The 12th Man is Stupid
Yesterday we said that Texas A&M's 12th Man is stupid. Today we say that the Seahawks’ 12th Man is stupid.
We love the Seahawks. We attended the Hawks’ first-ever regular-season home victory back in 1976, and we cheered them on during their ‘80s playoff runs. And, of course, we plan on spending like 31 hours in front of the TV on Super Bowl Sunday. But retired numbers should only honor retired players, not some conceptual “12th Man.”
At the suggestion of a Tukwila fan, the Seahawks retired jersey number 12 in 1984, during their last serious championship drive. At the time, the eight-year-old franchise had relatively little to commemorate. No Seahawk had yet completed a career worthy of number retirement (though then-active player Steve Largent, still the only Seahawk with a retired number, was well on his way). However, the extremely loud Kingdome fans flustered visiting teams, as if the Hawks had the benefit of an additional player on their side. Such emotion prevailed over reason when the team decided to retire number 12, its way of paying tribute to its noisy fans. (Aww!)
Official “12” jerseys -- also imprinted with KIRO Newsradio ads -- flew off the racks at their exclusive retailer, The Bon. Yet the touchy-feely gesture always seemed less like honoring the fans than pandering to them. More than supporting the team, celebrating the number 12 is a self-gratifying way to celebrate ourselves. (Yay for us!)
Though every sports team lays claim to “the greatest fans in the world,” the Seahawks are the only pro franchise we know of to actually retire a number for them. Maybe the football Huskies could retire number 12, and both Husky basketball teams could retire number 6. (Incidentally, a “sixth man” ghost helped the UW men’s b-ballers win the Final Four in the 1997 comedy The Sixth Man.) The Sonics could retire number 6, the Mariners number 10, and the Thunderbirds number 7 (as well as numbers 6 and 5, for power-play situations).
But they shouldn’t. Retiring numbers for the fans only cheapens the notion of honoring Hall of Fame-worthy players. No, we’re not trying to dis any 12th Man-embracing Hawk fans, though that probably sounds like “I support the troops but don’t support the war.”
Whatever. This whole 12th Man business is silly, hardly worth the legal action taken by Texas A&M. As far as we’re concerned, the Aggies can have the 12th Man all to themselves.
