On Being Civil

by Hopefulmsfan on Sep 29, 2011 3:58 AM PDT

Being a sports fan can lead to some intense emotions. Being a Seattle sports fan can lead to outright depression. The Seahawks have had more bad years than good and that makes being a Seahawks fan mean a little more than being a Patriots fan or a Packers fan. We have suffered through some pretty terrible seasons yet we continue to proudly wear the Blue and Green. This lack of winning can also make us a little hostile at time. Different people root for their team in different ways and everyone has their own favorite player. We as Seahawks fans have disagreed many a time. We have disagreed on Shaun Alexander, Matt Hasselbeck, Deion Branch, and Kelly Jennings...Ok, we all can agree on Kelly Jennings. But no matter what our thoughts were of a player, we all, as fans, have the same goal in mind: to see the Seahawks lift that Lombardi Trophy.

Thus it saddens me whenever I see my fellow fans fight with each other over something silly. Field Gulls is my go-to place for everything Seahawks and it has been for a couple of years now. John Morgan's amazing and insightful writing reeled me in and soon after, I was addicted. What made it even better was that when I finished his articles, I knew there would be great discussion in the comments that followed. And when he left, Danny, Benne, Thomas, and all of the other members continued to make this the best Seahawks blog on the internet.

We all come to Field Gulls because we could not handle seeing one more ESPN comment without our brains turning to liquid. We liked certain people at the Seattle Times or P.I. blogs but a good portion of the posters are either trolls or they write like they have never taken an English class in their lives. We come to Field Gulls because we want quality and therefore we hold ourselves to a higher standard. It's alright to disagree with another fan's position, that is how we learn and grow as football fans. If I say Julius Jones is an average running back and you have a valid argument using statistics or scouting to prove me wrong, I would love to hear it. But making it personal will only end badly. Let's remember to keep it civil and respectful during this tough season as we are all here for the same reason. Because we frickin love Seahawks football.

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Comments

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It's Great To Be a Florida Gator!
"We signed Tavaris Jackson..oh, he can't be THAT bad..." ¯\_ (ツ) _/¯
I never met a llama I didn't like.

by Wayward Llama on Sep 29, 2011 7:55 AM PDT reply actions 1 recs

Very well said

could be the disclaimer introducing every article’s comment box.

by Stay Off the Flowers on Sep 29, 2011 8:20 AM PDT reply actions

And if you're not civil, you're going to get banned.

Comment threads have become free-for-alls lately and that is going to change. The current state in just about every post is unacceptable.

by BrianL on Sep 29, 2011 9:10 AM PDT reply actions 6 recs

Thank you.

by Strictnine on Sep 29, 2011 10:32 AM PDT up reply actions

Good.

It's Great To Be a Florida Gator!
"We signed Tavaris Jackson..oh, he can't be THAT bad..." ¯\_ (ツ) _/¯
I never met a llama I didn't like.

by Wayward Llama on Sep 29, 2011 1:13 PM PDT up reply actions

I'd say

it’s about time!

Obey gravity....it's the law

by kevininpo on Sep 29, 2011 7:37 PM PDT up reply actions

seems a bit of an exaggeration

I don’t think EVERY post is bad. But I agree with the essence of this fanpost.

Heresy grows from idleness.

by Corax --Nevermore-- on Oct 1, 2011 7:44 PM PDT up reply actions

Hear, hear!

by SKIRMISH on Sep 29, 2011 6:38 PM PDT via mobile reply actions

My favorite line

We all come to Field Gulls because we could not handle seeing one more ESPN comment without our brains turning to liquid.

That right there deserves a rec.

"Out of bounds you stupid guy!"

by Modrik Zutar on Oct 1, 2011 10:14 AM PDT reply actions 1 recs

You should post something like this at LL.

Although most commentors over there CAN back up their comments with stats and facts, often times it comes off as extremely snarky. If you don’t get in line, you get piled on. That’s what I like about this site. People can be crazy, but it seems they can also be more understanding and civil. You don’t have to be on of the “old boys” to fit in here.

I'm kind of a big deal...

by Benny Boy on Oct 3, 2011 10:33 PM PDT reply actions 1 recs

I got banned over there for speaking my mind about their tasteless Holocaust comments among other things. F that place.

by StealthHawk on Oct 4, 2011 12:18 AM PDT up reply actions

One thing we do not like here is talking crap about other blogs or how they moderated you

It serves no purpose except to stir up bad blood.

