The thermometers and electric blankets have been replaced by foam fingers and Seahawk blue stocking caps.
It’s almost January, and a different kind of bug is spreading in Seattle.
Playoff fever is here.
The concept might need explanation in these parts, where playoff appearances are about as common as anti-coffee protestors.
For only the second time since 1988, the Seattle Seahawks are in the playoffs, and the city has taken notice.
Local sports radio shows have put aside talk of the Mariners, Sonics and Huskies to make way for the newest rage to sweep into town. Conversations in sports bars aren’t so much about trades for shortstops or college basketball powerhouses from Spokane as they are about another matchup between Brett Favre and Mike Holmgren.
Everyone wants to talk Seahawks lately as the team prepares for a rare playoff game, this Sunday morning against the Green Bay Packers.
“We have the fans behind us. Everyone’s excited,” tight end Itula Mili said. “There’s a lot of renewed energy right now.”
The passion for Seahawks football isn’t limited to Seattle. Some familiar names in other parts of the country are beaming with pride as well.
“It’s exciting,” said Hall of Fame receiver Steve Largent, perhaps the most famous Seahawk of all time. “I’m a huge Seahawk fan, and I hope they can get on a roll.”
An argument could be made that he’s not even the most passionate fan with the last name Largent. Kramer Largent, an 18-year-old senior at Metro Christian School in Tulsa, Okla., could be a more die-hard Seahawks supporter than his father.
“Nobody bleeds blue and green like he does,” Steve Largent said.
The Largents were driving Sunday afternoon when they heard the announcement that the Seahawks had made the playoffs. Now Seattle (10-6) has a chance to record a postseason win for the first time since 1984 – which was back when Largent was in his prime.
“I’m surprised they haven’t done better,” Largent said of the Seahawks’ struggles over the past 20 years. “With the fan base they have up there, I’m really surprised they haven’t done better.
“But they were in the AFC West forever, and that’s a really tough division. And they had struggles with ownership changes and coaching changes. It’s been hard to get any kind of stability, and I think they have that now.”
Largent and his family have been the rare Seahawks fans who have stuck it out through thick and thin. But no one can blame the fans, who have put up with a near move to Los Angeles, ongoing roster turnover and records that too often hover at or around 8-8.
“It’s been important to me and the team that we get the interest and get the excitement and get the fans back with us,” said Holmgren, the Seahawks’ head coach since 1999. “There are times they can be angry with me or angry with the team or just whatever. That’s OK. But don’t leave us. Stay with us. And I think we’re getting there.”
Holmgren (1999 and 2003) and Chuck Knox (1983, ‘84, ‘87 and ‘88) are the only two coaches to lead the Seahawks to the playoffs. Although Holmgren has been in Seattle for only five years, he understands how rare these postseason appearances are in these parts.
He knows the fans have suffered, so Holmgren wants to win Sunday at Green Bay to relieve some of their pain.
“They have been great,” Holmgren said. “And, if we can get a win and get that thing done, that would be one of the first things to cross my mind, honestly. And I mean that.
” … I will tell you this, when I did have a chance to win a Super Bowl or two, some with San Francisco and one with Green Bay, I did think about that immediately after the game.”
A playoff win would certainly be something new for the fans, but it won’t cure the fever. The symptoms will undoubtedly get worse every week their Seahawks extend their season.
Notes: Seahawks linebacker Chad Brown was named the NFC defensive player of the week after his 10-tackle, two-sack performance in a 24-17 win over the San Francisco 49ers on Saturday. This Sunday, Brown will get a shot at the NFC’s offensive player of the week: Packers running back Ahman Green. … The Associated Press rookie of the year award was given to Baltimore linebacker Terrell Suggs on Tuesday. Seattle’s candidates, cornerback Marcus Trufant and safety Ken Hamlin, didn’t even get a single vote.
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