keeping up with the media cycle keeps the NFL in the lead for most-watched television programs and the highest TV ad rates. Lynch's avoidance of the media is why he was threatened with a $500,000 fine. For comparison, some other big fines in NFL history

The message is: don't fuck with the revenue stream.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 11:13 AM on January 30, 2015 [2 favorites]


Heck, a slight majority of respondents from California are rooting for the Seahawks, and they're the division rivals of the San Francisco 49ers.

I'm surprised it's not 100%. We really fucking hate the Patriots.
posted by fshgrl at 11:16 AM on January 30, 2015 [1 favorite]


I'm surprised it's not 100%. We really fucking hate the Patriots.

I don't know man, the party I'll be at is full of Bostonians who moved here. Lots of ex east-coasters live in California.
posted by uraniumwilly at 11:19 AM on January 30, 2015


There's a lot more "context" to that rivalry that make Sherman's on-field actions seem much less sportsman-like and much more like taunting

Am I incorrect in thinking that the remaining context, prior to that game, is that they once got into an argument at a charity event?

Either way, I think the whole, "Sherman is a classless loudmouth who should just shut up and play" thing is bunk.
posted by evidenceofabsence at 11:20 AM on January 30, 2015 [4 favorites]


And in related news, Myriad Profiteroles.
posted by fuse theorem at 11:20 AM on January 30, 2015


Somewhere around here I have an "Opportunity Knox" Seahawks shirt from 1984. I should dig it out to wear on Sunday.
posted by Tenuki at 11:21 AM on January 30, 2015 [1 favorite]


On the one hand, I might cheer for the Seahawks just because a good friend of mine is a serious Patriots fan and it would be fun just to tease him for a couple hours.

On the other hand, when I don't really care about a sports thing I usually go with "root for the hottest guy" which would be this Gronkowski fellow on the Patriots.
posted by dnash at 11:21 AM on January 30, 2015 [1 favorite]


On the other hand, when I don't really care about a sports thing I usually go with "root for the hottest guy" which would be this Gronkowski fellow on the Patriots.

Rob Gronkowski reads erotic Gronk fan fiction aloud. The book is called A Gronking To Remember.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 11:24 AM on January 30, 2015 [6 favorites]


The subversive brilliance of Marshawn Lynch
Lynch's steadfast refusal to answer questions beyond a tight-lipped "Yeah" is beginning to look more and more like a job action. By showing up and saying, "I'm just here so I don't get fined," the Pro Bowl running back was engaging in what labor activists call "work-to-rule." Let autoworker and author Gregg Shotwell explain:

"The slogan 'work to rule' has a double meaning. Work to rule is a method of slowing production by following every rule to the letter. The aim is to leverage negotiations. Work to rule is also an invocation for workers to govern collectively, to control the conditions of their labor. Work to rule means power to the people."

Lynch may be alone in his actions at the moment, but it seems fairly clear that in following the letter of the NFL's law — showing up to the press conference, and verbalizing an answer to a question — he's demonstrating that he, not Roger Goodell or anyone else, controls the conditions of his labor.
posted by standardasparagus at 11:25 AM on January 30, 2015 [13 favorites]


Richard Sherman majored in communications at Stanford. The man clearly understands media, and is playing it excellently. I'm someone who lives in Seattle and has never cared for football, but Sherman (and to a lesser extent Lynch) might force me to reconsider.


But probably not.
posted by Slothrup at 11:25 AM on January 30, 2015


Am I incorrect in thinking that the remaining context, prior to that game, is that they once got into an argument at a charity event?

Something like that. It's easily google-able but Sherman is pretty clear that he had no respect for Crabtree before or after that game. I highly, highly doubt his gestures at the game were meant to be a sign of a congenial respectful opinion that he doesn't actually hold. That would be hella duplicitous.

Either way, I think the whole, "Sherman is a classless loudmouth who should just shut up and play" thing is bunk.

Totally agreed.
posted by muddgirl at 11:26 AM on January 30, 2015 [1 favorite]


Seattle's inferiority complex extends far past just the Seahawks. Seattle has always lost in sports. The weather sucks. The geography is lousy for biking (too hilly) and lousy for roads (too many bodies of water). Its major economic drivers (the ports and the tech industry) are both overshadowed by the Bay Area.

But as a 13-year Seattle transplant, one thing I love about the place is that its basic attitude is "everyone's going to look down on you anyway, so just do your thing." Your teams may lose but you can still love them, and lots of people do. Layer properly and you can still ride your bike everywhere, and lots of people do. You're never doing the wrong thing as long as it's what you want to do. And when your team wins, or the sun comes out, then go ahead and be ecstatic.

