Seattle (Especially KING 5) Stinks Almost as Much as Vancouver

I am a huge Boston Bruins fan. I haven't missed a game in more than a decade. I spent most of my life in Massachusetts, and love all four of the major sports teams there.

But now I've lived in Washington for nearly a quarter of my life (how time flies!), and I've come to a conclusion: Seattle is a horrible sports town.

I don't mean to belittle the fans and players and teams themselves. I've met a lot of great fans here, and the teams ... well, they try hard. And I am not talking about public financing of stadiums (although if I were to do that, I'd note that the homes of the four championship teams from Boston are all privately funded: if you're going to steal Boston's terrible idea of the Big Dig, Seattle, why not also steal Boston's great idea of private financing of sporting venues?).

I am talking about the fact that not every Mariners game is televised. In a true sports town, that's anathema.

I am talking about the fact that KING 5 won't show the Stanley Cup Finals Game 7 -- even when the Canucks are in it! -- and instead show local news, Evening Magazine, Inside Edition, and Jean Enerson's "Northwest Newsmakers." Honestly, I've been watching KING 5 for my news for years, but I'm giving up. I'll still record Up Front with Robert Mak, but that's it. And even then I'll probably record the rebroadcast on KONG 16 (where KING relegated the Cup broadcast to).

I was back in Boston for the Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Not only did they show the game on the main NBC affiliate, WHDH 7 (because why wouldn't they?), but tornados were sweeping the region that evening, and Governor Deval Patrick held a news conference during intermission, and WHDH cut off the governor's news conference to get back to the game. Would a Seattle station cut off Gregoire to get back to a hockey game? Heck, would Gregoire wait to give a news conference about a public emergency declaration until intermission of a hockey game?

And, OK, here's where I'll criticize the fans a bit: I am also talking about the fact that the fans usually don't seem to care when they lose. "We're just happy to be here" seems to be the Seattle sports motto. Seattle fans, you need to grab the bull by the horns and demand victory. No excuses about being in a small market: defeat is failure!

Of course, this isn't nearly as bad as Vancouver, where losing is justification for tearing your own city apart. At least when I lived in L.A. County and Rodney King's attackers were acquitted, those idiots had a real gripe about their civil liberties and government failing to provide justice.

But the morons up in Vancouver, their team got beat by a superior team. That's all. It's cause to be depressed for a day, or week, or even decades, but to trash your own city ... I'd say it's senseless, but that would be doing an injustice to nonsense, which makes more sense than that.

Granted, my Boston -- and in terms of sports, it will always be my Boston -- has been the most successful city in American sports history over the past decade, but I remember the lean years well: being swept by Oakland twice while I lived a half hour from Oakland Coliseum; the Celtics' future literally dying twice (with Len Bias and Reggie Lewis); the Patriots going 1-15 my senior year of high school, and 2-14 my first year of college; the Bruins winning the President's Trophy only to lose to amazing goaltending by Bill Ranford and a hard-nosed Edmonton Oilers team (much like the Canucks lost to Tim Thomas and the Bruins this year).

From February 2002 to now, though, Boston's seen three Lombardi Trophies, two Commissioner's Trophies, a Larry O'Brien Trophy, and now a Stanley Cup. I'm happy. And that some sore losers -- who are fans of a team full of miscreants and thugs who bite and flop and are generally hated around the league -- are trashing their city over losing to my Boston Bruins only makes the victory sweeter.

And, frankly, Vancouver makes Seattle look like a great sports town by comparison.