Recently Seattle was awarded, for the second year in a row, the title of “Most miserable sports city.” We can thank the fine folks at Forbes magazine for giving us this most dubious honor.
And although the city has made some mistakes in the last few years: i.e., shipping the Sonics to Oklahoma City, re-signing Ken Griffey Jr. to complete his farewell tour, and watching the Seahawks find new and inventive ways to cough up wins; we are far from the worst city in sports and I say we are better than people realize.
It’s true we only have one championship to show for years of trying. And although we lack the billion-dollar cable package that the Yankees and Los Angeles Lakers sign every time the contract is up, we still manage to put a team on the field that for the most part is competitive and will always play the underdog role. We don’t have a war chest of millions and we keep our superstars around far too long. (C’mon Griff, please start hitting.)
We sports fans here realize that winning championships is not the most important thing when it comes to a successful season. Sometimes it’s just coming to the ballpark to watch guys play a game, and give us a distraction for three hours, so when we come home we are still jazzed by a game-winning R.B.I. or a touchdown in the final two minutes to win. And even if these things don’t happen (as in the last 3 years) we go to games because they might. And that is enough for us right now.
Years ago, one of my favorite authors Jim Bouton, wrote in the most popular-selling sports book of all time, “Ball Four”: “I’m sad that Seattle didn’t keep its franchise. A city that seems to care more for its art museums than its ballpark can’t be all bad.” This was written in 1969, and it marked the first time Seattle had lost a sports franchise: the “Pilots,” who left for Milwaukee.
We do care about winning in Seattle, but it isn’t a be-all, end-all like it is in the big cities. We just care about other things such as art, hiking, boating, skiing, shopping, seafood, golf, music, and festivals. And about a thousand other things that make Seattle and its surrounding cities great. It’s true, we probably wouldn’t riot and tip over cars and burn down the city after winning a world championship, like they do in Detroit or Chicago (real sports towns).
We’d probably just go down to Belltown or somewhere on the waterfront, and have a microbrew and some clams, or hit Spud’s for some clam chowder and a view of the water. When you think about it, every weekend is a championship Sunday here. If the Mariners and Seahawks want to join us in our celebration, they are more than welcome. Win or lose.
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