bloody fucking sunday
This was a post taken from Jim Rhodes, a year above me at Blanchet, facebook. Its really a sad post, especially talking about Tony, but i think he sums up Seattle sports frustration, and its a good account of what really went down on Super Bowl Sunday this year:
"In my 23 years on earth, between the Mariners, Seahawks, and Sonics, there have been 80 Seattle pro sports seasons. None of them have resulted in a championship.
In 1992, I watched the Seahawks go into the last day of the season 1-14, needing a loss to get the #1 draft pick. They actually WON the game, giving the Patriots the #1 pick, and the Seahawks ended up using the #2 pick on Rick Mirer, one of the biggest busts in NFL history, while the Patriots got future All-Pro quarterback Drew Bledsoe.
In 1993, I watched the Sonics lose the deciding Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals. It was the most obviously fixed game in NBA history, a game where the Suns shot 64 free throws (yeah, SIXTY-FOUR free throws in one game) in a game that the national media openly wanted the Sonics to lose so they could have a Barkley/Jordan Finals. But as you all know, screwing Seattle is apparently okay.
In 1994, with Jordan retired, I watched the Sonics rise to the top of the NBA, only to become the ONLY #1 seed EVER to lose in the first round of the playoffs following an 82-game season. That year, Ken Griffey, Jr. chased the single-season home run record, only to have a baseball strike end the season and his chances.
Between 1998 and 2000, I watched first-ballot Hall of Famers Randy Johnson, Ken Griffey Jr., and Alex Rodriguez leave the Mariners. Even more painful, in 2004, I watched Edgar Martinez, the most loyal, most popular, most beloved athlete Seattle will ever have, retire after 18 seasons--all with the Mariners--having never played in the World Series.
I watched the 2001 Mariners have the greatest regular season in baseball history (an all-time record 116 wins, look it up) only to lose in the ALCS to the Yankees on a devasting walk-off home run in extra innings in Game Four, then get absolutely killed in Game Five.
I watched a game where the Seahawks making the playoffs came down to one play: where Jets QB Vinny Testaverde scored a touchdown with his HELMET, with the ball missing the endzone by nearly a full yard, a call so atrocious that they immediately added instant replay after the season (although now I know that even with replay, scoring a TD with your helmet still counts). I watched the Seahawks have an interception taken to the house in overtime of a playoff game where they wanted the ball and were going to score. I was in person last year when Bobby Engram dropped a game-tying TD pass with under ten seconds left to end the season in a playoff game against our most hated rivals. As an added insult, my seats were in that endzone. Last year, I watched in person as the Sonics' season ended in Game Six when Tim Duncan made a game-winner with one second left.
If the Seahawks won Super Bowl XL, it would have all been worth it.
I want someone to explain to me why you would wait to throw a flag until AFTER the play was over. If there was holding, why didn't you throw the flag when the hold happened, insteading of deciding that AFTER the Seahawks completed a pass of over 50 yards that would have won the game. I want to know why Darrell Jackson "pushed off" before his touchdown in the first quarter and was not flagged during the play, but the flag was thrown AFTER he scored and the defensive guy complained. In an ESPN Sportsnation Poll of the country, 78.8 percent said that the officials favored the Steelers. Keep in mind that an overwhelming majority of those same people wanted the Steelers to win the game, and STILL admit that the Hawks got screwed. Even ESPN's Skip Bayless, the biggest Seattle-hater of all, says we got screwed. In a poll in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 48% polled said the referees unfairly favored the Steelers. In other words, HALF OF THEIR OWN FANS ADMIT THE GAME WAS A SCREWJOB. I want an official to put his hand on a Bible and swear that he called the game fairly. After all we've been through, everyone outside the Northwest just wants to crap on us? I don't get it. Worst of all, I just watched an NFL game that no one can be totally sure wasn't fixed.
Yesterday was the most painful loss I will ever experience. I couldn't speak or move for a good half hour. Before my best friend Tony's death last July, he told me that in heaven, he would do everything he could to help the town he loved so much win a championship. After drinking Redhooks (his favorite beer) the whole game, and me praying to my "T.B." bracelet between every play, all of my buddies had tears in their eyes when the clock hit zero. Tony did everything he could during this incredible season, but there's a greater power somewhere that just plain hates Seattle, and not even the greatest person I've ever met could change it. Don't you dare tell me that this was just a game. And to those who called me to make fun of me when it ended, you know who you are. You're nothing to me now.
Well, I don't care if everyone else treats Seattle like it's a third-world country. I don't care if the city that supplies the rest of the world with airplanes, coffee, AND all computer software is most famous for rain. It doesn't matter if it rains every day this year, or if the M's, Hawks and Sonics never win a championship. This is my hometown, damn it. I have over a dozen jerseys in my closet. None of them are of a pro team that isn't Seattle. I don't own one and never plan to. I'll never lose faith, I'll always believe, and I'll never, ever, ever turn my back on my town. I know Tony wouldn't.