I think a lot of the Seahawks are very typically Seattle in that way. If Marshawn Lynch doesn't like talking to the media and does like grabbing his crotch, more power to him. Sherman has a big mouth, but he's having a great time with it (and he is hilarious) so what's the problem? And while I detested Pete Carroll's legacy at USC, I can't help but grin when I see him jumping around the sidelines like an excited kid.
posted by bjrubble at 11:30 AM on January 30, 2015 [4 favorites]


** Marshawn Lynch uses velvet ropes to surround his Lambo on the streets of Seattle.
** Marshawn Lynch finds a wallet at a gas station and drives it to the dude's house.

** Marshawn Lynch hits a pedestrian with his car, and drives away.
** Marshawn Lynch is arrested for driving while drunk.
** Marshawn Lynch is arrested on felony gun charge.

I love the way he handles the media; I love the way he runs through a defense. I think he's probably a better person than he was in 2008-9, but maybe he's my Most Conflicted Thoughts About NFL player.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 11:30 AM on January 30, 2015 [2 favorites]


Also, appearing for media stuff is part of the players contract, because keeping up with the media cycle keeps the NFL in the lead for most-watched television programs and the highest TV ad rates. Lynch's avoidance of the media is why he was threatened with a $500,000 fine.

Is it actually that important? Obviously members of the media think so, because they routinely lose their mind about stuff like this, and the NFL indulges them on that point, but do people who follow a sport give half a damn what the player says in a post-game interview? I follow the major 4 US sports reasonably closely and pay some attention to soccer and a few others, and honestly almost all of the quotes that I remember are either stuff like Lynch and Wallace refusing to be part of it or the stuff that explains why they'd refuse like Allen Iverson's talking about practice. 99% of player quotes are pointless anodyne garbage and if they were made completely voluntary or even removed entirely I'm not sure anything of value would be lost.
posted by Copronymus at 11:39 AM on January 30, 2015 [2 favorites]


I'm a Bears fan, and I love Sherman and Lynch. But Pete Carroll is a 9/11 truther, a cheat, and a smarmy asshole, they won a title last year by cheating their way to a championship, and they've done much the same thing this year. Go Pats.
posted by protocoach at 11:39 AM on January 30, 2015


Lynch is clearly just using the media thing to grab headlines and sell merchandise at this point. Which, considering the shelf life of running backs in today's NFL, I can't really blame him. Calling it "performance art" is misleading, though, when you consider his latest iteration involved wearing a hat he quickly sold out of.
posted by graymouser at 11:40 AM on January 30, 2015 [1 favorite]


A few months ago I moved from Vancouver, BC to Seattle. After years of being a Canucks fan it's downright exhilarating to be cheering for a local sports team that actually has a good chance of winning. (And a smaller chance of people lighting cars on fire in rage after it's all over.)

Plus the city is in full party mode right now. As a recent transplant, it's pretty charming.
posted by jess at 11:42 AM on January 30, 2015 [2 favorites]


so it was one of those insincere gloaty handshakes, eh?

Frankly I don't see the difference. He won the game, he's happy, he beat a guy he maybe doesn't like and is really thrilled to have gotten the best of, but he still makes a gesture because that's what you do. Take it as gloating? Fine. But lots of players in a physical game shaking hands after a game are going to have this dynamic, and they mostly manage not to spit in each others faces. The loser is supposed to just suck it up, shake hands, move along. You got beat by that guy you don't like, Crabtree, take it graciously. Or don't. But certainly don't grab him by the face and shake him around.
posted by Hoopo at 11:43 AM on January 30, 2015 [1 favorite]


I live in Seattle and it's been kind of neat to see how the fandom has picked up over the past couple of years. Whether or not I like football is irrelevant, in my opinion. As an avid bus rider, I also like that Metro (the local transit operator) has electronic signage for the local teams so that bus and trolley operators can express their support.

Some people disagree with having the sign display, which resulted in a funny and biting reply from a county councilmember (Metro is owned by the county): "Indeed, it appears that we are using the Seahawks logo without payment to the team, which would ordinarily be required for a registered trademark." So, because some killjoys are louder than others, Metro is removing the signs regarding any teams starting next month.
posted by fireoyster at 11:44 AM on January 30, 2015


Relevant by leftist sportswriter Dave Zirin: Solidarity—and the Seattle Seahawks—Forever.
posted by graymouser at 11:52 AM on January 30, 2015


I'm 32 and have lived in Seattle most of my life. Most of my memories of the Seahawks are of them losing, like, all the time, for years and years, when I was a kid and adolescent. I grew up understanding the Seahawks to be a loser team and I complained like everyone else when they built that big-ass stadium.

This resonates with me as a New England fan - I was in the same boat in my early 30's. Enjoy the ride, and may it last as long for you!

