Editor’s note: In the spirit of Super Bowl competition and some lightly lingering resentment, Seattle Times columnist Alex Fryer and editorial cartoonist David Horsey take aim at New England. And from the other coast, Boston Globe contributor Jesse Singal and cartoonist Christopher Weyant do the same. Read Singal’s here.
If you believe in karma, it had to be them. Those guys. The players in red and blue with the logo that looks like it belongs to a defunct savings and loan.
Not that folks around here spend too much energy focusing on who is going to lose to the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX.
As coach Mike Macdonald famously declared after being asked what he felt about his opponents on the way to the championship: “We did not care! It’s about us!”
Let the record state: We do not care about the New England Patriots. They just happen to be in the Hawks’ way of hoisting another Lombardi Trophy.
But longtime Seattleites and those who bleed navy blue will utter beneath their breath: Actually, we do care. Quite a bit.
We will tell you the disaster on the one-yard line in the Seahawks-Patriots championship game in 2015 must be finally exorcised.
We’ve tried therapy. Voodoo dolls. Channeling spirits. Players reportedly went to Hawaiʻi after the loss to symbolically toss off a cliff the indelible mental image of then-Hawks quarterback Russell Wilson throwing a last minute, game-losing interception. Still, the shock remains with us, like a lingering bad dream of showing up to work without your pants.
Coach Macdonald, bless him, wasn’t in Seattle back then. Most fans were. And there are some things you never forget.
But that was then. This is now. Bring on the next challenger.
The Seahawks have destiny on their side.
Some teams are favored from the start, front-runners, easy bets from the season opener to the playoffs. This year’s Seahawks were not one of them.
This cobbled-together group — some fresh faces, some wily veterans, led by a quarterback whom no one seemed to want — won the city’s heart the old-fashioned way: winning. Week in and week out, they showed an uncanny ability to function as a true band of brothers on the field, in the locker room, behind the microphones.
They talked about love for each other. And as each white-knuckle game ended in a “W,” the city loved them, too. And now they are one game away from writing a beautiful new history.
Which brings us back to the New England Patriots.
Beyond one unfortunate play, most folks around here don’t spend a lot of time thinking about the Patriots. Of course, former quarterback Tom Brady comes to mind.
My wife watched him as a commentator during the NFC Championship Game and remarked: “Oh, he got a haircut.”
She doesn’t notice when I get a haircut. Maybe I should add more egg whites to my diet.
Is it a low blow to recall the scandal around Brady’s deflated footballs and the whiff of cheating? Seems like fair game to me.
There was a time when the whole country was tired of Brady and the Patriots celebrating another Super Bowl win. Every era must end, and mercifully, so did the Patriots’ dominance.
But now they are back. I guess you got to give them credit for that.
Who said recently of the Patriots and owner Robert Kraft?: “Bob Kraft is a friend of mine. I’ve watched that team, and you gotta hand it to him. He had the great team and now he’s got the great team again.”
That would be President Donald Trump.
Kraft sat with the president during the recent premier of the documentary “Melania.” I’m sure they enjoyed it. In this cordial banter between cities, does that piece of political-sports trivia matter? Let’s not get too divisive. After all, Seattle and Boston have much in common.
Both are port towns. Educated. Lots of hospitals. Bookish. Love public broadcasting and liberal politics.
Our new mayor, Katie Wilson, is often compared with Boston’s Michelle Wu. If she copies Wu’s electoral success, Wilson will be among the most popular Seattle leaders of all time.
There are differences, too. Boston has lobsters, we have Dungeness crab. Boston celebrates a Tea Party, Seattle is the birthplace of gourmet coffee. Beantown has history. We have Soundgarden.
Boston was the setting for 11 seasons of “Cheers.” Seattle got the spinoff “Frasier,” which also had 11 seasons. But if you are keeping score, and of course we are, the “Frasier” reboot on Paramount+ added two more seasons. So there’s that.
It seems like cosmic fate that these cities would once again face each other in the greatest sporting contest of the civilized world.
Seattle and Boston: similar with a twist, like cousins who share an uncanny resemblance.
We will be sure to think fondly of Boston and its impressive team when green and blue confetti falls in Levi’s Stadium like roiling tears of relief.
It will be more than a win. It will be finally waking up after a nightmare.
I can’t wait.