Seahawks Swoop Back Into Monday Night Football

You wouldn't believe it, but the Seahawks' fondness for the national stage that is Monday Night Football runs deep with supreme success. Unless you simply don't follow our hometown eleven or aren't really a "football stats" person (or you're fantasy football only, smh), your Seattle Seahawks just so happen to own the best record on Monday night of any team in the National Football League.

If we're going to continue our Monday Night Football
success, this guy must get into Beast Mode. 

That's right. With an all-time best record of 17-8 on Monday Night Football, it doesn't matter if it's 1979 and it's Efren Herrera faking a field goal for a first down against the Falcons (Howard Cosell that night: "Jack Patera is offering the nation a lesson in creative football!") or Matt Hasselbeck & Co.'s absolute dismantling of the Philadelphia Eagles 42-0 in the "Monday Night Massacre" in 2005, the Seahawks bring their A game more than anyone else.

Not that winning is ever easy, especially under the intense glare that is the ultimate regular season stage. Tonight is going to be a tough battle. Green Bay comes into the Clink the reigning Super Bowl champion with future Hall Of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers leading the way. Seahawks fans have been through this test before on Monday night, and more often than not have come through very well. Let's take a look at some of those games.

Though these particular Monday Night Football appearances might not be the first the average Seahawks fan would highlight, I've always looked back at two of these with great admiration and one with definitive embarrassment, even 23 years later. (the feeling never leaves you)

It's October 29, 1979, and the improving Seahawks had built a reputation of unpredictability under fourth-year head coach Jack Patera. Despite being a harder-than-rock task master, Patera understood the value of unpredictability. It came in handy for their first Monday Night Football appearance. In one of the Seahawks most enduring images of their early years, fan favorite and kicker Efren Herrera finds himself in front of a nail-biting 55-yard field goal in the 4th quarter in Atlanta. With a practiced, fluid motion, placeholder and quarterback Jim Zorn pulls the ball up and catches a streaking Herrera for a crucial first down at the Atlanta 18.

Kicker Efren Herrera was an early fan favorite
for the young franchise in the '70s.

Such plays were emblematic of the Seahawks during their first decade of existence. Not that I remembered that particular day, but I can only imagine what that feeling of "breaking out" to the nation meant to Seahawks fans at the time. It was the first time the players, coaches, and fans could let the country know they had finally arrived.

This next Monday night game was one of the tougher ones to take as a young kid who absolutely breathed Seahawks blue and green. The year was 1987. After so many close calls and impressive showings, the franchise's stars were primed for a major run in the postseason. With Steve Largent, Dave Krieg, and Curt Warner (coming off his best season in 1986 with 1,481 yards rushing) on offense and leaders Kenny Easley, Jacob Green, Jeff Bryant, and new wunderkind linebacker Brian Bosworth on defense, many national media outlets picked the Seahawks to go to the Super Bowl.

I still remember the night, November 30, 1987. It was one of the few evenings I actually planned out my homework to be finished before kickoff. It was a tight race at the time for the AFC West title and the despised Raiders were coming to the Kingdome. We were a tough team, a Super Bowl-contending team, and we always played these brutes hard. Tonight was different though; the Raiders brought their usual full-complement of weapons in Marcus Allen, "Swervin' Mervyn Fernandez, Todd Christensen, and James Lofton. But something was different. The Raiders had "taken a chance" on a certain Auburn football Heisman Trophy-winner and current baseball player who had announced he was looking to "make a hobby" out of playing in the NFL. Boy, do I remember that statement ruffling a lot of feathers.

Bo Jackson made the kind of fools out of the Seattle Seahawks that day I don't recall seeing before or since. After getting stuffed at the line of scrimmage on his first carry and then fumbling on his second, Bo Vincent Jackson then took it upon himself to announce to the NFL world he was the new and absolutely DOMINANT running back on the block by rushing for an astounding 221 yards in the Kingdome. "Bo Knows" (Knew?) how to run through, around, over, and under everyone that night. Kenny Easley himself, whether you know it or not, was one of the best athletes you'd probably ever meet in your life. When Bo ran off that 91-yard touchdown at the start of the 2nd half, Easley actually had the angle to make the tackle. Bo destroyed that angle with his immense speed, and after flying into the player tunnel following the touchdown, commentator Dan Dierdorf exclaimed, "He might not stop 'til Tacoma."

