This is very easy for me to say. I’ve never had to pay a cent to get into a Seattle Seahawks game, and don’t foresee the need to anytime soon. I live in a steel press box, not a glass house, so I can throw a few stones.
I don’t have to brave the cold, rain and wind of Husky Stadium this Sunday when the Seahawks host the Kansas City Chiefs in the most important NFL game to hit this area in more than two years.
So I’ll feel free to ask a question that seems especially baffling this week:
Where the heck are all the football fans?
As of Thursday afternoon, there were still 12,000 tickets remaining for Sunday’s game. This, despite the fact that the Seahawks are fighting for their playoff lives. Their season is on the line, and they couldn’t even scrape together 68,000 supporters.
This isn’t the time for fans to be protesting ticket prices or holding a long-standing grudge. I realize many of you are still filled with anger because the team nearly moved to Los Angeles. That’s understandable, and your commitment is to be commended. But get over it.
The players and coaches, none of whom were around when the former ownership loaded up moving vans bound for Los Angeles in February 1996, have been practically begging for a full house all week. Fans responded by nibbling up just 4,000 tickets in the past four days. That leaves the team short of a sellout, and for the seventh time in eight home games, local television coverage has been blacked out.
(In fact, “local television coverage has been blacked out,” is the second-most-typed phrase on my computer, trailing only “Mike Holmgren reiterated that Matt Hasselbeck is the team’s quarterback of the future.”)
Why is it so hard to get Seattle fans to come to an NFL game, when practically every other NFL stadium is packed every week?
Why does a city with so much unfair weather have so many fair-weather fans?
A full stadium, mixed in with a timely downpour, could have made for quite a homefield advantage this weekend. And the Seahawks, who got thumped 19-7 in an earlier meeting at Kansas City, will need more than just Trent Dilfer to get the job done.
Sure, you want to stick to your guns. This team has let you down time and time again. And besides, you’re just so angry with that clueless coach for botching up the quarterback situation. Well, you’ll probably forget all that if the Seahawks come up with a victory Sunday and sneak into the playoffs.
I mean, these are the same fans who vehemently opposed going back to the baseball field because of a players’ strike that wiped out the 1994 World Series. They stood up for their cause, all right, at least until the Mariners started winning games. The people who were asking for Lou Piniella’s job just two years ago – and, yes, there were many of them out there – were ready to anoint him with sainthood last season.
One day, the Seahawks too will turn things around. Perhaps this season is another step in that direction. And when the day arrives when this area has a winning NFL team, you’ll all be standing in line for tickets.
You can talk all you want about the No Fun League or the way the professional game moves too slowly. But it’s still the most popular game around (unless you live in Liverpool). If or when the Seahawks get good, the local fans will undoubtedly start appreciating the NFL like those in Green Bay, Pittsburgh and Cleveland (OK, so that last one was a bad example).
Everyone wants a winner, and that’s understandable. Selling out every home game for the University of Washington men’s basketball team would certainly be pushing the fan dedication thing too far. But why is it so hard to sell out one NFL game over an entire season – especially when that one game could mean a trip to the playoffs?
“I can’t emphasize enough how important it is that the people show up,” Dilfer said earlier this week, “that they’re rowdy and loud and crazy and really create that playoff environment.”
Dilfer wasn’t exactly on his hands and knees, but he might as well have been. A Super Bowl ring hasn’t made him too proud to grovel.
This isn’t just about the Seahawks. Sure, they would have loved a packed house that would have put a few more George Washingtons in the pockets of Paul Allen.
But it’s also about the families that simply can’t afford to get to the game. Or the elderly couple whose health makes it impossible to get to the stadium. They’d like to watch the Seahawks, too, but once again won’t get the game on television.
In a perfect world, the NFL would lift its blackout, realizing that the temporary stadium and playoff implications make this a unique situation. That’s like asking Randy Moss to play an entire 60 minutes because it’s a big game. Some people do things on their own terms, without looking at the big picture.
The same could be said for countless football fans this week who dropped the ball by thumbing their nose at the Seahawks game. One day they’ll come out, and they may actually enjoy themselves. Perhaps one day they’ll even trip over each other trying to get playoff tickets, much like they did in October.
