Seahawks Season Recap: The Game that Changed Everything

Things didn't end quite like we hoped they would for the Seahawks. Instead of being the two time defending Super Bowl champions the Seahawks fell just short. However, the failure at the goal line doesn't mean the season was a failure. In fact far from it. The Seahawks turned what looked to be a struggling and potentially disappointing season into what ended up being another NFC Championship. They broke the NFL's draught of defending champions failing to win a playoff game and rattled off eight straight wins. I think it is important to stop and reflect on this success of a season. In doing so I want to focus on one key point of the season, a game that turned the season around and catapulted us into the playoffs.

Get it Together Mariners

For the last several years I have attended the Mariners home opener with a group of friends. We take in the first game of the season at Safeco Field and revel in the optimism that still lives in the minds of baseball fans on those cold dark spring nights. For the last several years the game has been one of the few to actually sell out. It is an opportunity for the fans to cheer loudly for the home team stars. Generally it is an awesome experience.

Excitingly this year the Mariners home opener on April 6th will also be the season opener. This is the first time since 2008 that team will start the year in Seattle. Normally this would be reason for celebration, but the Mariners managed to screw up a good thing by scheduling the game at 1:00pm on a Monday. What a terrible decision by the Mariners. I mean downright awful. It makes a classic sporting event (the baseball opening day) inaccessible to the majority of the fans.

It is kind of like starting the season in Japan, but worse because instead of the team by on a different continent which completely inhibits the fan ability to attend, the game is here in Seattle. It is so close yet so far away. It will just be sitting there taunting us. Making us all curse our limited PTO stock piles.

Fans, who will be looking forward to seeing Felix, Cano, and Seager for the first time in 2015, will be forced to take time off work to see it live. I am sure some people will choose to miss work so they can see the M's play, but many wont be able to. I know I can't skip work to drive down to Sodo for a baseball game.

Additionally, because of the time of day, those of us that want to watch the festivities live wont be able to. The broadcast is right in the middle of the work day. Most jobs frown on employees watching TV while they work. These fans will be forced to record it and hope no one spoils the outcome before they get a chance to watch it. Coworkers, radio stations, and Facebook will all have to be avoided. If you don't a have a DVR or a functioning VCR and blank VHS tape you are just shit outta luck.

Instead of feeling like we are part of the festivities we are left feeling like we are being forced out of them. Shame on the Mariners for distancing their fans. Usually they are great at fan relations, but this time it was a total fail.

Stop Adding Gate to the End of Words

The NFL is a scandal ridden league. Every couple of years the league has another team (usually the Patriots) get caught breaking the rules. The media eats these up. A frenzy starts around the issue with every TV station, radio show, columnist, and blog trying to get their voice heard. Looking for a quick way to reference all these scandals the sports world has taken to tacking -gate onto the end of a word. For example, deflate-gate, bounty-gate, and spy-gate. This is a stupid practice and it needs to stop.

The gate suffix comes from the infamous Watergate scandal. The -gate in this name doesn't mean anything. Watergate isn't called that because it involved water. The scandal, which rocked the nation and resulted in the resignation of the President of the United States Richard Nixon, was dubbed Watergate because that was the name of the office complex that White House staffers broke into. If the complex had been called Mountain View or Emerald Heights we would probably refer to that scandal by one of those names.

Throwing gate onto the end of a word or every new scandal just makes that media sound ignorant. Every time I hear it uttered I cringe. The stupid practice really grids my gears. If we need a short name to quickly refer to the next Patriots scandal let's be a little more clever. Whatever happens just stop calling it something-gate.