Now, I hem and haw about that night 23 years later, but the way Bo played that night, I doubt the '85 Bears defense or the Steelers' "Steel Curtain' of the 1970s could have stopped him. With UNDYING respect to the greatest NFL cornerback of all-time and sometime-MLB outfielder Deion Sanders, Bo Jackson is, to this observer, simply the finest athletic specimen in the history of pro sports. And he showed every fast-twitch muscle fiber of that talent against the Seahawks on the grandest stage possible. Looking back at the end of that day so many years ago, I can honestly say I saw true greatness break out. It just wasn't for my team!

This third and final game occurred in the most forgettable campaign for most Seahawks fans. It was another November 30, 1992, and the Seahawks offense was barely averaging 8 points a game during their now-infamous 2-14 season. With Denver, minus John Elway, coming into the Kingdome vying for a playoff spot, even the most optimistic of fans had to have been skeptical. Seriously, if you ever want to see a team actually look like they were trying to be terrible, watch video of this offense from 1992. The only reason the Seahawks were in any game that year was because of all-planet DT Cortez Kennedy, who would go on to improbably (impossibly?) win the NFL Defensive Player Of the Year award on a 2-14 NFL football team.

Even with Tommy Maddox starting in place of John Elway, things were bleak. Fortunately, we had a defense to envy. Down only 13-6 in the 4th quarter, journeyman (and I use that term favorably) Stan Gelbaugh replaced Kelly Stouffer at quarterback. What does he do? He proceeds to lead the Seahawks' offense down the field, resulting in a dramatic touchdown grab by Brian Blades to tie the score and send the game into overtime. We defied the tone of the season with a John Kasay field goal to win it.

A testament to the true immortality of the Seahawks'
Cortez Kennedy: on a franchise-worst 2-14 team in 1992,
the future first-ballot Hall of Famer proceeded to win the
NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award.

 I don't know if I have been more proud of a Seahawks team for a single game in my entire life. Even the '05 Super Bowl team. This '92 team of idiots and idgits on offense, these champions of nothing, these absolute zeros, hadn't showed an ounce of consistent internal fortitute that entire year. Yet now, on the ultimate stage, they rose up ONCE, and told people they WERE. They weren't much, but they WERE. Aside from the 2010 Seahawks walking into the offensive juggernaut that was Drew Brees' Saints and winning two years ago in that wild card playoff game, I can't express to you how happy and proud I was for that 2-14 team that night.
The Seahawks face a Green Bay Packers team that may very well choose tonight, September 24, 2012, to walk into The Clink and put on another of their patented passing exhibitions that helped them win the NFL title last year. There's then the idea the Seahawks, as they always have since 1979, will garner up the ghosts of Seahawks past and deliver an ass-beating on a level of which the Packers have yet experienced on a national stage.

Let's gird our loins, have high expectations, and cheer on our Monday Night Football record-best Seattle Seahawks to another victory tonight.

Now, WHO'S READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL??!!!

Travel For The Better

"There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign." - Robert Louis Stevenson

I need to get foreign. And quick. Not in my entire life have I felt the exhilaration, the sense of discovery, and being in touch with humanity and its history as I have when I travel. There's nothing else like it. It doesn't matter where you go, just giving yourself the chance to get out of town and experience a place not your own is completely freeing. I've been so caught up in the immediate in recent years, I've never had the opportunity to get away.

I miss that feeling of freedom, discovery, and fulfillment of spirit. Spirit is the word I guess I'm looking for. At the end of a trip, you've reconnected with a part of yourself that, in my opinion, you can't get anywhere else - a wider understanding of your place in the larger world.