With that said, the first pitch at Safeco Field will be thrown in less than two months. Go Mariners!"
The "12th" man for the Steelers wears Stripes-
"In my 23 years on earth, between the Mariners, Seahawks, and Sonics, there have been 80 Seattle pro sports seasons. None of them have resulted in a championship.
In 1992, I watched the Seahawks go into the last day of the season 1-14, needing a loss to get the #1 draft pick. They actually WON the game, giving the Patriots the #1 pick, and the Seahawks ended up using the #2 pick on Rick Mirer, one of the biggest busts in NFL history, while the Patriots got future All-Pro quarterback Drew Bledsoe.
In 1993, I watched the Sonics lose the deciding Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals. It was the most obviously fixed game in NBA history, a game where the Suns shot 64 free throws (yeah, SIXTY-FOUR free throws in one game) in a game that the national media openly wanted the Sonics to lose so they could have a Barkley/Jordan Finals. But as you all know, screwing Seattle is apparently okay.
In 1994, with Jordan retired, I watched the Sonics rise to the top of the NBA, only to become the ONLY #1 seed EVER to lose in the first round of the playoffs following an 82-game season. That year, Ken Griffey, Jr. chased the single-season home run record, only to have a baseball strike end the season and his chances.
Between 1998 and 2000, I watched first-ballot Hall of Famers Randy Johnson, Ken Griffey Jr., and Alex Rodriguez leave the Mariners. Even more painful, in 2004, I watched Edgar Martinez, the most loyal, most popular, most beloved athlete Seattle will ever have, retire after 18 seasons--all with the Mariners--having never played in the World Series.
I watched the 2001 Mariners have the greatest regular season in baseball history (an all-time record 116 wins, look it up) only to lose in the ALCS to the Yankees on a devasting walk-off home run in extra innings in Game Four, then get absolutely killed in Game Five.
I watched a game where the Seahawks making the playoffs came down to one play: where Jets QB Vinny Testaverde scored a touchdown with his HELMET, with the ball missing the endzone by nearly a full yard, a call so atrocious that they immediately added instant replay after the season (although now I know that even with replay, scoring a TD with your helmet still counts). I watched the Seahawks have an interception taken to the house in overtime of a playoff game where they wanted the ball and were going to score. I was in person last year when Bobby Engram dropped a game-tying TD pass with under ten seconds left to end the season in a playoff game against our most hated rivals. As an added insult, my seats were in that endzone. Last year, I watched in person as the Sonics' season ended in Game Six when Tim Duncan made a game-winner with one second left.
If the Seahawks won Super Bowl XL, it would have all been worth it.
I want someone to explain to me why you would wait to throw a flag until AFTER the play was over. If there was holding, why didn't you throw the flag when the hold happened, insteading of deciding that AFTER the Seahawks completed a pass of over 50 yards that would have won the game. I want to know why Darrell Jackson "pushed off" before his touchdown in the first quarter and was not flagged during the play, but the flag was thrown AFTER he scored and the defensive guy complained. In an ESPN Sportsnation Poll of the country, 78.8 percent said that the officials favored the Steelers. Keep in mind that an overwhelming majority of those same people wanted the Steelers to win the game, and STILL admit that the Hawks got screwed. Even ESPN's Skip Bayless, the biggest Seattle-hater of all, says we got screwed. In a poll in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 48% polled said the referees unfairly favored the Steelers. In other words, HALF OF THEIR OWN FANS ADMIT THE GAME WAS A SCREWJOB. I want an official to put his hand on a Bible and swear that he called the game fairly. After all we've been through, everyone outside the Northwest just wants to crap on us? I don't get it. Worst of all, I just watched an NFL game that no one can be totally sure wasn't fixed.
Yesterday was the most painful loss I will ever experience. I couldn't speak or move for a good half hour. Before my best friend Tony's death last July, he told me that in heaven, he would do everything he could to help the town he loved so much win a championship. After drinking Redhooks (his favorite beer) the whole game, and me praying to my "T.B." bracelet between every play, all of my buddies had tears in their eyes when the clock hit zero. Tony did everything he could during this incredible season, but there's a greater power somewhere that just plain hates Seattle, and not even the greatest person I've ever met could change it. Don't you dare tell me that this was just a game. And to those who called me to make fun of me when it ended, you know who you are. You're nothing to me now.
Well, I don't care if everyone else treats Seattle like it's a third-world country. I don't care if the city that supplies the rest of the world with airplanes, coffee, AND all computer software is most famous for rain. It doesn't matter if it rains every day this year, or if the M's, Hawks and Sonics never win a championship. This is my hometown, damn it. I have over a dozen jerseys in my closet. None of them are of a pro team that isn't Seattle. I don't own one and never plan to. I'll never lose faith, I'll always believe, and I'll never, ever, ever turn my back on my town. I know Tony wouldn't.
With that said, the first pitch at Safeco Field will be thrown in less than two months. Go Mariners!"
The "12th" man for the Steelers wears Stripes-