So much hype over a football game.
Seattle gambled and lost. end of conspiracy theory. What interests
me is the fascination of Americans for this violent form of group
competition.
Is it a reflection of our Empire's approach to the world? Slam, bam,
brute force. And let the bodies fall where they may.
Carl Jarvis
On 2/3/15, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
> The Conspiracy Theory Surrounding The Seahawks' Last Play
> Dave Zirin on February 2, 2015 - 9:54 AM ET
>
> Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson looks back after throwing an
> interception to New England Patriots safety Malcolm Butler. (AP Photo/David
> Goldman)
> Conspiracy theories abound in US history, a way to explain the
> unexplainable
> in a nation with massive gaps in wealth and power. How could a lone gunman
> kill the President of the United States? Who put a drifter like James Earl
> Ray in position to kill Dr. Martin Luther King? Or the conspiracy theory of
> our century, one that has been entertained by the person at the heart of
> this article, Seattle Seahawks Pete Carroll, how did the Towers fall?
> (Please save the e-mails. I am not passing judgment on any of the above
> theories. Only pointing out that they all have found purchase.)
> Sports, where antitrust exemptions, a compliant media and authoritarian
> structures don't exactly encourage open discussion, conspiracy theories
> have
> always been nourished. Well, one is certainly emerging after last night's
> shocking end to Super Bowl 49, as the Seahawks gave away a game that looked
> comfortably in their grasp. With the outcome in their hands in the closing
> seconds, on second down from the one yard line and trailing by four points
> against the New England Patriots, Seattle coach Pete Carroll chose to throw
> a three-foot slant over the middle instead of handing it to their power
> runner extraordinaire Marshawn Lynch. It was, of course, intercepted, the
> first time a pass from the one-yard line had been intercepted all season in
> any game.
> In the stunning aftermath, after that unfathomable decision, conspiracy
> theories sprouted like Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors. I'm not talking
> about Twitter-theories from deep-thinking eggs, or any cris de coeur from
> devastated Seahawks fans. I'm talking about people inside Seattle's own
> locker room. I'm talking about texts I received from mainstream writers who
> don't want to deal with the backlash that would come with writing it up.
> The theory goes something like this. Russell Wilson is your young clean-cut
> God-fearing media-perfect quarterback. If one was creating a superstar face
> to market for the twenty-first century, chances are they would look, sound
> and basically be Russell Wilson. He's Derek Jeter with a Bible, someone who
> comes across like he has never spoken out of turn in his entire life.*
> Marshawn Lynch is. Marshawn Lynch, and if you haven't figured out what that
> means after the past two weeks, then you haven't been paying attention.
> The theory goes that there were major financial, public relations and
> football reasons for Russell Wilson and not Lynch to be the one who ends
> the
> game in glory. If he throws that touchdown for the victory, Wilson is
> almost
> certainly the Super Bowl MVP. He gets the commercial. He gets to stand with
> the commissioner. And oh, by the way, he also gets his new contract, one
> that will fasten his prime, at only 26 years old, to the Seattle franchise.
> Marshawn Lynch is also due a new contract. Marshawn Lynch, had he punched
> that ball over the goal line, would probably get to be the one handed the
> MVP trophy. Marshawn Lynch also maybe gets on the mic to say Lord knows
> what.
> Marshawn Lynch is in addition playing for a new contract and will certainly
> get one after an awesome, iconic season. But unlike Wilson, Marshawn Lynch
> turns 29 this off-season, that time when the ability of running backs tends
> to fall off the cliff. In Seattle's own recent history, they saw their MVP
> running back Shaun Alexander go seemingly overnight from superstar to
> someone who could barely run the ball, a football equivalent of milk left
> on
> the radiator.
> The conspiracy theory lies in the fact that Seahawks coach Pete Carroll
> believed that the last yard the Seahawks needed for that Super Bowl victory
> was a gimme and, all things being equal, much better to have the iconic
> Super Bowl moment go to Russell Wilson than to Marshawn Lynch. Coaches
> setting certain favored players up for glory is as old as football itself.
> In addition, the politics of race, respectability, public relations and
> what's in the best interest of a $2 billion corporation all played into
> this. That's the theory.
> I contacted someone inside that locker room and they said to me as if on
> repeat: "Can't believe it. We all saw it. They wanted it to be Russ. They
> didn't want Marshawn to be the hero."
> Mike Silver for the NFL network reported on these "mutterings" as well,
> writing that he wanted to "refrain from lending any legitimacy to the
> conspiracy theory which one anonymous player was willing to broach: That
> Carroll somehow had a vested interest in making Wilson, rather than Lynch,
> the hero, and thus insisted on putting the ball in the quarterback's hands
> with an entire season on the line. 'That's what it looked like,' the
> unnamed
> player said, but I'd be willing to bet that he merely muttered it out of
> frustration, and that it was a fleeting thought."
