Seattle, WA
Mediocrity is blah, and that’s what the Seahawks are
Author’s note: This is the fifteenth installment of my weekly column, Barely Relevant.
I say, blah. Blah to all of the hey, the Seattle Seahawks kept up with a 13-2 team, and blah to all of the it’s the first year of a completely new coaching staff pretension. Fine. That’s all fine. Fine and blah. We should have beaten the Vikings. Riq Woolen should have played as promising as he looked in the preseason (and his Pro Bowl rookie year), and DK Metcalf should run the route that’s been drawn up. DK had a pretty good game (3/7 for 57 yards and 1 TD), but for some reason, offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb decided to put the game in his hands when it mattered the most. You don’t do that; all the rest of us have learned. You pass it to JSN.
DK flubbed the route… as he’s done many times before. There’s a great Maya Angelou quote that’s a little weird to insert in this context, but I’m going to do it anyway: “When someone shows you who they are, believe them….” I don’t know if it applies to football, but damn if DK Metcalf, now in his sixth season, hasn’t shown us who he is time and time again.
Some people that I was being harsh but DK Metcalf has ran some lazy routes in crucial situations this year
Ex: 49ers and Vikings game
It’s hard to build trust with your WR1 when you don’t trust where he will be https://t.co/WuQ1NksI44
— Joel Moran (@joelvmoran) December 23, 2024
I’m almost certain DK ran the wrong route. Geno has threatened other bad INTs this game but Metcalf can’t break in with no timeouts to stop the clock.
— Field Gulls (@FieldGulls) December 23, 2024
This isn’t a DK hate post. I really like the guy, but he’s not to be trusted. It’s like one of those relationships where you love someone but have become completely aware that the relationship doesn’t have a future anymore. It’s gonna hurt. It might take some time, and maybe some Fireball once they’re gone, but slip out the back, Jack. Make a new plan, Stan. No need to be coy, Roy. Just listen to me.
But our trust issues extend beyond DK. Who do you trust on the coaching staff, and does it really end at Mike Macdonald? On the offensive side of the ball, we have several first-year NFL coaches. Do they deserve a little time to grow and develop like rookie players do? Like our new head coach does?
Probably. But who cares? The Seahawks are headed for mediocrity again this year, and it all feels so blah. But why? This is the process. The Seahawks went 7-9 under Pete Carroll during his first season (2010) and made it to the playoffs. In Holmgren’s first season as head coach (1999), the Seahawks went 9-7 and made it to the playoffs. For Dennis Erickson’s first season (1995), we went 8-8, and Chuck Knox (1983) took us to 9-7. There’s been worse (Mora), but you get my point.
Mediocrity is basically the name of the game during a head coach’s first season. At least in Seattle. New coaches don’t get hired because a city has a banger team. Do we need to just trust the process?
The Seahawks appear to be headed for a 9-8 season, by my estimation, and whether or not the Rams pick up and continue to have steam determines our playoff fate. That’s right about in line with what everyone thought this season might look like in August, anyhow. But then something funny happened. We had streaks of greatness. Like starting off 3-0. But then we lost three in a row. But then we beat the 49ers on the road and swept Arizona. Jaxon Smith-Njigba became a top-five wide receiver, and on defense, Witherspoon, Leonard Williams, and Julian Love found their stride… and Tariq Woolen misplaced his.
I guess this ping-pong effect – back and forth – is precisely what mediocrity is: win three in a row, lose three in a row, win four in a row, etc. But it still sucks. And I think I know why. It’s because we’re from Seattle. Which, unfortunately, has been the land of professional sports mediocrity for much too long.
Pete Carroll spoiled us. During his tenure, he was the winningest coach in Seahawks history. The Seahawks had a winning record 11 of 14 seasons during his reign (not even including the 2010 playoff win) and our first Lombardi. But the thought of going back to what we once were? It’s too much to bear. Oh boy, were we were mediocre. Just look at how consistently mediocre we were prior to 2010, when Pete Carroll taught us what consistently winning actually looked like.
And it’s not just football. Seattle happens to be the home of the Mariners, the absolute poster children of mediocrity, who have never even participated in a World Series.
Of course, the Seattle SuperSonics won it all in 1979, but they couldn’t quite do it again. But they did return to the big game in 1996 (and once before they won the trophy [1978]). The Sonics made the playoffs a LOT. Except for their last ten years, when they were pretty darn mediocre. And then they weren’t at all anymore.
Mediocrity is a curse. One we’re undeniably and decidedly headed for again this year. There are a lot of reasons why mediocrity sucks, but the biggest one is because we’re from Seattle. And we feel mediocrity a little differently up here.
It stings right now, and I’m pissed. But this is where I have to remind myself that that’s because there were so many surprising moments this season that gave me hope. And to trust the process. This moment in time – week 16 of the 2024 season – is but a blink of an eye. An eye that could still even be watching the Seahawks (mediocre or not) in the playoffs this year. And the lemon squirt in the eye of this one is that we really could’ve won it. Our mediocre butts could have beaten a 12-2 Vikings team if only we could have cleaned up a few stupid mistakes, somehow replaced Riq Woolen AND Tre Brown, and not thrown it to DK when the game was on the line.
Our new coach, Mike Macdonald, he’s a smart guy. There’s no debating that. And smart guys know how to clean that sort of stuff up. Trust the process. This is how Mike Macdonald’s tenure was supposed to begin. As familiar as it all feels, it’s not. It’s new. But still, blah.
Seattle, WA
Kraken Extend Streak In Comeback OT Loss | Seattle Kraken
And while Dunn’s head coach insisted afterwards he doesn’t believe in “measuring stick games” the Kraken measured up fairly well in this one considering they played a pretty poor first period and needed half of the second frame to get any type of offense going against the league’s No. 2 defensive unit.
