Are You Ready For Some Football?

I know I am. The NFL is the only sport, professional or otherwise, that I follow with any regularity. Oh sure, I watch the women's team beach volleyball in the Olympics just like every other guy, but MLB and the NBA leave me cold. So it was with great excitement that we watched the Seattle Seahawks opening game today. Not only that, but this was the first time we'd gotten the chance to watch them in high def, that is if you don't count the first preseason game they played.

The 'Hawks won over Tampa Bay 20 to 6, but they were aided in the mid-game by injuries to Cadillac Williams, Jeff Garcia, and one of the TB cornerbacks. Their defense was pretty good, at least after the first quarter, which was a big part of their slightly above average season last year. Shaun Alexander was OK, but it took him a long time to get his motor running, and I'm starting to think that he was at his best when he was on a one-year contract looking for something long term. Now that he has it, the fire isn't there. You can say that they don't have the same line, that he was hurt last year, blah blah blah. I base my belief on the simple fact that he dogged it before the year they went to the Superbowl, and he certainly looked to be dogging it today (at least until Tampa's defense got so tired that they couldn't stop my 2 year old nephew).

There were a lot of other exciting games, but it's really about the 'Hawks for us. This is always a fun part of the year, when we can still dream that perhaps the 'Hawks will get back to the Super Bowl. Given that the only real contenders, at least after today's performance, are the 'Boys and the Panthers (in the NFC - I have no illusions that we'd actually win the big game), right now it seems like maybe it could happen. The big question will be how good the Cards and Niners will be, and we'll get a sense of that on Monday night.

I am *so* ready for some football...