My last entry in the 'Nostalgia Diaries' was the Seattle Seahawks' triumphant win over their rivals the San Francisco 49ers in the 2013 NFC Championship Game. At that moment, they were on top of the world, a status cemented when they humiliated Denver two weeks later in their 43-8 thrashing in Super Bowl XLVIII. They had a young QB who would become a superstar, but what made them great was a revolutionary defense with incredible talent at every level.
Five years later, they've traded Michael Bennett, are about to cut Richard Sherman and have officially moved on from the Legion of Boom era. They aren't done as a great team, because Russell Wilson has improved - necessary as he moved from a 3rd round rookie salary to a top-flight QB salary, but that distinct era of Seahawks football is over, and I can't stand it.
Maybe it's because those damn Patriots are still a great team, or that the Seahawks were a team that owned my QB back when he was playing, but the tear down of Seattle is hitting me hard. In some ways, the NFL came back to Seattle, with more teams matching the Seahawks strategy of big corners and cover-3 and pattern matching, culminating in a season where offense dropped to its lowest level since pre-2011 lockout (regardless of what transpired in the Super Bowl), but the Seahawks succeeded in a league built to beat it, and it was beautiful.
I don't know if I truly loved the Seahawks as much as I should, being a football fan with a natural leaning towards defense. It probably is because they had the audacity to beat Peyton in a Super Bowl, flexing every ounce of that defensive dominance. Also, they had the opposite of audacity to not beat New England a year later. If anything, their loss to New England was quietly the beginning of the end for the Seahawks dynasty, with two Divisional Round exits and a missed playoffs to follow.
When Pete Carroll and Co. built the Legion of Boom, starting in earnest in 2012, it was the greatest thing ever. An incredible defense, with ridiculous talent from a dominant front rotation to the best secondary in years. The hidden secret of the Seaawks was that front, with Michael Bennett (now traded to Philly), Cliff Avril, Red Bryant, Tony McDaniel and Co. leading the league's best pass rush in generating pressures in 2012-2014. The Linebackers, with KJ Wright and Bobby Wagner, were just as good. And of course the secondary. The real 'Legion of Boom' actually only played in 2012 and the first half of 2013, before Brandon Browner got popped for a PED suspension. They replaced Browner well with Maxwell then a cast of others, but the stars were Sherman and Thomas.
I still remember watching the 2013 Championship Game, the Seahawks incredible defense, and Richard Sherman's brash interview with Erin Andrews after the game. It was glorious, in retrospect. The best part of those Seahawks, and especially the guy just traded (Bennett) and the guy about the get cut (Sherman) was how smart they were. Bennett over time proved himself to be a bright, honest guy who spoke openly about mental health issues and then sociological ones. Sherman of course was a Stanford graduate, and more erudite than he ever gave off. They were smart, they were brash, and secretly I loved the Seahawks and should have loved them more.
I'm at a stage in my life where the strongest sports memories are all 5+ years old (Astros World Series Win excepted). All my favorite players I've rooted for have retired. The best games I've watched were all in the past. And losing the Seahawks, the L-O-B Seahawks, is losing another piece of that. Memories that seemed so recent have become more than half a decade in the past, and having direct ties to those days has become increasingly rare, and with the Seahawks latest moves, even more so. I never loved the Seahawks, but looking back I should have, it's worth it to hold on to any part of the past as possible.
Five years later, they've traded Michael Bennett, are about to cut Richard Sherman and have officially moved on from the Legion of Boom era. They aren't done as a great team, because Russell Wilson has improved - necessary as he moved from a 3rd round rookie salary to a top-flight QB salary, but that distinct era of Seahawks football is over, and I can't stand it.
Maybe it's because those damn Patriots are still a great team, or that the Seahawks were a team that owned my QB back when he was playing, but the tear down of Seattle is hitting me hard. In some ways, the NFL came back to Seattle, with more teams matching the Seahawks strategy of big corners and cover-3 and pattern matching, culminating in a season where offense dropped to its lowest level since pre-2011 lockout (regardless of what transpired in the Super Bowl), but the Seahawks succeeded in a league built to beat it, and it was beautiful.
I don't know if I truly loved the Seahawks as much as I should, being a football fan with a natural leaning towards defense. It probably is because they had the audacity to beat Peyton in a Super Bowl, flexing every ounce of that defensive dominance. Also, they had the opposite of audacity to not beat New England a year later. If anything, their loss to New England was quietly the beginning of the end for the Seahawks dynasty, with two Divisional Round exits and a missed playoffs to follow.
When Pete Carroll and Co. built the Legion of Boom, starting in earnest in 2012, it was the greatest thing ever. An incredible defense, with ridiculous talent from a dominant front rotation to the best secondary in years. The hidden secret of the Seaawks was that front, with Michael Bennett (now traded to Philly), Cliff Avril, Red Bryant, Tony McDaniel and Co. leading the league's best pass rush in generating pressures in 2012-2014. The Linebackers, with KJ Wright and Bobby Wagner, were just as good. And of course the secondary. The real 'Legion of Boom' actually only played in 2012 and the first half of 2013, before Brandon Browner got popped for a PED suspension. They replaced Browner well with Maxwell then a cast of others, but the stars were Sherman and Thomas.
I still remember watching the 2013 Championship Game, the Seahawks incredible defense, and Richard Sherman's brash interview with Erin Andrews after the game. It was glorious, in retrospect. The best part of those Seahawks, and especially the guy just traded (Bennett) and the guy about the get cut (Sherman) was how smart they were. Bennett over time proved himself to be a bright, honest guy who spoke openly about mental health issues and then sociological ones. Sherman of course was a Stanford graduate, and more erudite than he ever gave off. They were smart, they were brash, and secretly I loved the Seahawks and should have loved them more.
I'm at a stage in my life where the strongest sports memories are all 5+ years old (Astros World Series Win excepted). All my favorite players I've rooted for have retired. The best games I've watched were all in the past. And losing the Seahawks, the L-O-B Seahawks, is losing another piece of that. Memories that seemed so recent have become more than half a decade in the past, and having direct ties to those days has become increasingly rare, and with the Seahawks latest moves, even more so. I never loved the Seahawks, but looking back I should have, it's worth it to hold on to any part of the past as possible.
