Professional sports has a dirty little secret, and it has nothing to do with performance-enhancing drugs, off-the-field activities or million-dollar paychecks.
It’s got to do with hatred. There just isn’t much of it. Not as much as you might think.
Would you believe that Julian Peterson and Orlando Pace are actually quite chummy? That Mike Holmgren and Mike Martz became confidants while the Seahawks and Rams were becoming the Hatfields and McCoys? That Shaun Alexander and Marshall Faulk are as close as a 9-iron and a putter?
We’d like to think that Brett Favre would pull out a gun if he ever saw Brian Urlacher on the streets, but the only way that would happen is if the bitter rivals were to go hunting together. We assume that Shawn Springs wants to strangle Terrell Owens, but he actually finds the annoyingly smug wide receiver to be rather charming.
Even Carson Palmer was exaggerating when he used the word “hate” to describe his feelings for the rival Pittsburgh Steelers earlier this season.
The fans can work themselves into a lather over a good rivalry, but the truth is that none of the professional athletes really hate each other anymore. Not the players on the Cowboys and Redskins. Not the Celtics and 76ers, nor the Dodgers and Giants. Not even the Red Sox and Yankees.
And that brings us to Sunday’s game at Qwest Field. The Seahawks’ game against the Minnesota Vikings is rare in that there is no love lost between the franchises.
The Steve Hutchinson saga has left both organizations with bitter feelings. The Vikings got under the Seahawks’ skin by offering Hutchinson a contract that Seattle couldn’t legally match, and then the Seahawks got a little revenge by stealing receiver Nate Burleson away from Minnesota in a similar fashion.
Things got so ugly that a mediator had to get involved. Accusations were quietly lobbied back and forth. “Hate” might be too strong a word, but “dislike” might not be strong enough.
Vikings offensive lineman Matt Birk offered that “maybe there are a couple front-office guys that do” harbor animosity toward each other, but he said he’s got no hard feelings toward any of the Seahawks.
“Things happen, and as players there is so much that is out of our control,” he said. “I’m glad Hutch is here. I played with Nate for a while, and I love Nate. … That kind of stuff happens, and I’ve moved on.”
Whatever feelings are left between the two franchises are unlikely to spill over onto the field. There shouldn’t be any Joey Porter-to-Chad Johnson trash talk at the 50-yard line, nor is Lamar Thomas likely to be in the press box cheering on a bench-clearing brawl.
But there are some hurt feelings on both sides, and so Sunday’s game has a little more on the line than usual.
Eli and Peyton Manning might have the friendliest of sibling rivalries, and the Bears-Packers might not have the passion that it once did.
But it’s nice to know that sometimes an NFL game comes along that gets the blood boiling. For not just the fans, but also the teams involved.
And one of those games will take place Sunday at Qwest Field.
Scott M. Johnson is The Herald’s pro football writer
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