Can’t get enough of the Seahawks

  • By John Sleeper / Herald columnist
  • Sunday, January 29, 2006 9:00pm
  • Sports

DETROIT – Bless Melanie Munk, our features editor.

For no earthly reason other than she’s one of the world’s Great Human Beings, Melanie volunteered to drive the four of us to the airport, the four chosen ones to cover Super Bowl XL. For Munk, it had to be an XL task, but she wouldn’t complain.

Truth is, I think Melanie was getting a multiple megawatt charge over it. She even brought orange juice, bottled water and chewing gum, cracked more jokes than we were awake enough to understand and got us to Sea Tac by 4:15 a.m., plenty of time for our 6:15 a.m. flight.

Munk didn’t sleep Saturday night, instead choosing to stay awake, jump into her car and pick us up at various venues in Snohomish and King counties. As I live nearest to her, she was at my door at 2:45 a.m. Next was Jennifer Buchanan, photographer extraordinaire, who met us in a strip mall around Mill Creek. Next was Victor Balta, our crack TV and entertainment writer. Last was the incomparable Scott Johnson, who has been bombarding you with news Seahawkian for years.

And that’s what we intend to do from today through a week from today and probably beyond. Who can get enough Seahawks these days? If you’re not geeked up out of your mind about Sunday, you put the NFL on the same excitement level as tube socks.

For the next eight days, you’ll get your Super Bowl XL fix from these pages alone. From the writers to the photographers to the editors to administration to circulation to advertising to the bean-counters to marketing to human resources to production and every other department at this newspaper, I’ve never seen such an all-out team effort in my 19 years in this crazy business.

Not even close.

We have a motto at our little newspaper. It’s “Together, We Can,” and together we will. Count on it.

Believe me, if we weren’t dead serious about this, we wouldn’t have stuffed our 165 pieces of luggage into the trunk of Melanie’s mid-sized car, sardine-canned three adult kiesters into the back seat and piled multiple bags on everyone’s laps to the extent that Melanie had to ask me, riding shotgun, when it was even remotely safe to change lanes on I-5.

Just as Joe Namath guaranteed his New York Jets would upset the heavily favored Baltimore Colts at Super Bowl III in 1969, I guarantee our coverage will knock your socks off.

To say that I’m proud to play even a small part in this is one of the understatements of the decade.

You’ll learn about Detroit, an extraordinarily interesting city, with its own issues, triumphs and challenges.

You’ll meet Bill Cowher, the great, jumbo-jawed Steelers head coach. You’ll read about what the Seahawks can and can’t do against the Steelers and what the Steelers can and can’t do against the Seahawks. You’ll read why Pittsburgh’s 3-4 defense could cause problems for Shaun Alexander and the Seahawks offensive line.

You’ll see how Cowher and Seattle coach Mike Holmgren, both veterans of Super Bowls past, approach the game and try to get maximum production out of their players, the vast majority of whom have never played on this type of stage.

You’ll get a taste of how Detroit is embracing this event and how city officials hope Super Bowl XL will give a different, more positive impression on this remarkable city. You’ll see merchandise, merchandise, merchandise.

You’ll meet latte-swilling Seahawks fans, brand new to the Super Bowl, lucky enough to get tickets for the game and the Terrible Towel-waving Steelers fans who drove from Pittsburgh, about four hours away, who’ll try to score game tickets from scalpers. And if they can’t, they’ll tailgate anyway in any parking lot they can find.

You’ll hear from the Rolling Stones, who will perform at halftime, presumably without benefit of wheelchairs. In fact, we just may delve into the particulars of Motown, including the great Detroit native Stevie Wonder, one of the pre-game performers.

Question: What do Francis Ford Coppola, George C. Scott, Lily Tomlin, Alice Cooper, Robin Williams, Madonna, Ed McMahon, Ted Nugent, Soupy Sales, Tim Allen, Buzz Aldrin and Wilson Pickett have in common?

Answer: Detroiters, all. Great cast from a great city.

In closing, let me make one more promise.

Other newspapers will have more people here to cover the week at Super Bowl XL.

None will have any who will work harder for their readers than we will, from Detroit to Everett.

And none will have more fun.

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