I run across a lot of dross sifting through the local media looking for Seahawks info, but would like to think that I've shown a decent amount of restraint in not calling out every piece of claptrap, work of pseudo-analysis or self-serving screed I've encountered, but this has to be read to be believed.
This is a letter I've written and sent to the story's writer, Ryan Davis. If his piece made you embarrassed to be a Northwest sports' fan like it did me, I encourage you to write your own.
Dear Ryan Davis,[Update 7-14-2007 1:29:16] Despite what I might have implied, opinion pieces do not make up a part of Seahawks.net's premium content. I do not personally subscribe to the site's premium content and cannot attest to its quality, but Seahawks.net's editor, Doug Farrar, is a frequent contributor to Football Outsiders, and a person whose work I respect.After aloofly proclaiming yourself to be one of "the 1% that actually understand such things" you completely missed the concept of Karma. The pretentiousness of your theme, distilling a sacred religious belief held by over a billion people into pop-mysticism, is only outstripped by the arrogance and vociferousness of your prose.
This article is whiny and self-serving and by being whiny and self-serving embodies the worst stereotypes of Seattle sports fans. Do you really feel like you, as a sports fan, as a Seattle sports fan who in the past 10 years has enjoyed 13 playoff appearances by its 3 major franchises, a 116 win team, not to mention a Super Bowl berth, that you are the victim of some curse? Some cosmic force blighting Seattle sports?
The pure spectacle of your first 550 words, in which you unabashedly pronounce among your many achievements that:
A combination of luck, intellect, savvy, charm, grace, and whatever you want to call it, has provided me a blessed life. I've always been able to overachieve or succeed despite the obstacles laid before meCompelled me to finish this 2,600+ word slog, this "article". The audacity of the whining, bitching and belly-aching is stomach turning. Clearly, you've lost all sight of how amazingly fortunate you are to even have the luxury to care this much about sports. I could go line by line examining how infuriating almost every word of this piece is, how, when you write:
Like all things Seattle sports, you sat helpless and frustrated, begging for an answer to "why?"You give credence to every accusation that Seattle sports fans are disloyal, reactionary and above all, entitled. But I'd be remiss to spend so much time on something so trifling.
Suffice to say, it is galling that the site you write for, Seahawks.net, as part of the Scout.com ring of sites, expects payment for the majority of its content. If this article is any indication, I'd be more inclined to pay you to stop writing, Mr. Davis, than to support you continuing to misrepresent every Seattle sports fan like you have done so enthusiastically in this piece.
Sincerely,
John Morgan