=== Stream of Consciousness ===

1.  Would love to see some amigos throw a talking-point-per-post into the hat.  Probably be back atcha Monday.

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2.  My daughter Jenny - just out of high school - attended her first NFL game.  She said it might have been the most fun day of her life. 

She yelled as loud as anybody in the stadium. 

In the week leading up ... gloating about Qwest...  I kidded her that she'd be texting her brother - in the seat next to her.  She scoffed.  But -- during the game she said that on several plays she couldn't hear herself yell. 

I had hearing loss after three plays, and Jenny had a headache after five plays.  Didn't know it was possible to be glad about a headache, but it's possible.

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3.  About $95 a seat for tickets on the 22-yard line, halfway up the upper deck.  Hey, we pay $60 a seat sometimes for mezzanine Safeco seats when the Mariners are 30-and-45.

Any idea why the Seahawks did not price-gouge?  I'd have paid twice as much.

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4.  The Seahawks won despite not having a turnover differential.  They earned the win.

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5.  Drew Brees was not affected by the crowd on a single play, that I could tell.  Don't let anybody tell you that the Saints' offense wasn't magnificent.  The Seahawks' 12-man defense looked very good (yep) in holding the Saints down to 474 yards.

Well, the crowd might have affected the Saints' offense inside the 10, when there was no over-the-top play to defend, the defense can stack, and a delicate approach is needed by the offense.

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6.  The game affected not only Hasselbeck's future for 2011, but his legacy.  I bet you that a bunch of Seattle fans, much less national fans, are going "Whoa.  Didn't quite know he had that in him."

Give Hass 3-4 seconds to throw, and receivers with any separation at all, and he is big time.  He reads defenses better than just about anybody, and he's quick getting rid of the ball.

Had the refs not robbed us in 2005, a lot of people would view Hasselbeck as a Bigtime Quarterback.  He is, despite 2005.

He's shot to pieces, though, physically.  One sympathizes.  Old men like me and Matt shouldn't be on a sporting pitch with guys like Aaron Curry.  At age 60, Matt's going to pay with interest.

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7.  After the Seahawks made it 17-14, Dr. D breathed a sigh of relief that it was going to be a great game.  At that point he predicted a final score of "44-41 or something."  (Had the Saints kicked an extra PAT and had time for one more full drive, the score would have been 44-41.  So there.)

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8.  It's hard to tell what's going on in the pandemonium.  TV-vs-Qwest is like movie-theater-vs-stage-play-back-row:  there's no nuance in the stadium.

After 17-14, you could tell that with Okung in, and the time Hasselbeck was getting, that it was going to be a bigtime offensive shootout, with lots of records broken.  (The Saints had 11 first downs in the first quarter and Hass had 4 TD's early in the second half.)

We saw that Brees' 39 completions were a playoff record.  Lynch's run, of course.  Lots of stuff.  We were hoping for 6 TD's for Hasselbeck, but the Saints started outguessing our offensive coordinator and never stopped.

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