Formerly knows as Vasilii, follow me on twitter @dolgorukii

by Thomas Beekers on Oct 4, 2011 5:38 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs

You're right.

I’m sorry, that place can just be frustrating because it has so much potential.

I'm kind of a big deal...

by Benny Boy on Oct 4, 2011 1:59 PM PDT up reply actions

I hate that Vasili guy. I am soooo glad he's not posting here anymore.

Always going on with “Hi I am Dutch” this or “Here is some cogent critical analysis which, while not putting the Seahawks into the best of lights, is at least realistic” that.

"It's okay to have an open mind, just not so open that your brains fall out." - Carl Sagan (well, a lot of guys)

by Johnny Slick on Oct 4, 2011 2:25 PM PDT up reply actions 2 recs

That's because it's baseball

and baseball sucks.

It's Great To Be a Florida Gator!
"We signed Tavaris Jackson..oh, he can't be THAT bad..." ¯\_ (ツ) _/¯
I never met a llama I didn't like.

by Wayward Llama on Oct 4, 2011 2:12 PM PDT up reply actions

Yup

by Greetings from the Lord Humongous! on Oct 7, 2011 9:51 PM PDT up reply actions

Yup

Baseball isn’t played because it’s interesting. Baseball is played because without darkness we would not appreciate the light: without sorrow, we would not appreciate joy. Baseball makes us savour life and reminds us to treasure every second we have on this beautiful planet, because such moments may never come again. Baseball is played, my dear friend, because without it we would not appreciate the time we don’t have to play baseball.

Formerly knows as Vasilii, follow me on twitter @dolgorukii

by Thomas Beekers on Oct 8, 2011 7:45 AM PDT up reply actions

To be fair

it means more than being a YOUNG Patriots fan.

The Pats had 9 straight losing seasons from 67-75. Before their 46-10 soul-crushing by the bears in 86, they had made the playoffs 4 times in 20 years, winning one game.

The team went on to losing seasons in SIX more straight years from 89-95 before, you guessed it, losing a superbowl in 96.

So, if you’re a pats fan from the start, you waited 35 years for the success of the Belichik era.

Details of the operations of an interstate dog fighting ring were revealed, with some portions involving drugs and gambling. Gruesome details involving abuse, torture and execution of under-performing dogs ... He admitted to being involved in the destruction of 6–8 dogs, by hanging or drowning...

by Simms-McConkey on Oct 4, 2011 3:15 PM PDT reply actions

A little bit like being a Steelers fan in the early 70s.

Prior to Chuck Noll they were truly the laughingstock of the NFL. Indeed, a big reason why they were one of the teams to move over to the AFC during the merger is because the senior league felt they weren’t losing much in the way of history by letting them go (the other two teams – the Browns and Colts – were actually in something of a Seahawks’ situation, having joined the league close enough to the present that they lacked the rivalries of the more established teams, but at the same time not being so recent that they had a contract which kept them in the NFC as I imagine the Vikings, Falcons, and Cowboys did).

Anyway, I like the overall vibe of this site, the way it is nice enough to n00bs who ask weird-sounding questions sometimes, has several people smart enough to engage in intelligent conversations with and not get into circular discussions of “clutch” and so on, and still have a bit of a sense of humor about things (okay, in fairness, Jeff Sullivan is really fricking funny; few places on the Internet have that). The “suck for Luck” thing was getting annoying but also appears to have almost completely gone away, too, so hooray for that. And finally, one thing about a site like this is that the most, um, boisterous part of the whole cycle is the beginning of the season. People will discover the site at about the same time they’re rediscovering football every year, and over the course of the first few weeks some people will figure out that their personality doesn’t mesh with this one, others will just get bored of the sport (GOOD RIDDANCE), and still others will figure out what the rules are and start obeying them. Everything seems a bit more negative than average, I think, because this team has been mediocre for a while and this looks like it’s going to be another mediocre season, but otherwise I think it’s all to be expected.

"It's okay to have an open mind, just not so open that your brains fall out." - Carl Sagan (well, a lot of guys)

by Johnny Slick on Oct 4, 2011 4:44 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs