When 49ers fans write to a San Francisco website saying that the NFL should outlaw the Seahawks' world-record noise advantage, you know things have changed. The din, heard Sunday at the Clink, should be banned, they said, just as league has attempted to ban PEDs and reduce concussions.
Lost on Judy and Rich, the letter writers (third one down) to sfgate.com, was that 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh had mocked Green Bay linebacker Clay Matthews last week for his failure to slug — rather than slap — a 49ers player during a sideline scuffle.
“If you’re going to go to the face, come with some knuckles, you know, not an open slap,” Harbaugh advised Matthews, which would seem to be a repudiation of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell's ambitions for a kinder, gentler sport.
“I think that young man works hard on being a tough guy, he’ll have some repairing to do to his image after the slap,” Harbaugh said. It was probably a coincidence that Matthews as a collegian played at USC for Pete Carroll, a person Harbaugh enjoys in the way Elmer Fudd enjoys Bugs Bunny.
So the outrage over Seattle fans' auditory behavior rings a little hollow coming from worshippers of the NFL's most notorious jerk. It also rings hilarious. Is Seattle fandom such a deci-bully that it is worthy of being outlawed? How about the 49ers converting a third down first?
Maybe Seattle fans will have to get used to being the object of rancor, disdain, jealousy and contempt from others. That's what happens to teams at the top.
The lack of familiarity with the experience is understandable. Seattle goes with championship like burlap goes with negligee.
Yet it's possible to contemplate double pro sports titles this fall and winter, based on evidence to date, without people looking at you as if you have a gargoyle for a hat. The Sounders have the best record in Major League Soccer, without having their complete team together for a game this season. The Seahawks' 2-0 start, while showing some frayed ends, did little to diminish the preseason forecasts for Super Bowl participation.
I realize that some sports fans don't take an MLS title seriously in America, and that's fine. Some people didn't take seriously Jeff Bezos when he had all those boxes stacked up in his Seattle garage in the mid-90s, either. The skeptics can tut-tut, but when the Clink is expanded to 120,000 seats to host a World Cup, remember when you tutted.
Everyone takes the NFL seriously, and after Sunday's 29-3 win over the 49ers, everyone takes the Seahawks seriously too. Yes, it was an inartistic slugfest, but look at this way: The Seahawks in December played what might have been the most splendid game in their 37-year history, beating the 49ers by 29. Sunday, they often clomped about and still beat their most formidable rival by 26. There's a pattern here.
To add to this unbearable lightness of sports being, the Washington Huskies have begun 2-0 with a new offense and a new playpen (no tax dollars at work) that have added much to the optimism that a decade of torpor is behind them. The new configuration of Husky Stadium, with stands much closer to the action and a larger roof overhang that returns noise to the field, makes pinatas out of ears in a fashion nearly equal to the Clink.
Hey, even Washington State is doing its part, mashing USC in Los Angeles a couple of Saturdays ago, the biggest upset that city has seen since Lyle Lovett married Julia Roberts.
Another aspect of this sports euphoria eruption is the attention it draws. In the space of three weeks, the Sounders drew a record 67,385 for their Aug. 25 match with the Portland Timbers, the Huskies drew 71,963 for their Aug. 31 opener against Boise State and the Seahawks Sunday drew a record 68,338 for the 49ers.
Each sold-out game spiked interest beyond the norm in some way, but all were nationally televised scream-fests in which out-of-town commentators marveled the tsunami-grade lather worked up.
Having worked all three games and having been in this market for a little while, I would submit that the ticket-buying overlap among fan bases was probably fairly insignificant, meaning that each stadium was populated by passionates of the particular team.
That suggests there is an engaged, diverse sports-fan base for whom the recession was mostly a rumor, wealthy enough to afford the parking and eager enough to engage in hours-long barking.
Then there's the Buzzkills, er, Mariners, forlornly stuck on the dock while the revelers on the ocean liner wave good-bye. But let's not go there now.
Forbes magazine was right earlier in the year when it ranked Seattle as America's most miserable sports city, given the remarkable ability of its teams to avoid championships. But that was then, this is now.
Nothing has been won, of course, except a Guinness decibel award and some hearts. But it cannot be said that lack of support is any factor in any subsequent failure to reward constituencies with some long-overdue hardware. No wonder Chris Hansen is willing to roll with a billion dollars — and break a few laws — to make the NBA and NHL happen here.
Good luck, San Franciscans, with the campaign for golf-gallery applause at football games. Keep us informed by letter, email and text, but please don't call. Can't hear you.
