I don't post much here but I was hoping you guys wouldn't mind a little fanpost. I joined Sactown Royalty because Isaiah Thomas was drafted 60th overall by the Sacramento Kings. IT is probably my favorite basketball player ever and I've watched Jordan, Kemp, Payton, Bryant, Webber, James, Allen, Rose et al. If you couldn't tell, I am a huge UW basketball fan. I was also a huge Sonics fan and watched them go all the way to the Finals just to lose to the Bulls. They were a big part of my childhood and a big reason why I love basketball. The feelings I had when they were taken were all negative, I felt betrayed and frustrated.

For this reason, I'd like to congratulate you guys on what looks like a deal to keep the Kings in Sacramento. I don't think any city should have to go through that again. Regardless of how many fans a team has, the only thing that should matter is that a team has any fans at all. And I understand you guys do extremely well in terms of selling tickets. I've just always thought that a team's inability to sell out every season just because they're not in a major market is a poor argument to move them.

If you listen to the radio or read certain blogs, you have probably heard many Seattle fans say things such as "well, we wouldn't be stealing the team, they just can't get a deal done," or "we lost our team so this is fair right?" I hope you don't judge anyone who makes these comments too harshly, when a person wants something they feel has been unjustifiably taken from them, we justify whatever course of action is taken to get it back.

We will get a team sometime but I'm glad it's not the Kings. I've been following the threads here and hearing some interviews with some people associated with the Kings and you guys all seem to be an amazing group.

Sorry if I rambled, it's 3am, but I wanted to get it down while I had the time. I hope there doesn't become any sort of bitterness between the two cities and I hope in the near future, the Sonics and Kings can once again play each other. You guys have a pretty good core and they'll only get better.

Signed,

A relatively new Kings fan in Seattle.

Being a sports fan can lead to some intense emotions.  Being a Seattle sports fan can lead to outright depression.  The Seahawks have had more bad years than good and that makes being a Seahawks fan mean a little more than being a Patriots fan or a Packers fan.  We have suffered through some pretty terrible seasons yet we continue to proudly wear the Blue and Green.  This lack of winning can also make us a little hostile at time.  Different people root for their team in different ways and everyone has their own favorite player.  We as Seahawks fans have disagreed many a time.  We have disagreed on Shaun Alexander, Matt Hasselbeck, Deion Branch, and Kelly Jennings...Ok, we all can agree on Kelly Jennings.  But no matter what our thoughts were of a player, we all, as fans, have the same goal in mind: to see the Seahawks lift that Lombardi Trophy.

Thus it saddens me whenever I see my fellow fans fight with each other over something silly.  Field Gulls is my go-to place for everything Seahawks and it has been for a couple of years now.  John Morgan's amazing and insightful writing reeled me in and soon after, I was addicted.  What made it even better was that when I finished his articles, I knew there would be great discussion in the comments that followed.  And when he left, Danny, Benne, Thomas, and all of the other members continued to make this the best Seahawks blog on the internet.

We all come to Field Gulls because we could not handle seeing one more ESPN comment without our brains turning to liquid.  We liked certain people at the Seattle Times or P.I. blogs but a good portion of the posters are either trolls or they write like they have never taken an English class in their lives.  We come to Field Gulls because we want quality and therefore we hold ourselves to a higher standard.  It's alright to disagree with another fan's position, that is how we learn and grow as football fans.  If I say Julius Jones is an average running back and you have a valid argument using statistics or scouting to prove me wrong, I would love to hear it.  But making it personal will only end badly.  Let's remember to keep it civil and respectful during this tough season as we are all here for the same reason.  Because we frickin love Seahawks football.

I know we have an OT going but I thought it would be cool to get a separate thread going for the Tourney that starts in the morning.  Who do you think will win it all?  What are the big upsets waiting to happen?  Who will be the player to break out on the National stage?

I don't know about you guys but this is one of my favorite times of year when it comes to sports.  Let's hope there are lots of great games and may whatever team you are rooting for make it far (unless they are playing the Huskies.)

