Sleepless in Seattle

                             
SO CLOSE, YET SO FAR:  The year was 1976. I remember it well. America's bicentennial. I was in the sixth grade, living in Vancouver, USA. Jimmy Carter, a peanut farmer from Georgia, was elected president and something very exciting happened in Seattle.

I've loved watching sports for my forever. Anything, everything. I looked forward to the weekly Wide World of Sports broadcast the way some kids look forward to Christmas.

Football was my favorite sport. But, alas, the Pacific Northwest was 100 percent NFL free. So I had to cast my net far and wide for 'my' team.

I loved the Minnesota Vikings, even though their quarterback was named Fran. ;) His style reminds me of a certain young man playing QB for the Seahawks today, by the way.  And who couldn't appreciate the Steelers of the Bradshaw era? Mean Joe Green and the Terrible Towel - those were 'my' teams.

But when the 1970 AFL-NFL merger went down, the NFL began planning to expand from 26 to 28 teams. Come 1976, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Seattle Seahawks were born. Insert "Hallelujah!" chorus here.  The Nordstrom family was the majority owners of the Seahawks, and Jack Patera was our first coach. I remember the Seahawks' inaugural draft and thinking at the time, and in my very sage 11-year-old football mind thinking, "This isn't going to be good." ,Unfortunately. I remember games where the team had NEGATIVE yards on offense. How is that even possible?


For today's history lesson, I had the kids research some fun facts from 1976.
Here's what CJ came up with ... 

A microwave cost 169.00 dollars in 1976.A gallon of gas cost 59 cents in 1976.The population of the US in 1976 was 218,035,164.The first feature use of the Steadycam happened, being used in Rocky.In 1976, Viking landed on Mars.In 1976, Gerald R. Ford signed the Federal Election Act, or FEA for short.In 1976, a 19-month civil war that happened in Lebanon stopped, because of the threat of escalating to global level.In 1976, the US celebrated its bicentennial anniversary.In 1976, the US Navy tested the Tomahawk Cruise Missile.In 1976, the cost of a first class stamp was $0.13.On November 2nd, Jimmy Carter was elected president.In Europe, the summer was VERY warm and dry.

Annabelle's had a lot of the same facts, plus she noted a color TV cost $600, 


But back to the Seahawks. It was mostly awful from 1976 and forward for a loooooooong, loooooong time. Yes, we had Jim Zorn and the forever inspiring Steve Largent, but it wasn't enough.  (Ironically, back in the Kingdome days, the Denver Broncos were our number one rivals.)

Eventually, along came Dave Krieg. Some people absolutely adore him as a QB. I am not some people. And frankly, I felt the same way about Matthew Hasselback, who steered the ship as the Seahawks actually made it to Super Bowl XL. It was a good run, but all the pieces weren't there. They lost.

But this year is different. All the pieces ARE there. They really could - perhaps SHOULD - win this game.

Tonight, as we were driving down to Rick's house to make yet another improvement, I was listening to sports talk radio and my Favorite Seahawk EVER came on - Kenny Easley. Every little girl's favorite player is a strong safety, right? ;) Easley was a fantastic player whose career was cut terribly short, with lots of (understandable) hard feelings towards the Seahawks organization. But tonight, he was on Seahawks radio, rooting for the home team, and hearing him weigh in was wonderful.  Kenny Easley says the Broncos shouldn't even be able to 'hang' with the Seahawks. Why thank you, Mr. Easley. I just might sleep tonight. ;) I haven't slept well for the last two nights.

In the meantime, this city is just a twitter with excitement. Flags flying, everyone talking. It's a great time to be in Seattle. I'll have some photos for you tomorrow (a bonus Saturday edition!)