Seattle and San Francisco are two of the finest sports towns in the nation, but who has it better: the Emerald City or the Bay? Reporter Dylan Snyder and Sports Editor Quin Nelson weigh in.
Dylan: One thing matters in professional sports: winning. Anyone who says otherwise can go take their “it’s just a game” attitude and get out. In the wise words of the late great Al Davis, “Just win, baby.”
That is where the first aspect of my case for the Bay Area being greater than Seattle lies. Major sports championships: Bay Area: 14, Seattle: 1. Even if I am restricted just to San Francisco, we end up with a 7:1 ratio in trophies.
Quin: The numbers don’t lie; the Bay Area has more trophies than Seattle. But Seattle has something intangible, hope, which is why they are the better sports town right now. Do people in the Bay Area understand right now how fun it is to watch the Seahawks? Probably not, because they’re too busy watching their 49ers underperform. While Colin Kaepernick is busy sinking into mediocrity, Russell Wilson is making clutch plays and preparing his 2032 presidential campaign (be honest, you’d totally vote for him).
Dylan: Why wouldn’t we understand how annoying it is to watch a team underperform? We take advice from you guys watching the Mariners every single season. In addition to trophies, San Francisco teams have produced arguably two of the greatest athletes in the history of their sports. Jerry Rice is still widely regarded as the greatest receiver of all time. The second is Barry Bonds, the home run king of Major League Baseball. Granted the steroid era clouds that record, but every slugger of the era was doing it, and he came out on top.
Quin: While I’m sure it’s fun for Bay Area fans to look back on the successes of past decades, Barry Bonds and Jerry Rice aren’t strapping on their cleats any time soon. It’s also not great to brag about Bonds, the poster boy for baseball’s most shameful era. But again, those guys are in the past. Sports is a culture with a short attention span and an eager eye toward the future. Seattle is the present and the future. We have the Seahawks with a dominant team and amazing fan base, and we have the Seattle Sounders.
Laugh all you want about me hyping a Major League Soccer team, but we’ll see who’s laughing as the MLS becomes a bigger deal with the Sounders leading the pack. Soccer is growing in popularity, the MLS is attracting better talent and as much as ‘Merican traditionalists may complain, soccer will soon be firmly entrenched as one of our nation’s major sports. The Sounders have a strong team, a committed front office and one of the best fan bases in the world, let alone the MLS. We are the center of the movement elevating soccer in America.
Dylan: It would be a lot more exciting for the Sounders if they actually performed up to potential. You harped on the 49ers for their lackluster season, which is still in position for the playoffs by the way, but are ignoring the Sounders’ ineptitude to close a season. The Sounders can’t even get past the Portland Timbers to win an MLS title. All that media attention got put on Clint Dempsey who did not actually do that much.
Also, the 49ers haven’t gotten a reputation as cheaters around the league. Seahawks cornerback Brandon Browner has been suspended again –– this time for a year. The Seahawks are young and talented, but also lead the league in performance-enhancing drug suspension over the last three seasons. I also haven’t even mentioned that the Giants have won two World Series in the last four seasons, in terms of recent success.
Quin: OK fine, you’ve got us with baseball. With the Mariners in such a sorry state, I just pretend professional baseball doesn’t exist. But I think you miss the point with the Sounders. While they have yet to win as they should, they are having an immeasurable impact on American soccer in showing how an MLS franchise can be a true major sports team. And yes, it’s a little frustrating that the Seahawks have some drug issues, but at least they haven’t reached Barry Bonds proportions… See what I did there?
