Super Bowl 48: Community Smack & Trash Talk Open Thread
My guess is that, at best, most people can identify just one of the two men in this photograph: Denver Bronco great, John Elway. The other man is largely forgotten to history, but for over three decades Dave Krieg hasn’t simply been my favorite Seahawks player of all time, he’s been the most emblematic of my beloved franchise.
To say that Krieg was simply undrafted coming out of college is an an insult to undrafted players everywhere. Krieg played QB for Milton, a small liberal arts college named for the small, grain-tower-economied, backwater town in rural Wisconsin. Milton barely even had a football program. (Or anything else, for that matter. The college would throw in the towel and close up shop shortly after Krieg’s graduation.) And even in that environment, Krieg was initially — I swear I am not making this up — Milton’s seventh-string quarterback. And yet somehow, Dave Kieg become an All-Pro just five years after walking on the ‘hawks training camp uninvited in the spring of 1980.
More than that, though, Dave Krieg was the walking embodiment of his team. At times, he would dazzle with breathtaking brilliance. When he was on, he played better than any quarterback I have ever seen before or since — Manning, Montana and Brady in their “on-modes” included. When we wasn’t on, however, he was cringingly hapless. He broke the NFL record for fumbled footballs during his tenure in Seattle. The Seahawks as a team were much the same, wasting both years of preseason experts predicting their Superbowl destinies and the transcendent talents of players such as Steve Largent, Kurt Warner and Kenny Easley. Year after year, the hopes and dreams of we Seahawks fans were crushed, until eventually we stopped hoping and dreaming altogether. Even our single previous trip to the Super Bowl in 2005-6 was a tepid affair. We all knew we benefitted from a cream puff schedule; we all knew we were going to lose going in to the game; we all knew we would find a way to tank the following year.
But this year — the past two years, in fact — they feel different.
I fully expect the Denver Broncos to win today — Destiny loves Her own stories best, after all, and She seems to have developed a lover’s zeal for the aging greatness of Peyton Manning this year. So I’m going in to the game expecting defeat just as surely as I did in 2006. But I now am feeling the glimmering hope that despite today’s inevitable outcome, the Seattle Seahawks have a chance to be contenders next year, and the year after. Teams come and go rather quickly, but organizations can have true staying power. And for the first time since I foolishly gave my heart so unconditionally to the Blue, Grey and Green, I have the glimmer of hope that maybe – just maybe — the Seahawks organization has finally figured it out.
If this is like Super Bowl Sundays in the past, this site will be a ghost town for most of the day. But for those few that peek in to say hi, consider this post an open thread to talk about the game, the commercials, the parties, or anything at all really.
Go ‘Hawks!
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I think I’m obliged to root for the Broncos. But *I* think that the weather will be the unofficial Fifth Beatle and will change the game to the point where there will be a stink about the weather to the point where this will be the last Superbowl played north of the Mason-Dixon line in a non-domed stadium.
So my heart says that the Broncos win 27-24, my head says that the Seattle Defense + Winter will have Peyton Manning choking like… well. All of my examples are offensive. But choking badly.
There will also be commercials, I am told. One of which will have Tim Tebow kicking butts and taking names.Report
Choking like Needa?Report
Choke like a denture wearer with hiccups?Report
Choking like Spinal Tap’s former drummer (you can’t dust for vomit)?Report
David Carridine……..well not during the game most likely. I hope.Report
@greginak – well, I was trying to stay away from real-life references, since JB was worried about tastelessness.
But you apparently have the Devil Inside.Report
Well actually i always did like INXS.Report
I have no strong belief who will win. I don’t dislike either team and also even sort of like both of them. I know people will obsess over whatever the hell Sherman says, so the american viewing public will be the loser on that. Also thank the FSM for DVR and/or mute button so i won’t watch one commercial for the entire damn game.
Go Bronchawks.Report
Actually if you extend the mason dixon line through NJ it would cut off the bottom quarter of the state. So the game isn’t being played that far from the MD Line. And i hope the weather is a factor. Its not like NJ is a winter place ( yeah i know they have had snow).Report
This actually makes me wish for the continuation of no northern Super Bowls at all. Everyone’s saying Minneapolis will get one soon owing to the new dome. Before long, the incentives will be such that there won’t be any football played outdoors anywhere in the north, if they start in with this awarding of Super Bowls to northern cites with the right facilities.