If the day ever comes when local football fans complain that they can’t get their hands on tickets, maybe they should remember this week. Just don’t come crying to me, because I’ll have no pity. And besides, I’ll be locked away in that steel press box.
Kickoff: 1:15 p.m. Sunday.
TV: Blacked out locally.
Radio: KIRO (710 AM).
Stars to watch: Seahawks – QB Trent Dilfer is making his fourth start of the season, having won each of the previous three. WR Darrell Jackson has recorded five 100-yard receiving games, marking the most times a Seahawk has done that since Brian Blades in 1989. T Walter Jones and DT John Randle were named to the Pro Bowl earlier this week.
Chiefs – RB Priest Holmes leads the NFL with 2,000 all-purpose yards, including 1,438 on the ground. TE Tony Gonzalez has 71 receptions, the most by a tight end this season. WR Eddie Kennison has given the offense a spark, especially while catching six passes for 121 yards in last week’s win over Jacksonville. LB Donnie Edwards leads Kansas City with 106 tackles.
Breaking down the game: The Chiefs come in as one of the hottest teams in all of football, having won their last past three games and going 5-3 since November.
They have rededicated themselves to a running game led by Holmes and have gotten a boost in the passing game through the addition of Kennison. The Kansas City defense has come up big in pressure situations.
Furthermore, this is a team that dominated Seattle in a previous meeting this year.
So how in the world could the Chiefs possibly lose?
It has more to do with the fact that Seattle is playing for a possible playoff berth. The Seahawks now have a better feel for what the Dick Vermeil-coached Chiefs like to do, and will do everything in their power to shut down Holmes. Of course, that could open things up for Gonzalez, the best tight end in the game.
Offensively, Seattle did next to nothing in the last meeting. In retrospect, that might have been one of those games where quarterback Matt Hasselbeck should have been benched at halftime. This time, Trent Dilfer will get the nod, and his 14 consecutive victories dating back to last season show that he knows how to win big games.
The key to this game comes down to the fact that Kansas City won the last meeting. The Chiefs will probably keep doing the things that have made them successful, while Seattle will come up with a game plan to try and stop them. As much flak as Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren has received this season, he’s still one of the best in the game at exposing a predictable team.
Pick: Seahawks, 27-24.
Injury report: Chiefs – TE Jason Dunn (elbow) is out; LB Larry Atkins (hamstring) is questionable; DE Rich Owens (shoulder), DE Duane Clemons (knee), OL Marcus Spears (thigh), OT Victor Riley (ankle), RB Priest Holmes (groin) and QB Trent Green (ankle) are probable. Seahawks – DE Lamar King (calf) and LB Marcus Bell (stinger) are doubtful; QB Matt Hasselbeck (back), CB Ken Lucas (knee) and DE Michael Sinclair (hamstring) are questionable; LB Anthony Simmons (hip), CB Shawn Springs (hamstring) and FB Mack Strong (ankle) are probable.
Little-known fact: The Seahawks have not been two games above or below .500 yet this season.
New York Jets (9-6) at Oakland (10-5), 1:15 p.m. Sunday: We’ve got a problem here. Two teams that historically fold late in the season, and only one can lose. The Raiders are simply too good to lose their third in a row, even though Curtis Martin will carve up their shoddy run defense. Pick: Raiders, 27-24.
Philadelphia (10-5) at Tampa Bay (9-6), 5:30 p.m. Sunday: Talk about a strange turn of fate. These two teams will meet again next weekend in an NFC wild-card game, although that contest will be played in Philly. We’ll take a split in the home-and-home, with the Eagles winning the important one. Pick: Buccaneers, 19-13.
Minnesota (5-10) at Baltimore (9-6), 6 p.m. Monday: If Seattle and the Jets win Sunday, this game would mark the Seahawks’ final chance to make the postseason. Seattle would need Spergon Wynn and the Vikings to find a way to beat Ray Lewis and the Baltimore defense. Barring the un-retirement of Robert Smith – and Ahmad Rashad, Ron Yary and the Purple People Eaters, for that matter – this game won’t be close. Pick: Ravens, 20-3.
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