As you may or may not know I am a DIE-HARD, adament, fan of the Seattle Seahawks. LOVED that team since I first started getting into watching NFL football back in the early 80s. BUT the longer I watch football and get a broader perspective on things the more I'm starting to see the advantages of being a less ardent fan. Of just enjoing things when the going is good, then jumping off the bandwaggon and doing something else when the sledding gets tough. You can do that when you're a casuall fan and not emotionally invested in a team. But oftentimes following your favorite team can make you feel like this...
On one level it is real foolery to get emotionally invested in an organizaiont of people who are doing something comletely independent of yourself. And that's exactly what every football team does. Fans aren't on the team, yet so many of them think that they matter to the sucess of the team. Alas, they do not. Whether or not your team shows up and plays well or doesn't not play well on a given day is not influenced by me or you, their fans.
What I'm getting at is that getting all caught up in a football game is really foolish. This is not real life. It is a form of entertainment. Like going to the circus, or going to the movies. ONLY caveat is the male testosternone, athletic bragioso angle; most men like to compete an athletic and get a false sense of security based on how good or bad they are at it.
There are so many better things you can do with your time than watch NFL football. Everytime you watch a complete game that's like 2-3 hours out of your life. And for what?! Either your team wins or it loses.
This year my beloved Seattle Seahawks have been doing a lot of losing. Thanks a lot to the plays guys like Greg Olsen made against my beloved boys in blue and green when the Carolina Panthers came into Century Link and beat my Seattle Seahawks earlier this season. More losing than the spoiled fanbase of the Seattle Seahwaks is used to seeing. The 12th man is real. The fans of the Seattle Seahakws are passionate bunch, but are oftentimes dillusional, and think their team is better than they really are. Trust me, I see this EVERY DAY at work. I talk "Seahawks" with a lot of 12s and most of them don't have a realistic expectation for the team's prospects. They want to hear that their team is going to win, and don't take well to the voice of reason which I normally try to introduce that says that there are compelling factors of why the Seahawks might loose a given game.
It is easy to get caught up in the "hype" for your team in listening to their announcers. I'm finding most local sports talk radio tends to lean on the side of the negative, but the broadcasters of the team are overly positive, giving off the impression that the teams player are better than they really are. That said:
Richard Sherman IS the best Seattle Seahawk right now. I just LA-OVE that guy. He is so much more than the brash, trash-talker who yelled up a storm into Erin Andrews ear after he tipped away a pass intended for Michael Crabtree of the 49ers in the NFC championship game in the 2013 regular season/2014 playoff season. It is so cool to hear Richard speak to reporters. He is smart. He is articulte. He knows how to cut up and have some fun. And he's growing a man right in front of everyone's eyes. I know this year Richard Sherman doesn't have the interception totals. Nor is the Seattle Seahawk pass deffense, the "Legion of Boom" what it used to be. But it's players like Richard Sherman that make me want to be more than just a casual fan. It's not Russell Wilson or Marshawn Lynch, it's Richard Sherman. Trust me, 10 years from now after the Seahawk run is over and you're looking back over this team, HE is the guy who is going to stand out, and for all the right reasons. Richard Sherman is the best Seattle Seahawk player on the team. The epitome of a team player. A guy who has worked is tail off to get where he is now, and is wothy of taking a look into getting to know him, and being more than just a casual fan of the game.
So why bother writing this post, if I'm so in love with a player like Richard Sherman? Well-p, because overall I just don't believe in the 2015 Seattle Seahawks with the same fervancy as I have the past 3-5 years. The magic is misising. Russell Wilson doesn't feel like he's capbable of directing a crucial 4th quarter comeback like he has in past years. Kam Chancellor is off his game. Sure there was that GREAT play against Megatron on Monday Night Football back in October, but besides that play where has Kam been? Does't seem like he's hitting with the same ferocity that made a name for himself. As for Marshawn Lynch, he's out with an ingury now, and just have the sneaking suspion this is the end for him.
The 2015 Seattle Seahawks now 6-5 after a GREAT win over Pittsburgh that I watched earlier this afternoon with my dad. Now, teniously we are the 6th seed in the NFC playoff race, BUT their is still a lot of football to be played, and they haven't wrapped anything up yet. And lately the injury bug has been starting to catch up with this team: Marshawn Lynch is out with a sports hyrnea, and Jimmy Graham is out for the season with a torn petella tendon. Can they recapture their mojo and make a run at possible being a partipant in the 3rd straight Super Bowl appearance? That's not out of the realm of possibitly, so many guys on this team are gritty: Richard Sherman and Doug Baldwin especially; but something about the chemistry with this team if off. Probably a money thing, guys looking arround being jealous of what other guys are making and holding a grudge. To me this one of the most silly thinks in the world. They all cut their own deal--and our rich!! Even if they got injured and can't play another down in the NFL ALL of these guys have already earned enough money to live comfortably for the rest of their lives.
Given that reality, if I was an NFL player, I would play my ass off on every play. Why? Because of something called your legacy. What do you want to be remembered as? A great player who did amazing things, or a guy who held back because he was afraid of getting ingured and had already been played?
These are the concerns I have about ONE Seahawk player, Cam Chancellor. This guy made a name for himself putting on hard hits. Sooo good was Cam Chancellor that I think the whole "Legion of Boom" thing is all him. Yes, when he's on, he's that good. Even this year with diminished overall play from Cam OCCASIONALLY we 12's get a taste of what this super-human is capable. Like in week 4 when Cam saved the day but punching out the ball from Calvin Johnson of the Detroit Lions when he was diving toward the endzone for what would have been the go ahead score late in the 4th quarter:
Unfortunately we haven't seen consistent play from Cam all year. Our deffence is giving up lots of yard, lots of points, and lots of 4th quarter leads. This leaves me with a pit in my stomache that warns that this might not be our year. We've already been beaten by: Green Bay, Cincinatti, St. Louis, and Arizona and Carolina--at home! Unheard of!! And we almoast lost to Pittsburgh at home just today! The play of the 2015 Seattle Seahawks make me wonder if your run of good luck has run out. And if that's the case MAYBE their is a case for being a fair-weather fan, just a causual in-and-out fan that watches an occasional game but NEVER gets emotionally invested in a team.
Unfortunately for me, I'm just now wired that way. I am a ravenous, Seatte fan. I desperately want this team to win out, steal yet another divsion crown away from the Arizona Cardinals, win the NFC playoffs--AND go to AND win another Super Bowl. Is that too much to ask for!! I think not!! Just kidding. See, I'm working myself up into a frenzy again. Gotta stop doing that over something that I have no contol over the outcome of. Now as for my novel... Can't afford to a fair-weather fan there. Will always be a dilligent fan and worker there. And hey, its ulitimate success or demise is TOTALLY in my control.
Wriing trumps watching NFL football. I can say it, but can I put that to the test and set aside the remote and dedicate myself more to what I can conroll, rather than foolheartedly give myself over to something that I don't.
- E.C. Henry who asks the hard-hitting questions in Bonney Lake, WA