I Saw Hawks

by: Chris Sullivan

Well, I figured I might as well give a bit of a wrap-up of yesterday's day. The wife and I headed out to Tacoma to check out Bobby Engram's softball game. There were a ton of Seahawks (and other NFL players) there including an unplanned appearance by Lofa Tatupu who basically filled in for the no-show Aaron Curry. More on that later.

Then we headed back into Seattle for the Pro Shop partayyy starring all the rookies (less Unger). That was good times too. So, who did I bump into and what were my impressions? I'm glad I asked. I mean you. Asked.

Colin Cole -- okay, so, technically this was yesterday but I held off on reporting because there's not a whole lot to say. Cole was 40 minutes late (boo), but came pushing a stroller with his wife and kids in tow. Extra points for bringing them all there. Cole himself was a mountain of a man and honestly looked like about 95% muscle. I made no efforts to invoke his ire.

Nate Burleson -- the first of the day, my eagle-eyed wife saw Burleson pre-autograph table and he seemed like an awesome guy, gave everyone autographs and took pictures and looked genuinely happy doing so. One guy mentioned that the only jersey he had was Nasty Nate's, which he definitely thought was rad, which was, y'know, rad.

Darryl Tapp -- Seemed like a great guy, we again caught him pre-table as he was arriving (the wife's eyes again). He was in a hurry, but was happy to walk and give autographs, which he did for the three or four of us who noticed him. Couldn't have been nicer. He swung by our section and spoke with a few fans for about 3-5 minutes.

Leonard "The Weave" Weaver -- generous with his time and was very gracious, said nothing bad about the organization when some people were basically trying to get him to. "It's business, I loved it here, I'll love it in Philadelphia, I just love football." He appreciated my "Church Van" reference.

Marcus Trufant -- Got mobbed by fans as he was arriving but was incredibly patient, took photos, signed everything, took more photos when peoples' cameras jammed, et cetera. Appreciative of comments and was in no hurry to get past the fans, despite being called to the field by the dude from KISW. Haha.

Deon Butler -- Not the best softball player, but seemed like an awesome guy. We're at the pro shop signing now, by the way. Butler was chatty and very low-key, and a pretty funny guy. I'm not sure, but I think he might have slipped my wife his number. I presume thats just so we can interview him...

Nick Reed -- didn't say much but was "enjoying Seattle." Looks exactly like his scouting pictures. Exactly. It was kind of creepy, but in a mostly good way. Everyone thought he was Max Unger (who wasn't there).

Mike Teel -- he's just a regular everyday normal guy, and easily would have blended in with the crowd. He was friendly and had one of the most legible signatures, so that was cool.

Devin Moore -- yes, he is little, but he was also very friendly and refused to boldly proclaim that he was going to beat out Justin Forsett (I had to ask). He said that Forsett was a great athlete and we'll see how things go. Nice attitude!

Courtney Greene -- Greene wins the award for nicest signature, but not for nicest guy. He looked grumpy and not very approachable. Probably just a bad day, but he was sort of slumped in the chair.

Aaron Curry -- Well, what can I say? I think it must have just been a bad day for Aaron. Nothing that I've seen from him has been anything but happy and friendly. He showed up late (about an hour) after not showing up at the softball game in the earlier part of the day. When the 60-70 of us got through to get his signature, he didn't seem particularly engaging with fans, wasn't looking at us, talking to us much, and after signing my stuff he said something about Lofa Tatupu's house being huge, while ignoring my wife holding her hat out. Heh. No big deal, like I said, I'm sure there was something else going on yesterday -- these guys do have lives outside of football. It was not impressive though, and actually quite disappointing.

He sure looks like he can play football though!

END