Has Winning A Super Bowl Changed How You Cope?

[Shanegotyou11]

I would suspect from of us older 12's (especially around since the beginning) there's no longer the feeling of closing desperation every time we fall short of expectations and/or the playoffs (i.e. "Will I ever see the Seahawks win the Super Bowl before I die?"). Before, at least for me personally, I would go into a serious funk that could last months after a disappointing season. I am finding now, after having witnessed Seahawks Nirvana in the form of a 43-8 beat down to win it all in SBXLVIII, I just don't get as worked up as I used to after enduring a tough or underachieving season.

Curious who else feels this way?

Nope been a fan all my life. Since birth in 1984. I still get pissed/annoyed/bummed. Do I move on quicker? Possibly.

 

[Coug_Hawk08]

I stay hungry. Every year is a new mission, previous seasons do not matter. If you are not first, you are last.

 

[bmorepunk]

I was about six years old in 1983/1984 when I started becoming aware of the Seahawks.

They kind of didn't suck in the late 80s and that was good. But pretty much everything else between when I was six years old and when I was in my late 20s was complete crap. What I remember most is John Elway twice a year, his horse face smiling as he usually beat the team, making it to playoffs, winning playoff games, and making it to Super Bowls. Middle school was the worse stretch, then it got messed up with the Erickson era in high school. I remember the idea of being excited at the prospect of even having the chance of making the playoffs.

At some point in college I thought about getting a custom jersey with the number zero and the name "INEPT" on it.

I was amazed they made the Super Bowl in 2005. I wasn't surprised at all when they lost it. I was always waiting for the wheels to come off. The wheels always came off.

The playoff win against the Saints with Beastquake was the turning point. It was really different this time; it was pretty apparent they had something they didn't have before. Then the pieces started to fall in and they got Wilson and it just worked out. I think it took me about six months for it to sink in that they won a Super Bowl. I just figured they never would, because it's hard and it was the Seahawks.

The year after when they lost against the Patriots, it wasn't even that big of a deal. They had just won the year before. So I guess it did make things a lot easier once they won one.

I've found that enjoying this stretch has been really key. They have problems, but they're fun to watch. That defense. Lynch. Wilson magic. So many cool things have gone on, even this last season. I know we've been really, really lucky even though people think that they should have done more than they have.

 

[NJlargent]

I agree with the Post immediately above. I was 7 in 82 when I became a fan. And other than a few years in the 80s we were a non factor until 04. It was painful, especially for me surrounded by Giants fans. Then 48 happened at giants stadium in my backyard and it was surreal. But then 49 happened and to think We could have been the first team in over 20 years to go back to back as a dynasty would have been a story book ending to three decades of mediocrity and some awful football thrown in. As a result I am unable to think about 48 without immediately thinking about 49. Consequently, I am angry our staff ran this into the ground and closed the window. This week and the stubbornness of doing nothing has just angered me more. I will also unfortunately look back at Carroll unfavorably as he simply won a super bowl with insane talent and then sucked after everyone else caught up.

 

[AROS]

Really good stuff guys. Very interesting and diverse comments. Great to take a break from the "Fire This Guy - Fire That Guy" threads.

 

[2_0_6]

Honestly it made it a tad bit worse for me. The joy and feelings I had once that clock hit zero will be a memory I will take to my grave. I'm craving it again dammit, and I want it now.

 

[TwistedHusky]

I have watched that SuperBowl about 60 times. Maybe a little more, maybe a little less. But pretty close to those #s. At least 20 times a year, I imagine.

Plus I have digital copies of most of their best games that year. SF, etc.

There is still tremendous joy watching Marshawn run like that and watching that defense just smother opposing teams.

So I am OK with the team losing.

I would actually rather watch the team lose a hard fought, fantastic football game than win a boring, slog of a game. My issue is more seeing the potential on the team and seeing players almost have to overcome their coaches, instead of benefit from them.

So it isn't losses but losses that could have and should have been wins, that really just annoy me.

We won a SB, we don't need another. Though I would love to see (and since there is no chance of us making another SB with this coaching staff, that part does not bother me). What does bother me is that I wanted to at least see the Seahawks continually be among the teams that are at the pinnacle, because they should be.

So for a supposedly good coach, shouldn't at least making a reasonable game of things past the wild card, going to a divisional or conference game and not getting blown out, at least a fair ask?

As pointed out, winning only 1 SB with the talent this team had, is an indicator this coaching staff underachieved.

I don't mind the losing, I mind HOW we lose and I mind watching a team intentionally tie one (or both) hand behind its back and then marvel at how it keeps losing close games. The games are close because we don't leverage our strengths, we continually run into brick walls, and we don't seem to care about producing any tangible results until the end of the game.

It is 2 hours of watching the offense tread water and the defense get sanded down. That sucks to watch, so I quit watching the first half but now I find myself blowing off the 3rd quarter too. Pretty soon, it will only be the last 10 minutes of the 4th?

The SB does make the losing easier. But man, maybe 4 actual real quarters of full football might just prevent the losing in the first place?

 

[GeekHawk]

No! I'm still pissed off at the 2-14 season in '92. I recall between 2-4 of those losses happened on somebody making his career-longest FG, or career-longest KO return, or any number of other fluke plays. We shoulda been at least 4-12, dammit!

Just as I'm still pissed off at: #1 calling a pass for The Play instead of a run; #2 making that called pass the lowest-possible percentage play instead of a naked bootleg to the right where you can pass for a TD, run for a TD, or throw it away and stop the clock; and #3 the guilty party is still here making play calls to poorly-designed plays destined to fail no matter what.

