Monday, November 12, 2007

Trying Times For My Allegiances




Tonight, here in the Puget Sound area, the Seattle Seahawks will host the San Francisco 49ers in an intra-league game that really only has significance for the Hawks.

Both teams have struggled so far this season, moreso the Niners. It was thought early that these would be the two teams who would knock heads for the NFC West title, albeit a weak division. So far no-one has exhibited a strong desire to take control. Seattle leads the division with a mediocre 4-4 won-loss record, while the Niners lag behind at 2-6.

Since the 1950’s I’ve been a die-hard 49er fan. I’ve seen Y.A. Tittle, John Brodie, Steve Spurrier, Joe Montana, Steve Young, Jeff Garcia, and now Alex Smith all quarterback the Golddiggers. When we moved to the Pacific Northwest some years ago, I “adopted” the Seahawks as my co-favorite team. After all, Seattle does have some “ties” to the SF team, with coach Mike Holmgren and Linebacker Julian Peterson both having deep Red and Gold connections. And of course the Hawks have at least been to the Super Bowl within the last couple of years.

So for whom do I root tonight? I guess I’ll take the Yogi Berra method and “see it both ways.” In all honesty, the Hawks better win, because they are, on paper at least, the superior team. However, the Niners have a nasty habit of spoiling parties in the Northwest.

The truth is, I’ll be happy with whoever wins. If the 49ers happen to have more points at game’s end, then the Hawks should not be believing the press clippings up here which have them virtually crowned as NFC West champs in a division that doesn’t seem to care. But if the Hawks win, it’ll at least give some small degree of progress toward ending up on top of a weak division. Hey, winning your division at least gets you into the playoffs.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am deeply concerned that your football mind has "gone south" as your delusional message implied that the 49 ers might have a chance to win and might even have more points than the Seahawks.

ZERO!

Bring back Y.A.!

Your friend,

Anonymous said...

Delighted to hear from you, "Hugh". Now that I'm here in the northwest, maybe we can share 49er tales at Starbucks sometime!