Community
by John Morgan on Nov 26, 2010 9:44 PM PST
Email
Print
My wife came home. It was Monday. I had moved my wife's laptop onto my desk and opened up ATDHE and watched Eagles-Redskins. I had drank some Dead Guy. A good batch, all malt sweetness. I had sat in a game thread with shams and kidder and mattlock and farmer cam and SSreporters and Cheddar and some others, and drank and watched football and shot the shit and, well, had a hell of-a damn time.
The game was terrible. Well, it wasn't terrible so much as over after the first quarter. It wasn't competitive. There's something kind of a fun about an epic blowout and this was an epic blowout. Michael Vick was play slapping the Redskins while banging their collective mom, so to speak. It was a mess, but fun.
It was fun really. Which is queer. I was interacting with a bunch of semi-strangers, people I couldn't pick out of a lineup, posting behind assumed names, commenting about a blowout loss for the Redskins, kind of, and it was fun. I was little knockered and I was in a good mood for whatever reason and, well, it was good company and good times.
So, eventually, my wife came home. She's not unaccustomed to walking in on me a bit drunk and a bit rambunctious, but I think I was especially happy that night. I said to her "we had a good game thread." And it was true. It was a good game thread. It was fun. It was like hanging out with friends, and everyone had interesting things to say, and I laughed some, and the bad game kind of turned good, because the company was good and I felt good and it was spontaneous and it was social and it was alive.
To say the people that comment on Field Gulls are semi-strangers is to attempt a description that would be intelligible 50 years ago. The people that comment on Field Gulls are in some ways total strangers. I don't know where most of them work. I don't know what most of them look like. I don't know all those important things people put on their Facebook page like relationship status, gender, sexual orientation, region, religion, school, tastes in music and movies, the books they list as favorites to strike the right balance between learned and down the earth, their thoughts on current events, their political affiliation, or their opinion on the weather. I don't know anything like that. I don't know the flesh of the person or the things they cover themselves with.
All I really know is their work. Which, well it isn't like that kind of relationship is new entirely, but it has certainly changed.
I was very sad when Dave Niehaus died, but I didn't know Niehaus the man. I don't know if he snored or thought his maid was stealing brandy. I don't know what his voice sounded like when he was angry or what he feared. I don't know his little moments of kindness or how long it took him to brush his teeth. All I knew was his work.
Through his voice I achieved a kind of closeness. It conveyed anticipation and disappointment and dread. It gave me box scores and trivia and little asides about being a broadcaster. It wasn't the man, but it was part of the man, a very pure and honest part of the man, distilled into a lifetime of work.
So when Dave died it wasn't like I was losing a friend, but it was like I was losing a companion. Dave told me the story and I listened and together we followed the Mariners. Would they win today and was this their year? Never their year, but maybe. Was Boonie going to flick his bat was Bone gonna crush one was Big Unit gonna K the side? Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.
I am not sure I can call you all friends. If surfmonkey were to show up on my doorstep, I would probably be a bit freaked out. It's not to say I crave isolation or the spare communication of short comments, but we've never seen each other eye-to-eye, shaken hands, shared a space. We do share something, though.
I know the ribald tirades of Whiskey Chainsaw. The strategic inquiries of Jacob Stevens. The twisted brilliance of Scruffy Lefty. I realize when Krazy Leggs and LantermanC haven't posted in a while. I know Misfit's fascination with running backs. I miss abender's biting wit, even if it's caused me a few headaches. I wonder where jimmymoose has gone. Will always appreciate the contributions of Doug and Brian and Phil and Johnny and Craig and how each in their way have made the site broader and richer and more interesting. I depend on the smart and contrary voices of Vasilii and lemonverbena and the hell they sometimes give me and the hell that helps me be a little more impartial, and a little more conscientious, and maybe even a better analyst. I thank Shrug and always remember to point out how stupid a name is "Field Gulls."
