Like a Heart Attack

Oh Yes, I am.

Injury: Arizona 48 - Washington 14
and
Insult: Giants 44 - Seahawks 6

Thank you T.O. You saved my soul.

If you haven't been following the Seattle Sports scene, lucky you. It's been brutal. The following was posted by a fellow Seattle Sports sufferer on ESPN's Sports Guy page a few weeks ago when Tom Brady was hurt. I think it best sums up the dire straights of athletics in the evergreen state.

Brady's out. That really sucks. But it could be worse -- you could be a Seattle sports fan. Let me break it down for you: The Mariners are struggling through one of their worst seasons ever. Our Sonics, the only team to win a professional title in Seattle, moved the team to Okla-friggin-homa and stuck us with the Storm. And the Seahawks -- in Holmgren's final year, mind you -- are now without their TOP FOUR RECEIVERS! Imagine losing Moss, Welker, Gaffney AND Kelley Washington. Plus our quarterback is having back problems (including rumors of bulging discs), and our best running back left last week's game with an injury. Of course, a 6-10 record might win our division, which means we get to lose in Round 1. Oh, and the travesty that was the excessive celebration call on Washington's Jake Locker. But on the bright side … well, I give up. Be thankful you don't live in Seattle.-- Dan Gomez, Seattle

With that back drop, let me enlighten you further with my personal predicament. Not living in Seattle anymore I have to go through a bit of effort to keep up with these small market teams. Can you imagine having to work to keep up with teams that keep finding new ways to suck? It takes commitment and I have a short attention span.

Living in Dallas brings with it an additional dimension. People are absolutely nuts about the Dallas Cowboys here. First of all, Texas is nuts about football. We used to live by the high school of Robinson, TX which is a town of about 10,000 people. One Friday night I was coming home from the store about the same time the HS football game ended and cops were out redirecting traffic, I had to loop around and take a different approach to my house. That would never have happened where I grew up. Add to that fervor America's Team and you've got a toxic combination. I once light heartedly joked about a certain hall of famer who played for the aformentioned team only to be accused of blasphemy (seriously).

So given this predicament, as the NFL season started to gear up I found myself feeling uplifted (dare I say happy?) when the Cowboys won a game. At first I was disturbed....THE COWBOYS?? They have been the enemy to me for so long. I just didn't want this to happen. Then slowly I started to fall deeper and deeper into the trap. I made a last ditch effort at salvation by turning to my brother for advice and help. He immediately told me in his unbiased, philly sports fan, opinion that I just couldn't root for this team....they are the enemy he said....they have Pacman Jones, and T.O.....I even tried to help him help me by throwing Nate Newton's name into the hat. But in the end I was not dismayed....I resigned myself to the life of a Cowboy's follower. In short, I decided it was time to end the pain of Seattle Sports and move forward.

Then, in my darkest hour, a light of hope grabbed hold of me and pulled me back.

I give you Exhibit A.

This is a team that had just lost it's first game of the season after looking absolutely dominant in their first three games. They maybe weren't blowing teams away like the Pats were last year....but make no mistake, they were in control during those games and despite that T.O. felt it appropriate to whine about not getting the ball enough. Upon hearing these comments I immediately saw the error of my ways. The wife and I were living in Pennsylvania when T.O. helped tear the Eagles locker room apart. No way I'm pulling for a team that is going to implode on itself (maybe not this year but it will happen). This is the beginning of the end for the Cowboys....I can feel it...and I will not expose myself to it.

I will however, stand by and watch the show.

Thank you T.O! You saved my Soul!

the beginning

Welcome one and all (probably just one or none) to The Pad. A place where we try to take a laid back approach to life (although I tend to be pretty high strung -- everybody lies on the web). I've found that if you are a seattle sports fan like me....it's about the only way to get through life with your sanity. Although, I expect at times a number of ramblings and railings against all that is wrong in the world both within sports and without.

Some might ask, why even have a blog, the wife has a fantastic one, you'll only embarrass yourself?! I could give you several reasons for wanting to share a little insight (probably not) or knowledge (definitely not) with ya'll (I live in Texas, get used to it). But ultimately, the real reason is, I'm a follower. There I said it. My brother started a blog (it's a good one too) and I thought, what the heck...I can do that.

Now, I may be the unoriginal sibling...but I'm the braver of the two. See, my blog is open to all. His......well, he's scared to open it up to the world (b-dub, consider yourself called out)

A couple of additional points, you'll notice my user name is Not Annoying. This is somewhat of a running joke around our household. I am someone who loves to tease. Sometimes I happen to forget a joke has run it's course and it is time to move on. Indeed the wife has oftentimes asked, "Are you trying to be annoying or does it just comes naturally?" Well, I'll let you be the judge. Oh, by the way, the wife asked me one thing when I announced the commencement of the Pad....here's a direct quote...."Please don't refer to me as The Wife." Should be good times for all.