A blip on the screen...

GO SEAHAWKS!!!

Yeah!

Oh, I lied a bit. I know I said I’m going to post daily until February 07, 2006… two days after Super Bowl XL is written in the history books, but there’s those days when my life just gets too busy at work, at home and at other places doing other things, making it difficult, at best to get a post in.

Yesterday was one of those days so today’s post will have to serve as an overlapping contribution… being as it was written (well, started) prior to midnight and posted after midnight (well noon).

When I have the time I write everything I can in MS Word then copy and paste it to the blog. I’ve lost too many pieces in blogspot that I worked very hard on… never saw them again and never able to post them after spending a mess of time writing them… simply because of some blogspot glitch or something.

Either way, this blog’s primary theme for the next week (plus three days) is our SEATTLE SEAHAWKS!

We’re tucked away up here in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. It's a region though... Idaho, Oregon, British Columbia... a region... a proud region. Most people think of Washington D.C. when they hear talk about “Washington”. Few seem to associate the state with the name… at least in the northeast, on the eastern seaboard and down south. But when “Seattle” is brought into the conversation everybody you talk to has a “general” idea of where Seattle’s at… and most know it’s not a D.C. suburb.

People associate salmon, rain, tall trees, hills, mountains, water (a lot of water) and Microsoft with Seattle. Heck, some even associate the Seattle Mariners with the state because of their great season a couple of years back. But the Seahawks? Well, aren’t they that (at best) mediocre team that started out as an NFL team, moved to the AFL then back to the NFC? Aren’t they that team that’s never been to the super bowl in their 29 year history? Aren’t they that team that used to play in a big, old, leaking concrete wart of a building down by the mudflats? That building south of downtown Seattle... "SoDo" as we say around here.

Yup, they’re that same NFC team who just happened to stumble along during the NFL 2005 football season, somehow beat 15 teams on those teams worst days. They’re that team that somehow managed to get one of two available slots to play in the Super Bowl. They’re that mediocre team who won 15 out of 18 games against less than mediocre opponents like the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Carolina Panthers, St. Louis Rams, Kansas City Chiefs, Philadelpia Eagles and the Washington Redskins to name a few…

Somehow they got the number 1 seed in the NFC… snuck in and got it they did. Somehow they won those “critical” games and went oh-so-much-further than they ever “should have”. Somehow… somehow they made it into the NFL Championship Game and are once again expected to lose… to regain their crown of mediocrity when they play that “smash mouth, finely tuned, oh-so-talented” AFC team from the burg called Pittsburgh in that blue collar state of Pennsylvania.

I, for one don’t think the Seahawk’s season is a “fluke”. I don’t think they’re as mediocre as some would have us believe. I don’t think their schedule was “soft” or their opponents had “bad days”. I understand Pittsburgh is now the team to beat in the Super Bowl. I understand Pittsburgh soundly thrashed Denver and Indianapolis (among many others) to get there. I understand Jerome Bettis is a big, hard hitting back that seems to be the “go to” guy for the team… their mascot and most recent rally towel. I understand that their quarterback… with a name sounding something like Rothschilds, Rothenburger, Rosenbloom or the likes… is a second year player that has an outstanding knack for the game of North American football. I understand that Bill Cowher is one mighty fine coach, has an uncanny ability to rally his players and isn’t afraid to “mix it up” a bit.

I understand all of these things and more. I really do but I also understand Seattle’s a mighty fine team… one that has always been the underdog, if for no other reason than simply for where they’re physically located. I know Seattle’s running back Shaun Alexander is the league’s Most Valuable Player for 2006. I know Seattle’s quarterback, Matt Hasselbeck is one premier player out there… calm under pressure and quite the field general. I know Seattle’s defense has really “stepped up” in the playoffs and totally kicked some butt. I also know that head coach Mike Holmgren has “been there, done that” in this dance of dances and is going to be there, doing it again.

In our little world up here… in our little corner of this world we know what it’s like to be overlooked. We expect and accept being overlooked… in fact, some of us (like me) even appreciate it. We use other’s ignorance and complacency to our advantage. When people don’t care… don’t believe… don’t really know and pass judgment on us “northwesterners” well, when we see that happening to us we smile and know we’re halfway there.

Slipping under the radar again…

“GO SEAHAWKS!!!”