So the Seahawks went to the Super Bowl.  It was exciting for the city.  This was a team that had never even been considered a contender.  In one commentator's words, the Seahawks for decades "defined mediocrity" in the NFL.  Suddenly, they became a powerhouse team, the best team of their conference.  Shaun Alexander was the league MVP.  Matt Hasselbeck was being fitted for his milk moustache.  They were bigtime.

But then they lost.

So the best thing to do would be to look to the future, right?  Talk about the future Super Bowls that this team inevitably will see, the sudden promise of the team, the fact that Seattle fans no longer posed with bags on their heads.  Right?

Well, sure, but first they have to blame the referees for losing the game.

That's not strictly true.  They're not actually blaming the refs for the loss.  But they sure are making a lot of noise about bad calls.  At the welcome-home party held at the taxpayer-funded Qwest Field, according to the Seattle P-I, Mike Holmgren cracked that he was ready for the Steelers, but he "didn't know we were going to have to play the guys in the striped shirts as well."   Other players complained about penalties they were charged with.

And to their credit, Michael Irvin, convicted felon and all around crazy guy, has said on record that "there were some bad calls.  Yes, they have a beef."

The local news is playing up the "we wuz robbed" angle.  I saw a local news program flashing the NFL hotline for officiating complaints.  That's classy. 

Let's be clear.  I'm a very late comer to the Seahawks bandwagon.  I didn't even follow the team until near the end of the season, when I saw they had the best record in their conference and I started hearing "Shaun for MVP" whispers.  I still would have rather seen the Broncos in SB XL, playing anyone. 

But this is disappointing.  The Seahawks had their chance on the biggest stage in football, and to bellyache about the officials instead of being proud of their accomplishments just looks amateurish.   And I don't care if there were a few bad calls.  I don't even care if only a couple of people were making the complaints.  (One of those people happens to be the coach, so that adds a whole layer of legitimacy to the complaints.)  Any professional athlete knows that when you play well enough to win, what the officials do makes no difference.  If you play well enough to win, you win regardless.

Mr. Holmgren knows this too.  When you go onto a football field (or hockey rink, or baseball diamond, or whatever sport you like) you are ALWAYS playing against the officials.   The referees are always an unpredictable asset.  Sometimes they make calls that help your side.  Sometimes they go the other way.  But you play to win, and if you are triumphant, it's not because the zebras let you win, it's because you won.  The officials are never on your side, just like the weather is never on any team's side.  It's your job to overcome these unpredictable factors.  Seattle just put one more nail in their coffin, the mostly undeserved one but it's theirs regardless.  If you look closely on the side of the coffin, you can just make out the words:  "second-class sports town." 

12:59:55 PM