Say what?

Via SportsGrid.com

Some fans just don't get it. After the San Francisco 49ers got thumped by the Seahawks in Seattle this past weekend, at least one Niners fan thought that the noise in Seattle gave the home team a distinct advantage. Here's her letter that ran in the Monday edition of the San Francisco Chronicle:

Was anyone else appalled by the unsportsmanlike conduct of the Seattle Seahawks and their fans, juiced on noise, which surely creates as big an advantage over an opponent as any performance enhancing drug and which, to their shame, NFL officials turn the same blind eye they have to concussions and drugs (“Seattle states case loudly, clearly in rout,” Sports, Sept. 16)?

It would be simple to fix. Seahawks players and managers would ask their fans to cease and desist, and the NFL would implement a new rule: The visiting team may stop the game when fan noise is greater than a specified decibel level, and should this rule be violated in more than three games, no home games will be played at the offending field for the rest of the season, including playoff games. Things would quiet down.

At a time when the world seems sour, sports give us a place of joy, community and hope, and to have it spoiled is a bigger loss than it seems on the surface.


Ms. Judy Spellman just doesn't get it. Seattle's fans are notorious for being loud, as they are dubbed "The 12th Man". In fact, this past weekend the crowd set a new world record, verified by Guinness, at 136.6 decibels. That's louder than a jet engine at close range. Well done Seattle.

Can you imagine if a Bears or Vikings fan friend of yours complained about the noise at Lambeau? If that were the case for me, I'd have quite a heyday giving them the business on that one.