Twas not always this way...

[Seahawkfan80]

Komo 6 news reporter wrote this up. I just copy and paste from facebook. Cant find the link on Komo. Oh well. SHF80

"This is an article/editorial I posted today to KOMOnews.com and our Facebook page. Enjoy.

IT WASNT ALWAYS LIKE THIS
by Eric Johnson

Soak it up, Seattle.
Wallow in it, Washington.
Roll around in it and talk about it and love every minute of it, because...
Because it wasn't always like this. There didn't used to be parades and primetime games. There weren't always people camped out waiting for tickets and kids by the thousands wearing blue and green jerseys to school.
That cocky swagger that the 12th man is sporting these days is a gloriously, intoxicatingly new thing.
The road to greatness for the Seahawks franchise is strewn with lost seasons, empty seats and broken Bozworth's.

For many years Seattle saw itself as a beautiful secret, a little emerald mood ring tucked away in the corner of the National Football League. It HOPED for a championship one day. It really did. But deep down in places we didn't talk about at parties, in the black pit of the city's psyche, did anybody really BELIEVE it would happen?
That belief would ultimately be earned the hard way...but not before a beleaguered fan base had disappointment burned into their souls like a regrettable tattoo.

The 80's were fun. The Seahawks played in the '85 AFC Championship game. They had Steve Largent and Dave Kreig and Curt Warner. The league had to make a noise rule that year because Seahawk fans were so loud.
But the 90's came along and it was one long stretch of bad road.
Let's go back in time to 1992. The Kingdome, ugly and bleak was still standing. And that was the GOOD news.
Stan Gelbaugh was the quarterback. So was Kelly Stouffer. So was Dan McGwire. The thought of that 3-headed monster trotting onto the field brings shivers still.
The Seahawks allowed 172 more points than they scored. They were 2-14. You can look at it this way: they were as BAD then as they are GOOD now.
So they got the 2nd pick in the NFL draft. Hot damn! They were gonna get somebody great and make everybody forget that they chose The Boz in '87.
The Patriots took Drew Bledsoe with the first pick. So, the Seahawks took... Rick Mirer. Oh, the humanity.
For those of you who are under 30, or who just rolled into town a few years ago to work for Amazon, all of this may sound like ancient history. And in a way it is. But for those of us who were there, either in the stands, or watching from the press box, it was a bleak time that just wouldn't end.
Century Link Field didn't exist.
Pete Carroll was kicking around the league, with the Jets and the 49ers.
Russell Wilson was a 5-year old kid in Virginia.
One day moving trucks pulled up to the Hawks headquarters to steal the team away to California.
Legion of Boom? More like Region of Gloom.

One of the only bright spots was Hall of Famer Cortez Kennedy. We'd talk to him after games, and you could see the yearning in his eyes. "Man," he said one time, "I just want to get to the playoffs! One time! I want to know what it feels like."
Eventually it happened for him. One time.

They did get better. And that was a part of the problem.
For two straight seasons they were 6-10. And those seasons were followed by sheer, mind-numbing mediocrity. They were 8-8 in '95. 7-9 in '96. Then 8-8 again in '97. And AGAIN in '98.
They weren't terrible enough to get high draft picks. They weren't good enough to make the playoffs. The Seahawks were stuck in a savage swirling cycle of so-so-ness.
The only thing they were great at was being mediocre.

And it's almost hard to believe now, but they couldn't sell enough tickets to fill the Kingdome. Before every home game the question wasn't "Will the Hawks win?" It was, "Will the Hawks be blacked out?"
The front office, on a regular basis, would buy hundreds, even thousands of tickets themselves, just so they could call it a sellout and get the game on TV.
Imagine the conversations in the Kirkland offices, with legendary Vice President Gary Wright holding court: "We need to build the fanbase by having people watch our product. But they can't watch our product because the game's not sold out. And it's not sold out because they can't watch our product!"

So why dredge up all these dark memories now? Simple. Because to truly enjoy and understand what is happening now, a little perspective is a good thing.
The first real dent in our collective inferiority complex came when Mike Holmgren left the Packers late in the 90's to sign an 8-year deal with Seattle. Seahawk fans were partying like it was 1999. Because it was.
Mike made his players believe, and then the rest of us too. He guided the Hawks to a Super Bowl, and when the guys in stripes all but handed the trophy to the Pittsburgh Steelers on a bone-chilling night in Detroit, it almost felt like that was the way it would always be: the sporting gods would always favor somebody else. This was, after all, Seattle, but man we had a good ride didn't we?

