Seahawks 34, Carolina 14

Well, well, well.

The Seahawks are on their way to the Super Bowl. How cool is that???

I had a lot of fun last night watching the game and yelling at the TV, as if Shaun Alexander they can hear me from 1,800 miles away. Hey, maybe he can. Regardless, I discovered an important rule: Don’t shout at the television when a sleeping black cat with long, sharp claws is sitting on your lap. Frightening the cat awake by cheering for a touchdown can be hazardous to your junk.

All armchair quarterback pain aside, at this point it doesn’t matter to me if Seattle wins or loses SB XL – just the fact that they made it is enough for me. (Although a win would be nice.) It’s been a mighty long time since Seattle had any sort of winning sports team – the Sonics back in 1978-79 (I was 13!), a couple of U of W Huskies wins at the Rose Bowl, and that’s about it. So they were overdue, big time.

My only regret with the game yesterday? It was on FOX, aka The Commercial Network. How many advertisements can you possibly cram into a football game? Just ask FOX – there’s apparently no such thing as “too much”. A return kickoff after a touchdown doesn’t always warrant 6 minutes of Bud, Buicks, and boner pill ads...

That, and I was annoyed by the post-game interview, led by Terry “King Tool” Bradshaw. God, that guy bugs the snot out of me. Here he is, interviewing Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, the Seattle area zillionaire who owns the Seahawks. (He also owns the Portland Trailblazers, Seattle’s EMT exhibit, most of the Jimi Hendrix museum stuff, and about half of Seattle.) Paul Allen is a good guy to Seattle, and deserves a little respect for bringing the Seahawks to a Super Bowl appearance, right? But no. Tool McBradshaw has to pipe up on national television: “I’m having an e-mail problem. Can you help me?” Geez, Terry – you’re so not funny. I kept hoping Paul would tell him, “I’ll fix your e-mail if you’ll apologize for The Cannonball Run.” (I’d e-mail Tooly Bradshaw and pass along my displeasure in him, but as we’re all aware, his e-mail is broken. Good. Ha, ha.)

Anyway, what I thought was so funny about the Seattle victory though was this e-mail I received from NFL.com: They know that I’m a Seahawks fan, and they take advantage of it. So I wasn’t surprised to have a message from them, trying to sell me a $44.98 NFC Conference Champ t-shirt and hat combo.

But what was surprising was that I got the e-mail at 8:02 PM Central time – a good 55 minutes before the game between Seattle and Carolina was over. A little optimistic, aren’t they? Just imagine if Seattle had blown it at the last minute – they’d have to either retract a zillion e-mails, or else they’d be selling those shirts for a buck apiece.

But for now, they want $44.98, plus shipping and handling. All for a shirt/hat combo that won’t be available to ship until the end of January, and you probably won’t receive until next season.

Um...no thanks.

Still, congrats to the Seahawks and the people of Seattle. You deserve a winner. Now let’s see how you do on February 5. God knows I’ll be watching (and yelling at the TV.)

And thanking the Good Lord that the game is on ABC, and not FOX.