It seems that the St. Louis Rams have the Seahawks’ number this year. After beating the ‘Hawks twice during the NFL regular season, the 8-8 Rams just made football history by being the first .500 team to win a playoff game. They beat the ‘Hawks today 27-20 in Seattle to advance to the divisional playoff round. And for the sixth time since 1984 the Seahawks lost yet another playoff game in the first round. The excitement and anticipation of a Superbowl that came when Coach Mike Holmgren arrived from Green Bay is long gone. Soon too will Coach Holmgren, I imagine. What a fall for a team that was a dark-horse favorite to win the NFC this year. They barely made won the division and are out after one game. It’s very likely that Mike will be gone soon and another veteran coach will try to patch together a broken team (Flores, Erickson, take a number). The only Mike who will be left in town will be Mariners Manager Mike Hargrove. Over the years the ‘Hawks primary obstacle to winning is a solid quarterback. Meier, Salisbury, Kitna…all started out as princes who turned into toads. Matt Hasselbeck showed sparks of brillance last season and during the beginning of this season, but like so many others he has also fizzled. The team is also of victim of perpetual mediocrity. They have hovered between 9-7 and 6-10 virtually every season since the heydays of the early 1980’s. Perhaps they need a 1-15 season so they can win the QB sweepstakes for a change. Granted, the Bengals have done that and more and still have not turned themselves into winners, but they’re the exception. More often what happens is what happened when the hapless Chargers drafted Pursue QB Drew Brees and handily won the AFC West. I don’t think ‘Hawks fans will be back in the seats in droves again at Qwest Field until they see a winner on the field. Seattle fans just don’t have the dedication in the face of adversity and disappointment that Red Sox fans do.
Weather is again the topic du jour. It was windy and cool here today in the D.C. area. My wife checked the weather in Seoul just for kicks and saw that it was 14 degrees Fahrenheit with an average of 38 degrees during the entire winter. For a marine climate dweller like myself, 14 degrees is cold! Fortunately, we aren’t out west where the snow is falling in waves. Dozens of motorists were stranded in the Sierra Nevada range in California, and it’s snowing across much of the west. Ohio has been hard hit too. Earlier this week the weather was balmy, almost summeresque here. I personally hope it doesn’t snow again until we leave D.C.! Still, I’m not looking forward to the Siberia Express that goes right through Seoul. At least we get to enjoy Hawaii for a week before we arrive in Seoul.
I finished a bunch of miscellaneous tasks in anticipation of our move to Korea. It feels great to check off a few more to-dos from my list. I’m dragging my feet studying Korean of course, but everything I did today had to do with getting ready to go. Writing this blog is my one free pass today. Now that I’ve mentioned I guess I should get back to studying Korean. *sigh*