Maybe that's why Seahawk fans are so utterly and completely head over heels in love with the current incarnation of the Seattle Seahawks. Maybe that explains the childlike wonder that has swept over our region like a blue-hot fever. A bunch of castoffs and free agents and leftovers, led by an undersized quarterback, a loudmouth cornerback, a monosyllabic running back and a gum chomping 63-year old kid of a coach have demanded that we understand one thing: It's not fate. It's not written in the stars. There ARE no football gods. It can happen to us. Heck, it DID happen to us!
And you know what? There's a darned good chance it will happen to us again. How good does that feel?
Think about love. Think about Santa. There is no believing like first time believing.

So, soak it up, Seattle.
Wallow in it, Washington.
Roll around in it and talk about it and love every minute of it, because... it wasn't always like this."

 

[jammerhawk]

Praise the Lord!

Thank you Jesus!

This is absolutely a great time to be a Seahawks fan.

Paul Allen brought stability to the organization and like the Nordstroms allowed football people and good business folks to run the organization with minimal interference. Thank you!

 

[Sign37now]

I look forward to being the next version of the Patriots. In it with a chance every year for years to come.. Without the cheating of course..

 

[gowazzu02]

I look forward to being the next version of the Patriots. In it with a chance every year for years to come.. Without the cheating of course..

Hell ill take a little cheating now and again too. Although I found it comically ironic that the pats tablets weren't working in the afccg! The narrative for years was that the opposing head sets would always mysteriously go out in Foxboro.

But honestly if you aint cheatin you aint tryin!

 

[Wizofwest]

That was a great story. For those of us 45 years or older this is the pain and story we know.

 

[AROS]

I remember reading that when Eric first posted it to KOMO. Great piece and SO dead on. Having been born and raised here in the Pacific Northwest and been a diehard from the beginning really gives me perspective about just how incredible this era truly is. As much as we complain and critique (it's our right as a fan after all) to the micro level, nobody can deny that the Seahawks have made it to the top of the NFL mountain and remain one of the most respected (and hated, see: envy) teams in the league.

These are the years we will look back on when we are old and grey saying "Those were the glory years".

 

[MontanaHawk05]

Great post. The last thirteen seasons have brought us ten playoff trips, eleven playoff wins, three NFC championships, and a Super Bowl trophy. Always remember what we do have.

 

[Anonymous]

Great find. SF80.

I see people wearing Hawks gear walking around all over the place here. You pass them in the mall and it's like, "Go Hawks!"

So, it's not like that just in WA, it's everywhere.

 

[byau]

Hear Hear!

The 80's were glorious. And besides Krieg, Largent, and Warner... DO NOT FORGET THE DEFENSE! That secondary! Kenny Easley was the man to me. He's the one that made me want to play a lot more defense than offense in basketball and football, especially in football. He is the one that made me want to be the roving defender that got to roam around, read the play, and get lots of interceptions

And then ... the 90's. Geez. I just about wallowed into a closet. Thank goodness for the Sonics who...well, oops never mind. They decided to keep Jim Mcilvane instead of Shawn Kemp.... And tried to sell us that Vin Baker was the better option.

And oh wait..Mike Holmgren!! The 2000's! Seattle sports is back and ... wtf is going in here in the SB? WHAT?

Yes it always seemed Seattle sports was destined to be cursed. Without the Seahawks, you would think we're still cursed. Need I mention the 2014-2015 Mariners were picked by many to go to the World Series. And we can't even root for the Sonics anymore and to make it worse it looks like OKC is a playoff-bound type team every year

The fact that it seems the Seahawks are equipped to contend for the conference championship every year ... that is a golden age. This is a golden age for Seattle Sports

Love it

 

[Hawks46]

So true. It's hard to believe how spoiled we are now.

I followed the Hawks from the beginning, but the 90's were so hard to watch that I lost track a little bit. You remember thinking that the Hawks were bad, so the interest level was low. Then, they'd do just well enough that I'd get interested again, thinking maybe we might squeak into the playoffs, then they'd piss it away.

They wouldn't start out mediocre. Oh no. They'd start out good, then choke. Or they'd start out bad, make me lose interest, then pour it on at the end only to fall just short.

The expectations now are so different, it's like a different world.

 

[Bill Assumpcao]

Hallelujah!
Praise Largent!

Go Hawks,
BillA

 

[IndyHawk]

I dunno why but this brought memories of Jim Zorny turning the ball over@Denver allowing Jim Turner to kick a game winning field goal,I cried and was pissed off but hey I was a kid and I've hated Denver ever since.