But they eventually got it going and the salvaged point, as Dunn mentioned, was huge in that it allowed the Kraken to remain in third place in the Pacific Division – just two points behind leaders Vegas and Edmonton – as they now embark on a five-city road trip. They extended their points streak to 10 games in the process, going 8-0-2 that stretch to transform a season hinging on the brink.
Mats Zuccarello got the overtime winner for Minnesota, converting a Kirill Kaprizov pass off a 2-on-1 break after the Kraken had been foiled just moments prior on their own odd-man rush. That foiled an outstanding night for Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer, who’d made several huge stops in both overtime and the third period to keep things tied, as well as prior to that frame to give his team the shot at a comeback.
The Kraken had spent the past week filling opposition nets with pucks but waited until the final 17 minutes to score their first goal of this game. By that point, they’d been trailing 2-0 since a pair of 42-foot wrist shot goals by Ryan Hartman and Brock Faber in the first period silenced the home crowd.
“The first period was awful, and our execution was probably the biggest part of that,” Dunn said. “It’s just tough when you’re chasing the game a little bit to start the game. So, we kind of set ourselves up for the second period to come out and play the right way and I thought as the game went on, we got a lot better.
“And I thought it was a pretty competitive game both ways. A lot of chances both ways.”
Grubauer kept things close from there, stopping 31 of 34 shots on the night to give his team a chance to get back in it.
Adam Larsson then got the Kraken on the board three minutes into the final period with a slap shot goal from the right circle after Dunn had rung one off the post on a prior blast seconds earlier. And the Kraken weren’t done yet.
The Wild ran into penalty trouble not long after and the Kraken capitalized on the power play with Matty Beniers banging home a net front rebound off a Jared McCann shot that lifted the home side into a 2-2 tie and sent the Climate Pledge Arena crowd into a frenzy.
Seattle, WA
Valter Walker vs. Marcin Tybura booked for UFC Seattle
Heavyweights will collide in “Rain City.”
MMAmania.com confirmed with multiple sources today (Thurs., Jan. 8, 2026) that No. 10-ranked Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight Marcin Tybura will take on surging Brazilian prospect Valter Walker at UFC Seattle on Sat., March 28, 2026, inside Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington.
Walker (15-1) stumbled out of the gate in his UFC debut, suffering a loss to Lukasz Brzeski in 2024. Since then, however, “Clean Monster” has completely rewritten the narrative — and the UFC record books.
Walker opened 2025 by submitting Don’Tale Mayes with a heel hook (watch highlights), his second straight victory via the technique. Five months later, he followed it up with another first-round heel hook against Kennedy Nzechukwu (watch highlights), setting a new UFC record for most consecutive heel hook submission wins with three.
But he wasn’t finished.
At UFC 321 in Oct. 2025, Walker once again locked in a first-round heel hook — this time against Louie Sutherland — tying Rousimar Palhares for the most heel hook submissions (four) in UFC history while extending his own record for consecutive heel hook finishes (watch it).
A win in Seattle would almost certainly vault Walker into the Top 10 of the Heavyweight rankings.
Tybura (27-10), meanwhile, will be defending his No. 10 spot when he steps into the cage. The Polish veteran went 1-1 in 2025, handing highly touted U.K. prospect Mick Parkin his first professional loss at UFC London before suffering a quick knockout loss to debuting Ante Delija at UFC Paris (watch highlights), snapping a two-fight win streak.
Now 40 years old, Tybura is 5-3 over his last eight appearances.
Here are some other bouts currently scheduled for UFC Seattle:
Casey O’Neill vs. Gabriella Fernandes
Alexa Grasso vs. Maycee Barber
Nicolle Caliari vs. Carol Fiori
To checkout UFC’s upcoming schedule of events click here.
Seattle, WA
Around 200 protest fatal ICE shooting in front of Seattle’s federal building
SEATTLE, Wash. – There were at least 200 protesters that showed up in Seattle Wednesday night in what speakers called an “emergency protest” in response to the fatal ICE shooting in Minneapolis Wednesday.
“We want justice, we want peace, we want justice, we want peace, we want ICE off our streets, we want ice off our streets…” they chanted.
Seattle protesters outside the Federal Building following a fatal shooting by ICE agents in Minneapolis. (FOX 13 Seattle)
After listening to speakers, protesters went on the march and circled the blocks near the Federal Building in Seattle.
Though the protest was organized on short notice, some protesters say they were compelled to come out Wednesday with urgency because they felt what happened in Minneapolis was a bridge too far.
What they’re saying:
“ICE has gone too far. We’ve felt this, we’ve known this for a long time. There have been people protesting,” said Raleigh Watts, protesting the ICE shooting. “We’ve been hearing the news. Today I came out because when I heard, it was my sign that a line has been crossed that I can’t stand anymore. So, I’ve come to say, ‘No ICE, you’ve gone too far’.”
“A lot of people out here are really, really angry, confused and sad, but I think we have what it takes to fight back,” said Sophia Van Beek, protesting the MN ICE shooting. “I’m certain there are going to be actions.”
Sophia says in order to make a difference, protesters need to create an actionable political program.
Seattle protest on fatal ICE shooting in Minneapolis
Members of law enforcement were in the area and helped to block off the streets during the protest and march. There were no clashes during this protest and it wrapped up at around 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
“I am proud of all the hundreds of people who have turned out tonight at the federal building in Seattle. I’m proud of the people who are in Tacoma that are protesting at the ice detention center and in Minneapolis and in cities across the country. This is not okay for ICE to kill somebody,” said Watts.
What’s next:
Some people at Wednesday’s demonstration said they were planning to organize more protests in the coming weeks.
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The Source: Information in this story came from original FOX 13 Seattle reporting and interviews.
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