Published: Saturday, November 28, 2009
Does today’s Huskies-Cougars Apple Cup or Sunday’s Seahawks-Rams NFL game merit your attention?
Looking for the smartest football fans in western Washington?
They’re the ones in their cars this morning, braving whatever weather and holiday traffic the mountain passes throw at them to go watch top-ranked Central Washington in the Division II quarterfinals. Or maybe they’re waking up after a long Friday of high school football at the Tacoma Dome and gearing up for round two of the state semifinals.
Clearly, however, if you’re interested in watching quality football, you’re steering clear of the two games featuring Seattle’s biggest football teams. In addition to the options listed above, this weekend also featured a two days of bottom-feeder battles.
First off you have this afternoon’s Apple Cup featuring the three-win Huskies vs. the how-the-heck-did-they-ever-win-one Cougars.
Sunday brings us another battle of one-win bottom-feeder vs. three-win, not-quite-at-the-bottom-but-a-lot-closer-than-they’d-like-to-admit team. Like the Cougars, the Rams see the Seahawks as their best shot at a second victory in 2009, and like the Huskies, the Seahawks know they have to win this weekend to avoid serious embarrassment.
That’s right folks. There will be eight wins and 33 losses on display this weekend for people who tune in to watch the Apple Cup today or Seahawks vs. Rams on Sunday.
At least last year’s Pillow Fight on the Palouse had some intrigue thanks to Washington’s winless record. It was a battle for the bottom of the Pac-10. A chance to avoid being called one of the worst teams in Pac-10 history.
The 2008 Apple Cup was a national joke, but at least that meant the nation was paying attention. This year? WSU has already clinched the Pac-10 cellar this season, and all signs point to the first Apple Cup blowout since 2000.
Of course don’t expect the Huskies to show up expecting an easy afternoon. Well, aside from Kavario Middleton anyway. Washington has hardly lived up to the lofty expectations it created with an early-season upset over USC, and if the Huskies are thinking Washington State provides their best shot at one more win this season, well, they’re right. But they won’t be the only team at Husky Stadium thinking that way.
“I just tell them that (the Cougars) are probably looking at us and saying the same thing,” Huskies coach Steve Sarkisian said when asked how he’d combat over confidence on his team.
Does it get any better than bad team vs. worse team when it comes to rivalries? Sure, it’d be great to have the game deciding a Rose Bowl berth, as is the case in this year’s Oregon vs. Oregon State rivalry, but is that any match for, “Well, they might be bad, but we’re pretty crappy too so we can’t take anything for granted?”
And speaking of teams who might not win again this year, the Rams are hosting the Seahawks in what is likely the best remaining shot at victory No. 2 for St. Louis. The Seahawks, despite their own struggles, should be able to claim a 10th straight win over the Rams.
St. Louis comes into Sunday’s game ranking 28th or worse in the NFL in scoring offense, scoring defense, total defense, and run defense. And just in case you forgot, there are only 32 teams in the league. The Rams are so awful that the Seahawks are a whopping 3½-point favorite Sunday. Wait, what? That’s it, 3½ points? Oh yeah, the Seahawks haven’t been so good this season either. At least the Seahawks don’t play close games—six of seven losses have been by double digits, as have all of their wins—so no matter what happens you’ll probably be able to turn it off early.
The only good news about this weekend of putridity is the fact that one of the state’s most prominent football teams has to win since it is Apple Cup weekend. The bulk of football fans in this state root for the Huskies, Cougars or Seahawks, or some combination of the three, and quite frequently all have suffered together.
It has been since Sept. 8-9 2007 that the Seahawks, Huskies and Cougars have all won on the same weekend (and let’s ignore that I stupidly predicted that two-year run of futility would come to end earlier this fall).
All three teams lost on the same weekend later that season, then managed to pull off the loser’s trifecta weekend seven times in 2008. This season has seen the Cougars, Huskies and Seahawks all lose on the same weekend three times — spread out bye weeks have kept it from happening more — but this weekend guarantees us that a least somebody will be happy come Monday.
But the happiest football fans? They’ll be the ones that found winning teams to root for. Cougars, Huskies, Rams and Seahawks? No thanks. How about a high-school marathon at the Tacoma Dome that kicks off at 10 a.m. with Lynden vs. Archbishop Murphy and ends 12 hours later with Skyline vs. Bothell?
And if you’re really a glutton for punishment, there is a restaurant in the T-Dome with TVs. I’m sure they’ll be showing the Apple Cup.