Maybe it's not friendship. Maybe's it's temporary and distant. But Field Gulls is a kind of community. It's a kind of second home for me. I announced my engagement on Field Gulls and excused myself from a day of work on my wedding day. It helped me fulfill a dream. It may be just symbols begetting symbols stamped onto an electronic ether, but my words are my work, and my work is the essence of my existence. And I give it to you and you give it back and through that exchange we know each other. Kind of.
But I don't know people as blood or bone or pigment or disfigurement or weakness or good looks, great style and wealth, health and prestige. I know people for their work, their comments, their ideas, their fixations and perspective and education and disposition. Their contradictions. Their emotions. Their hopes as expressed through our shared reliance and love and dependence on a football team. A football team that doesn't love us or hate us but binds us, and good God we are bound!
It's been four years now. Field Gulls has become a fixture in my life. It gave me a life and an escape from graveyard shifts and food service. It got me a book deal. Writing that gives me an electricity running up my skin, a sense of rising, like when I was a kid and imagined writing great books and accomplishing great things and living a glorious life. T.E. Lawrence I am not. My Thomas Pynchon fantasies passed a few years ago and even the Henry Miller scenario seems distant and foolish. But I have a little place to write what I want and talk Hawks and return to and avoid for a day and return to again.
I have three days of game threads ahead of me and a giddy anticipation for Monday. I have somewhere to walk and some beer to buy and some thoughts about Matt Hasselbeck to think through, and another day's work ahead of me.
46 comments
|
18 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
I know what you mean, John.
I often laugh during game threads, and when my friends ask what I’m laughing about it’s often difficult to explain it and have it retain its effect. It’s just different, and I love it.
Field Gulls: my anti-PFT.
Game threads provide some great laughs from people who take it a bit too serious
I am a bear of very little brains and big words bother me.
To say that your "Captain of the Tailgate" posts are different than those on the other SBN football blogs
would be like saying that the Mariners’ offense wasn’t that bad.
I don't think this has the desired intent...
That would be saying that John’s posts are actually the same as those on other blogs.
by Woodinville_12thMan on Nov 27, 2010 11:06 AM PST up reply actions
He's talking about how
“different” is a bit of an understatement.
2/3 of the world is covered by water. The rest is covered by Marcus Trufant.
Twisted sense of community indeed.
Where would I be without the learned rantings and overedumacated ravings of a hyperliterate fanbase? Much duller, at least to those who don’t bleed Seahawk blue as much as they oughta.
Beware those pseudojournalists who put on a great and puffy show that they are impartial and unbiased, as they are every bit as dangerous as those that talk a lot about how honest they are when they are trying to get your money. All reporting is biased, and I want it delivered by those that don’t pretend otherwise. Infotainment at it’s best. I have never seen game analysis as informative, nor delivered with pathos second only to The Great Johnny Peel at Dave Krieg’s Strike Beard. That’s about as high a degree of praise as I can muster at the moment.
by bleedshawkblue on Nov 26, 2010 10:25 PM PST reply actions
Shit, but the internet is weird.
I’m not sure there has been a more world changing event since WWI. I don’t know anything about you guys, except that if I met you at a public house, you can bet your ass I would buy you a pint of your choosing…unless it was PBR, then I would know you were a FG impostor.
I was at a hipster Thanksgiving yesterday
All there was to drink was PBR. And ‘Fritz The Cat’ was on the TV.
That sounds miserable
Was there a lot of mustache twirling and uttering of phrases like “In this film, the real scenes were the deleted scenes, and the deleted scenes were the real scenes!”
It won a blue ribbon!
I’ll not have my membership trounced upon due to my taste for ribbon-winning beer. I will buy you a pint of PBR though.
Love the game, love the beer, love your team.
by THolt on Nov 28, 2010 5:19 AM PST via mobile up reply actions
I'm going to the Carolina game.
And it will be the first time I haven’t watched a Seahawks game while being on a Field Gulls gamethread in a very, very long time. It’s a hoot.
I haven't been able to all year.
No laptop and no TV near my computer.
by Coach Owens on Nov 27, 2010 12:54 AM PST up reply actions
how do you not have a laptop?
they’re like four hundred bucks. Or you can get one of those EEEPC things for $150.
