AKA "Ripping Off Sando." AKA "Acting Like I Know Something." AKA "Weirdly, Sentimentally Missing the Open Game Thread Experience By Going to the Stadium."
- Question of the Day, No the Year, No the Decade: Why does KIRO have to show Raiders games? Why? Could they not have shown the Bengals/Browns game? Or even the Dolphins/Bills game? Did not both of those games look better on paper? Are you going to insist that the Raiders constitute "regional interest" for us up here? Does KIRO not have access to an atlas? Why do they assume Seattle viewers want to blow one half of our broadcast day on the odds-on favorite to land next year's #1 draft pick? Why? Why? For the love of God, why?
- I forgot to mention: Friday I saw the Seahawks post-game sportscaster from Fox-13 on the Fremont Bridge near my home. I forget his name. Not Chad Eaton. (Editor's PS: It was Dan Devone.)
- "The Bears might finally have a QB... first good one since Sid Luckman." Very funny. Nice work. Even better memory.
- Another reason Qwest felt like the Bermuda Triangle this afternoon: Neil Rackers missed two field goal attempts. I know one was from 54 yards, but Rackers gets those more often than almost anyone else I know.
- Speaking of placekickers, Josh Brown's missed chip-shot was disconcerting. Couldn't tell whether it was Darche's being gone, or one of the other problems we had last week in this regard. For some reason I pre-emptively believe it's not Brown's problem. I may be wrong.
- Nate Burleson: Well... he was my pick to bust out in the preseason. I admit it. But after today's performance... let's just say Nate should feel fortunate we've been using lots of 4-receiver sets.
- Didn't see what happened to Walter in the 2nd. Now that Week 5 bye doesn't look so early.
- Grand Statement: Kelly Herndon is the most improved Seahawk these first two games, and there is nobody else even within range. (Hamlin's comeback player... not quite the same thing. I split hairs so much you'd think I was calling Locklear for holding.)
- Re: Frank Gore, Alex Smith and the 49ers: All of a sudden it doesn't seem unreasonable to think the 49ers have a shot at third place this year. Just a shot -- maybe not a likelihood. But a shot.
- Almost as galling as the dropped passes were the dropped interceptions. I will, however, take dropped interceptions over dropped completions any day.
- "Plackemeier is hurt"... Looked like it was only temporary, but thinking about Plackemeier getting hurt is a lot scarier to me than it has a right to be.
- I feel much, much better about Maurice Morris being our insurance against the Madden Jinx.
- Finally, here's either "How to Be a Great 12th Man" (courtesy Texas A&M) or "How Much of a Dork I Am": During offensive series by the opponents, I -- like everyone else in Qwest -- yell in a wordless tone to try and disrupt the other team into a false start. (Which worked well today.)
I did it again today too, but there were certain situations where I very consciously altered my pitch, one half-step up. I did this to try and create more dissonance. If the rest of the crowd seems to be singing on the same note, which they usually do, then I hope my being "out of tune" a little bit will distract the other team even further. Like all of a sudden they'll notice, from way down there on the field, that one person out of these 67,000 screaming fans is singing the wrong note. And then that really screws 'em up.
As you can tell, I'm really gunning for the MVP award this year. Or American Idol at the very least.