Times, they are a-changin’. Since Field Gulls is experiencing something of a transition right now, we thought we’d give you, the readers, a chance to get to know the administrators of this site. John Morgan used to handle the majority of content here, so the only way you may have gotten to know the other admins and mods was through the comment threads.
Username: Phil Hatzenbuehler (formerly Phildopip)
Member of Field Gulls Since: June 19, 2006 (original user ID: 23)
How I Discovered Field Gulls: I’ve been an active member of Lookout Landing since April, 2005, and when SBN began to really expand during late 2005 and early 2006 something came up on Lookout Landing about an SBN Seahawks blog. I immediately hopped over to see the content, and quickly learned that I enjoyed Shrug’s writing style. Before the first transition at this site -- when Shrug decided to take a reduced role -- a newish user by the name of John Morgan started making incredible Diaries (this is what we now know as FanPosts) that showed a very good grasp of advanced football statistics, as well as a keen eye for analysis.
I hadn’t yet found Football Outsiders, so my knowledge of advanced football statistics was somewhat lacking, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t interested. Once John was promoted to writer, and was eventually handed the keys to the site, I was hooked. I don’t consider myself a stathead when it comes to football, especially when it comes to individual statistics, but I understand the importance of looking beyond the score or yardage totals.
My Involvement at Field Gulls: Like I said, when it comes to advanced stats I don’t find I’m necessarily comfortable enough to do any in-depth analysis. However, I have a great interest in history, especially when it comes to sports. The majority of the books I read are nonfiction books about baseball and football. Don’t hold me to this, but I would imagine that you’ll mostly see stories about the history of the Seahawks, the NFL, or players from me. I also have a strange interest in trivia and statistical oddities. I tend to browse around Pro-Football-Reference.com a lot just looking for strange happenings.
Personal Stuff: I was born and raised in California, so I grew up a San Francisco 49ers fan. I was lucky, as this was during the golden years of the Niners. My boyhood hero was Jerry Rice (and, to a lesser extent, Steve Young). In fact, I wanted to grow up to be Jerry Rice -- mind you, I didn’t want to grow up to be like Jerry Rice, I wanted to be Jerry Rice. My dad was in the Navy, so we moved around quite a bit, but I didn’t leave California until I was twelve years old, aside from a short stay in Idaho. When I was twelve, we moved up to Bremerton, but I hung onto my Niners loyalty. It wasn’t until Warren Moon signed with the Seahawks that I finally took interest in the local team, though I didn’t fully become a fan until 2003. I still had enough hate in my heart for Mike Holmgren that it took four years for me to forgive him for his Packers booting my Niners from the playoffs three years in a row.
I now live in the Portland, Oregon area and by day I’m an intern architect for a commercial architecture firm. I love the hell out of video games, and I fully believe that the Netflix Instant Watch on the Xbox 360 is the greatest invention in the history of ever. I’m a music nut; I worked in a record store for about three years, where I learned that my CD collection didn’t have to contain only Jimi Hendrix and assorted nu-metal. My favorite bands of the moment are Built to Spill, Dinosaur Jr., The Beatles, Elton John, Cloud Cult, Neva Dinova, Super Furry Animals, Dr. Dog, and Frightened Rabbit. I also happen to be sort of (read: big time) a nerd, especially when it comes to TV and movie entertainment. My favorite TV shows include: The Simpsons, Firefly, Battlestar Galactica (the reimagined series), Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Breaking Bad, Deadwood, Dexter, and Six Feet Under.
I’m really looking forward to writing about the Seahawks. A few years ago I sort of experienced a minor career crisis and was seriously considering trying to make a go at being a sports writer. Looks like I finally got my wish.