Seattle sports fans did me proud yesterday.
The Seahawks were tied with the Packers at 20 yesterday at the end of regulation of their NFC Wildcard playoff game, and Seattle won the coin toss for possession. And Seattle QB Matt Hasselbeck said, and I quote, “We went the ball, and we’re going to score!”
What he DIDN’T say was “Unless, of course, I throw a dumb-ass pass on 3rd and 11 that Al Harris picks off and runs back for a touchdown to win the game for the Packers.”
Now, one of the IRC channels I hang out on is #seattle, made up mostly of locals. And because the intelligence level of the average IRC denizen is right up there with, well, the average intelligence level of most of the country, any local channel whose sports team just lost an important game is usually flooded with idiots from The Other City come to brag about their perceived dominance.
And, lo, it was the same on this day. A few Packer fans (I refuse to believe a #greenbay exists, it would have been annexed by #milwaukee years ago) came in and bellowed the oh-so-intelligent analysis of “SEAHAWKS SUCK!” Never mind that the game went to overtime, or that Seattle never really should have been in the playoffs anyhow, only having won two road games. “SEAHAWKS SUCK!”
And nobody so much as blinked. “Yeah, tell us something we don’t know.” And it hit me: The last playoff game this team won was in 1983. Being told that the Seahawks suck is roughly akin to calling Out! Magazine and telling them to stop the presses for an emergency news item: Richard Simmons is gay!
So, good on the good people of #seattle, sports fans though they by and large may not be, for not feeding the trolls. Oh, and I wasn’t that heartbroken over the loss either. So even though I’ve only lived here for 5 years now, maybe I’m learning.