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In this research paper, I am going to take a critical look at the National Football League (NFL) team Seattle Seahawks. In this response, I am going to suggest that the Seahawks rise from being a team generally ignored by the media to one that is an extremely popular team for the media to cover is a pop culture interest. To do so, I will explore how and why the team went from having almost zero national media presence to being a major well-known team that is consistently in the media. Specifically, I will explore how winning a Super Bowl impacted their media relevance, how having controversial players impacted their media relevance, and how having an incredibly successful previous college coach that is also somewhat controversial has helped them gain media relevance.
One of the easiest ways to gain mainstream media attention, cement a team into popular culture, and become a household name in sports is to win games. The media, and perhaps rightfully so, has a tendency to tell media consumers about victories, the teams that are doing well, and players that are beginning to make a name for themselves. We can examine recent players, such as Stephan Curry of the Golden State Warriors in the National Basketball Association and Cam Newton of the Carolina Panthers in the NFL who both were good players but truly did not gain any media relevance until they started to win their basketball and football games, respectfully.
Prior to Russell Wilson, the Seattle Seahawks quarterback, being drafted in the 2012 NFL draft, the Seattle Seahawks were not a very good football team, rarely making the playoffs and having no true NFL stars. However, during the 2013-2014 NFL seasons, the Seattle Seahawks truly gained media relevance due to their winning of the Super Bowl. The teams that often play in the Super Bowl gain large amounts of media attention, and to win one is to cement that team as part of American culture. Peter S. Morris of Santa Monica College states, “football is American culture’s greatest spectacle, the primary sporting focus of homecoming and holiday celebrations and one of the country’s most prominent facades to the world (Morris, 2014).” Of course, Morris is referring to the facts that almost all college homecomings center around a football game, on Thanksgiving many families crowd around a television screen to watch the series of games, and during New Years, there are so many college football games watchers could almost literally watch football 24 hours a day. To win what is arguably the biggest football game of the year certainly places the team at the forefront of media attention and, by default, the American people.
The Seattle Seahawks had a number of relatively controversial players on their roster. Specifically, Marshawn Lynch and Richard Sherman are ones that were controversial and also in the media. Marshawn Lynch was in the media numerous times for a variety of different issues. Perhaps most important, he was under investigate by the Bellevue, Washington police department for allegedly assaulting someone and creating property damage (Legwold, 2015). After winning a Super Bowl, this type of behavior is absolutely something that creates controversy within the media and it is the type of story that people want to know about.
Further, Marshawn Lynch created large amounts of controversy for refusing to speak to the media on numerous occasions. In fact, during the Media Day for the 2014-2015 season Super Bowl, he repeatedly told the media that “I’m here so I won’t get fined” or some very closely related variant. (Legwold, 2015). ESPN further reported that he faced a $500,000 fine for not speaking to the media by the NFL (Legwold, 2015).” Even as the individual collecting the data and critically considering what the data means, even I am somewhat appalled by the fine and find the story incredibly interesting. It is this type of controversy and behavior that made the Seattle Seahawks a household name and gained them media relevance. Adding fuel this fire, his coach, Pete Carroll, whom we will discuss momentarily, supported Lynch in his uniqueness. In all during the season, ESPN reported that Marshawn Lynch was fined $50,000 twice, $20,000 once, and $11,050 a fourth time (Legwold, 2015). While Marshawn Lynch certainly had the money to do so, the entire element of this story is somewhat outrageous.
Marshawn Lynch’s close teammate, Richard Sherman, is another example of a controversial player that created a stir in the media and helped the Seattle Seahawks gain media relevance. However, Richard Sherman is an entirely different type of controversial player that is almost an anomaly for not only for the American public but the media as well.
Richard Sherman quickly became one of the NFL’s top cornerbacks during the season that Seattle Seahawks eventually went on to win the NFL Championship. Prior to this, Sherman was arguably not even close to a household name or someone that the media would concentrate on. However, after having an incredibly play in the NFC Championship against the San Francisco 49ers that ultimately won the game, Sherman had an on-camera moment in which he targets another player while stating that he was absolutely the best cornerback in the league. This moment was passionate at best and arrogant, conceited, and stereotypical at worst and became a media sensation.
For many players, this would have been the end of the discussion – ESPN and other media outlets would have discussed Sherman’s passion for the game, the inherent trash talking of the NFL, and the way the mentality that professional athletes have. However, what makes this incident in particular so controversial is Sherman’s background, intelligence, and how this incident encouraged the media to look at their own racial biases. Vincent Bonsignore of the Los Angeles Daily News stated that this incident and Sherman’s reaction was “raw, unfettered, and heated.” However, he also goes on to state that, “at that moment, Sherman ceased to be the accomplished NFL cornerback and Stanford graduate and became that ‘thug’ from Compton (Bonsignore, 2014).” Sherman was the dreadlocked, black, thug that many people associate with the NFL. However, in interviews Sherman is incredibly intelligent and articulate, and showcases his Stanford education (which took him less than four years to complete) well (Bonsignore, 2014). The media, and perhaps by default some of the American people that follow football, find Sherman to be so controversial because he is so passionate, embodies many of the negative stereotypes that we associate with football players, but is able to speak intelligently to the media, articulate values and what football means to him and teammates with ease. It creates an uneasy dichotomy and these types of stories, too, are what makes the Seattle Seahawks such an interesting media-driven organization.