 

[TwistedHusky]

Some of my favorite players still came from those hard days.

Rufus Porter, Michael Sinclair, Jon L Williams, Brian Blades, Cortez Kennedy

Hell even guys like Derrick Fenner and Chris Warren (I was a huge Chris Warren fan back in the day).

And we didn't win a often but the team laid it out there. Who can forget the RAT patrol? (Rusty A Tillman).

We were rarely threadbare though, we always just seemed to be missing some big pieces. There were always a few good players on even the bad teams.

(Also, it is important to note that as bad as Rick Mirer was (and he was bad), that pick turned into Walter Jones for us later. Knowing what I know now, not sure I would do that one over.)

But it was certainly more a team you loved because you loved football and you loved some of the players, and the guys like Cortez Kennedy or Kenny E that were really outstanding - were pretty much unknown to the rest of the fans in other cities.

There was a time when I got a Tuten jersey bought for me because the person buying the jersey could not really figure out who the 'good' players on the Seahawks were. Now, you can go into any store with a football section, in almost any state in the US, and find at least a few different Seahawk jerseys to choose from.

There is a little bit of 'Ricky Bobby' ("If you ain't first you're last!") disease hitting the fans a bit, some strange belief that they automatically SHOULD be in the SB and that not going is an automatic failure for this group. But in spite of some slips along the way this is a hell of a football team and it has played some tremendous football.

The best part is the ride is not over or even close to over. I feel tremendously lucky to be able to be able to go there and see what I consider one of the better teams and one of the better defenses ever.

 

[HomerJHawk]

Yeah, the 90's really messed with our psyche. I actually got to a point one year, can't remember
which, when I swore I'd never watch the Hawks again. Way too much heartbreak. I really got tired
of the 'maybe next year' mantra. I semi-jokingly think this is what helped foster the grunge movement.

But I kept watching, and hoping.

So yeah, these are the Golden times. That's why I'm just enjoying the ride!

 

[Heyseed]

I can't help but thinking,
...if you're not a Seahawks fan right now, you will never be one.

 

[bmorepunk]

Yeah, the 90's really messed with our psyche. I actually got to a point one year, can't remember
which, when I swore I'd never watch the Hawks again. Way too much heartbreak. I really got tired
of the 'maybe next year' mantra. I semi-jokingly think this is what helped foster the grunge movement.

But I kept watching, and hoping.

So yeah, these are the Golden times. That's why I'm just enjoying the ride!

20 years without winning a playoff game. 13 out of 14 years without even making the playoffs. I couldn't complain overall about the Holmgren Seahawks and I really can't find room to complain a lot about the Carroll Seahawks. I still can't believe they won a Super Bowl.

 

[kujohawk]

I remember all of them too. Any of the newer fans that complain about not getting to the superbowl every year probably too young or weren't paying attentiion to the 90's teams we had.

Ah yes the golden Behring years. If I didn't go fishing a lot I think I woulda lost it lol. Gotta be a rope around here somewhere. Rick Mirer??? What happened??? It's official the "we suck this year wait till next year" mantra. I didn't see any 12's around then did you? But we watched and we bitched and we had fun anyway or tried to. This board was a hoot when Aros had it at seahawks98.com.

Remember the Testeverde helmet touchdown call on the goal line stand we had that kept us out of the playoffs? I remember all that stuff and I think a lot of fans any more seem to have an entitlement attitude like the team owes them a superbowl trip every year so they can crow about it on facebook or something. My god what do you think of that guy that has the petition thing going about Cam Newton tearing up a 12 flag or something? WTH is up with that? I know what I think about it . That's the entitlement attitude I'm talking about is that kind of stuff and I think somebody ought to make him watch everygame in the 90's one right after the other. Either that or let Mr. Newton have five minutes with that guy in an alley.

If you didn't suffer with us old timers then you got no appreciation for how good we have it now my gosh we got a great team got off to the bad start with a bad line and couldn't quite get in the good position at the end. Off year a little maybe But I do appreciate the comeback try we took it to them better than Arizona did. I think they are gonna win it all this year I don't think Denver can hang with those boys. So hat's off to Cam and his panthers this year and to the victor goes the spoils I guess he earned that 12 flag. He's a pretty cocky guy but what he did was no worse than Sherman after the tip against the 49ers was it? We liked that pretty well though huh? Guess now its some peoples turn to lick the salt block and suck it up.