What a game

[Jedi]

Call in a sports radio station and vent so that everyone listening to you in traffic can simultaneously think to themselves "What a jackass".

 

[Hugh B Tool]

Tough loss to swallow for sure, to me though fans of local teams here swallow it too easily and then want to spit it back up when their teams are down for more than a season or two. If the Hawks go 8-8 two years in a row and don't make the playoffs you will be able to buy best in house seats on gameday. Simple fact. The fans now are some the most boisterous around, because they think they should or can be. Two losing seasons in a row? half of the same fans will be watching a regatta instead of a Hawk game. I've seen it first hand over the past twenty years in all the major sports in and around this area. Call it fair weather, bandwagon or lack of CHAMPIONSHIP tradition. It isn't the stadium, it isn't about more outside activities etc. It is about "The Ring". Having come so close to that prize may help turn the trend down the road, one around here can only hope.

 

To me a fan should be mad about tough losses and remember them forever burnt in their memories. JMHO. Actually sort of a metaphor to golf. Average Joe player, has fun, keeps score somewhat, and ALWAYS ALWAYS remembers the good shots from their last round. The bad shots usually were ther result of course fault or too many beers. Good single digit player, has more fun when shooting well, keeps meticulous score, and mostly remembers only their bad shots and ways to improve on them.

Edited January 16, 2007 by Hugh B Tool

[TheGrunt]

Listen my man - Seattle IS a soft sports town- go travel, go to some games in Chi, NY, Philly, Bay area even - Seattle is very good at rationalizing dissapointing years with a, hey - we had a nice season, and well, we will just have to wait for that championship just a little while longer. Done wit dat chit

 

Wait.... hasn't it been 28 years since we won a major championship?? yeah, but that's ok. I had no illusions of winning the SB this year after they had an off year, just sucks b/c you only get a few legit shots in the NFL and you gotta win it all while you can -

 

 

Many of you speak as though Seattle is soft compared to all other East Coast die-hard football cities. But take a look other cities, like New Orleans fans... you won't see them holding their heads up high on a year-to-year basis bragging about how great their team should be. In fact, they probably have a similar mind-frame of "if we lose, I saw it coming". I can see why many can assume this sort of attitude among many NW sports fans, but I don't know how this makes us soft.

 

Sure, Seattle fans might be better at rationalizing wins and losses than other cities. And maybe this is the case because of our teams franchise history. But being a soft fan about a loss is not always the case for even Seattle. You will find many Seahawks fans still upset about the loss in last years Super Bowl. A game many people believe the Seahawks could have easily won. We want to win just as badly as the other cities want their teams to win. But if we lose, we understand that it's not the worst that can happen. We've got other important daily life activities to deal with, and while our sports team might not have won this year, it's still just a game. We can be bitter all throughout the offseason because our team didn't win it all again, or we can hope our team performs better next year.

 

I did have illusions that the Seahawks could have gone all the way this year, and as someone living in Seattle with a very competitive heart towards sports, I'd have liked nothing more than to see the sports team playing for the city that I live in go to the Super Bowl and win it all. But it didn't happen. What else do you expect Seahawks fans to say?

 

You can take Seattle as a soft fan of sports, and categorize this as a typical NW attitude for sports. Or you can look at it in a more realistic point of view. Seattle has been very unlucky with not just the NFL, but other major sporting events in the city:

• Seattle Mariners in the past have made it deep into MLB playoffs, but have not yet won a Championship.

• The Seattle Supersonics have only one NBA Championship, won in 1979.

• The Seahawks only Super Bowl appearance was last year, and the 'Hawks lost.

 

Us North Westerners have become well experienced in the art of accepting loss and defeat on a year-to-year basis. Take that sort of attitude about our sports franchise history, and then look at how Seattle fans come to cheer for our teams home games, more looking at the Seahawks right here, and see that we are also one of the loudest stadiums in the league -- AFC and NFC. It doesn't add up to most other fans, but makes you realize how much we appreciate a high-profile, powerhouse team like the Seahawks. We love to see a north west team perform very well.

 

And deep down it hurts a lot to see our great team lose, but on the outside we've learned to move on from the down times, and look up to the future of our team next year.