Finally, the Seattle Seahawks received some media attention and became a household name due to the fact that their coach was a previous coach at a relatively controversial University, the University of Southern California (USC). Pete Carroll was an incredibly successful coach at USC and coached there from 2000 to 2009. During his tenure, he would go on to be the leader of arguably the most dominant college football team in the 2000’s. USC would win two national championships and play for another.
However, in the summer of 2010, the NCAA would issue incredibly harsh sanctions to the University of South Carolina athletic program, which included sanctions on the football team that Pete Carroll coached (Farrar, 2010). Although by this time Pete Carroll had left for the Seattle Seahawks, the fact that the infractions of NCAA policy occurred while Pete Carroll was the coach is a direct reflection upon him. According to the New York Times, the NCAA stated that USC would not be allowed to participate in Bowl Championship games during the 2010 and 2011 college football season, they lost 10 scholarships for each of the following three seasons immediately after the ban but also, and perhaps more importantly, they would have to forfeit any and all victories that Reggie Bush, a player under Pete Carroll, participated in (Zinser, 2010). This included the College Football Championship that USC won during the 2004 season (Zinser, 2010).
The New York Times also states that Pete Carroll was not cited for any individual infractions or issues with following NCAA guidelines (Zinser, 2010). However, the question that many asked afterwards was what was Pete Carroll’s knowledge of what was going on? Unfortunately, head coaches often are aware of everything that happens within their programs. Further, even if they are not aware of things that are going on within their athletic program, what does that suggest about their ability to lead, keep a firm grip on athletic proceedings, and other major happenings within the program (Zinser, 2010).
While Pete Carroll was in the media during this time, immediately following the success of the Seattle Seahawks and gain to nationwide media relevance, he again found himself being questioned about the previous happenings at USC. This type of controversy Americans absolutely love, and this is shown through the media’s continued obsession with this particular story. Ultimately, Pete Carroll has been an incredibly successful coach at the college and professional levels during the last two decades. As a result, it is no wonder that he has helped the Seattle Seahawks gain media relevance.
Ultimately, this topic is appropriate for a pop culture course because sports and the almost cult-like following that some sports teams and individual players get is absolutely part of our popular culture. In fact, as we have shown, American football is an iconic part of our American culture. As a result, this topic is not only interesting, but it helps us understand who we are. It helps us understand how a team can go from almost being irrelevant in the American media landscape to having entire hour-long specials dedicated to understanding the team and what the team represents. This tells us an incredible amount about what we as media consumers and Americans value.
In conclusion, after having examined some of the factors that went into the Seattle Seahawks gaining media relevance, it isn’t truly surprising that they have become a household team that most Americans are familiar with. They are recent Super Bowl champions, have somewhat controversial players such as Marshawn Lynch and Richard Sherman, and have a relatively controversial and extremely successful coach in Pete Carroll. All of these factors ultimately create an environment that is absolutely in line with pop culture interest.
References
Axelrod, Mark. (2001). Popular Culture and the Rituals of American Football. CLCWEb:
Comparative Literature and Culture, 3, 1-9. Retrieved from http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1100&context=clcweb
Blount, Terry. (11 Aug. 2014) Controversy Seems to Find Marshawn Lynch. Retrieved from
http://espn.go.com/blog/seattle-seahawks/post/_/id/7720/controversy-seems-to-find-marshawn-lynch
Bonsignore, Vincent. (29 Jan 2014) Controversy Surrounding Richard Sherman Exposes an
Ugly Truth. Retrieved from: http://www.dailynews.com/sports/20140128/controversy-surrounding-richard-sherman-exposes-an-ugly-truth
Farrar, Doug. (10 June 2010). What Was Pete Carroll’s Part in the USC Scandal? Retrieved
Legwold, Jeff. (28 Jan 2015) Lynch: I’m here so I Won’t Get Fined. Retrieved from
http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/2014/story/_/id/12237417/marshawn-lynch-seattle-seahawks-uses-same-answer-repetition-super-bowl-media-day-here-get-fined
Morris, Peter. S. (Nov 2014). Football in the USA: American Culture and the World’s Game.
Retrieved from: http://homepage.smc.edu/morris_pete/resources/Papers-and-Presentations/footballintheusa.pdf
Zinser, Lynn. (10 June 2010). U.S.C. Sports Receive Harsh Penalties. Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/11/sports/ncaafootball/11usc.html