> Appreciate Mike for reporting it, but it's not a fleeting thought. People
> in
> the Seattle locker room are saying it. People in the sports media are
> texting it to me. Only a few people are writing about it. But the fact that
> people on the inside are even thinking it, in a locker room that earlier
> this season, as Mike Freeman reported, was roiled by these very kinds of
> divisions, makes it story enough.
> But does it hold actual weight? Would Pete Carroll risk the Super Bowl for
> public relations? Who the hell knows? Some mitigating factors in Carroll's
> corner: Marshawn Lynch is a beast mode of awesomeness, but was actually one
> for five on the season when rushing from the one-yard line. In other words,
> it was not an automatic for Lynch to score that touchdown. If he fails, the
> Hawks have to burn that last time out and probably then have to pass it
> anyway. Factor in that Pete Carroll may have been thinking about a somewhat
> similar scenario when, coaching at USC in 2006 for a national championship,
> he ran the ball and failed. Given that Carroll himself was basically in a
> state of post-traumatic stress after the game and didn't really explain
> much
> of anything, it may be a long time before we ever know what he was
> thinking.
> But in a locker room like Seattle's where they truly do feel like it's them
> against a world and an NFL power structure that wants to put them down,
> this
> is one theory that we can expect to find purchase in the months ahead.
> Tragically, it all overshadows a terrific comeback by the New England
> Patriots and a game for the ages, a game that reminds us why, despite every
> scandal, every NFL corporate crime and all the incompetence that swirls
> around Roger Goodell's leadership, the sport still reigns supreme.
> * the original text quoted and hyperlinked the movie The Other Guys where
> Derek Jeter is tearfully called a "biracial angel" as a reference to the
> way
> some sports fans adore Wilson. Yes. I know - and knew - that Wilson is of
> African and Native American descent and not biracial but thought the
> context
> of The Other Guys scene made the reference work. Hyperlinks don't work as
> context in writing however so I made the change. I was wrong and I
> apologize. - dz
> The Conspiracy Theory Surrounding The Seahawks' Last Play
> Dave Zirin on February 2, 2015 - 9:54 AM ET
> . Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
> .
> /printmail/blog/196697/conspiracy-theory-surrounding-seahawks-last-play
> /printmail/blog/196697/conspiracy-theory-surrounding-seahawks-last-play
> .
> .
> https://subscribe.thenation.com/servlet/OrdersGateway?cds_mag_code=NAN&cds_p
> age_id=105997&cds_response_key=I11BSPRV1
> https://subscribe.thenation.com/servlet/OrdersGateway?cds_mag_code=NAN&cds_p
> age_id=105997&cds_response_key=I11BSPRV1
> http://www.thenation.com/sites/default/files/russell_wilson_superbowl_ap_img
> .jpg
> http://www.thenation.com/sites/default/files/russell_wilson_superbowl_ap_img
> .jpg
> Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson looks back after throwing an
> interception to New England Patriots safety Malcolm Butler. (AP Photo/David
> Goldman)
> Conspiracy theories abound in US history, a way to explain the
> unexplainable
> in a nation with massive gaps in wealth and power. How could a lone gunman
> kill the President of the United States? Who put a drifter like James Earl
> Ray in position to kill Dr. Martin Luther King? Or the conspiracy theory of
> our century, one that has been entertained by the person at the heart of
> this article, Seattle Seahawks Pete Carroll, how did the Towers fall?
> (Please save the e-mails. I am not passing judgment on any of the above
> theories. Only pointing out that they all have found purchase.)
> Sports, where antitrust exemptions, a compliant media and authoritarian
> structures don't exactly encourage open discussion, conspiracy theories
> have
> always been nourished. Well, one is certainly emerging after last night's
> shocking end to Super Bowl 49, as the Seahawks gave away a game that looked
> comfortably in their grasp. With the outcome in their hands in the closing
> seconds, on second down from the one yard line and trailing by four points
> against the New England Patriots, Seattle coach Pete Carroll chose to throw
> a three-foot slant over the middle instead of handing it to their power
> runner extraordinaire Marshawn Lynch. It was, of course, intercepted, the
> first time a pass from the one-yard line had been intercepted all season in
> any game.
> In the stunning aftermath, after that unfathomable decision, conspiracy
> theories sprouted like Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors. I'm not talking
> about Twitter-theories from deep-thinking eggs, or any cris de coeur from
> devastated Seahawks fans. I'm talking about people inside Seattle's own
> locker room. I'm talking about texts I received from mainstream writers who
> don't want to deal with the backlash that would come with writing it up.
