Each Sunday, after the battle, one group savors victory, another lives in the bitterness of defeat. The practice and the hard work of the season seem a small price for having won.

Vince Lombardi

Former coach of the

Green Bay Packers

Seattle's trip to the Super Bowl, which was a long time coming, affords us a welcome respite from politics in the midst of a controversial legislative season.

More than 20 years after their last playoff victory, our Seahawks finally will play for the championship of pro football.

This week, as these men in blue fine-tune their game plan for a worthy opponent, they understand well the words of the greatest football coach ever to walk the sidelines.

And we, the fans, take pride in their accomplishment and look forward to Sunday's Super Bowl XL, even as we breathe a deep sigh of relief.

The gods of the sports world, after all, have smiled on Seattle far too infrequently. Perhaps it's been the rainy weather, or maybe just bad luck. Whatever the reason, local pro -- and college -- sports fans have become far better acquainted with the agony of defeat than with the thrill of victory in playoff competition.

After the 1979 Sonics won the NBA championship, no team brought a professional title here until the Seattle Storm won the WNBA crown in 2004.

In the meantime, the Sonics won 63 regular-season games in 1994, only to become the first number-one seed in that sport's playoff history to be ousted by a number eight seed.

This despite signs around town proclaiming, "Not in Our House."

Two years later, the Sonics did make it to the NBA championship, only to run into the juggernaut of Michael Jordan, Scotty Pippen and their Chicago Bulls.

The previous fall, the Mariners electrified the baseball world -- and kept Major League baseball in Seattle -- in one of the most dramatic comebacks ever.

Winning the Divisional Series against the despised New York Yankees turned many in this football town into baseball fans. Yet our 1995 M's were not a reincarnation of the 1969 Miracle Mets.

In 2001, the M's again captured the attention of the baseball world by tying a 95-year-old record with 116 regular-season wins.

But their good fortune soon disappeared as they were beaten badly by the Bronx Bombers in the American League Championship Series.

Soon, the M's were in a free-fall, joining the Seahawks and the Sonics at the lower echelon of the pro sports world.

What was a Seattle fan to do?

My favorite option came from a popular song in the 1950s hit musical, Damn Yankees:

"You've gotta have Heart! All you really need is heart!

"When the odds are sayin' you'll never win, that's when the grin should start!

"You've gotta have hope! Musn't sit around and mope.

"Nuthin' half as bad as it may appear, wait'll next year and hope."

But after back-to-back 90-loss seasons for the M's -- while the Seahawks were establishing a pattern of making it to the playoffs, only to lose in the first round -- even hoping seemed like an effort in futility.

So it came to pass that, as this season began, many of us hoped the Seahawks could win at least a first-round playoff game.

But this is a different team than in years past -- a team with heart, a team that pays the price, a team that is taking Seattle to the Super Bowl at last! Our boys in blue have a good shot at bringing home the Vince Lombardi trophy.

Not long ago, I noted the folly of making long-range political predictions. And the risk is even greater when it comes to sports.

But if the coaching staff devises a strategy to combat the Steelers that's as good as was their plan against the Panthers, they have the players who will make it so -- and make the Seahawks champions of the NFL.

Ralph Nichols' views are his own and do not necessarily represent those of Robinson Newspapers. He can be reached at newsdesk@robinsonnews.com or at 206-388-1857.

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Greg Becker

Greg Becker