The whole idea of “Bowls” is that they are a reward for getting through a long, tough, increasingly frigid football season: you get to go play a game in a nice climate – and enjoy the niceness of the climate for the week leading up to the game as well. It’s a game and a winter getaway combined, for teams and fans alike. Let’s stick with that. Let’s keep the “Bowl” in the Super Bowl.Report
Meh to you weather pussies. It’s football. It’s meant to be played in the cold.Report
I’ve attended exactly one pro football game in my life. In Chicago (da Bears!), froze my ass off and could only kinda sorta see what the hell was happening.
I truly don’t understand the appeal.Report
Playing football games all over the country at outdoor home stadia into January isn’t tough enough for you? Well, I’m not too concerned about that.
In any case, you slightly miss the point. As it happens, yeah, I’d rather have Super Bowls happen in ideal conditions in locales that everyone’s excited to trravel to. But if the League wanted to purse an honest Strategy for Cold Northern Outdoor Super Bowls, that’d be fine with me. I’m tough; I can take it (sitting on my couch).
What I’m saying is that they’re going to take a risk-minimization approach no matter what they do. (Apparently they were fairly terrified by the mere possibility of inclement weather for this game). Given that, what is likely to happen if they begin awarding Super Bowls to northern cities regularly is that they’ll reward franchises/cities that build shiny, new, covered!, facilities with Super Bowls. The logical conclusion of the incentive that creates (even if it never reaches quite this extreme) – assuming football lasts so long – is that eventually the Packers and Bears build themselves new, enclosed stadiums and play in them all year long. We both don’t want that, for the reasons about the history and character of football which you so vividly expressed.Report
I wouldn’t be so cynical about the Seahawks’ chances, Tod. Unless you need to do that to for personal safety reasons.
Everyone’s talking about best offense v. best defense as if that’s gonna decide the game. I don’t think it will. It’ll be decided by how well the Broncos defense matches up against a pretty dang good offense when Harvin’s in the lineup. Which he is.
My best guess is that the Seattle defense plays the Broncos offense to a draw: 21-24ish points. But I think it’s very likely that Seattle grounds £s then playactions! there way to 28+.
I’m rootin for Denver tho. So maybe the motivations for my cynicism are similar to yours.Report
I would have more hope if they were playing the Seahawks of the first 3/4s of the season, during which Russell Wilson looked like the reincarnation of Fran Tarkington. Since then, though, he’s looked really, really shaky.Report
23-21 Hawks.Report
I fully expect the Denver Broncos to win today — Destiny loves Her own stories best, after all…
The destinists (destinistas? destiners? destiniers?) in Denver have had a field day for the last couple of weeks with the parallels between the 2012 season and the Broncos’ experience in 96-97. In 1996, Elway was 36, the Broncos went 13-3, were upset in their first play-off game (losing by 3 points), thereby missing a chance to play in the Super Bowl in New Orleans. In 2012, Manning was 36, the Broncos went 13-3, were upset in their first play-off game (losing by 3 points), thereby missing a chance to play in the Super Bowl in New Orleans. In 1997 the Broncos won the Super Bowl; apparently that make it inevitable that the Broncos will win the Super Bowl this year (and next year, according to the extremists).
I’d like to see the Broncos win. They’re the local team for me, and dealing with celebrating Denverites for the next week will be much easier than dealing with depressed Denverites. Something to watch for that no one else is talking about: are the officials going to favor offense or defense in this game? If the Seahawks get hit with two 15-yard penalties in the first 10 minutes, one for hitting a defenseless receiver and one for roughing the passer, they’re in trouble. Because the officials will have indicated that this is going to be a game determined by the offenses, and will be called that way.Report
As someone who was actually born in the state of Washington (Pullman for those who are curious) but whose family was all born in and around the Bay Area (and I live there now) I don’t think I can ask for much after our last, glorious game.
Go Hawk’s!Report
Moth.
Also, go Seahawks!!!Report
Nate Silver has picked Seattle, Tod. Just saying.
I guess it’s a sign of how old I am, but I remember Dave Krieg, though I’m not sure I ever knew his back story. And I’m not sure I’d agree that when he was on, he was better than Joe Montana, one of the most amazing quarterbacks ever.