> The theory goes something like this. Russell Wilson is your young clean-cut
> God-fearing media-perfect quarterback. If one was creating a superstar face
> to market for the twenty-first century, chances are they would look, sound
> and basically be Russell Wilson. He's Derek Jeter with a Bible, someone who
> comes across like he has never spoken out of turn in his entire life.*
> Marshawn Lynch is. Marshawn Lynch, and if you haven't figured out what that
> means after the past two weeks, then you haven't been paying attention.
> The theory goes that there were major financial, public relations and
> football reasons for Russell Wilson and not Lynch to be the one who ends
> the
> game in glory. If he throws that touchdown for the victory, Wilson is
> almost
> certainly the Super Bowl MVP. He gets the commercial. He gets to stand with
> the commissioner. And oh, by the way, he also gets his new contract, one
> that will fasten his prime, at only 26 years old, to the Seattle franchise.
> Marshawn Lynch is also due a new contract. Marshawn Lynch, had he punched
> that ball over the goal line, would probably get to be the one handed the
> MVP trophy. Marshawn Lynch also maybe gets on the mic to say Lord knows
> what.
> Marshawn Lynch is in addition playing for a new contract and will certainly
> get one after an awesome, iconic season. But unlike Wilson, Marshawn Lynch
> turns 29 this off-season, that time when the ability of running backs tends
> to fall off the cliff. In Seattle's own recent history, they saw their MVP
> running back Shaun Alexander go seemingly overnight from superstar to
> someone who could barely run the ball, a football equivalent of milk left
> on
> the radiator.
> The conspiracy theory lies in the fact that Seahawks coach Pete Carroll
> believed that the last yard the Seahawks needed for that Super Bowl victory
> was a gimme and, all things being equal, much better to have the iconic
> Super Bowl moment go to Russell Wilson than to Marshawn Lynch. Coaches
> setting certain favored players up for glory is as old as football itself.
> In addition, the politics of race, respectability, public relations and
> what's in the best interest of a $2 billion corporation all played into
> this. That's the theory.
> I contacted someone inside that locker room and they said to me as if on
> repeat: "Can't believe it. We all saw it. They wanted it to be Russ. They
> didn't want Marshawn to be the hero."
> Mike Silver for the NFL network reported on these "mutterings" as well,
> writing that he wanted to "refrain from lending any legitimacy to the
> conspiracy theory which one anonymous player was willing to broach: That
> Carroll somehow had a vested interest in making Wilson, rather than Lynch,
> the hero, and thus insisted on putting the ball in the quarterback's hands
> with an entire season on the line. 'That's what it looked like,' the
> unnamed
> player said, but I'd be willing to bet that he merely muttered it out of
> frustration, and that it was a fleeting thought."
> Please support our journalism. Get a digital subscription for just $9.50!
> Appreciate Mike for reporting it, but it's not a fleeting thought. People
> in
> the Seattle locker room are saying it. People in the sports media are
> texting it to me. Only a few people are writing about it. But the fact that
> people on the inside are even thinking it, in a locker room that earlier
> this season, as Mike Freeman reported, was roiled by these very kinds of
> divisions, makes it story enough.
> But does it hold actual weight? Would Pete Carroll risk the Super Bowl for
> public relations? Who the hell knows? Some mitigating factors in Carroll's
> corner: Marshawn Lynch is a beast mode of awesomeness, but was actually one
> for five on the season when rushing from the one-yard line. In other words,
> it was not an automatic for Lynch to score that touchdown. If he fails, the
> Hawks have to burn that last time out and probably then have to pass it
> anyway. Factor in that Pete Carroll may have been thinking about a somewhat
> similar scenario when, coaching at USC in 2006 for a national championship,
> he ran the ball and failed. Given that Carroll himself was basically in a
> state of post-traumatic stress after the game and didn't really explain
> much
> of anything, it may be a long time before we ever know what he was
> thinking.
> But in a locker room like Seattle's where they truly do feel like it's them
> against a world and an NFL power structure that wants to put them down,
> this
> is one theory that we can expect to find purchase in the months ahead.
> Tragically, it all overshadows a terrific comeback by the New England
> Patriots and a game for the ages, a game that reminds us why, despite every
> scandal, every NFL corporate crime and all the incompetence that swirls
> around Roger Goodell's leadership, the sport still reigns supreme.
> * the original text quoted and hyperlinked the movie The Other Guys where
> Derek Jeter is tearfully called a "biracial angel" as a reference to the
> way
> some sports fans adore Wilson. Yes. I know - and knew - that Wilson is of
> African and Native American descent and not biracial but thought the
> context
> of The Other Guys scene made the reference work. Hyperlinks don't work as
> context in writing however so I made the change. I was wrong and I
> apologize. - dz
>
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> Blind-Democracy@octothorp.org
> https://www.octothorp.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-democracy
>
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