Yeah, it’s how I feel
Ever since that final play of Super Bowl 49, I haven’t stopped thinking about the game, how it could have been SO different, why we decided to “snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory”, etc.
So, throughout the week, as my brain continues to work overtime, I’m just going to assemble a collection of my thoughts so I can press them in my scrapbook of Seahawk memories.
1) For baseball fans who don’t follow the Seahawks, Sunday’s Super Bowl loss was like the Mariners going to the 7th game of the World Series, having a one-run lead in the bottom of the 9th, then, with the bases loaded, walking in the tying and winning runs.
I guess the good news is, in football, you get it over with a lot faster.
2) A survey says that 14% of all Baby Boomers are being treated for depression. Most of those, Seahawk fans.
3) Even Johnny Weir was asking, “Why did they pass instead of giving that Skittles guy the oblong ball thing?”
4) The Scientology commercial that ran in the Super Bowl promised “the Age of Answers.” Can we start with that last play call?
5) That’s it! Seattle’s offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell is NOT getting a Valentine from this guy this year.
6) Seahawk Sam poked his head out of the rubble in his living room, saw it wasn’t just a bad dream & that means 6 more weeks of depression.
7) (I channeled Marshawn Lynch on Facebook with this one) “I’m only here so I won’t get depressed.”
8) Every time I try to rerun that last play in my head, I pass instead and it gets intercepted.
9) It’s “Groundhog’s Day”, that day when you live life over and over until you get it right. Where was this day when we could have used it yesterday?
10) Congrats to Hank Wackstrom, Pee Wee football coach from Twisp, Washington. Hank was the winner of the Seahawks “You call the play” contest, where Hank got to call the Hawks final offensive play in the Super Bowl. Way to go, Hank!
Only way I can explain it.
11) Now I know what the Green Bay Packers fans felt like. Is this where I say, “The better team lost?”
12) There was the picture of the seagull with the Seahawks logo on the chest and the caption I put above him, where he’s saying, “Hey, even with my brain that was a bad call. Just sayin’…”
13) The Seahawks last call really soured me on the entire game. It reminded me of my bar days. I always hated the last call.
14) Hey, Atlanta–how about if we keep Dan Quinn and you get Darrell Bevell?
15) We finished 2nd. If we have a parade, shouldn’t the team parade be on 2nd Avenue?
16) I heard Seahawks offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell wants the parade to go over the mountains on I-90 because he prefers the pass.
17) Ironically, after that Super Bowl loss, it’s the Seahawks that are feeling deflated.
18) I mean, it was crazy: one minute I’m watching the Seahawks in the Super Bowl and then it turned into a Cougar game! (WSU friends, insert ‘Husky’ here)
(my brain went here–history will decide if I’m right)
Why did the Seahawks pass instead of giving Marshawn Lynch a couple of tries of running it less than a yard?
Theory 1–The Seahawks wanted quarterback Russell Wilson to be the hero, not the crotch-grabbing, few-on-words Marshawn Lynch.
Theory 2–The Seahawks came up with a difficult play that made it impossible for Wilson to complete, thus making it appear as if he blew the game. Then, when end-of-the-season contract negotiations are underway, he can be reminded of it and be offered millions less.
How did a rookie defender anticipate an a slant pass in a definite run situation? The only way a play like that could have worked was to incorporate the element of surprise.
Theory 1–The New England Patriots intercepted the play call as Offensive Coordinator Darrell Bevell talked to Pete Carroll on their radio connection. The information was passed to the New England defense, who knew exactly how to defend this unlikely play.
Theory 2–Because of everything the Patriots and the NFL went through for Deflate-gate, the league decided the Patriots needed to win. Russell Wilson threw it directly into the arms of a New England Patriot player from 15 feet away with the promise that the Seahawks would be allowed to win it next year.
Oliver Stone, eat your heart out.
Tim Hunter
Tim Hunter's Wacky Blog 
The dreaded Sports Illustrated cover curse has struck again. You remember the SI cover curse, don’t you? Any athlete or team featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated immediately before a big game will proceed to lose that game. It’s quite amazing how often that curse actually seems to work. The Legion of Doom was on the cover of SI last week and you saw what happened in the Super Bowl. This is only a theory and I don’t actually subscribe to this as being the main reason the Seahawks lost to the Patriots but who knows?
2. The Patriots slipped a hyper-inflated (89 PSI) ball into the hands of Seahawks center Max Unger just before he hiked the ball to Russell Wilson down on the 1-yard line, resulting in Wilson’s inability to get a good grip on the football and his subsequent failure to deliver an accurate pass to Ricardo Lockett on the infamous play with 25 seconds to go in the game. I kind of like this theory because it neatly fits into the notion that the Patriots will do anything to win a football game but I have no real evidence that the Patriots actually pulled off this bit of trickery.
3. The NFL did not want Marshawn Lynch to be the Super Bowl MVP, which he probably would have been if he had scored the winning touchdown (to go along with his 102 yards of rushing). This theory has the advantage of possibly being true because a Marshawn Lynch post-game interview as the Super Bowl MVP in front of a TV audience of 114 million viewers would have been Roger Goodell’s worst nightmare. So, according to this theory, Goodell sent word down to the Seahawks’ bench that the play call on second down from the one-yard line had to be a pass from Russell Wilson, ensuring that either Wilson would be the Super Bowl MVP (if the pass was completed) or Tom Brady would be (if the pass was incomplete or intercepted). However, I think this theory does have a few problems: (a) it gives the NFL too much credit for its ability to successfully manage a conspiracy, and (b) it ignores the fact that Lynch had just been given the ball on first down from the five yard line and he might have scored on that play( which would have made him the MVP).
4. The Legion of Boom came into the game with its top three players (Sherman, Thomas and Chancellor) all injured. The Legion then suffered a major blow when Jeremy Lane (its “nickel” back) was injured while running back an interception of a Tom Brady pass in the first quarter. A top rusher, Cliff Avril, left the game with a concussion (in the second half). Between a depleted defensive secondary and a weakened defensive front four, the Seahawks were unable to stop Tom Brady in the fourth quarter when the Patriots scored two touchdowns to come from behind. I think this theory has a lot of merit as far as explaining how the Seahawks lost its 10-point lead in the fourth quarter. The Patriots were running short slant routes across the middle, gaining just enough yards to keep the first-down yardage markers moving down the field. Still, I believe the number one theory explaining the loss is as follows:
5. Darrell Bevel was attempting to establish his “bona fides” as an offensive mastermind by eschewing a simple, boring running play in favor of a sophisticated, “state-of-the-art”, “cutting edge” pass play, thereby earning him possible interviews with other NFL teams looking for an offensive-minded head coach. Who wants to hire a head coach whose idea of a big offensive play is to hand the ball off to big, bruising running back who never gets tackled for a loss and who almost certainly would have picked up the requisite yard and a Super Bowl trophy in the process? Darrell Bevel has a mind that operates on a higher plane and who chafes under the restrictions placed on his play-calling “to just win, baby”. He wants to win while earning “style points”. (Granted, I’m being somewhat harsh to Coach Bevel, but only a little bit).
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