Hooray for seahawk fans.
I like being anonymous. Since you aren’t “real” people, you can’t really bother me, or stress me out, or bang on my door when I don’t text you back. Or invite me to weddings, or funerals, or clubs or any of that other annoying social shit people like to do.
That probably sounds a little harsh…oh well, see ya on gameday….if my my stream isn’t behind everyone elses….
Actually
I share this sentiment with you. Not to sound harsh but I hate having to avoid awkward social invites its just … awkward.
by alexander_37 on Nov 27, 2010 12:18 AM PST up reply actions
Post #1501, UID 455
I’ve been reading you almost exclusively (at least since Farnsworth lost his position at SeattlePI) since 2007. I have been hooked on your content ever since and visit almost daily. I bought your book and completely loved it and have lent it to 3 friends now. I mainly just lurk anymore but often read comments and am familiar with the regulars.
I feel much the same that John does; you all are great. Thank you for making me a better fan and enriching the whole experience. The NFL should be paying you, cause you make me interested in every Hawks game and never miss a Sunday.
2/3 of the world is covered by water. The rest is covered by Marcus Trufant.
thanks
As one of those lost children of my generation who doesn’t use facebook, twitter or even cable because of the constant downpour of idiocy that seems to crash against mrefuge, Fieldgulls has become my place of refuge.
by brugg on Nov 27, 2010 12:57 AM PST via mobile reply actions
I used to post on the Seattle Times for Mariners and The PI for Seahawks.
I never felt right there. Like I didn’t belong. When I found Field Gulls and Lookout Landing, I felt like I was home. LL got me through this last M’s season with a lot of laughter. FG got me through 09 where otherwise I might’ve committed some unspeakable acts. This is my favorite place to talk about football and everybody here is just plain awesome. Thatnks for the post John, well said.
I have loved the Hawks my entire life the way some visit church...
and yet in many, many ways I learn something new each time I visit the poorly named site we all love. I can’t thank you all enough, I feel as though I lurk much more than I post. I get way to emotionally involved in Hawks games to attempt coherent posts during Seahawks game threads, but can & have posted during other game threads.
I was raised without parents by my Great Grandmother, the Hawks, Mariners & Supersonics were my parents for better or worse.
Even though I love the Mariners & Loved to tears the Supersonics. The Seattle Seahawks were my rock as a child, they were the only thing on earth other than my Nana that were where they said they would be when they said they would be.
They hardly ever won when I was young, but every Sunday afternoon they were on the radio… every Sunday. Their evil leaders (from the mind of a 6 year old me) never put them on T.V. but Pete Gross was always there to let me know I could count on them. Joe Nash inspired me to believe that someone really could be there every single time he was suppose to be there.
I spend everyday doing my best Joe Nash impersonation for my son & daughter. Any foster child raised as I was can attest how important a quality in a man that is. Someday I hope my children look at me the way I looked at Nash. He might not have accomplished that of others but, he was there every single day giving his all.
Ken Behring taught me that most extremely rich people are evil & Paul Allen is a Saint in a wolves checkbook.
I think if I kissed that mans shoes, shined them with my tears & watched him excuse an entire planet from their wrong doings, I would still owe him one.
I love Field Gulls, I’m not as behind the scenes number driven as some are, but this is a wonderful community.
To John,
I am married. I have 2 children & have no idea how you manage to accomplish all that you do here. To have it be so well written all at the same time is nothing short of amazing. All I can really say is just simply…
Thank you.
Dont have T.V.
I broke my knee a week before switching jobs to what was supposed to be an easier and higher paying job. Couldn’t take time off so I hobbled for 3 months and when my 90 day evaluation came they let me go. with my wife being the bread winner for my Daughter and I we had to tighten our belts. I got lucky my wife needs the internet for her job which allows me to get nfl.com so I can watch the gamecast thing but it isn’t the same obviously. So I have no idea as to what the hell is going on, I don’t actually get to see the games….all I get to see are the stats and then base my opinion on those stats…..until John Morgan post the play by plays which he prolly thinks he is just spelling out what worked and what didn’t for the Hawks but for me is my chance at watching the game or attempting to see it.
