“Windows” in sports is a concept that has gained more popularity in recent years. I’ll never forget “Sopranos” actor Joe Gannascoli sitting down with Paulie and me at the Super Bowl Radio Row in January of 2013, days after the 49ers lost the NFC Championship in Seattle.
“Window closin’?” he said to us about the Jim Harbaugh/Colin Kaepernick 49ers, his thick Brooklyn accent marking the words.
Years zoom by. Now, Gannascoli can swing by a Seattle sports radio show and utter the same two words about their NFL franchise:
“Window closin’?”
And you don’t often hear Brooklyn accents at Seahawks games.
Whether because of age (yes), injury (yes), salary cap space (yes), desire for change (yes) or a potent combination of all the factors that go into a sports team’s window for a championship closing, the Seahawks this week trading defensive lineman Michael Bennett to the Eagles signaled what is likely the start of a cycle turning.
Window closing in Seattle. Window opened already in LA. And window currently opening in San Francisco. Or Santa Clara. Whichever you prefer.
The Legion of Boom may soon be the Legion of Fall-Down-Go-Boom.
Cornerback Richard Sherman, the mouth that roared, reportedly may be released in days. A rumor is floating that All-Everything safety Earl Thomas may be traded. Malcolm Smith, a linebacker from the Super Bowl team of 2012, is already a 49er. Cliff Avril, one of the team’s stalwart defensive linemen, said: “I didn’t think it was going to be this dramatic.”
They had a nice run. Pete Carroll cranked up the tunes, chewed his gum with annoying ferocity and led Seattle to double-digit wins every year from 2012-2016. Last year, they won nine games, missed the playoffs and general manager John Schneider said they felt like they won two games. That’s how swiftly the NFL scythe cuts.
(And why Tom Brady and Bill Belichick deserve the Gregg Popovich Lifetime Achievement Award for insane sustained glory.)
What do they have to show for it? A Super Bowl championship, a 43-8 dismissal of Peyton Manning’s Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII, otherwise known as the Super Bowl that officially burnt us all on the Roman numerals. As much as it pained 49ers fans, it was a deserved bit of glory for a very good sports town, and the city’s first major pro sports title since the old Lenny Wilkens/Gus Williams/Downtown Freddy Brown Sonics won the NBA title in 1979.
But the window will forever have a crack from the missed chance at repeat glory, and a chance to slay the 21st century deities that are the New England Patriots. Malcolm Butler interception, anyone? Marshawn Lynch not getting the ball, anyone? Patriots 28, Seahawks 24, anyone?
They fell short of the Super Bowl in 2015 and 2016, missed this year and now are calling in the window replacement guy from the yellow pages.
I write this as part ode, part “carpe diem” life lesson and part shout out to Jimmy Garoppolo and Kyle Shanahan: You’re next, guys. Go crack open that window. Let the fresh air of new winning in.
And keep Joe Gannascoli far from the microphone in the meantime.