On Life, Philosophy, And Seattle Seahawk Quarterbacks

I’m a fairly private person. I really am. I know that might seem like a strange comment from someone who posts his writing on the web for everyone to see, and does so under his real name, but it’s true.

The biggest criticism I get in the email from my readers is that I don’t put enough of myself into my writing. I write about football, I’m analytical, I’m not afraid to go against the grain, but my readers say they don’t feel like they know me. I’m a private person. That’s just the way I am.

Well today, I want to tell you something about myself, about the way I think, about who I really am, even though you might not like what I have to say. Here it is: I believe the power to grey. Of course, I probably need to explain what it is I mean by that.

Too often in sports, politics, life, we try and reduce everything into being black and white. But the real world simply isn’t black and white. Nothing is, and humans seem to forget that much more often then we remember. There is a tremendous power in seeing the infinite amount of grey area that exists between the black and white extremes.

Take the Seahawk’s QB situation. Since the beginning of camp, I’ve become a big supporter of Matt Flynn because I think he’s the best QB on the roster. So that puts me on “team Flynn” right? But that doesn’t mean I think he’s going to be great. I don’t think he’s a franchise QB in the making. I just think he’s better than the other options.

I also think that Tarvaris Jackson is the weakest of the 3 QBs vying for the starting job. But that doesn’t mean he’s “garbage” or “worthless” or any of numbers of other adjectives that I’ve seen used to describe him recently. He’s not a franchise QB, or even a viable starter, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t good enough to be very solid backup. I’d wager that, other than perhaps Kyle Orton and Jason Campbell, Jackson might be the best veteran backup in the NFL right now.

Too often we want to cast aside a player like Jackson. If he’s not good, then he’s crap and we’re better off without him. To me, that doesn’t make sense. Letting Jackson go might be the best thing for the Seahawks this season (letting Wilson get all the backup QB reps to help him develop, or saving the $4 mil of cap space for next season) but that doesn’t make Jackson worthless. Why must so many of us refuse to see that there is a large distance between good and bad, and how many players exist in the middle there.

Too often we seem to force ourselves into two teams on every issue, and only represent the most extreme viewpoints in the debate. I simply fail to see the logic in this, and don’t understand why we cannot accept the good with the bad, and recognize the common ground that we all share.

Can I not be a fan of Flynn’s and still see his weakness? Can I not be against starting Jackson and still see his strengths?

In my experience, no matter that debate, both side are wrong. The truth is always in the middle.