Both teams are really great, and in typical New England fashion, half of us are convinced the Pats are going to get slaughtered, the other half believe it'll be a squeaker. In the end, it will come down to who has the better gameplan, and if the team is prepared to execute it. Some matchups to be excited for, as both teams have excellent players at or near the top of their game. I wanna see Gronk vs. Sherman, just once...
posted by Slap*Happy at 11:56 AM on January 30, 2015 [1 favorite]


It is also a cardinal rule of the sports world that the more they succeed, the more they will become a paradigm for how the next generation of athletes will try to leverage the spotlight.
The Seahawks have two players on their active roster charged with domestic violence or sexual abuse (admittedly the 49ers are much worse, but many teams have no players with histories of domestic abuse).

It's like teenagers discovering sex for the first time and thinking they invented it.
posted by muddgirl at 12:08 PM on January 30, 2015


...athletes will try to leverage the spotlight.

The Seahawks have two players on their active roster charged with domestic violence..

This is leveraging the spotlight?
posted by uraniumwilly at 12:13 PM on January 30, 2015 [2 favorites]


they won a title last year by cheating their way to a championship,

What?

and they've done much the same thing this year. Go Pats.

Definitely the right team to cheer for if you don't like cheating your way to titles.
posted by Drinky Die at 12:17 PM on January 30, 2015 [11 favorites]


I think the "cheating their way" thing is about the Seahawks defense being really aggressive (bending the rules at least) on bump-and-run coverage last year, which IIRC led to the NFL refs issuing guidance on calling more defensive fouls. The thing is, if the refs don't see it, or they don't call it, it's not a penalty, so it's not really cheating except in the most literal sense, and if it is, every team ever has cheated by committing offensive holding and daring the refs to call them for it.
posted by tonycpsu at 12:19 PM on January 30, 2015


Apologies, I was responding to the tone of the whole piece - that the Seattle Seahawks have uniquely principled players, that they will change the culture of football - and selected a bit that I thought summed it up. Maybe this bit was more appropriate to the particular link I dug up:
We can understandably shake our heads over the fact that the NFL—a brutal, damnable sports league—is now intimately connected to how we discuss issues ranging from violence against women, to workplace safety, to the movement against police brutality. But as long as that is the truth, we should want the people who hold that platform to be the most conscious possible participants in this discussion.
posted by muddgirl at 12:20 PM on January 30, 2015


Lynch is clearly just using the media thing to grab headlines and sell merchandise at this point. Which, considering the shelf life of running backs in today's NFL, I can't really blame him. Calling it "performance art" is misleading, though, when you consider his latest iteration involved wearing a hat he quickly sold out of.

Given that we're stuck living under the ass-end of late capitalism, I don't think it's nearly as easy as you suggest to slice apart performance art and merchandising - since we are all commanded to build our personal brands in order to be employable, escaping merchandising in art is impossible. Ignoring it is dodging it; consciously engaging with it is a way to actually address it.

If what he's doing isn't performance art, the stuff that Lady Gaga did at the height of her popularity wasn't performance art either. And, well, it's absurd to think that Gaga's not a media artist.

Moreover, Lynch has made clear that he cares deeply about exactly two things: playing spectacular football, and raising money for his foundation. As such that Beast Mode hat he was selling accomplished two things: it stood as a protest against something he rightfully doesn't care about (carefully managed required media appearances to benefit the NFL's profit stream) and a concrete action for something he does care about (raising money for a foundation to help underprivileged kids in Oakland). If that's wrong, may no one ever be right again.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 12:23 PM on January 30, 2015 [9 favorites]


90% of Seattle inhabitants lots their damn minds last year and they've all stayed insane. I've worried this month that the police might show up at my front door and demand that I produce my regulation number of Seahawks branded clothing items. But if it make you feel better about the players, My Friend The Pediatric Nurse says they show up at Seattle Children's Hospital on the regular.
posted by bq at 12:23 PM on January 30, 2015 [2 favorites]


Love Lynch, can't help myself.

Sherman's the only athlete of any race in two generations to really remind me of Ali. More power to him.

If I heard it right, Wilson said something interesting a couple of weeks ago I'm surprised people didn't make more of, to the effect that just before the draft in which he was selected in the 3rd round, he put all 32 team names into a hat and randomly drew out the Seahawks.
posted by jamjam at 12:24 PM on January 30, 2015


Should have been an Eagle, and from what was reported he would have been if he fell to their spot in the third round. They took Foles instead, who is also a great guy and fun to root for.

“At the end of the interview, you always ask for players' numbers so you can get in touch with them -- he asked for my number. And then I would get text messages from him periodically saying, 'If the Eagles draft me, I will lead the Eagles to championships.' You know he would send me these text messages.

