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It was 1990 or 1991 when I went into work on a Monday.  

One of my bosses, a grave, dignified man, had just watched the Huskies destroy USC or somebody.  With that hilarious defense that put 9 men in the box and just crashed everybody.  Google STEVE EMTMAN, kid.

Then he'd watched the Seahawks on Sunday, and in those days they weren't exactly lighting it up.  Anyway, Jowls Executive nodded his head sagely and told me, "You know what, I'd rather watch college football ANY DAY than the NFL.  Those kids really care about what they're doing."

I thought, um, yeah, I've got a bit of a clue as to why you think you like "college football."  It's called Dave Hoffman.

The moral of the story, Matty ;- ) is that when a phenomenon like Thriller 1985 emerges, you better stand in line and get tickets to the concert.  You guys better savor this Seahawks thing, man.  It's liable to be the best sport spectacle you ever see, like in your life.  An ESPN guy was just marvelling, after the Boldin and Harvin trades, "Seahawks!  and 49'er games!  Have become Must! See! TV!"

That'll do for us too.  I'm getting misty just thinking about those two teams standing on opposite sidelines next year.  Imagine!  The crowd in CLink as that San Francisco juggernaut lines up for the kickoff.

This is the first time in Seattle history, the very first time, that ANY sports franchise has behaved like an East Coast sports franchise.  Now, gentlemen, you know what it looks like.  A team "gets carried away" with winning when it is already a great team, and THEN it signs the two best available pass rushers* and trades for the best available offensive player.   

This is the way a sports franchise acts when it badly wants to win its championship.  Take your 2001-12 sermons about "sports is a business and all teams want to win" and stow them deep, deep in the trunk of your SUV.  If the Mariners ever really want to win, you'll know it.  They will sign Albert Pujols and CJ Wilson, develop Mike Trout, and THEN they will sign Josh Hamilton.

All these arguments about the Mariners' intentions, with Silentpadna and I prosecuting (since August 2001) and others defending, have been an utter waste of time.  I'm sorry I wasted the time.

............

Anyway.  Sports is about full-throated battle.  It is about tinfoil on the knuckles.  It is about no quarter asked and none given.  "Yin", the feminine side of life, is a beautiful thing.  Just not when the umpire says Play Ball.  Sports are Yang.  

American society has attempted to enslave Yang, to rule Yin the correct paradigm of life, but there are holdout Testosterone Zones.  Jason Statham movies, New York Yankee games, Richard Sherman interviews.  Over the course of the last 10-12 years, since Randy Johnson left, Mariner games have been about as Yin as it is possible for sports to get.  Short of Olympic figure skating.  

When one side of Yin vs Yang enslaves the other, then the Force goes out of balance, young Padawan.  American society spends far too much time gazing wistfully at testosterone on the movie screens and on the floors of sports arenas, and far too little time behaving as if it had a little testosterone of its own.

Lou Piniella is weird, but he understands what sports are there for.  I hate, hate, hate watered-down, feminized versions of sports that advertise a nice evening out and a "competitive" team.  I feel like I've drunk diluted room temperature root beer.  

We're delighted to point out that Pete Carroll is as Yang as was Sweet Lou.  Carroll's pleasant social veneer misdirects our attention like David Copperfield pattering away at an audience while he sets up his trick.  Carroll is high-testosterone to his very core.

Fortunately, gentlemen, you will spectate a series of sports contests which are drenched in testosterone.

There are times when testosterone -- aggressiveness -- is a bad thing, and times when it is a good thing.  Sports on TV, sports in the stadium, those are among those times when aggressiveness is a good thing.

How would you guys feel about a 20-80 mix of Hawks and Mariners?  Sound off.