 

So it's obvious why the sports culture in Seattle might act differently than other more history-rich sports cities, but to consider us soft, and not so much disapointed after a painful loss like the one against the Bears is not only unfair, but dead wrong.

 

I'm pissed the Niners aren't doing so well. I'm upset the Seahawks still have not won a Super Bowl. But I'm not about to bitch and moan about it to all the other fans out there. I consider that a loss of pride and of poor sportsmanship.

[Menudo]

I'm confused where you got the idea that Seattle has a soft sports mentality.

 

Seattle fans are, and should be disapointed with the end result of not only this year during the playoffs, but last year during the Super Bowl as well. The Seahawks are only getting older, and the window of opportunity is only getting smaller with each year that passes. But there is a certain level of understanding that even though we didn't win it this year or the last, we still have a great chance of winning it all next year.

 

You can only sulk over a loss for so long. The fact is Seattle lost a very close game against the Bears, but simply didn't quite have enough to take home the win. It happens. While it's disappointing, the realistic fact is there is still next year, or even the year after that.

 

Is that soft? No. It's simply a realistic way to look at a hard fought playoff game that resulted in a loss. It sucks, but the options are either to complain and b!tch about it, or get over it and move on to other hopeful opportunities down the road. I choose the latter option and hope for better results next year.

 

 

[Menudo]

Having lived in several different parts of the country over the past ten years, I think that this phenomenon isn't just confined to Seattle, but to much of the Northwest in general. I can't speak about Washington, but pro sports are an afterthought in Oregon. People here would rather go skiing or play hackey-sack than watch a football game. They care more about their two crappy college football teams than their defending NFC Champions.

 

Case in point: My wife and I were really excited when a new sports bar opened in town this summer because they were located in a nice area right in town, opened at 10 on Sundays, had all HDTVs, all of the sports packages, free Wi-Fi, restaurant-quality pub food, and lots of great local microbrews on tap. And guess what? Nobody showed up. There would literally be no more than 15 people there on a Sunday afternoon... even when the Seahawks were on. We went there to watch the Bears/Seahawks game yesterday and they were closed. So, we went to another high-end sports bar downtown and found out that they don't open until 11:30. After that, we went to an older, more popular sports bar a few blocks away. It was open but, again, there were only about 20 people there... to watch a Seahawks playoff game. What a freaking joke. Hell, I remember watching Game 7 of the Spurs/Pistons '05 NBA Finals with about 300 rowdy Texans in a jam-packed, standing-room-only bar a year and a half ago. That would NEVER happen here.

 

 

Wow, that is bad. In Harrisburg, PA, there are some bars that are known to be 'Steeler' bars, and some known to be 'Eagles' bars. I can't speak for the Eagles bars, but, at those 'Steeler' bars, you can't get a seat if you don't show up before 11AM.

[Menudo]

 

Many of you speak as though Seattle is soft compared to all other East Coast die-hard football cities. But take a look other cities, like New Orleans fans... you won't see them holding their heads up high on a year-to-year basis bragging about how great their team should be. In fact, they probably have a similar mind-frame of "if we lose, I saw it coming". I can see why many can assume this sort of attitude among many NW sports fans, but I don't know how this makes us soft.

 

Sure, Seattle fans might be better at rationalizing wins and losses than other cities. And maybe this is the case because of our teams franchise history. But being a soft fan about a loss is not always the case for even Seattle. You will find many Seahawks fans still upset about the loss in last years Super Bowl. A game many people believe the Seahawks could have easily won. We want to win just as badly as the other cities want their teams to win. But if we lose, we understand that it's not the worst that can happen. We've got other important daily life activities to deal with, and while our sports team might not have won this year, it's still just a game. We can be bitter all throughout the offseason because our team didn't win it all again, or we can hope our team performs better next year.

 

I did have illusions that the Seahawks could have gone all the way this year, and as someone living in Seattle with a very competitive heart towards sports, I'd have liked nothing more than to see the sports team playing for the city that I live in go to the Super Bowl and win it all. But it didn't happen. What else do you expect Seahawks fans to say?

 

You can take Seattle as a soft fan of sports, and categorize this as a typical NW attitude for sports. Or you can look at it in a more realistic point of view. Seattle has been very unlucky with not just the NFL, but other major sporting events in the city:

• Seattle Mariners in the past have made it deep into MLB playoffs, but have not yet won a Championship.