"... So leading up, even the day of the draft, the first day of the draft: 'If the Eagles draft me I will lead them to championships.' He was sending me these text messages," Jeremiah said. "Well, we really liked him, and I thought there was a very real chance he was going to end up being a Philadelphia Eagle there. And then of course, Seattle ends up taking him."

posted by Drinky Die at 12:29 PM on January 30, 2015 [1 favorite]


So can we have a fanfare thread for the SuperBowl?

open at the final gun
posted by cashman at 12:36 PM on January 30, 2015 [4 favorites]


Quick correction to my comment above: there's a cut in the video, so my times are off. The confrontation and Sherman's "outbirst" did happen within moments of one another, but maybe not within a minute.
posted by evidenceofabsence at 12:43 PM on January 30, 2015


But Pete Carroll is a 9/11 truther, a cheat, and a smarmy asshole, they won a title last year by cheating their way to a championship, and they've done much the same thing this year. Go Pats.

This statement is richer than Dan Snyder.
posted by codacorolla at 12:57 PM on January 30, 2015 [3 favorites]


** Marshawn Lynch is arrested on felony gun charge.

Got nothing on the Patriots...

Jurors in Aaron Hernandez trial can watch Super Bowl
posted by sammyo at 12:59 PM on January 30, 2015 [2 favorites]


Go Hawks, now and forever

Once upon a time, I was a kid who tried to believe in Brian Bosworth, so these last couple years have been a ton of fun. Witnessing Beastquake in a bar full of strangers and leaving it as a bar full of friends was one of the happiest moments of my life and if that sounds weird to you, oh well.

I love that the Hawks are a terrifying team now and I love that they drive some football fans up the wall. I've fully absorbed Spike Friedman's take on this team and embraced the insufferability. It can't last; every Twelve knows that but, for a long while there, it looked like the Hawks' laughingstock status would last forever. So nowadays, when they're dominant and not at all interested in apologizing for that, it's a delight which was decades in the making. Tedious people getting mad at Richard Sherman for talking too much and getting mad at Marshawn Lynch for not talking enough are part of the fun for me. Watching half the league try to mimic a strategy which was developed by a team full of overlooked players on a former joke of a team has been fantastic as well. U mad bro?
posted by EatTheWeek at 1:26 PM on January 30, 2015 [3 favorites]


Sherman was interviewed at halftime in the championship game and asked if he had a message for Aaron Rodgers. "Yeah, I do," he said. "We're better than you, man. We're better than you. You're just a man; we're a team."

That is, to say the least, an incredibly bold statement for a man to make staring down the barrel of a 16-0 lead. I can't tell even now if that was just psych-out trash talk or if there was any part of him that actually meant it.
posted by KathrynT at 2:07 PM on January 30, 2015 [4 favorites]


I don't know man, the party I'll be at is full of Bostonians who moved here. Lots of ex east-coasters live in California.

Many would make the arguement that your friends are not, in fact, Californians but are New Englanders.
posted by fshgrl at 2:45 PM on January 30, 2015 [2 favorites]


Thanks to the folks who chimed in about the "Seattle freeze" and the unique cultural factors that may be at play there. I knew there was a large contingent of Scandinavian/Japanese there, but I also thought that the large number of transplants would mitigate / outweigh whatever social norms existed among second/third generation Seattleites. In other words, if none of your neighbors aren't talking to you, isn't it likely that at least a few of them are transplants like you who don't have that cultural mindset?
posted by tonycpsu at 2:46 PM on January 30, 2015


Yeah all my neighbors are super friendly natives. I think it's a myth.
posted by bq at 3:13 PM on January 30, 2015


I am an 18 yr resident, still root for my Eagles (yay Drinky Die!), and was the first to decry the use of public funds to build multiple stadia to replace the Kingdome. But...Paul Allen has rewarded this city by building a first class franchise. Century Link was designed to maximize the noise of the fans, he's put together a solid front office and hired a GM and coach with similar philosophies and has been willing to put his money into building a championship calibre team.
For the past 3 yrs this city has reaped the benefits. On Sundays the pubs are full, tons of stores benefit from merchandise sales, grocery stores will be just as full tomorrow as on the day before thanksgiving. For those 2 playoff games the city was a buzz for days prior, and full hotels and restaurants and bars mean all of that VAT revenue for the city and all of that extra cash for a service industry that can't help but love this team.
My staff and I wore jerseys to work yesterday and unprompted, every patient who came through the door, from the 5 yr old girl to the 70 yr old grama, was wearing a shirt or jersey, leggings, hat or silly seahawk hair.
Winters can be long and dreary anywhere, but walking around this town during the playoff run, seeing all the blue, all the 12's, hearing "Go Hawks!" as a greeting or farewell to any random encounter on the streets is a thing to behold.
Win or lose Sunday (and it will be win), the city of Seattle is winning with this team.