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more Seahawks coverage, check out the Seahawks blog at heraldnet.com/seahawksblog
They’re the ones in their cars this morning, braving whatever weather and holiday traffic the mountain passes throw at them to go watch top-ranked Central Washington in the Division II quarterfinals. Or maybe they’re waking up after a long Friday of high school football at the Tacoma Dome and gearing up for round two of the state semifinals.
Clearly, however, if you’re interested in watching quality football, you’re steering clear of the two games featuring Seattle’s biggest football teams. In addition to the options listed above, this weekend also featured a two days of bottom-feeder battles.
First off you have this afternoon’s Apple Cup featuring the three-win Huskies vs. the how-the-heck-did-they-ever-win-one Cougars.
Sunday brings us another battle of one-win bottom-feeder vs. three-win, not-quite-at-the-bottom-but-a-lot-closer-than-they’d-like-to-admit team. Like the Cougars, the Rams see the Seahawks as their best shot at a second victory in 2009, and like the Huskies, the Seahawks know they have to win this weekend to avoid serious embarrassment.
That’s right folks. There will be eight wins and 33 losses on display this weekend for people who tune in to watch the Apple Cup today or Seahawks vs. Rams on Sunday.
At least last year’s Pillow Fight on the Palouse had some intrigue thanks to Washington’s winless record. It was a battle for the bottom of the Pac-10. A chance to avoid being called one of the worst teams in Pac-10 history.
The 2008 Apple Cup was a national joke, but at least that meant the nation was paying attention. This year? WSU has already clinched the Pac-10 cellar this season, and all signs point to the first Apple Cup blowout since 2000.
Of course don’t expect the Huskies to show up expecting an easy afternoon. Well, aside from Kavario Middleton anyway. Washington has hardly lived up to the lofty expectations it created with an early-season upset over USC, and if the Huskies are thinking Washington State provides their best shot at one more win this season, well, they’re right. But they won’t be the only team at Husky Stadium thinking that way.
“I just tell them that (the Cougars) are probably looking at us and saying the same thing,” Huskies coach Steve Sarkisian said when asked how he’d combat over confidence on his team.
Does it get any better than bad team vs. worse team when it comes to rivalries? Sure, it’d be great to have the game deciding a Rose Bowl berth, as is the case in this year’s Oregon vs. Oregon State rivalry, but is that any match for, “Well, they might be bad, but we’re pretty crappy too so we can’t take anything for granted?”
And speaking of teams who might not win again this year, the Rams are hosting the Seahawks in what is likely the best remaining shot at victory No. 2 for St. Louis. The Seahawks, despite their own struggles, should be able to claim a 10th straight win over the Rams.
St. Louis comes into Sunday’s game ranking 28th or worse in the NFL in scoring offense, scoring defense, total defense, and run defense. And just in case you forgot, there are only 32 teams in the league. The Rams are so awful that the Seahawks are a whopping 3½-point favorite Sunday. Wait, what? That’s it, 3½ points? Oh yeah, the Seahawks haven’t been so good this season either. At least the Seahawks don’t play close games—six of seven losses have been by double digits, as have all of their wins—so no matter what happens you’ll probably be able to turn it off early.
The only good news about this weekend of putridity is the fact that one of the state’s most prominent football teams has to win since it is Apple Cup weekend. The bulk of football fans in this state root for the Huskies, Cougars or Seahawks, or some combination of the three, and quite frequently all have suffered together.
It has been since Sept. 8-9 2007 that the Seahawks, Huskies and Cougars have all won on the same weekend (and let’s ignore that I stupidly predicted that two-year run of futility would come to end earlier this fall).
All three teams lost on the same weekend later that season, then managed to pull off the loser’s trifecta weekend seven times in 2008. This season has seen the Cougars, Huskies and Seahawks all lose on the same weekend three times — spread out bye weeks have kept it from happening more — but this weekend guarantees us that a least somebody will be happy come Monday.
But the happiest football fans? They’ll be the ones that found winning teams to root for. Cougars, Huskies, Rams and Seahawks? No thanks. How about a high-school marathon at the Tacoma Dome that kicks off at 10 a.m. with Lynden vs. Archbishop Murphy and ends 12 hours later with Skyline vs. Bothell?
And if you’re really a glutton for punishment, there is a restaurant in the T-Dome with TVs. I’m sure they’ll be showing the Apple Cup.
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more Seahawks coverage, check out the Seahawks blog at heraldnet.com/seahawksblog
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