When the team you dislike more than any other plays your favorite team in the Super Bowl, it is going to hurt if your team loses. It is going to really hurt if they lose because of a mistake and a terrible play call. And it will really really hurt watching your franchise quarterback throw a pick to another no name player for the Patriots. It makes you wonder why you even watch sports. The lows are so low. The pain is so sharp. I can feel the worry about my team in my stomach from the opening whistle. The pain only grows more pronounced and finally turns into a dense iron ball in the gut as I watch my team throw away its chance on the last meaningful play of the game.
Being subjected to the idiotic celebrations of my Masshole neighbor made it difficult to fall asleep after the play. Even after his drunken revelry subsided, the sleep came in fits and starts. The haunting image of the interception brought me out of my light slumber. Once awoken, my mind raced. Why did they throw? Why do I care so much and why do I even watch?
Why Did They Throw?
The answer to this question is straightforward. Because they thought it would work. They were wrong. It really is not that complicated. Yes it was stupid. Yes it was the wrong play call. People make mistakes. Some bigger than others. And some mistakes, unlike this one, have real-life consequences. So in the end, it does not matter. This is great fodder for talking heads to debate endlessly on TV for a few days, but it is not really worth talking about otherwise.
Why Do I Care So Much and Why Do I Even Watch?
This question is much more interesting. Being haunted throughout the night by the play and desperately trying to think of anything else but the play has given me time to consider.
I care because the Seahawks are part of my past and are part of my home.
The Seahawks are sitting in the living room of my childhood home on the beach and watching the game on Sunday with my dad. I would become even more emotional. Storming out of the room as the Kingdome Seahawks blew another game to their then AFC West rivals. My dad would remind me not to be a fair-weather fan. A message that creeps in my head whenever I have the urge to turn off the game today.
The Seahawks are my friend surprising me with a Seahawks football that still sits on my bookshelf. That football was part of a series around the year 2000 that would contain an insignia of the team’s best and most recent accomplishment. That football says: “1988 AFC West Division Champions.”
The Seahawks are my brother and our friends raucously watching a game on Sunday. Making enough noise during a preseason game to draw ire from the neighbors. Complaining bitterly about biased officiating. Reminding each other of past games with great and bitter memories.
The Seahawks are my home in the Northwest while I am stuck on this inferior coast sandwiched between the disgusting hypocrisy of the South and the ridiculous “center of the universe” attitude of the North. I can watch a game and be taken back to the feeling I had watching back home. When the Seahawks are at home, I can see the sights of Seattle, a city in which I have never personally lived but which carries the essence Northwest with its grey skyline matching its shipping and timber roots. The players, most of whom are not from the Northwest, blend into the culture, wearing their rain jackets on the sidelines and talking about the 12th Man.
Losing to the hated Patriots will not change anything about the feeling I have for the Seahawks. Making a bad play call that costs the team a Super Bowl will not change that either. The Seahawks would still be my team even if they went 0-16 this next season. I am no fair-weather fan.
The only danger to my love of the Seahawks is my growing disdain for the NFL as a whole. The NFL is a despicable organization run by an incompetent whisper of a man in Roger Goodell. While there are some decent owners, most of the Owners in the NFL are arrogant moneyed elite like Chainsaw Dan Snyder. I suppose if someone like Snyder bought the Seahawks, that could change things as well. But currently, Paul Allen has his sweet sci-fi toys on display at EMP while he sails in his Yacht like a BOSS. So we are safe there…for now.
Yes, it has a helicopter. Actually, two. Only one is visible in the picture.
Until that day comes, and the way the NFL is going it could come, I will keep watching the Seahawks. They will lose and break my heart. They will also raise my spirits. I will also continue to hate the Patriots, and maybe it would be best if I stopped watching any Patriots games.
Go Seahawks.
Even though the patriots are cheaters, my hatred for them is somewhat diminished by the fact everybody knows they’re cheaters. Losing to them, even if they didn’t cheat specifically in this game, is like losing a wrestling match because someone took a chair out from under the ring while the ref wasn’t looking.
I have never forgiven the Cowboys, though the Patriots are objectively terrible.
But I agree with you about the Seahawks being home. The Super Bowl was disappointing, but I’m still amped we got that far. I laughed outloud at the reaction of the room we were in, because every fucker in there had been watching the Seahawks since middle school and it was like, “Well, what did you expect? We always lose…” Which isn’t really true any more, but it has been true for so long.
It would have been nice to break into the big teams, as one of the more annoying aspects of being a team with a dismal record in the past is that most people flat out refuse to–not only take you seriously–but concede that anything was done right or proper at all. You’re always the savage that the established teams gaffe at while at the banquet table.
I love the Seahawks. I did when they were losers for thirty years; I did when we got to the Super Bowl eight years ago. I love them when they win; I still love them when they make a baffling call and even more when they all fall on their swords to take the blame themselves. And, unless they leave the Northwest, I’ll love them still if they’re shit or great next year.
It was a good game and I hate the cheating Patriots (because I always have); but I’m happy we had our day in the sun and still feel excited about next year.
Go Hawks!
Having your team lose in the Super Bowl is a sting like no other (my Broncos have 5 losses in the Super Bowl, more than any other team) and it takes time to heal the wound.
I agree that the product isn’t lead well, branded well, and needs a restructuring starting with Roger.
We keep watching because it’s what we always do when the winter months arrive. It harkens back to our childhood, to past Super Bowl victories, to see another chapter in our team. It’s like family history only with jocks.
I’ll keep watching.