I’ve made no secret of the fact that I HATE the Broncos. As a Chargers fan, it’s pretty much required to despise Denver. So, I’d be rooting for whoever played against them. But, although we only lived in the Seattle area for a couple of years, I have a soft spot for the Pacific Northwest. So GO HAWKS! Crush the dreaded Broncos!Report
Off topic but…wow! about Phillip Seymour Hoffman. He was found dead today of a likely drug overdose. Keeps games in perspective. RIP.Report
Sad, isn’t it? He was damn good.Report
And Maximillian Schell also died on Saturday at 83.Report
I predict that approximately 35 percent of the commercial breaks will take place in the last 20 minutes of the game.Report
Holy. Crap.Report
You can say that again!Report
This is an amazing football game. One team ready to go, making plays, playing at a high level, competing. The other team… not. I don’t know what the heck the Broncos are doing. It started right from the opening kickoff when Holiday should’ve taken a knee nine yards deep in the endzone. Downhill from there.
I haven’t seen this level of chokery since the third time the Bills lost the Superbowl.Report
Ah, the Bills. So many chances; so many screw ups.Report
That third one was painful to watch. They were ahead, competing, in the game. The other team scored some points to make it a game. Thomas fumbled. And they gave up. It wasn’t that they choked, I guess, as much as they just lost their will. Something like that, anyway. (I bet Mark remembers the details better than I do.) But the post-fumble level of play from the Bills was about exactly the same as the Broncos offense from the first snap.
The Seahawk’s are rattling Manning. his whole game is timing and route-running, and Seattle’s taking that away. He doesn’t have a plan B. If the Bronco’s can’t figure out some protection schemes and run better routes, this will continue to be a route.Report
I lived in Rochester, NY during all four of their Super Bowl runs. They all kind of blend together as one painful memory at this point.Report
Ah, the Bills. So many chances; so many screw ups.
I will never forget the episode of X-Files focused on a day in the life of the Cigarette Smoking Man, where the assistant, on his way out, asked if there would be anything else. The CSM responded with something like, “No… wait… the Buffalo Bills never win the Super Bowl while I’m alive.”Report
My first wife and i had what ended up being our first date due to the Bill’s getting blown out. We were watching the game at college, but half time the Bills were down by like 50 points or something so we went to see a movie together.Report
Oh yeah! The Hawks are eating Denver’s lunch. So far, it’s been the game I was hoping to see.
And we don’t have to watch Beyoncé at halftime. Hallelujah!Report
Holy crap is right. Who would have guessed I’d enjoy the Tebow commercials that much?Report
Congrats to the Seahawks. They whipped that team pretending to be the Broncs in today’s scrimmage.Report
Wow.Report
Well, I surely didn’t expect a blow out but woot! I guess Destiny is a Seahawks fan.Report
Well, THAT went considerably better than I expectedReport
I can’t believe how much the weather screwed with Denver. We should never have an outdoor Superbowl again.Report
Jaybird: Please, you forgot to use “irony quotes” in that post.Report
Wow, Dave Krieg. I remember him as a Chicago Bear near the end of his career. Believe it or not, he’s no. 15 in career passing yardage, which puts him ahead of some pretty great NFL QBs.
What a dog of a game this Super Bowl was. I bet the Bronco fans were hoping for another blackout.Report
This one’s for you, Tod:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bfg9A9XIUAIBF5q.jpgReport
I don’t know who those guys were, but the one impersonating Manning was really unconvincing,Report
The Lions should give Denver their uniforms back now.Report
I think we could all agree if Tebow was the Bronc’s QB Denver would never have gotten blown out of the super bowl that way.Report
So my question is, why the hell would anyone use a washout like Tebow in their ads? Doesn’t that seem like aligning your product with abject failure? Or a signal that “we spent so much on Superbowl ad time we couldn’t afford a certified A-lister like Hondaaf with Bruce Willis?”Report
I imagine that Peyton Manning’s fees went down a couple of percentage points. Maybe they could use him next year.Report
1. Professional, wear-it-on-your-sleeve Christians love the guy.
2. He’s a well-known figure to football fans. And he was really good in college.
3. My atheist friend saw the commercial and she was moved. “That’s Tebow? Da-a-a-amn, he’s pretty good-looking.” Sex sells, even if you use a public virgin.
4. Everyone loves it when a celebrity can make fun of himself. Giving Tebow a platform to do it washes some of that goodwill to the sponsor.
5. @jaybird loves him.
Now, none of this is going to make me switch to T-mobile because the quality of service sucks and their data plans are nothing close to the legacy plan I have with Verizon. But these are reasons why Tebow was a clever marketing move.Report
Jeez, you sure paid closer attention to that commercial than I did. I just realized it was Tebow, thought, “meh,” and went back to reading Game of Thrones.Report
“That’s Tebow?”
Oh, for this innocence.Report
Somewhat OT, but Bulleit Rye with a Blue Moon chaser works really well.Report