Skip to content

Arts

Seahawks March to Super Bowl: Richard Sherman Meets Gen. Sherman

The Hawks have been tearing through other teams as if on their own “March to the Sea”

By Seattle Mag January 12, 2015

seahawkswinsuperbowlxlviii

In this bi-monthly Seattlemag.com column, Knute Berger–who writes regularly for Seattle Magazine and Crosscut.com and is a frequent pundit on KUOW–takes an in-depth look at some of the highly topical and sometimes polarizing issues in our city.

It’s possible to take this comparison too far, but with the Seahawks marching to the NFC Championship game at CenturyLink Field this weekend, I can’t help but find parallels between Richard Sherman and William Tecumseh Sherman.

The Hawks have been tearing through other teams as if on their own “March to the Sea,” and the spokesman for the Legion of Boom has a few of things in common with the famous Union general.
Both Shermans have often been in trouble with the press, saying things that caused some to suggest they were crazy. You’ll remember that Richard Sherman’s outburst last season to a sideline reporter after defeating the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship caused commentators to question his stability. Buzzfeed referred to it as his “insane post-game interview.” Gen. Sherman had a breakdown during the war that caused the Northern press to declare him “insane.” Neither was nuts, and went on to 1) win a Super Bowl and 2) win the Civil War.
Both began their careers in the Bay Area—Richard played college ball for Stanford University and W.T. Sherman’s first major assignment was to keep civic order in San Francisco during the Gold Rush. Both were comfortable as good field commanders who were also capable of carrying out the wishes of their respective bosses, Pete Carroll and Gen. U. S. Grant.
But the thing that really stands out is their style of combat. The Seahawks play hard—very hard. And their purpose is not only to win with skill, but to break the will of their opponents. After last Saturday’s victory over the Carolina Panthers (and let’s remember also that almost exactly 150 years ago, March of 1865, Gen. Sherman successfully invaded North Carolina), Richard Sherman described the incredible play of his Legion of Boom compatriot Kam Chancellor: “Kam Chancellor damages people’s souls.” Richard Sherman and the Seahawks set out to sap their enemy’s morale.
That is the same strategy Gen. Sherman employed on his famous romp through the South, which was designed to do mostly physical damage, not take lives. But it was also a psychological operation. As one of Gen. Sherman’s subordinates described it, the purpose of their march through Georgia was to “produce among the people of Georgia a thorough conviction of the personal misery which attends war, and the utter helplessness and inability of their ‘rulers’ to protect them….”
Substitute “the people of Green Bay,” for Georgia, “game” for “war,” and “coaches” for “rulers,” and you have insight into the Seahawks game plan for the big game this Sunday.

 

Follow Us

Seattle’s Big Holiday Arts Guide

Seattle’s Big Holiday Arts Guide

A full lineup of seasonal performances across local theaters and venues.

In the words of William Shakespeare, “All’s well that ends well.”  Local theater and arts organizations are hoping for exactly that. Holiday productions often account for as much as half of their annual ticket sales. A 2018 Dance/USA survey found that The Nutcracker alone represented 48% of yearly revenue for many companies producing the Tchaikovsky…

Chris S. Nishiwaki

Outside The Frame

Outside The Frame

In their first solo museum exhibition in Seattle, artist Camille Trautman uses photography to reclaim history, narrative, and self-expression.

You have probably seen Camille Trautman’s work without even realizing it. A huge photograph—20 feet wide—is currently hanging across the exterior of the Frye Art Museum, visible to passersby driving along Boren Avenue. The image is of a wooded landscape in black and white. Its edges are vacuous, with trees swallowed by darkness, but the…

Amanda Manitach

Holiday Hunt in Pioneer Square

Holiday Hunt in Pioneer Square

A daily ornament drop turns December into a neighborhood-wide scavenger hunt.

The holidays tend to bring out the kid in all of us. And if opening presents and eating too many treats weren’t enough, there’s also a scavenger hunt in Seattle’s oldest neighborhood. Pioneer Square’s Holiday Ornament Scavenger Hunt has returned for its third year. Twenty-five handblown glass ornaments—all made at Glasshouse Studio—are hidden across 25…

Sarah Stackhouse

Chit-Chat Kids

Chit-Chat Kids

Phone a friend.

Twenty years ago, before everyone walked around with a device in their pocket, kids used to call each other on a landline—often tethered to the kitchen in their home. It was a simpler time, when parents didn’t have to worry (nearly as much) about a potential predator contacting their child. Nowadays, things are different, which…

Seattle Mag