By Scott M. Johnson
Herald Writer
As the daylight crept over another eastern Washington morning, Phil Gray and his son sat upon a set of aluminum bleachers and watched in anticipation. The Seattle Seahawks were taking the field for a training camp practice, and Gray was eager to get his first look at new quarterback Matt Hasselbeck.
That Gray, a longtime Seahawks fan from Idaho, was wearing a No. 7 jersey with the name KITNA across the back only added to the scene.
“I’m excited,” Gray said as the Seahawks practiced last month in Cheney. “I think the defense should be pretty decent this year.
“The new quarterback, I don’t know about him yet.”
Despite some well-intended skepticism, Gray is one of the die-hards. He claims he’s been following the Seahawks “since inception,” and says he’ll stick with them no matter who’s on the roster.
Now, if only the Seahawks could find a few more thousand like him.
The fact of the matter is, fans have found it difficult to attach themselves to this year’s Seahawks. Today’s season opener against the lowly Cleveland Browns isn’t exactly Frazier-Ali, and about 17,000 tickets still remain for next week’s home opener.
Only one game was sold out last year, a trend that may well extend into this season. As of this weekend, about 46,000 season tickets had been sold – 12,000 less than were sold during coach Mike Holmgren’s debut season in 1999.
The lack of interest concerning this year’s Seahawks comes down to a number of factors:
“As soon as the Mariners win the World Series, I’ll tune in to the Seahawks,” said Tom Munro, a 46-year-old sports fan from Puyallup. “For now, they’ll be a casualty of the Mariners’ success.”
Munro is typical of a local sports fan. He considers himself a loyal Seahawks fan, but when asked to name five current players, he could only come up with third-string quarterback and Puyallup native Brock Huard.
“The season’s so long, so when they’re a third into it, if they’re having success, you start learning the players,” Munro said. “After (today’s) game I’ll be able to name five.”
And if the Seahawks should lose to the Browns today?
“That’s it. The TV goes off for the rest of the season,” Munro said.
Kris Privat, a 31-year-old doorman at the Triangle Pub in downtown Seattle, is also trying to latch on to the Seahawks. But he could name exactly one less player than Munro.
“They’re like a fish out of water,” Privat said. “A new coach, a new stadium. They’re still in transition.”
Said 20-year-old Seattle resident Dan Cuena: “It seems like a rebuilding year because of all these new players, and them moving into a new stadium.”
For all intents and purposes, the 2001 season is like a bridge between two eras. The team will move into a new division (the NFC West) and a new stadium in 2002. They will also return a young nucleus of players like Matt Hasselbeck, Koren Robinson, Steve Hutchinson and Ken Lucas who have yet to win over the fans.
In the ever-changing world of free agency and the salary cap, a lack of continuity is a familiar problem for NFL teams.
“It’s definitely different from the old days, when you knew Franco Harris was going to be (with the Pittsburgh Steelers) and Bradshaw and Swann and Stallworth. You knew there were going to be those guys year in and year out,” said Seahawks defensive end Michael Sinclair, one of only three players who have been with the Seahawks since 1996. “But the way professional sports are today with free agency, it’s hard. … It’s hard for the fans. I sympathize with the fans.”
Because of the roster turnover, the Seahawks’ marketing department took a different approach this year. For the first time, humor and personality were major parts of the radio and television advertising campaigns. The team brought in actor Eugene Levy of American Pie and Splash fame, and ran a campaign that featured him in a devil costume trying to get Seahawks players to sell their soul for a trip to the playoffs.
“We wanted to open up the players’ personalities and get the fans to see them in a certain setting,” said Seahawks senior vice president Duane McLean, who is in charge of sales and marketing. “We wanted the fans to be able to connect with the team. … We’ve made quite a few changes to the roster over the past two years, and we wanted folks to be able to connect with the players.”
Despite the turnover, fans are slowly beginning to warm up to the new faces. According to Sue Harris, retail operations manager at The End Zone in downtown Seattle, Hasselbeck’s No. 8 has been the hottest-selling jersey lately.
And excitement over the new stadium has actually helped season-ticket sales this year. Fans trying to secure season tickets for the 2002 season can help their chances by purchasing tickets for the upcoming year.
“A new stadium is something to get excited about,” McLean said. “Safeco Field is a great example of that. People get excited and it seems to energize the community.
“There’s a certain enthusiasm with this team. It’s a new beginning, and we’re looking forward to it.”
There is optimism brewing in Kirkland, where the Seahawks have been practicing for the past two weeks. The St. Louis Rams and Baltimore Ravens came from nowhere to win the past two Super Bowls, so you never know what can happen in the NFL.
But football fans in this area are still being rather guarded. Some of them are getting impatient.
And then there’s Phil Gray.
“You’d have to see me watch a football game. I’m not patient when I’m watching it,” Gray said, then looked out at the pack of unfamiliar faces on the practice field and added: “But I understand what’s going on.”
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