Another 49ers fan weighs in on ‘unfair advantage’ of 12th Man’s volume

That couple from San Francisco isn’t the only one complaining about the volume of the 12th man. Listener Chuck in Sequim is joining the chorus calling the noise at CenturyLink an unfair advantage.

Dear Ron and Don,

My name is Chuck, and I live in Sequim. I wrote you guys recently about the Seahawks/Fans noise issue/debate. I’m a 9ers fan first, and a Seahawks fan second. A lot of Seahawks fans are seeing the 9ers fans complaining about the noise issue as – Sour Grapes. I really don’t feel like this is an issues, especially for me, because I consider myself a Seahawks fan/supporter.

I just want to see a fair game on a level playing field. I listenned in on your show yesterday, Wed, with the couple from the Bay Area, etc. They have very real and valid points. I understand that every team has the home-field advantage when they play at home. Yes. However, there are very few stadiums around the NFL where during the entire game the oposing team is not able to call plays from the sidelines into the Offense, and yes, Deffense. Most fans don’t see this as part of the game, but it is. There are not many stadiums in the league where, during the entrie game, the QB is unable to call plays, even shouting in the huddle, much less, audible at the line of scrimage. During an entire game!

Yes, there are fan bases around the league where, during critical times during a game, during important/critical 3rd down plays, the home-team fans get excited. But, what we see at Qwest field is, NOT fans being enthusiastic and excited, and yelling, clapping, i.e., making noise out of excitement for the game. What we see is yelling with the intent to disrupt the game, period. This shows a total lack of class and appreciation for a fair game where skills of a team, strategy, coaching, athletesism are contested. A true contest played with sportsmanship.

If a QB can’t even call plays, it’s not even a game. It’s hamstringing every team that walks onto Qwest field, giving the Seahawks players, coaches, the team, an unfair advantage that no other team in the NFL has. I’ve heard you guys argue the point of… Why don’t other fan bases do the same thing the Seahawk’s fans are doing in Qwest field? I would argue this. The fans probably don’t do that for a couple of reasons. They don’t want to impact the game to the extent that a QB can’t even call a play or an on-field, deffensive QB, e.g., a Safety, can’t call out the deffensive plays, formations shifts, coverages, etc. This is also a very important and critical game.

Most fans, and I would venture to put you (Ron and Don) into this category don’t understand the game on a stategic/technical level. I do. I have played for years. I played youth all the way up through college, even semi-pro where I made the all-american semi-pro team as a Strong Safety at the age of 42. I have coached football for over a decade and have technical experience in the game on both sides of the ball, even with the new spread, read-option systems, coaching and playing. You guys are talking about the game with a limitted amount of knowledge and experience. This is typical of your typical, uneducated, non-football-smarts fan. That’s fine, it’s just the way it is, but, the ignorance in this is coming out in the 12th-man Noise Issue.

In my opinion, the ignorance is coming out with the desire to handcuff visiting teams at quest field with making noise with the intent to disrupt the game, and not having the desire to see a true, level-field contest played with sportsman ship. I am making the following statement from a players perspective. If you were to interview all the Seahawk’s players, and they were open and honest about their true thoughts, and not playing into all of this 12th man thing, and not worried about hurting their fan bases feelings in that they support the team, well, the players would tell you that they did not win on a level playing field against the 9ers. They would tell you that the visiting team didn’t play in a stadium of where real sportsmanship was played. They would tell you that the outcome of the game might have been completely different if the extreme, debilitating noise factor weren’t present. In short, they would tell you that they really didn’t win the game. At least, those players who display true sportsmanship, would feel this way. They wouldn’t tell you that their team’s skill, athletesism, and coaching beat the 9ers.

Your argument of – Why don’t other fan bases employ the same absurd, noise making techniques. With the parity in teams with the salary cap, hardly any team would be able to play it’s real game and win on the road. Fans everywhere, true, knowledgeable fans would be extremely disappointed, and probably sickened like I am, because, every time they showed up to a home game, they would know that the game would be unfair and biased, and not a true game played on an even playing field, in an even contest, without a game-long, unfair advantage. Appreciated a game where there is an obvious, unfair advantage is rediculous. I’m embarassed and ashamed of the laughter and smiles on the faces of Seahawk’s fan, players, and on Pete Carol’s face. It’s all absurd. Pathetic. And you, Ron and Don, are right here in this category.

So, years ago, the NFL had a rule where a team could be penalized if the fans got too loud and the oposing team couldn’t call plays. Why did the NFL do away with that? So that the fans could get excited, and go crazy. Right? But, why? What’s the bottom line here? Why does the NFL do what it does in making rules and making decisions? Why do the board members and comissioners do what they do the majority of the time? MONEY! That’s it! MONEY! The NFL doesn’t care about the sportsmanship of the game. At least they don’t care about it to the extent that they will make decisions that will generate more revenue, even at the expens of the game. The heads up tackling program in youth football? MONEY! Why did has the NFL been implementing rules to promote more and more scoring? Money! Not for the game! Not for the players! For MONEY! It’s a huge money generating business, first and foremost. The law suits with the older players who are having varied and numerous health and brain issues, have been swept under the rug temporarilly, with money and revenue coming first. The average, ignorant fan wants to see games where there are 20 touchdowns in a game. Rapid and often scoring. They grown and get grumpy when there’s a grind it out, defensive game. Why? Ignorance. Bottom line, the NFL could care less about fair play and level playing fields, they care about one thing, and one thing only, the business of the NFL, i.e., how much revenue can they generate. Billions.

This issue isn’t over. And, I think you guys, Ron and Don, and the 12th man, will find that this issue is not exclusive to the 9ers fan base. It’s NFL wide. The 12th man may very well see some sort of rule implemented where there is a decibal meter installed at all NFL stadiums. When levels reach a specified level, play will be stopped, and resumed only when the noise level reaches a level in which teams and coaches can communicate in order to play the game. PLAY THE GAME! Do you understand that statement?! The 9ers couldn’t even play! The Hawks beat a team who couldn’t PLAY against them. Is that even a win? In the books it is. But, to me, and to the real players who play with true sportsmanship, it’s NOT a win. It’s a fraud. The fans in their crazy behavior won that game. Would the Seahawks have been able to win without the unfair noise advantage last Sunday night? We’ll never know. I said this in my last email. The Seahawks are a good team. I think good enough to ride the unfair, home-field, 12th-man noise advantage, and get home-field advantage, along with Qwest-field noise advantage thru the playoffs. Then, when they’re without that, they’ll be right where they’ve always been. Without. Without the true prize. That ring. And, teams that possibly should have been in the Superbowl game, well, those teams won’t be there, because of this idiotic, ignorant, crazed noise. Yelling to handicap the visiting team. It’s really quite laughable. The smiles on the fans faces. The smiles on the players faces. The smiles on the coache’s faces, including Pete Carol’s. No true sportsmanship. It’s a joke. A facade. A fraud. I ask the fans and the Seahawks players and coaches, how good do you really feel about yourself and those kinds of so called, “wins”. I wouldn’t feel good. However, I’m a true sportsman, who wants to play and win based on my skill, knowledge of the game, athletesism, and all on a level, fair, playing field. Apparently, generally speaking, the 12th man wants nothing to do with that sort of sportsmanship and fair play. If I were the decision making entity for visiting teams coming to play at Qwest field, I’d protest and be a no-show until something was done to fix this rediculous problem that is making the game about noise and money instead of what the game is supposed to be about.

Needless to say, we’ll be talking a lot about this today on the Ron and Don Show. And listen for Rachel Belle’s fascinating feature with the architect of CenturyLink Field about what he might have done to help boost the noise.