Who will get the honor of raising the 12th Man Flag before Sunday’s NFC Championship game between the Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers? Or, rather, who should raise the flag? Vote here.
Author: Steve Rudman
Steve Rudman
Steve began his journalistic career in an era in which social networking mainly occurred in saloons. In the years since, he has been a reporter and columnist (Seattle Post-Intelligencer), a magazine founder and editor (The National Sports Review), the Director of Research at ESPN (once had the chore of looking up the history of rain delays in major league baseball), a radio talk show host (fired by KIRO because stupid people need radio stations, too, according to the program director), and the producer of a syndicated sports statistical feature (titled Wow!Stats), distributed by Universal Press Syndicate (quick, name three countries in which athletes are eaten when they fail to perform). He wrote (with Karen Chave) 100 Years of Husky Football, Who The Hell is Bob? (one of Seattles more remarkable people) and collaborated with Art Thiel (Sports Press Northwest) and Mike Gastineau (KJR-AM) on The Great Book of Seattle Sports Lists, a ribald compendium of Seattle sports exotica that should be made into a movie (Brad Pitt playing Steve). He gained everlasting infamy in 1985 (at least in Corvallis, Ore.), when, in a column in the Post-Intelligencer, he called the Oregon State Beavers The Barney Fife of College Football, then sat stupefied as the 37-point underdog Beavers cast aside a 28-year slump and beat the Huskies. As of this writing, that game (which resulted in an official, Oregon State-issued game ball for Steve) still generates 314,000 Google pages, most of them from unenlightened (and presumably salt pillar-licking) OSU fans. Steve has yet to issue an apology on Facebook or Twitter and has no plans to do so.
Seahawks and 49ers are about as close statistically as two teams can be. Who has the edge Sunday? As the numbers suggest, both of them do.
If the Seahawks hadn’t allowed a 51-yard run to Frank Gore with four minutes left Dec. 8, they probably would have swept the San Francisco 49ers.
Former tackle Walter Jones was named as one of 15 finalists for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame Thursday. Jones played with the Seahawks from 1997 through 2008.
Edgar Martinez again failed to receive sufficient support for election to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He received 25.2 percent of the vote, a big drop from last year’s 35.9.
The Seahawks have all the edges heading into Saturday’s rematch with the Saints, but 12 similar teams since 2002 had those same advantages and came up short.
Talk might be cheap, but not talking carries a $50,000 penalty. That’s the amount the NFL fined Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch for not talking to the media.
From Seattle’s failure to wrest away the Sacramento Kings to the Seahawks’ run toward the Super Bowl, 2013 provided much to chew on. What resonated most? Vote here.
The Seahawks play one among Packers, Saints or 49ers in two weeks in the divisional playoffs. Question: Which potential opponent is best for Seattle? Vote here.
Seattle secured home field advantage throughout the playoffs Sunday by winning the NFC West. Two home wins will send them to the Super Bowl at MetLife Stadium.