Avoiding Relegation
It’s about this time in the NFL season when you start hearing talk about playing for a high draft pick – aka LOSING. Bollocks! I say throw the bums out. For those not familiar, relegation is a concept employed mainly in European sports where the bottom few teams at the end of the season are sent to the MINOR LEAGUES and the top few teams of the lower league are promoted. Sounds great! At 2 and 10, and Seahawks would be tied for the bubble spot with the KC and the Rams (Cinci are 1-10-1 and poor Detroit is done for as they are still winless). Suddenly the Seahawks game next week at St. Louis seems a whole lot more important if you have to play to avoid being sent down next season. Relegated in the MLB this season would have been Tampa, Pittsburgh, and KC. If the NBA had employed relegation last season there would be no Heat, T.Wolves, or Seattle Sonics (aka Oklahoma City Thunder – oh how poetic).
I know, I know, none of the American leagues are built with multi-tiered systems like English soccer (which really speaks to the popularity of soccer) with the exception of the MLB farm system. Hey figure it out, promote the Phoenix Mercury.
On a related but more superstitious note, I bought a Seahawks hat at the beginning of this Season. I haven’t worn it since week 2. The last time I bought a piece of Seahawks merch? My Seahawks Starter jacket in 6th grade. That was 1992 and the Seahawks finished that season 2 and 14.