There has been a lot of hoopla in the past couple of days over some oddly weird side issues that have nothing to do with football. All are silly and all speak to something deeper. Well, something except for “Omaha,” which is just fun to repeat.
Silly Distraction: Pleated Khakis
“I’ve thrown (them) away many of times. I threw them out and when he went to the combine, he found a Walmart. They were $8. $8!” Sarah Harbaugh told KMVQ. She did say she backed off this year since her husband, and the team, have been doing so well.
Reasons for Silliness: Genius Does What Genius Does
Harbaugh previously has stated that he wore a pared down wardrobe to simplify the decisions he needs to make daily. He isn’t the first successful person to use this fashion strategy. Albert Einstein (in a mostly exaggerated and highly repeated story) wore the same suit every day. Since him a list of who’s who of successful folks have followed “suit” including: Steve Jobs, Barrack Obama, Steve Zuckerberg, Tom Wolfe, Fran Lebowitz, Michael Kors, and many others.
Silly Distraction Resolution Strategy: Humor and Change
While a lot goes into Harbaugh’s great success, it can’t hurt to avoid distracting fashion decisions, right?
Wrong.
It seems the interest in the retro-pleated khakis has become a distraction. Harbaugh addressed it Wednesday in a news conference. He sported a $23 pair of flat-front Dickies that he picked up on sale. He joked that he changed outfits with a quip “happy wife, happy life.”
Hopeful Resolution: Sponsorship
The 49ers move into a new stadium next year with Levi’s owning the naming rights. Maybe they can cut a sponsorship deal.
Silly Distraction: Ticket Scrooges
On Monday, the SF Gate newspaper ran a story that the Seattle Seahawks were not selling tickets to anyone in California (along with any other state not in the Seahawks region). The story was picked up on the wires and several other news organizations ran the story. Each stated the Seahawks were employing the strategy to block out the traveling 49ers from drowning out the famed 12th Man home crowd in Seattle. The SF Gate stated, “Niner fans are known for travelling.”
A few hours later, the Denver Broncos implemented the same strategy in ticket sales.
Name calling and taunts flooded the message boards and Facebook pages from all sides.
Reasons for Silliness: Bad Journalism in San Fran
The SF Gate is the same newspaper that ran commentary in their Editorial pages complaining of the noise when the Seattle fans broke the world’s record for crowd noise earlier in the season. Comparing the noise to steroid use and calling Seattle fans unsportsmanlike will not deflect the “Forty-Whiners” name calling.
Even sillier, there were only 3,000 tickets available for sale. The other 96% were already sold to season ticket owners. In other words, Niner fans were not the only ones to not get tickets for the big rivalry game. The vast majority of non-season ticket holder fans in Seattle that wanted to go couldn’t get tickets either.
There is also the fact that the Seahawks weren’t the first team to restrict tickets in the playoffs.
Also…. The “well traveling” fans didn’t exactly pick up all the available tickets in Green Bay the previous week.
Silly Distraction Resolution Strategy: Facts and More Facts
ESPN, Associated Press and other news organizations reported the next day that Seattle made the change because ticket brokers and scalpers found a way to bypass their systems the week before.
In addition, the Seahawks actually announced the strategy after their Saturday game before they knew their opponent on Sunday. They didn’t sell tickets to anyone in California or North Carolina or even New York, for that matter.
The Broncos also said they were avoiding ticket brokers and scalpers.
Hopeful Resolution: Better Games
This will just be another brick in the wall of rivalry.
Silly Distraction: Omaha Omaha
Peyton Manning yelled out “Omaha” 44 times during the game against the Chargers last week.
Reasons for Silliness: Because it’s a Funny Word
Many quarterbacks have switched to a specific noun during the snap count. Tom Brady, strangely enough, was one of the first. It was thought to build a cadence to start the snap or signal. It could be to say a play is on or off. It could be an indicator to help the team know which part is a real call and which parts are gibberish.
Anyways… it doesn’t really matter. “Omaha” is a fun word to say and the microphones picked them all up crystal clear. Side note: they even picked up normal clean-cut Manning cussing when his tight end went offsides.
Silly Distraction Resolution Strategy: Humor and Vagueness
Manning answered the question in the most indirect way possible during Wednesday’s press conference. “I know a lot of people ask what ‘Omaha’ means. And it’s … Omaha is a run play, but it could be a pass play or a play-action pass depending on a couple things: when, which way we’re going, the quarter and the jerseys that we’re wearing. So it varies, really, play to play, so, that’s … there’s your answer to that one.”
Hopeful Resolution: Memoir
Someday, Manning will retire and give a long interview to someone who’ll ask the question. Until, then it is just a nice travel reminder for the good folks in Nebraska.
Brian Reddoch is a CraveOnline reporter and rabid fan of all teams Seattle. You can follow him on Twitter @ReddReddoch or “like” CraveOnline Sports on Facebook.
Photo Credit: Getty
