Seahawks Dive

In keeping with the Northwest Corner's tradition of giving some notice, but only passing notice, to the local sports scene, I'll just observe that the Seahawks abruptly removed themselves from the NFL playoffs today. In a display of utter fecklessness before a national TV audience, the sort of stunned performance that endears Northwest teams to those of us here in Seattle, they swiftly surrendered an early 14-0 first quarter lead. Seemingly dazed by the onslaught of Wisconsin snow, Packer defenders, and Brett Favre passes, they come limping back to Seattle at the short end of a 42-20 final score. Wait 'til next year.

This result is worth noting only because of its consistency with other sports events this year

Seattle Mariners. An 88-74 season and second place AL West finish don't sound all that bad, but they hide a truly remarkable fin-de-saison collapse. From August 25 to September 11, the Mariners won 2 and lost 15 games, decisively dealing themselves out of contention for the division pennant, as well as the wild card and the playoffs. At least we still have Ichiro.

University of Washington. The once mighty Huskies ended up at the very bottom of the Pac-10 standings with a 2-7 conference record (4-9 overall). No bowl game for these Dawgs. Grumblings became audible as some alumni sought the scalp of one of the classiest coaches in college football, Tyrone Willingham. Meanwhile, the disgraced coach who contributed to this sad state of affairs was hired as head coach by UCLA. "Bow down to Washington ... heaven help the foes of Washington!" Yeah, right.

Seattle Supersonics. Yeah, they are still around, barely. At present, their win-loss record is 9-27, making them the 27th best team out of 30 in the NBA. Oh well, good enough for Oklahoma City, I guess.

All this, and months of rain as well. It's enough to keep Californians down there south of the Siskiyous where they belong. Me? I think I'll go see a good movie.