So no, it's non-coping as usual for me. :mrgreen:

 

[West TX Hawk]

Good topic Aros. For me, watching the team since Patera, growing up in Seattle and enduring everything including the ridiculous 21 year gap without a playoff win ('84-'05), finally winning the SB was the penultimate. Watching with my family and girlfriend was a memory of a lifetime.

But the XLIX loss was the most emotionally devastating sporting event I've ever been a fan to (watching in person the legendary Zenyatta heartbreakingly lose the '10 Breeders Cup Classic by a neck in her career finale due to jockey error is tied though).

XLIX stung like nothing before or since because it felt like destiny was altered. To see the team miraculously win the NFC title game, to overcome the bad injuries to Lane and Avril, to get the incredible TD before halftime, to have the chance to defeat the hated Cheatriots and the conniving Brady and Belichek--everything was coming into place for a storybook, indelible place in history that was meant to be...and through pure arrogance and stupidity it was all snatched away from us...and I knew immediately we would never get back again and the team would never fully recover--because it is so hard to ever come back.

Had we won, with 2 titles--and back to back would've landed us in sports immortality--right up there with the '72-'73 Dolphins, the 70s Cowboys, '98-'99 Broncos.

With just 1 title, we're no different than the '02 Bucs, the '09 Saints, the '15 Broncos, the '10 Packers, the '06 Colts, etc.-All teams who won only 1 SB in their era and may or may not be even competitive anymore. IMO Pete will never get us there again.

So in sum, had we won XLIX, it would've been much easier to watch this slide before our eyes. We would've had a mark in history forever that no one could take away. Or even had we lost XLIX but ran Lynch at the 1 and still failed, I'd be ok knowing we went down with our best-no regrets. But because we didn’t, it makes the declining Carroll era all the more difficult--knowing what should've happened.

And make no mistake, while we will cherish our 1 title, the world will remember this Seahawk era and Carroll by what happened in XLIX.

 

[pittpnthrs]

And make no mistake, while we will cherish our 1 title, the world will remember this Seahawk era and Carroll by what happened in XLIX.

Amen

 

[TalontedNoseRider]

I was fortunate enough to experience XLVIII in the flesh.

Lombardi trophie shaped confetti literally landed on my tongue that night.

Everything since has been a refractory period..

 

[Ambrose83]

Not for me, and I've been a fan since I knew what football was. My family has season tickets the first 5 years . My issue is the collosal waste of talent we are seeing right now. We SHOULD be playing for the NFC title damn near yearly.

 

[Crizilla]

I'll forever be grateful to see a Super Bowl win. 2014 NFC Title game was one for the ages. Lots of cool moments for the Seahawks. However I take things season by season and in 2017 the staff/team deserved every ounce of criticism they got.

 

[Sac]

Winning the Super Bowl has definitely changed my outlook. And it's not so much that we won, it's the feeling that as long as we've got #3, we can win any game, any time.

 

[DJ_CJ]

Winning one helped but also increased amplitude knowing we've had the roster every year to do it again since yet usually end up beating ourselves rather than the opponents.


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[MD5eahawks]

After XL I stopped getting upset and pissed off. That game had me down just like every Seahawks fan. I learned from that. It just isn't worth the emotional trauma to invest that kind of disappointment.

I am in a unique group of fans though. I live in a city with a different team. Friends will come to me as their only source of Seahawks knowledge (if they only knew). They also come to me when the team does something stupid. Everyone I know has an opinion about the Hawks and they feel they need to share it with me because they don't know any other Hawks fan. I can live with that but I won't live with the pain and disappointment of a loss any longer.

 

[hawker84]

you nailed it for me. Been a fan since day one, and all I wanted was to experience winning it all. So after the SB victory everything else is gravy to me.

having said that, I still expect this organization to try a maintain a winning product and attitude, we the fans deserve that after decades of disappointment but unwavering loyalty. Just like us Mariner fans deserve that organizations best effort.
So yes I'll still root and support my teams, but that doesn't mean I have to always look through rose colored glasses when I see things that could be improved.

 

[Jerhawk]

Totally more chill after a disappointing season.

I'm already over this season and looking forward to an interesting offseason.

I think having a good QB helps with the alleviation of angst, since I know as long as we have RW and get some breaks we have as good a chance as anyone. I'm not going to look forward to the years after Wilson unless we can pull a Favre->Rodgers type transition.

Spot on for me. Word for word my thoughts exactly.

Winning the Superbowl did alleviate some of the dissapointment of this season.

Looking forward to this offseason to see what happens and how the organization responds.

 

[raisethe3]

Winning the super bowl changed my outlook. I don't get mad or upset if we don't win another down the road. But the Super Bowl XLIX had everything you needed to do to win it. The ball at the 1 yard and then boom! It was a golden opportunity to be back to back champions that just happened to slip through our fingers. But then again, I never had more fun cheering during the Super 48 blowout on Denver. It was a day-night I'll never forget.

 

[TheLegendOfBoom]

Winning the super bowl changed my outlook. I don't get mad or upset if we don't win another down the road. But the Super Bowl XLIX had everything you needed to do to win it. The ball at the 1 yard and then boom! It was a golden opportunity to be back to back champions that just happened to slip through our fingers. But then again, I never had more fun cheering during the Super 48 blowout on Denver. It was a day-night I'll never forget.

*Raises beer* dilly, dilly!