Indeed, while I may be just a bit biased, Super Bowl XLIX is a classic battle of good and evil, with the brash but beguiling underdog ‘Hawks pitted against the New England Cheaters, who have been deflating footballs, spying on other teams’ practices and stealing other teams’ players for years. Coach Bill Belichick has been dumping star players for so many years now, Patriots fans must just adore the blue laundry. Coach Pete Carroll, on the other hand, after initially purging most of the roster he inherited a few years back, has shown loyalty to those who proved most committed, with big contracts going to star performers, regardless of whether they were high or low draft picks or even undrafted free agents.
New England is Tom Brady, a talented but arrogant, corporate type, and … some other guys. Coach Belichick, Tom and the rest say stuff like, “next question,” when asked anything.
Seattle is:
·Carroll, an up-with-people phenomenon who prevails in the Thunderdome of the NFL;
·Quarterback Russell Wilson, an undersized, third-round pick, who scrambles around like Fran Tarkenton and wins like Bart Starr with an unshakable confidence;
·Cornerback Richard Sherman, a study in contrasts, dreadlocked and trash-talking, yet a cerebral strategist from Stanford;
·Running back Marshawn “Beast Mode” Lynch, who likes to knock would-be tacklers down, but won’t talk to the press; and
·Defensive lineman Michael Bennett who spouts off-the-wall commentary like a burst garden hose. He closed one radio interview with the out-of-the-blue observation that “Michael Jackson is the only person who was born a black man and died a white woman.”
The Seahawks are a zany bunch, bursting with so much bravado, so healthily self-absorbed, they blithely trash the storyline about pressure building for a team vying for a second straight championship. And the Patriots, favored by 1 after thrashing Indianapolis in the AFC championship game, who are they?
“There ought to be a sex cut-off,” Bennett proclaimed this week. “You need a lot of testosterone to beat this team.” The Seahawks just think differently, standing the usual rhetoric and plotlines on their heads.
Earl Thomas, all-pro safety and Zen master, best captures why Seattle is indomitable. A ferocious hitter who will chew out his teammates for lacking intensity in practice, he was asked this season if the Seahawks tried to intimidate opposing squads. “I don’t think you can intimidate anybody with love — that’s all we do. We love each other out there.”
I will proudly wear a Seattle T-shirt at a Super Bowl party Sunday, a Sounders shirt, and I think the Seahawks would appreciate that.
