Why did I choose this image of the Seattle PI’s home page today? Because Art Thiel is my all-time favorite sports writer. Why? Nobody bashes the home teams like Art — or with phrasing that’s any funnier or wilder. (Oh, and the Seattle P.I. also features Pulitzer-winning P.I. cartoonist David Horsey’s cartoons on Detroit, which are a riot.)
Hot damn, when I finally saw him in person at a Sonics home game in the early 1990s (we used to go all the time in those days) — and, you know how it is, it takes a minute to make a connection between the newspaper headshot that one’s used to seeing and then to figure out that that 6’4″ man is the same person — I nearly fell out of the stands. The guy is fucking outrageously buff and handsome. (You know us horny ol’ broads.) Anyway, for the always thorny, punchy, I-have-no-respect-for-nobody Art Thiel, this is, like, hand-me-a-hankie sentimental stuff:
DETROIT — Someone who has had some non-interview contact with Seahawks players around town this week spoke slowly, to emphasize his words.
“The Seahawks … are … pissed.”
He wasn’t a Seahawks employee, and didn’t want his well-known name used. He was offering more evidence to the inescapable feeling that the Seahawks resent the hell out of being street urchins at the kitchen door of the NFL establishment, begging for scraps.
Yes, the respect theme is overused. And the Seahawks have said little publicly about their dismay.
This time, it’s real, albeit real quiet. From signs great and small, the Seahawks are honing their pique as sharply as their talents. The national media doesn’t get it. Fans don’t get it. Oddsmakers don’t get it.
They’ll get it Sunday, when the Seahawks win Super Bowl XL 27-24. … Read all of Art’s column.
Art then lays out the evidence. And then he concludes, “The Seahawks know exactly what they are up against. They are pissed … and delighted. The rest of the NFL world that don’t “got it” starts the learning curve Sunday.”
One more comment: Washington’s great Democratic governor Christina Gregoire is going to send Pennylvania a salmon if the Steelers win. What is Pittsburgh sending us if we win? HOTDOGS! WTF?
Salmon or hotdogs? Kinda says it all. At least in the class department.
Actually, I wrote that before I heard Wolf Blitzer with guests Seattle mayor Greg Nickels (a Democrat, of course!), and the mayor of Pittsburgh (some doughy politician, don’t remember his name, why should I?) — both cities’ restaurants are sending lots and lots of gourmet goodies.
That’s a relief. But it doesn’t mean … I’d better shut up …
See, I’m pissed too! Watch out, you WEINIE STEELER FANS! Watch out… we’re quiet, but when we erupt … don’t you ‘member Mt. St. Helens? Yeah. Like that. So fuck you and all the snobs who snort, “Steelers of course.” Sometimes mountains erupt with no warning — especially when you’re NOT paying attention.