• The Seattle Supersonics have only one NBA Championship, won in 1979.

• The Seahawks only Super Bowl appearance was last year, and the 'Hawks lost.

Us North Westerners have become well experienced in the art of accepting loss and defeat on a year-to-year basis. Take that sort of attitude about our sports franchise history, and then look at how Seattle fans come to cheer for our teams home games, more looking at the Seahawks right here, and see that we are also one of the loudest stadiums in the league -- AFC and NFC. It doesn't add up to most other fans, but makes you realize how much we appreciate a high-profile, powerhouse team like the Seahawks. We love to see a north west team perform very well.

 

And deep down it hurts a lot to see our great team lose, but on the outside we've learned to move on from the down times, and look up to the future of our team next year.

 

So it's obvious why the sports culture in Seattle might act differently than other more history-rich sports cities, but to consider us soft, and not so much disapointed after a painful loss like the one against the Bears is not only unfair, but dead wrong.

 

I'm pissed the Niners aren't doing so well. I'm upset the Seahawks still have not won a Super Bowl. But I'm not about to bitch and moan about it to all the other fans out there. I consider that a loss of pride and of poor sportsmanship.

 

 

Isn't it difficult to root for two teams in the same division ??? I'm not ripping you, but, I just don't see how that can work.

[Jedi]

Isn't it difficult to root for two teams in the same division ??? I'm not ripping you, but, I just don't see how that can work.

 

I'm in that boat... life-long fan of both with family in SF and me living in Seattle. Worked just fine with one team in each conference. They even used to play each other every year in a meaningless preseason game.. Perfect, until the re-org.

[bushwacked]

If the Hawks go 8-8 two years in a row and don't make the playoffs you will be able to buy best in house seats on gameday. Simple fact.

 

 

I can guarantee that wasn't the case immediately in the late 80's and early 90's at the end of playoff ball and after the Knox/Largent/Warner/Krieg era. There is a big difference between a couple years of .500 ball and a dubious 22 year gap between playoff victories.

[godtomsatan]

I can guarantee that wasn't the case immediately in the late 80's and early 90's at the end of playoff ball and after the Knox/Largent/Warner/Krieg era. There is a big difference between a couple years of .500 ball and a dubious 22 year gap between playoff victories.

 

 

Not to mention an ownership group that tried to move the team multiple times.

[TheGrunt]

Isn't it difficult to root for two teams in the same division ??? I'm not ripping you, but, I just don't see how that can work.

 

Yes. Although I went through a rough time with the Niners once they released Terrell Owens instead of Garcia. I used to appreciate Garcia for how well he played with the Niners, but then realized he is the product of throwing to both Jerry Rice and TO during his three pro-bowl years.

 

At any rate, after TO left I still remained hopeful the 49ers would do well, but they continued to slide backward. Which sucked. But at the time I was living in Oregon when Joey Harrington went to the Lions, so I decided to see what it was like to pay attention to two different teams, the Lions ( ) and the 49ers. Even after Harrington left the Lions I still hope they get better, but couldn't really get into the whole being a fan of the team. It just never clicked for me.

 

With the Seahawks, it kind of started in 2005 when I went to the Seahawks vs. 49ers game (@ Seattle), and the Seahawks dominated 41-3. I remember being so pissed off, but still had a lot of fun going to the game. That was also the Season that I had drafted Shaun Alexander onto my dynasty team, in which he had his MVP performance season. I also had Hasselbeck on my roster that year as well. So it became only a matter of time where I would start to root for the Seahawks to score a lot of points, only because it meant my fantasy team would score a lot of points. After following a team so closely like that, it's only inevitable that I began to get comfortable rooting for them.

 

However, when push comes to shove, I'll always root for the Niners to win when they play either the Seahawks or the Lions. So this year I was treated with the gift of handing the Seahawks two losses, which only pleased me more than the Niners have done so in the past couple of season.

 

I do agree, it probably sounds more odd than it is, but I think when discussing the above post about how Seahawks fans are not soft, I was more so just trying to make a point that this assumption is more than just asinine, it's dead wrong. Seahawks fans want to win just as much as the other teams' fans want their teams to win. It's just hard to brag or boast about a franchise that historically doesn't have the reputation that other teams have massed together.