Author Archives: seabelebvre

June 6, 2012

Seahawks “Trying Too Hard”

By seabelebvre

The Seattle Seahawks were dinged by the NFL yesterday after overpracticing.  Yeah, overpracticing.  Only the Seahawks could excessively practice and still inspire so little fear in their foes.  The NFL said Coach Pete Carroll allowed too much contact in recent practices, a violation of collective bargaining rules.  

But Carroll had a reasonable explanation: “It wasn’t, you know, play after play after play. It was a few plays that stood out where guys made mistakes trying too hard and competing too much.”  That’s the first time I’ve heard the boys in blue and neon green accused of overcompeting. 

The Hawks will pay the price, with the league yanking two practices from them this week as punishment. Will the players rest too hard too?

Now that’s how you come up small.

Leave a comment | posted in Seattle, Seattle Seahawks

April 22, 2012

Oh, the Ignominy

By seabelebvre

 

There’s been little to cheer in the Seattle Mariners’ 35 years of existence. There’s the “Mendoza Line,” named for the sub-.200 hitting Mariners shortstop. Former Mariner Ken Phelps broke up a perfect game bid by Brian Holman with a home run with two outs in the ninth 22 years ago. They are, along with the Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals, the only franchise never to have even made it to the World Series. It took them until 1991, their 15th season, to even get to a winning record. That was promptly followed by a string of two world championships by the Toronto Blue Jays, who joined the league the same season as the Mariners. Despite racking up the sixth-best single season winning percentage ever, in that glorious 2001 when the team won 116 games, the Mariners missed the big show by losing in 5 games to the Yankees in the ALCS. And in 2008, the Mariners were the first $100 million payroll team to lose 100 games (101 to be exact).

And so it’s come to this: the Mariners are the victims of the 21st perfect game. So accustomed to failure are the Mariners fans that they were actually cheering for Chicago White Sox pitcher Phil Humber in the ninth inning.

So what ignominy comes next? One shudders to think.

Leave a comment | posted in General Sports, Seattle, Seattle Mariners

April 4, 2012

Seahawks’ Unis Unwelcome, Unnecessary

By seabelebvre

The Seattle Seahawks unveiled new uniforms today and whoo boy are they ugly.  Fans can at least take heart that a national audience won’t see these stinkers in this season’s playoffs, Matt Flynn notwithstanding.

This latest iteration gets the Hawks even further away from their fine-looking royal blue and kelly green uniforms of the ’70s and ’80s.  There was nothing broken about those jerseys and they didn’t need any fixing, particularly the silver helmets with the stately seahawk.  Pacific Northwesterners can thank Nike for today’s “gift” after the athletic shoe giant oversaw their redesign as part of taking on the NFL apparel contract. Cue the fretting that the Seahawks are Nike’s NFL version of the Oregon Ducks.

Particularly disappointing is the fascination with neon green, which now is splashed over the shoulders, gloves, pant legs and around the numbers. No one asked for more neon green and no one wants it. Is there no institutional memory of the Squawks’ ill-fated green jerseys of a couple seasons ago?

The Seahawks already inspire little fear in opponents, but now they just look silly doing it. Thank you, Phil Knight. Thank you, Seahawks, you really are coming up small.

1 Comment | posted in General Sports, Seattle, Seattle Seahawks