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." - Mark Twain

I swear to everything good and holy, truer words have never been spoken. Travel, in the only way it could, made me feel smaller. But in a good way. It put me in my place. But in a good way. It made me try to understand people who were unlike me. It's not that I hadn't listened before, but travel made me ask the extra questions, invest in others' lives for a moment, and to know the world through their eyes.

There were so many stories that should have never happened on that trip to Western Europe those years ago. Some were frightening (if only because of the repercussions) yet all were absolutely exhilarating. I wouldn't trade those shenanigans for anything. From getting lost in the back-streets of Venice, getting trapped in the Eiffel Tower after-hours, or even sneaking out late-night to the Hard Rock - London, this trip was an introduction to the freedom I would learn to have as an adult. What an introduction it was.

All this now sounds quite elementary and naive to us now, but back then I was preoccupied with the fact I (we) was on the OTHER SIDE OF THE PLANET. I was only a kid fresh off a wheat farm, and to be looking at the Mona Lisa, the Arc de Triomphe, and walking through Venice's Bridge of Sighs was like walking through a crash course of history and humility. Yes, it made you feel so small, but it also made you understand your place in history.

None of it would have been nearly as impactful without the people around me. Josh, Christie, Madonna, Nasue, and Jason. I will probably enjoy the concept of traveling on my own some day, but the level of camaraderie that comes with an organized group cannot be minimized. I may not see any of them anymore, but we'll always remember how we felt about each other for those two weeks.

It's an excuse, and I fully realize that fact. Life grabbed a hold of me in just the right place and never seemed to let go. I treasure the day I feel that kind of freedom again, to sit in St. Mark's Square in Venice, sipping a glass of wine, maybe feed a pigeon or two. All the while I'll be thinking, "I made it." I'm pure again.

"A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles." - Tim Cahill

So, I'm In the Middle Of A Hurricane...

There is no hurricane, but living in a world-class city sure can feel like it. Seattle may not be the largest metropolis, but the fast pace is still present. We go in and out of our daily lives, day after day, in this swirling, living, breathing, concrete jungle of an environment where everyone has a schedule and we can't be interrupted. We have people we're responsible for and cannot come up short. The hurricane blows all around and inside us. 

We need outlets to our pent-up, always-churning lifestyle. Some might be physically active, some create art, some could travel out of the area whenever they want. When it comes to taking the edge off, there is no wrong answer. I just happen to love all those things. But how many times do you allow yourself to just sit, even for just one half-hour...and listen?

Saint Mark's Compline Choir, or
"singing monks."

I hadn't heard them for at least five or six years,; the beauty, true harmony, and exquisite precision that was the Compline Choir at Saint Mark's Cathedral  on Capitol Hill in Seattle. A Seattle tradition dating back to its founding in 1956 by Peter R. Hallock, the all-male Compline Choir leads an official choral service every Sunday, 9:30-10 p.m. Never a small crowd, Compline hosts an average of 500 people a night, the majority being young adults in their teens and early 20s. 

Following an afternoon at Volunteer Park with a friend, I was fortunate to remember it was a Sunday and almost time for the singing monks at Saint Mark's. Listening to them, it's almost a practice in meditation. At first filing out two-by-two from the back, prayers are majestically recited, and the beautiful sounds begin. I have no idea how to accurately describe it, but the voices of the Compline Choir are absolutely heavenly. They ring throughout the wide expanse of the church, soothe my ears and mind and put me completely at peace. It doesn't matter what happened before I arrived or what happens after. In that moment I can just relax, do nothing, and allow the elegant voices of this phenomenal choir to ground me. 

If you're looking for that calming eye in the middle of the storm, somewhere you can go on a Sunday night and put everything in your life on hold or prepare for the week ahead, I highly recommend the "singing monks" at Saint Mark's. Lie on the floor, sit on the stage, wherever you can fit. The monks will take care of the rest. 

For a preview of your listening experience at Saint Mark's every Sunday night, feel free to listen to the Compline Choir's podcasts. 

