Tom Breda of Scout.com has an interesting piece about a few public relations mishaps on the part of the Seahawks lately.
Breda's angle is the unveiling of the Seahawks' NFC Championship banner -- which happened at the start of their first preseason game:
Thud.
Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me.
I raced several blocks from my pre-funk watering hole, nervously sweating and displaying happy feet in a curiously long line, flying upstairs and slamming into my seat for this?!?!
...I was shocked when I was informed that something as symbolically significant as our team's very first conference championship banner revealing was not only going to be at the first preseason game of the year, but a good 15 minutes before kickoff... I am astonished that a franchise that has truly been moving in the right direction... can still seem so blatantly out-of-synch with what I would call "no-brainers".
On the championship banner thing, I absolutely agree with Breda. I can't see how the Seahawks office could have even debated when to roll out the banner. The most meaningful piece of cloth that has ever been displayed in Qwest or the Kingdom should have been unveiled at a game with implications -- namely, the season opener, when it's near guaranteed every seat will be filled. Surely they had to weigh the possibility that showing it at a preseason game would result in anti-climax.
Hopefully it was just a test run. The banner should be unscrolled again on September 17. But now that, too, might come off as rote.
Other things Breda says:
The unimaginative and strange music selection is one of the areas that severely needs reform. Give us hard rock, rap, something with a good strong beat...ANYTHING but "Bittersweet Symphony" for another year.
On this note (excuse the pun), I completely disagree. One of my day jobs is music journalism, and I happen to love "Bittersweet Symphony" myself. The portion they play -- the string sample, with the slow crescendo, then a glissando leading into the drum line -- last year, I got goosebumps when I heard it at Qwest. It's a regal introduction, very epic-sounding. I appreciate that they're playing something unique.
I wouldn't mind something like "Hells Bells" from AC/DC, but "Bittersweet Symphony" is bone-chilling and rousing. And you have got to be kidding me that opposing team fans would even bother to notice the music intro, let alone use it as basis for cajoling the homers. This argument's silly.
You know, I figure the cost of my season tickets gives me so much bang for my buck, I'm willing to let 15 minutes of the show get phoned in, as long as it's not Seahawks players doing the phoning.
I am usually going to the restroom during halftime. Judging from the long lines I endure, so is every other man in the stadium who's blessed with a bladder. Put Rachael Ray and a blender on during halftime, for all I care.
But the banner thing he's completely right about.