Go Hawks!
posted by OHenryPacey at 3:44 PM on January 30, 2015 [2 favorites]


Win or lose Sunday (and it will be win), the city of Seattle is winning with this team.

And I believe Nate Silver is with you - your prediction that is.
posted by uraniumwilly at 3:48 PM on January 30, 2015 [2 favorites]


if none of your neighbors aren't talking to you, isn't it likely that at least a few of them are transplants like you who don't have that cultural mindset?

I think it's self-selecting and reinforced. It's a very, very reserved town, at least when it comes to strangers.
posted by corb at 3:55 PM on January 30, 2015


For lunch today I went with a friend to take advantage of SCCC's student made baked goods and they had a football shaped Seahawks cake, and a deflated Patriots football cake too.
posted by tychotesla at 4:52 PM on January 30, 2015 [3 favorites]


I WAS BORN AND RAISED IN SEATTLE AND HATE WHAT SEATTLE HAS BECOME! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

/go hawks
posted by flechsig at 5:12 PM on January 30, 2015


Literally drove by a man today wearing a Seahawks jersey and a seahawks knit cap walking a little black dog with a Seahawks dog sweater.
posted by bq at 6:06 PM on January 30, 2015 [8 favorites]


I think the Seahawks will win. Their defense over the last couple of seasons is among the NFL's all-time best, and better than the Patriots' D. Their offense is not quite as good as the Patriots, but if they contain Gronkowski (Patriots' tight end) I don't believe the Patriots can beat the Seahawks with their wide receivers. The Patriots have a great offense, but defenses are better and scores are usually lower in the playoffs.

Russell Wilson has a running game that makes him less one-dimensional than Tom Brady, and Wilson is 10-0 against (arguably better) quarterbacks that have won the Super Bowl (including Brady, Drew Brees, and Mannings Eli and Peyton).
posted by kirkaracha at 8:25 PM on January 30, 2015 [1 favorite]


I was born and raised in Seattle (with roots going back to the pioneer days!). I can remember when the only taste of big national championship-style winning Seattle had was the 1979 SuperSonics. The Mariners gave us a few flashes of hope for a while... Then the Sonics were STOLEN from us.

The novelty of having a team that actually wins is kind of delightful.

And Hawks fans have always been mega loud. Our house when I was growing up had a view of the Kingdome, and on Sundays we could hear the crowd all the way up the hill.
posted by lovecrafty at 1:20 AM on January 31, 2015 [4 favorites]


My Chihuahua has a Winnipeg Blue Bombers jersey, which she wears with panache on CFL game days, but since we live in Seattle, nobody gets it. And now the streets of Capitol Hill are full of tiny, fluffy dogs rocking Seahawks gear, and the temptation to go and buy her a little Marshawn Lynch sweater is just about more than I can stand.
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 1:29 AM on January 31, 2015 [5 favorites]


KathrynT - I love the way you watched the Championship game, I'll keep that in mind for next year's home games. I can't figure out if that's better or worse though, knowing that something big just happened, but not knowing what.

As befits our ridiculous cyberpunk dystopian future present... I watched the game on an intermittent network stream, apparently intercepted directly from Fox's satellite feed, which came to me directly from deepest China... combined with the live updates from NFL.COM... so QuickShake will be a welcome addition...
posted by DancingYear at 3:15 AM on January 31, 2015


My mother was president or whatever the equivalent of that is of our local Seahawks fan club in the south sound in the late 1970s, and therefore we had Manu Tuiasosopo over for dinner and I got to meet Efren Herrera, Steve Raible and a few other players, though not Jim Zorn or Steve Largent.

I'm not much of a football fan (and never have been), but am pleased a local sports franchise is doing well.

Mentioned was the 1979 Sonics championship team, but didn't the original incarnation of the Sounders win a championship or two?

(Don't talk to me about the Mariners. I was at game 117...when that team laid down and died in the post-season I knew it was back to the "glory" of the 1980s for the team.)
posted by maxwelton at 3:27 AM on January 31, 2015 [3 favorites]


"My Chihuahua has a Winnipeg Blue Bombers jersey, which she wears with panache on CFL game days, but since we live in Seattle, nobody gets it."

YOU HAVE ESCAPED. YOU CAN STOP SUPPORTING THE DAMNED BOMBERS NOW.

Sincerely,

A Winnipeg Blue Bombers season ticket holder
posted by joelhunt at 6:14 AM on January 31, 2015 [4 favorites]


I'm a Masshole who lives in New York. I love watching the Patriots slowly creep towards being the evil empire of football. It makes me feel a connection with Yankee fans, instead of wanting to send them to reeducation camps for their own good. Evil US fun. Deflategate is a good joke which will be even funnier when shown to be true.

That isn't too say I'll be watching the game. No matter how I try, I can't make televised football retain my attention. I think this is more due to how it is shown than the sport itself.
posted by Hactar at 6:32 AM on January 31, 2015 [2 favorites]


/wonders where Paul Allen will be building his victory monolith.
posted by Artw at 6:48 AM on January 31, 2015 [1 favorite]


South Lake Union, surely.
posted by The corpse in the library at 9:36 AM on January 31, 2015 [5 favorites]


YOU HAVE ESCAPED. YOU CAN STOP SUPPORTING THE DAMNED BOMBERS NOW.

Mr. Palmcorder here. The Bombers will always be in our family's heart. Grew up with Tom Clements, Willard Reaves, Ty Jones, etc.

The unfortunately thing with the Chihuahua is that the blocky W logo of the Bombers looks exactly like the blocky W of the University of Washington. Since the Bombers wear navy instead of purple, the average Seattlite thinks our tiny dog is rocking UW gear sourced from a colorblind bootlegger.
posted by Sauce Trough at 11:32 AM on January 31, 2015 [5 favorites]


I'm a fair-weather fan, and I have been of various sports teams over the years. I don't see what's wrong with that. "You are doing a good job and I support that!" makes more sense than "Your corporation is based in the same city I live in and I will give you my support even though none of the players are from here and they're not playing very well!"

I've been a fan of teams that weren't doing well (hello, Mets), because I enjoyed going to the games, following the players, and the community I had with other fans, and didn't mind that the team all that was built around wasn't great. But I don't feel bad about becoming a Seahawks fan only in the past year and change.

I don't have a hometown -- I moved a lot as a kid -- maybe that makes a difference.
posted by The corpse in the library at 12:29 PM on January 31, 2015 [1 favorite]


if you've formed an opinion on marshawn lynch and haven't watched his episode of espn e:60 do yourself a favor and take the 12 minutes to watch it.
posted by nadawi at 12:40 PM on January 31, 2015 [2 favorites]


i also liked richard sherman : thug life.

and here is sherman speaking about lynch (among other things) :
Under Goodell the league continues to put players like Marshawn Lynch in a position to be mocked by the media, which seems to get a kick out of seeing people struggle on camera. As teammates we’re angry because we know what certain people do well and we know what they struggle with. Marshawn’s talking to the press is the equivalent of putting a reporter on a football field and telling him to tackle Adrian Peterson.

Some of the same people slamming Marshawn for not talking are just as likely to condemn the Browns’ Andrew Hawkins and Johnson Bademosi for protesting police brutality with T-shirts. They want to hear us speak, but only if we’re saying something they want to hear.
posted by nadawi at 12:51 PM on January 31, 2015 [11 favorites]


^ There are reasons bandwagoners aren't loved by a lot of fans. Here's this thing I love and you just want to barge in and start acting like it's your thing now too? I mean sure, you're allowed to be a fair weather fan, but if you are it's totally not dumb to get criticized for being one. If you don't like it then don't be a bandwagoner. People who care deeply about something aren't always thrilled when you pop in for emotional tourism.

So would it be more fun to have your team start doing great, and have the city at large just short of shrug and yawn and go about their business?

Also, some 'bandwagoners' will stick around when the team is no longer on top, having found something they really like in the sport, the team, or the community. Others will move on because what they really loved was being part of a big story where 'our guys' are the winners, or the whole city being excited about the same thing, or having a reliable source of small talk... whatever was the part that made it fun for them. And I happen to think both of those options are ok - I'm under no obligations to my hobbies, as I see it - but even if you don't, if you're criticizing new fans for being fairweather while your team is still on top, you don't really know which of those sorts you've got yet. And if you're criticizing new fans rather than celebrating with them, you aren't exactly encouraging them to be the former.
posted by polymath at 3:20 PM on January 31, 2015 [3 favorites]


So, I had never heard of this Pete Carroll 9/11 Truther thing, so I had to look it up. The entire thing revolves around a single meeting with retired Army General Peter Chiarelli, a Seahawks fan, who had requested a meeting with Carroll. The only quote in the media about this, from second hand sources is this (from WaPo):
Every 9/11 conspiracy theory you can think of, Pete asked about,” former NFL linebacker Riki Ellison, who reportedly introduced Carroll to Chiarelli, told Deadspin. “And he didn’t stop at 9/11 — he had lots of questions about the role of the military today,” added Ellison, who said he was at the meeting.
Furthermore, he later has had some interesting things to say about the U.S. intervention in Iraq (from Deadspin):
"OK, let me give you an illustration," Carroll says. "Let's say, after all the stuff that we heard about what was going on in Iraq, we sent 10,000 people to Iraq as peacefully as we could go. And we walked wherever they would let us go, and we just talked to people and listened to what their issues were. And then we tried to figure out the best way we could support them and change things, as opposed to bombing (expletive) thousands of people with shock and awe. It might've taken us longer to influence change, but nobody would've died. And the power that we could've generated by just being willing to listen and see if there was a way we could answer their call and help them, whatever they wanted.
"Not tell them what to do. Not change them. Just help them go where they wanted to go. What if we had done that? How much money would that have cost us? Give me a thousand peace workers that would go over and do that. Just listen and talk. Think of what we could've done, as opposed to killing hundreds of thousands of people or whatever we did. And leave the wrath of what we did."

