We Just Want an Excuse to Drink
As mentioned in our review of the weeklies, the Seattle Weekly has a sports column this week. And what a strange sports column it is.
The author, Mike Henderson, makes the curious assertion that Seattle sports fans are silly to want their teams to win a championship.
"What good would it do you?," Henderson writes. "Would it mean you'd swagger into sports bars in New York and L.A., and patrons would want you to autograph their tank tops?"
If it is Mr. Henderson's long-held dream to emblazon some guido's sweaty back with his John Hancock, we fully support him. But it wouldn't jump to the top of our to-do list if the Mariners won a World Series.
It's not a desire for bragging rights that makes us sports fans wish for a championship, it's the fact that our team winning a championship would make us deliriously happy. If you won the lottery, would you immediately think about running to the local WaMu branch and parading about with your winning ticket? No, you'd commence an extemporaneous jig.
Henderson goes on, "Is Boston really a better place because the Red Sox and Patriots are winners?" No. But because of those championships, Boston had two huge victory parades, for which millions of people got drunk in the middle of the afternoon, crammed into downtown streets, and cheered themselves hoarse. We think that this is well worth wishing for.
