My Letter to TMQ

This is the second time I've written to Greg Easterbrook, the Tuesday Morning Quarterback. He's pretty much the only stranger I ever write to...

Subject: Why Football Matters -- and the Dropped Passes Group

Mr. Easterbrook,

I thought of another reason why football is more emotional than other sports: the players have to really want to play football to play football. They are the lowest paid of the big-sport athletes, and the only sport where (in my opinion) the players actually earn that money. I only played football for one season when I was 10 (offensive line), and what I remember most vividly was taking a bath and having my entire body covered with bruises. One season was more than enough for me.

Naturally, had I stuck with it, it would have gotten worse. Whenever I hear a guy say that pro football players are overpaid, I ask him, "how much would somebody have to pay you to have knee surgery?" If the price is low, you know you're talking to a guy who's never had a knee operation. (I've had three.)

We fans are quick to condemn players like Ricky Williams as "quitters" (better example: Ryan Leaf), but I simply can't begrudge them for acting in their rational self interest. We can look down our nose at Brett Farve and his addiction to Vicodin -- but we simply don't know how painfull it is to be in Brett Farve's body. If you've got even a million dollars in the bank, and you still want to play pro football, you're nuts -- but my hat's off to you. Some may be annoyed by the cliche of calling a football player "a warrior", but I believe that this game is the last vestige of the pitched battle. The mortality rate may be low, but there are wounds, and there is pain, and "the warriors" don't relent.

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WHY THE SEAHAWKS FAIL

The Dropped Passes

You can afford having one of your starting receivers drop too many passes. But you can't afford BOTH of them to drop too many passes. Who knows how far the Seahawks could have gone with (what we used call) a "possession receiver?" A guy who knows how to get open and catch a football? I'll take Stever Largent. Heck, I'll take Paul Skansi. What's Jerry Rice doing these days?

The Colors

No, I'm serious. When I catch a glimse of the old Seahawks royal blue and forst green colors, I have a tangible emotional reaction to them. Now, it's like watching on black and white TV. Who can get emotionally charged by rental-car blue? Alas, apart from my close friend, a painter who is also a lifetime Seahawks fan, nobody but nobody takes this seriously. When the Broncos took the field in their orange jerseys this year, can anybody think the fans didn't have an emotional reaction to it? (They lost the game, but you get the point, I hope, if you've read this far...)