Lol, Marvin...
I was just having a bit of fun. (Not "getting all twisted", sheesh. Overstate the case much?) I figured I get a "hehe, touche" type of response as opposed to a defensive wall of text desperately parsing the meaning of "above reproach". But good stuff, mate!
Here's the deal. No matter how fine you want to slice the shards of context, "above reproach" means what it means and ole Harbs said what he said because he was trying to take a little shot. It was never anything more or less than that. You know it. I know it. He knows it. Pete Carroll knows it. Dude just couldn't resist! The high road was right there, in front of him, beckoning, but Coach Douche just couldn't bring himself to take it. Getting that little dig in was just toooooo tempting!
And now, every time anyone in the organization falls short, he's left himself (and by proxy the ever-defensive fanbase) open for a riposte. Easier really to just take your lumps and move on, isn't it? Coach said something dumb and now looks like a hypocrite. Easy.
Now in terms of the jail stuff. If you believe
this story (and why wouldn't you?), Aldon basically got two dudes shot because instead of trying to de-escalate a situation (or do the sane thing and call the cops when somebody shoots at your house) he needed wave his own big pistol around. I know, I know. Firing off a "warning shot" that leads to others being nearly killed isn't the kind of "above reproach" Harbs was talking about. He was talking about cheating, not shooting!
Maybe the felony firearms stuff won't stick though, who knows. Wouldn't be the first time a millionaire entertainer got the "benefit of the doubt". And as far as the league's punishments hell, you can drag a sorority girl into a reeking nightclub bathroom and rape her in the stall with your bodyguard watching the door and the NFL will happily bump your suspension down from six games to four. So who knows what they'll do? But I don't think that having Smith around all year long is a given.
Oh, on topic: biggest obstacle (other than key injuries, natch) to a re-Pete? Complacency creeping in to take the edge off and/or the breaks and variance inherent in football. The Seahawks were the best team in the league all year, by a noticeable margin. Even so, they could have easily gone 11-5, simply with a couple ball bounces going the other way. (Similarly, they could just as easily have been 15-1 with a couple extra breaks, *cough cough Gore's long run in San Fran*) Football's like that. Random. Flukey. The best team doesn't always win, which is one thing that made this whole year so agonizing and fun.
But given the choice between being the best team and hoping the best team doesn't win, I know which I'd pick.