What FieldGulls has been to me and what John and the others do is offer me something to look forward to everyday, be it crazy people probably so pissed at other peoples opinion all the can do is slam their hooves against the keyboard in an effort to offer their rebuttal or the people cracking jokes about anything and everything to the badass mo’ fo’s who post hawkus. After taking it all in and looking at this site as a whole, who the fuck needs T.V.
by DKrottenhawk on Nov 27, 2010 2:33 AM PST reply actions 2 recs
Seriously,
Though it doesn’t surprise me that John took something corporate and lame and made it fun.
by DJ C-Raig on Nov 27, 2010 11:25 AM PST via mobile up reply actions
This place made me a fan again
I played football from the ages of nine to fourteen, the last year was frosh ball in high school. I loved football but I was unlike most of my teammates, especially in HS. In the end my inflated sense of principal had decided I could not play a game with people who made fun of me for wearing a NIN shirt to practice. So I quit football to become a musician and misfit.
It took until 2005 to get back into the hawks and the game, and this recent stretch would seem to threaten my fandom again. Except that this site rekindled my interest in the sport to such a great degree that I don’t need the hawks to be great for me to enjoy football.
It’s very nice having my favorite game back.
by Moresoftness on Nov 27, 2010 9:08 AM PST via mobile reply actions
This is a beautiful post, John. Thanks.
These Captain Morgan posts are actually fantastic.
by Woodinville_12thMan on Nov 27, 2010 11:09 AM PST reply actions
Non-Hawks gamethreads are my favorite.
My personal love is the Sunday Night game thread which I will hopefully be participating in – If I don’t end up in couples consoling due to Christmas light hanging.
There isn't much I like less about home ownership than hanging Christmas lights...
Scratch that… I hate painting. I’d hang Christmas lights over painting any day.
Hass and me
I had a dream last night that I was hanging out with Matt Hasselbeck. We were just chillin’, walking down the sidewalk in downtown Seattle, shooting the shit about whatever. I have dreams like this from time to time. It’s really apropos of nothing, but this thread feels like the right place to document it. Thanks.
Oh Captain, my Captain.
I agree with your sentiments, and the sentiments of many others. This is a community, more than any other Seahawks blog or “news” source.
You sir, are a festisio!
See, I can make up words too!
Though I am sporting my tawny reddish beard these days….
Of course you are. That's what Portland does to people.
Next you’ll be dating a vegan muffin-top!
Btw I’m really hoping you meant sense #2:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Festisio
Cake for me too, please.
I'm still here, Umguapo!
I’ve become an uberlurker over the last few years, but I still read all the content, and try to keep up with the trends. My life’s gotten much busier in the last 2 years, so that I haven’t gotten a chance to participate in the Post your Hawk and Video Previews, but I imagine sometime soon you’ll witness a rebirth of the Moose!
Love you all, keep doing what you do. Though Seattle sports franchises present their fans with some challenges, I feel blessed to be able to share it with the people I do.
Appreciate the ability to express within bounds of some sanity
Good times here. Even when it sucks.
It is what it is...
I love this post.
I love the community. I love the silly attempts I make at contributing to it (my videos). I love the silly feedback I get on those silly videos.
I love the banter, I love the fierce debates, I love the beer talk, I love the game thread emotion. I love the jovial thumping each others’ chests after a win, and I also love the social crying in each others’ beer after a hard loss.
This blog may be about the Seahawks, but the people that write and read and comment here ARE Seahawks. Greatest community ever. I love you guys.
Is that the light at the end of the tunnel, or the headlights of an oncoming train?
Love FG
and everyone who contributes. I’m Mike. I wake up early on Sunday to watch political shows and then football.
I need to write about a hilarious interaction I had with Jim Mora but am hesitant because it was an embarassing thing for him – yet hilarious for everyone else.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
