Words are funny things. "Kumquat," for example, is a hilarious word, but it is not a word packed with meaning. Other words, like "redemption," "regret," and "expectation" are packed with meaning but are not particularly strange or humorous. Language is filled with idiosyncrasies, inconsistencies, and fallibility. It occurs to me that there are not as many absolutes in language as I would like. In fact, one supposedly "absolute" word is less absolute than I'd prefer. That word is "perfect."
Perfect shouldn't be debatable and yet, perfect is strangely relative. It's funny, really, because perfect implies an objective ideal, free from flaw, brimming with realized potential. Perfect, as we visualize it, does not deviate, does not grade on a curve. Perfect is, well...
Perfect, in the theoretical sense, is uncompromised and unblemished. Perfect, in the realistic sense however, can be many things to many people. Perfect can be time spent with a loved one. It can be a whiskey-sour with just the right amount of sour. Perfect can be an autumn sunset and perfect can be the satisfying splat of your own urine hitting a car that's driving underneath the overpass at 63 mph.
Perfect is winning tickets to a Mariners game on a radio trivia contest and watching live and in-person as Felix throws a complete game that ends with Ichiro hitting a walk-off homerun against Mariano Rivera and giving the Yankees the "Suck it" as he crosses home plate. Perfect is the way mom makes her mashed potatoes light and fluffy and how she insists on pronouncing it "botatoes" because she's not from America. It's a corner-kick that bananas into the goal, it's a half-court set alley-oop; perfect is Mike Williams finding redemption in a Seahawks uniform (and yet, a Detroit Lions fan would describe that as anything but). Perfect is having Golden Tate be your favorite college football player and then hearing him get drafted onto your favorite pro team. Perfect is conducive to situation, as counter-intuitive as that sounds. Perfect is just, perfect.
So, Seahawks fans, with the draft approaching this weekend, what does your perfect Seahawks draft look like? Is it Mallet in the 1st, Dowling in the 2nd, and Franklin in the 4th? Is it Seattle trading up to snag Gabbert or Locker or Ingram or Akumara or Pouncey? Is it trading out of the first round to accumulate a higher quantity of picks? Is it seeing Keyshawn Johnson on gag order?
Use the comments section* to let the rest of the Field Gulls community know what your perfect draft looks like this year.
*This is a space for the subjective description of each commenter's "perfect" Seahawks draft -- not to insult, minimalize, or vilify anybody's dream draft.