Dear Pete Carroll and company,

First off, I would like to express my appreciation.  You made many, many moves in the off-season.  Many that I deemed questionable to say the least.  I am still disappointed in a few of them but I would like to think you have a plan and are seeing it through.  This season, as up and down as it was, was fun.  The losses were brutal but the wins were exciting and that playoff game against the Saints was a game for the ages.

That being said, I have only one request: please let Matt go.  During this season, the debate of which quarterback should start began to tear the fanbase into two sides.  If it weren't for the final three games, I'm not sure what would have happened.  Fans of the same team were constantly bickering with each other.  Reading the blogs and the newspaper articles became depressing and I almost stopped reading altogether.  It seemed everyone had an opinion and they all wanted to make sure everyone else heard them.

But that is not why I want you to let go of Matt Hasselbeck.  It's not because of his decline or his terrible games. It's not because of Charlie Whitehurst, Nate Davis, or whichever QB you select in the draft (and I sincerely hope you do select one.)  No, it is because he deserves it and we deserve it as fans.  Let him walk away now.  He may want to come back and you may want him back but please resist that urge.

When Matt gave the game away against Atlanta in week 15, I was happy to see Charlie enter the game.  However, I could not help thinking that I didn't want Matt to go out like that.  Everybody wants a happy ending for their favorite players but few ever truly get it.  Ken Griffey Jr. is a prime example of this.  Matt Hasselbeck had one of the best games of his career a week and a half ago.  If that was his final game as a Seahawk at Qwest Field, that is as close to a happy ending I think he is capable of.  It's not Elway winning the Super Bowl consecutively before hanging them up but in a strange way, it's pretty darn close.  Let Matt retire or continue with another team so we can put the past behind us and look towards the future.  A future where we can look back and say, #8 was a pretty damn good QB.

Sincerely,

A Fan.

Since the last OTFP seems to have emptied out, thought a new one might be in order.

As most of us are aware, the baseball playoffs begin this week and the question is: which team are you rooting for?  There are the usual suspects such as the Yankees, Phillies, and Twins but there is some new blood this year as well.  The Rangers, Reds, and Giants have all been away from the postseason for quite awhile and Atlanta looks primed to begin a new decade of consistent playoff appearances.  The Rays are pretty good too.

A few other topics.

Where is your favorite sports arena outside of Qwest/Safeco?

Which restaurant is your hands-down favorite?

What is your food of choice on Sundays?

And what new movies are you most looking forward to this Fall season?

This has been an exhausting off season.  Trying to keep up with the current roster has been a nightmare and the past few days have tried my patience.  I was away from civilization for only two days this weekend but when I returned, I felt as if I no longer knew who was on the team anymore.  I was upset about the Sims trade, I was angry about the Tapp trade, and I was furious about the Wilson trade.  I marveled at the greantess of our draft and I winced at the increasing list of valuable players being cut.  I praised the ability of Carroll and Schneider to find hidden talent where nobody else was looking and I criticized their knack of seemingly over-valuing draft picks.  There were a few moments where I severely questioned the ability of these two men to produce a great football team.

I followed these moves and analyzed them and then read everybody else's analysis until I noticed it was 4am and I should probably get some sleep.  I did this because, even though sports may be meaningless in the grand scheme of things, I care about them.  Football is my favorite sport and the Seahawks are my team, better yet, my passion.  That's why this Sunday, I won't care about the months of analysis or those days of frustration because the Seahawks will play their first meaningful game of 2010.  On Sunday, for 3 hours, all Seahawks fans will put away their differences of opinion on the front office and their heated debates about whether Josh Wilson is a starter or a back-up, and for 3 hours, all Seahawks fans will agree on one thing: wanting to see the Seahawks win.

3 days until the Hawks play the 49ers.

Are you ready for some football?

Are we seriously underdogs in this game?  Sorry if this should be a fanshot or just briefly mentioned in another post but this amazed me.  I know we're not good but we're picked to lose to Kyle Boller?  Am I just being too subjective and biased or are analysts and Whatifsports the biased ones?  Please, tell me we'll win on Sunday.  We're not this bad are we?  Then again, if we are I'm not sure if I want to hear it.