Carroll is trembling with intensity. His eye contact is so powerful that you can't look away from him.
Man I don't know about you, but I think portraying him as a conspiracy theory nut job seems like a pretty big stretch. I don't know why it matters what he thinks about foreign policy, but all of this seems pretty reasonable for a guy whose job is to win football games.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 11:56 PM on January 31, 2015 [5 favorites]


Great points polymath, the bandwagoners serve a very important purpose in supporting that sense of community that makes this stuff fun. I have relatives who are die hard Phillies fans and I just bandwagon on when they do well, they do the reverse with me and the Eagles. But the deal is everybody vaguely follows the teams enough to keep up a conversation.

Then there are the people on the fringes who don't keep it up at all but are willing to show up and have fun when it's a mass event in the city, why ruin the atmosphere with purity tests? You could take anybody to an NFL tailgate, somebody who never even heard of the game, and they could have a great time if they went into it wanting to.
posted by Drinky Die at 12:25 AM on February 1, 2015


The espn: e60 episode with Lynch that nadawi linked to was incredible. I didn't know much about him before, but OMG he comes off as an awesome person. That made up my mind on who to root for, which wasn't too hard after having my heart crushed by Bellicheck/Brady so often as a Chargers fan.
posted by Golden Eternity at 7:55 AM on February 1, 2015 [1 favorite]


Slarty Bartfast: n I don't know about you, but I think portraying him as a conspiracy theory nut job seems like a pretty big stretch.

I think your pull-quoting from an un-linked WaPo piece is more than a bit charitable.
Deadspin's reporting makes it clear that Carroll did in fact "[want] to know whether the attack on the Pentagon had really happened." I've got no problem with him asking questions about our role in the Middle East, and I share his anti-war politics, but at this point, I have zero tolerance for any kind of skepticism about whether the attacks happened, so the "truther" label fits just fine for me.

With all of that said, he's a football coach, so his kooky beliefs don't really matter much.
posted by tonycpsu at 9:55 AM on February 1, 2015


Sorry Hawks fans, your coach just cost you a trophy.
posted by Drinky Die at 7:03 PM on February 1, 2015 [1 favorite]


Ugh, did Bevell make that call, or did Wilson just go for it? Who throws when Lynch is right there with only half a yard to go???
posted by lovecrafty at 7:31 PM on February 1, 2015 [2 favorites]


Eh, it was a fun game to watch. That bundle at the end was ugly though.

And the ads sucked.
posted by Artw at 7:31 PM on February 1, 2015


"Like A Girl" was pretty neat, but I kind of want fun stuff more than poignant social commentary out of these ads. And I definitely don't want the crazy sad shit.

Anyway,

"If you look closely...you can actually pinpoint the exact moment his heart breaks in two."
posted by Drinky Die at 7:36 PM on February 1, 2015 [1 favorite]


Also, #SadBowl.
posted by Drinky Die at 7:53 PM on February 1, 2015 [3 favorites]


Drinky Die, that is amazing.
posted by drezdn at 8:00 PM on February 1, 2015


Seriously, what was up with all the dead children, lost puppies, and dads-missing-important-moments in the commercials?
posted by lovecrafty at 8:03 PM on February 1, 2015 [2 favorites]


I really miss beer, boner pills, and flash in the pan internet companies.
posted by Drinky Die at 8:05 PM on February 1, 2015 [2 favorites]


Really shitty beer commercials.
posted by Artw at 8:39 PM on February 1, 2015


I loved Budweiser's hit piece on craft beer, as if a Clydesdale growling at me is going to be enough to keep me from choosing Not-Budweiser over Budweiser.
posted by tonycpsu at 8:41 PM on February 1, 2015


The Loctite commercial. It won the Superbowl more than a Butler interception.

I am proud I remember you had two varieties of Loctite - Red and Blue. You needed a heat gun to unscrew Loctite Red, where you could muscle apart bolts secured with Blue. They apparently sell fanny packs and superglue as well, now.
posted by Slap*Happy at 8:45 PM on February 1, 2015


The next Sam Adams commercial should be Jim Koch giggling while sipping a Dogfish Head Midas Touch and watching that anti-craft-beer Bud commercial, fading to Spank Rock's "#1 Hit."
posted by Slap*Happy at 8:51 PM on February 1, 2015


I now have a great deal of empathy for Packers fans.
posted by KathrynT at 8:54 PM on February 1, 2015 [1 favorite]


Well at least Brady wasn't the hero tonight. That man is like a living Ken doll, I don't like him one bit
posted by Hoopo at 8:57 PM on February 1, 2015 [1 favorite]


I did like the MLPs being Colts fans. Explains why Pinkie Pie has the foam finger.
posted by Drinky Die at 8:57 PM on February 1, 2015 [3 favorites]


Local news desperately looking for something to report on.

