Why Stripes?

So, that happened.

The Seahawks lost. Dammit.

I was hopeful they’d win… I was even confident… but I knew it’d be tough. The Steelers had proven to be tough, they had some serious momentum, and there was all that talk that their 3-4 defense would stymie the poor Hawks…. Of course, I still don’t know what a 3-4 defense is, but if it’s something that could stymie my beloved Hawks then I am four-square against it.

So yeah, I was obviously hopeful, and full of stalwart belief, but I knew it could be very, very tough for the little blue men.

What I didn’t know was the Seahawks would be fighting the officials too. Sure, the Hawks made plenty of mistakes (what the hell happened at the end of each half, anyway?), but take away the bogus penalties –and hell, I’m magnanimous, leave the Rothlisberger TD on the board- and it’s Matt Hasselbeck hoisting Vince’s phallic symbol.

The worst part of it? The worst part is that those bogus calls were just part of the tone of the entire game. Judging from the pre-game coverage, and the n-game comments, you’d have thought this was the Steelers' game to lose… even while the Steelers did nothing but go three and out for the entire first quarter.

After their second three and out, Al Michaels started conjecturing on what the Steelers would do if they won the game. They’d shown no offense for 7 minutes, and Al’s wondering where’ they’re gonna’ display the trophy. After 12 minutes, Al suggested that Hines Ward was a likely MVP candidate. He hadn’t caught a ball!

Granted, the Seahawks only managed 3 points in the first half, but they were setting the pace of the game, and containing the Steelers for most of the first half. If not for Big Ben’s “TD,” (and a few ridiculous calls for holding and pushing off) they would have gone into the locker room well in the lead… instead they faced a four-point deficit, and had to feel powerless against the vagaries of the officiating crew.

And that’s the tone I’m talking about: the whole day was about the Bus’s last ride, and the Steelers getting one for the thumb. No one gave the Hawks credit for rampaging through the NFC West, or for getting to their first Super Bowl in franchise history. They gave them shit for not scoring, but glossed over how effectively they were stopping the Steelers. They joked about the bad calls, but never commented on their significance.

Nancy (who got even more excited about what went well for the Hawks than I did; her cheers and yelps were the highpoint of the game, believe you me) pointed out how one-sided the poignant player photos were throughout the game. You know the ones: black and white portraits of various players clutching at the Lombardi Trophy like it was made of mercury. I counted 18 of those portraits throughout the game. Three were of Seahawks. Three! Jumpin’ Jim Zorn! That’s messed up!

The Seahawks won the toss, and we weren’t treated to the obligatory, annual graphic of “In 39 Super Bowls, 23 teams who have won the toss have gone on to win the game.” The Seahawks scored first, and we were denied the obligatory, annual graphic of “In 39 Super Bowls, 33 teams who have scored first have gone on to win the game.”

The Seahawks had more Pro Bowl players. The Seahawks had more players who had actually played in a Super Bowl before. The Seahawks had a coach who had been to four Super Bowls, and left two a winner.

It’s a fundamental lack of respect, my friends. The Seahawks? They were the Democratic Party of Super Sunday. They outplayed their opponent for most of the contest, and still walked away losers… and since all anyone ever said was “They’re outmatched, and such an unlikely competitor” no one blinked when the media-fulfilled prophecy came true.

But not me, dammit. I believed in them then, I believe in them now. They are the little team that could, and next year? It’s their year, baby!

GO HAWKS!