Finally.

Just as Seahawks Nation is ready to throw itself into the abyss of despair, the team comes through with a big victory, albeit over a winless St. Louis Rams team, 33-6. So, at 4-3, the Blue Men are back in first place, heading into a bye week, and all is well.

Or is it?

All seems to be well on the defensive side of the ball. The D thoroughly dominated the Rams oddly pitiful offense. “Oddly” I say because, other than the O-line, these are the same offensive players that have been good to great for the past few years. Proof, sez I, that the offensive line is the heart of a good team. So many things go better if your O-line is healthy, experienced and has played together for awhile. You dominate the line of scrimmage on offense, you can wear a defense down, have long, clock-eating drives, and you’ll win. The football maxim is that “defense wins championships”; but I think the O-line gets you there. Not that I have any bias as a former offensive tackle.

So the problem remains the offense. Matt had a mediocre at best game, but it turns out he got hurt halfway through and it affected his accuracy. Even so, he’s forcing some passes into coverage that he ought to not be trying. The run game is now a bone fide huge bone of contention among the fans. Shaun Alexander is now booed with regularity. Coach Holmgren felt the need to come to his defense, blaming the offensive line for some of the problem (See, See!) while making it clear that he’s not too happy with Shaun either. Holmgren benched Shaun in the 4th quarter and had a bit of an argument with him about it when Shaun expressed some displeasure at sitting. Bottom line for me: I am getting the feeling that Shaun may be done as a premier running back in the league. Overall then my read remains the same, the offense is sputter-y. By the way, I heard that term used to describe the Hawks O on the radio on the way home from the game, so it’s officially a word.

To the good, Will Heller had a nice little game as a starter as Marcus Pollard was out. Heller caught two TDs and looked very good. Nate Burleson had a good return for TD that arguably iced the game to start the second half…the Rams were never a factor after that. Burleson has found a great niche in that return role, and is loony enough in his style that it is truly fun to watch him.

So, the Hawks are off this weekend and next face Cleveland there the weekend after. Cleveland has shown good signs of life this year after several years of misery. Here’s hoping that they haven’t quite gotten it together yet.

This weekend, we took the whole family, teens included, to see Spamalot.

For those that haven’t heard of it, Spamalot is a Broadway adaptation of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It remixes many of the original sketches with cheesy original songs and hilarious visual effects.

A few of our cast members were not the headlined cast – some parts were played by understudies – but it was still seriously side-splitting. The actor playing Arthur was a veritable Tim Curry clone, and the other actors were made of awesome as well. The Lady of the Lake part was particularly hilarious – overblown singing and melodramatic stage presence.

If you want serious theatre, this is probably not your cup of tea. If, on the other hand, you’re in the mood for Camelot puns, fart jokes, oblivious characters and carnivorous rabbits, then find some tickets and enjoy the show!

Earlier this week, we celebrated my wonderful mother’s birthday.

As I mentioned last year at this time, my mom is amazing. I think she called a hard stop at 60 and started aging in reverse, becoming a year younger every October.

Mom never slows down, and her rocking chair sits lonely and unused in a corner of her living room.

In the last year she designed and installed her own irrigation system, built a pergola over her deck for shade and rain protection, did the excavating and flooring & finish work for a new craft room addition, and acquired and learned to use a quilting machine.

This is in addition to swimming Masters, taking yoga and Pilates, and running agility with her nearly-human dog Sadie.

For mom’s birthday, my sister and I took the day off work and spent with mom. We browsed antique and art galleries in downtown Olympia, and had lunch at the yummy, organic Brick Mill Bakery in Yelm.

We’d planned on dinner too, but the season’s first serious windstorm made us decide to disband early.

It’s bad when your team loses a game. It’s really bad when they lose at home. It’s really, really bad when that game is a nationally televised game. It’s extremely, epically bad when the team you lose to hadn’t won a game all year before that game. All of that happened to the Seahawks Sunday night as they lost to the previously hapless, suddenly back-to-prior-year-form New Orleans Saints, 28-17 at home.

Other than the passing game, the team looked awful in just about every way. The defense is now suffering from the inability to stop the other team on third down. The offense is chronically unable to sustain a drive…the sputters I’ve commented on several times has now become the equivalent of a chronic cough. The running game is virtually non-existent. Special teams cost us a touchdown, and had a field goal blocked. Ugly.

New Orleans came ready to play, but the game was lost because Seattle lost it, not because the Saints won it. Whatever swagger the Blue Men had, is now, official el gonzo. I will say this, New Orleans must have figured out a way to control the speed of the Seahawks defense, and specifically Julian Peterson’s ability to disrupt opposing offensives.

Of greatest note in the game: the fans were much displeased. Booing was a rule, rather than exception. There is a very nice couple who sit next to my seats now; they’ve had season tickets for 24 years, they drive from the Tri-Cities area (a four hour drive, at least) to come to the games. Midway through the third quarter, the lady looked at me and said “I might not be here next week”. That, my friends, is serious disillusionment.

Shaun Alexander was booed from the first carry. Look, the fans want to believe in him. Shaun had one 10 yard carry early in the game that the fans cheered with hope. Since he only had 35 years the rest of the game, and virtually was non-existent in the second half, I have to say its time to take a really hard look at sitting him down. The O-line is a part of the problem, for sure, but the way he “runs” isn’t helping. Behind a bad line, you can’t stutter-step and hope for a hole, you have to bash in there and take what you can, and hope for a missed tackle. Honestly Shaun, it doesn’t help not to let everyone know you’re mad about it too.

Most mass media reported on the game’s surreal moment, when the wired overhead camera crashed on the field, nearly hitting Matt Hasselbeck. I can’t even imagine what the fallout would have been if it had hit him or injured him. I think its possible Mike Holmgren could have gone nuclear right there, causing massive damage to south downtown Seattle.

So this week we get the Rams. They haven’t won a game yet. That didn’t help last week, and apparently Vegas still believes in Seattle enough to make them 9 point favorites. I’m not so sure, unless the team gets mad. I thought they’d be that way after the Pittsburgh debacle. Nope. It just has to happen this week, or I fear a no-playoff year is in the offing.

The lovely Beast Mom tagged me with this “Four Things” question list – and while I don’t often jump on meme-wagons, this one was fun and gave me a writing idea for today, when I’m exhausted and uncreative.

Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Lifeguard
2. Middle school teacher
3 Systems administrator
4. Project manager

Four movies I have watched more than once:
1. The Princess Bride
2. O Brother Where Art Thou
3. Four Weddings and a Funeral
4. Lord of the Rings trilogy

Places I have lived:
1. Rangoon, Burma
2. Kennewick, WA
3. Thetford, UK
4. Anchorage, AK

Four TV Shows That I Watch:
1. Lost
2. Battlestar Galactica
3. Heroes
4. Food Network

Places I have been:
1. London
2. Puerto Vallarta
3. Kona
4. Kotzebue

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Shrimp creole
2. Smoked brisket
3. Scones w/ clotted cream and jam
4. Mocha almond fudge ice cream

Four people who email me regularly:
1. the hub
2. my mother-in-law
3. Alaska Airlines
4. Stone Age hardware

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. At home, in bed
2. Hawaii
3. Europe
4. A Panama Canal cruise

Four friends who I think will respond:
1. Holy
2. Tanya
3. Uhh…
4. I only have two additional bloggy friends who will actually do this kind of writing.
(If anyone else answers this survey on a blog, let me know – I want to read.)

Things I am looking forward to this year:
1. Getting enough sleep
2. Cleaning out my closets
3. Writing a really bad novel
4. Watching my oldest son graduate from high school