"Here we are in Pioneer Square. People look a bit sad."
posted by Artw at 9:16 PM on February 1, 2015 [1 favorite]


I have a long commute. Tom Brady is interviewed by asshole sports-talk shock-jock assholes every Monday. Where he gently but firmly sets the right-winger scandalmongers in their place is a mastery of public relations that is hard to hate. Listening to him, sleep deprived on Monday morning at 6:30am, I have decided:

I like Tom Brady as he -

1) Always treats his opponents seriously.
2) Discusses his rivals with gravitas and depth and admiration.
3) Deflects all credit the press tries to heap upon him to his teammates and coaches.
4) Preaches hard work as the secret to his success.
5) Is a sweet and good natured goofball, and has no problems skewering his own overinflated image.
6) Married for love - Gisele makes more than he does.
7) Will tell the assholes the interview is over as his kids want breakfast, and he's making it.
XLIX) Didn't hunt down Sherman after the game to scream in his face, "YOU MAD, BRO?"
posted by Slap*Happy at 9:25 PM on February 1, 2015 [1 favorite]


Yeah, Sherman and Brady actually greeted each other after the game before anybody else. Well, more like Sherman was there to congratulate him before he even got up from the last kneel down so there wasn't much time for a hunt. :P
posted by Drinky Die at 9:26 PM on February 1, 2015 [1 favorite]


Dumbest play call in Seahawks history. I can't even. I can't even.
posted by EatTheWeek at 9:31 PM on February 1, 2015 [1 favorite]




Also Note Bene - when Kearse came up with that improbable catch? The first Patriot with the presence of mind to tackle him was Butler. I'll take "Smart" over "Talented" anyday.
posted by Slap*Happy at 10:14 PM on February 1, 2015


Did anywhere talk about why that weird fight started?
posted by corb at 10:31 PM on February 1, 2015


The Seahawks defense were unused to tackling an eligible receiver like Gronkowski, and kind of embarrassed he performed against them as advertised. They were similarly surprised the cool-headed Pats O-Line put themselves between Gronk and their D-line after picking a vicious fight where the Pats tight-end was about to Wreck House... Gronkowski vs. Vollmer was a battle he knew he shouldn't win. So the kneel-down happened closer to the 30 than the 5, and Gronk let your asshole live as to not piss off Vollmer.
posted by Slap*Happy at 10:45 PM on February 1, 2015 [1 favorite]


@DanWetzel: "Great line from Belichick on whether he'd ever seen a catch like Kearse's: 'Yeah, I've seen two of them.'"
posted by Golden Eternity at 10:51 PM on February 1, 2015 [2 favorites]


COUCHWATCH: STILL NO COUCHES ON FIRE
posted by Artw at 11:14 PM on February 1, 2015


That was a pretty nutty game. I think the wailing about calling the slant there at the end is funny - the Pats set up to block Lynch like crazy, and Seattle tried to sneak past with a toss and if that had worked we'd be talking about how SMRT the Seahawks were. Oh well. It looks like a gift, but it was a gift that the Patriots had to be in position (literally on the field and figuratively in the game) to accept.

If you mourn the absurdity of the final interception you ought to also mourn the absurdity of that insane 15 second bobble on the completion a few plays earlier. It isn't chess. There's chance in the game.

Well at least Brady wasn't the hero tonight.
Yeah, what a lump.
posted by dirtdirt at 9:52 AM on February 2, 2015


The more I think about it, read about it, and watch it in replay, the more I think that slant play was a case of the OC being too clever for his own damn good rather than completely fucking it up. Butler's interception was really, really good and really, really unexpected; as much as I would have loved to see the Hawks win it after yet ANOTHER highly improbable catch, there's another team on the field and they're playing to win too. When you throw two really good teams against each other, the win is defined by those bubble-probability events. That was an epic game played by the two best teams in the league, and it showed.
posted by KathrynT at 10:05 AM on February 2, 2015 [5 favorites]


Yeah, what a lump.

Just referring to the fact the defense came through with the last-minute heroics. Obviously Brady played well.
posted by Hoopo at 11:33 AM on February 2, 2015








Best metaphorical visual representation of what occurred.


Does this mean that next year [redacted to avoid spoilers/guesses]? Get hype.
posted by drezdn at 11:23 AM on February 4, 2015


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