An Evening With SAM

Depending on the piece, I must admit I'm not the biggest art fan. If I can apply it to history, that's when my juices start flowing. When Eileen Lambert invited me to Seattle Art Museum's montly First Thursday though, my curiosity peaked. Virtually everyone I knew had been to First Thursday and I realized my attendance was long overdue. I'm certainly glad I went.

The whole point of heading to SAM was to check out the Australian Aboriginal Art exhibit. As it turned out, that exhibit was the last one we viewed!
I was blown away by the influence of the American Art exhibit. Looking at portraits of influential figures like Dr. Silvester Gardiner (1772) by John Singleton Copley and amazingly well-preserved 18th century furniture, the detail in these pieces were astounding. Viewing a chest of drawers from 1752 made me absolutely gasp. George Washington was still relatively young in 1752! The United States wasn't even a NATION. The description said the chest had only been re-painted once. You can faintly see the original red peering through the more recent baby blue. It's hard to believe these furniture pieces still existed. I'd like to include some photos of the art I'm talking about but I'm pretty sure copyright laws aren't too kind about that.


The Beauty and Bounty: American Art In An Age Of Exploration exhibit was a complete wonder. I fully admit to being immensely naive in the ways of canvas art, but the level of beauty and detail involved in Albert Bierstadt's "Puget Sound On the Pacific Coast" (1870) and Frederic Edwin Church's "A Country Home" (1854) is unbelievable. Not only was I surprised by the quality of these works, but their sheer size was almost too much to comprehend. If you took the largest flat-screen TV on the market and compared the size and width to a couple of these masterpieces, the TVs fail to compare.

The coup de grace was laying my eyes on clay pieces from the Ancient Mediterranean & Islamic Art exhibit, dating back to 1 A.D. and further. Do you understand what 1 A.D. means? Jesus was a year old.

Thanks to Eileen, a great time was had at SAM and I encourage all readers to take a weeknight and check out the history and beauty of SAM's exhibits. Consider your horizons broadened.

From the Darkness Into the Light

The Big Man upstairs has been turning on the hose pretty
heavily here recently, hasn't he? He sure let loose for a
while today!

It's funny, but I have always enjoyed the minute-by-minute nature of Western Washington weather. You never know where it could go from one hour to the next. I think that's why I love spring so much. Steve Poole says it's going to be a wet one throughout the day, then boom! The sun pushes the clouds aside as if to say, "Okay, okay. They've had enough. Here ya go."

Today was certainly interesting while I was working at Top Pot Doughnuts on Capitol Hill. It had been raining all day. Suddenly, you hear God REALLY turn on the hose. You look outside and it's truly a sight to be seen. Not too long after, you're shocked to see the sun come out and shine down on the neighborhood.

Not too long afterward, the sun decides
to stop by and say hi!

What's your take? Do you enjoy the shifting patterns of weather? Do the seasons make a difference to you? 

A Healthy Workout Reminder: Baby Steps!

It's my first vlog! Here's a quick word on my thoughts on the process of getting back into shape. More directly, it doesn't happen immediately. 

Just Stopping To Smell the Flowers

If there was a better day to go down to Pike Place Market than this last weekend, I'd like to know about it. With the Flower Festival in full swing for Mother's Day, I'm pretty sure there were about a thousand varieties of flowers I'll never be able to name. Row after row of every shape, size, and color, for once the Festival had the market smelling more like Mt. Vernon's fields of flowers than the fish.

The Festival was the center of the action this weekend, but I couldn't help but play tourist and catch some other aspects of the market that make it so great! 

Rows upon rows of the best freshly cut, regional flowers are on display at Pike Place Market.

It's never a trip to Pike Place Market without a shot of
the Public Market sign. It's a pretty good indication of
the number of people that were there!

For the longest time I've wanted to pack up an Alaskan King Salmon. It's just too bad I can't finance a loan.

It never fails to impress me the array of colors coming from Pike Place's vegetable stands. 

More of the same from the other side of the street. Fresh and delicious produce ripe for the pickin'!

Killer lunch at the Athenian Inn, one of the first establishments in Seattle to get a liquor license in 1933. The blackened chicken club is out of this world.