Editorials / Opinion

Seattle Seahawks fans cheer during an NFL football game against the Tennessee Titans, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2013, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Scott Eklund)

Fans support teams that support their fans

I just read the guest opinion “Are bandwagon fans for real?” [opinion, Oct. 15]. I think the question is: Is this author for real?

She says sports fans should support our teams and pack the stadiums through good times and bad, that there’s no excuse for not attending games even when they’re having losing seasons and haven’t gone to the playoffs for years. This pom-pom support isn’t reality.

Fans pay a hefty price to go to games, park, buy tickets and pay for food. We support exorbitant salaries even when players don’t earn them, we’re charged ungodly prices for food and drink — that the teams are probably charged less than wholesale prices to buy — and the prices go up every year, whether teams win or lose.

One thing about sports fans everywhere, they will support their teams as long as the teams support their fans. When the teams stop supporting their fans, we vote with our feet. When we’re charged high prices for inferior products, we’re not going to pay. We’re not going to pack the stadium to watch a team with a losing record eight of the last 10 years. You can call it bandwagon fans; I suggest it’s really ownership taking advantage of their fans.

Fred Riler, Issaquah

Government shutdown more than a game

John Ariel Murphy makes a clever, but flawed play to draw an analogy between the Seahawks’ loss to the Colts and the Affordable Care Act mis-legislation. [“By same logic, overturn Seahawks’ loss to Colts,” opinion, Oct. 10].

Football is a game. Our freedoms and liberties are for real. You know what you have when an NFL game ends. The NFL’s bureaucrats don’t continue to twist and turn the results and rules after the end of the game. The fans in the bleacher seats aren’t penalized with a tax after the game. And the luxury-box fans don’t get a reprieve.

John Peeples, Seattle

Violence is unacceptable

I am writing in regard to the Seattle Police Department’s decision to send undercover officers dressed as 49er fans to CenturyLink Field. [“Undercover fans on duty,” page one, Sept. 13.]

If you and I board a city bus, and I decide for my own reasons to approach you aggressively and threaten you with bodily harm, I have committed a crime. This reality does not change because I have purchased a ticket to the Seahawks game, or any other sporting venue.

There is no social contract, and definitely no legal one which excuses this behavior. Yet on a local radio station which broadcasts the Seahawks games, I listened to a caller who identified himself as a season ticket holder. He claimed that his financial investment in the Seahawks gave him the right to make any visiting fan from another team feel physically afraid if they chose to wear their team colors into our stadium.

More disturbing than this idiot’s rationale was the host’s response: “I got no problem with that.”

How much lower are we going to drop the bar? When does the grotesque spectacle of Roman gladiators become a reality we saw coming and decided to ignore?

David Arntuffus, Shoreline

Sent police downtown

Greg Skahill 25, kept his ticket to the 2012 Green Bay Packers versus Seattle Seahawks game at CenturyLink Field where he was knocked unconcious. Police are going undercover to try to keep order at the stadium this year. [Erika Schultz, The Seattle Times.]

What’s up with Seattle Police Department (SPD) officers playing dress-up to attend Seahawks games for free? [“Undercover fans on duty,” page one, Sept. 13.]

I don’t remember there being a problem with fans in losing years. Are they lining up to get a security gig dressing up as opposing fans at the Mariner’s games too?

Weren’t the stadiums supposed to bring in more jobs to the area instead of using up SPD budgets to run? If you need increased security for a paid venue, then use the funds from those high-priced tickets to employ some able-bodied Seattleites to work stadium security.

The SPD can play “secret agent man” downtown, buying drugs on Third and Pike and arresting the drug dealers. I expect that in the time it takes Russell Wilson and his crew to defeat an opponent, the SPD could make a dozen arrests and seriously decrease the crime in the downtown area.

This is what we pay them for, and they can dress up however they want if they just get the job done.

Melissa Hyatt, Seattle

Seahawks: just say no

Regarding the possibility of Michael Vick coming to the Seahawks ["Most Seahawks mum on Vick," seattletimes.com, Sports, May 21] –is Seattle really prepared to trade moral values and integrity for a quarterback who was tried and convicted of committing unconscionable and despicable acts against dogs? The Atlanta Falcons said “no way!”

Those who say the man did his time and deserves a second chance are forfeiting Seattle’s respect in the NFL, AFL and the nation for the prospect of a winning season. The Seahawks will not only lose many supporters but bring shame to this beautiful city. This is a serious situation and should not be taken lightly.

– Becky McEnerney, Kingston