Seahawks Insider - On meetings and eatings

Thursday, March 29th, 2007

Posted by Mike Sando @ 12:03:22 pm

03 29 2007 Committees.jpg The NFL owners meetings adjourned yesterday. The daily schedules were packed, but I did manage to sneak out for Mexican food at the Tee Pee restaurant (menu) in Phoenix. I'll leave the detailed reviews to our own expert, Ed Murrieta, who actually knows what he's eating about. Suffice to say it was a treat.

The league holds its meetings at swank hotels where $15 sandwiches are the norm. Three of us ate full meals at the Tee Pee for $30, easily the most enjoyable meal of the week.

On to the business at hand: One of the themes of these meetings, from a Seattle perspective, was the Seahawks' increasing involvement on various committees, subcommittees and working groups. The chart at right shows how many of these panels each team is represented on (not all panels are created equally, but this gives a snapshot of each team's engagement). A couple years ago, Seattle was represented on only one (competition commmittee).

Categories: NFL Meetings • 25 comments

COMMENTS:

Comment by dover5005 @ 12:08 - Thursday, March 29th, 2007

looks like the better teams have more reps and the bad teams have fewer reps

chargers and cards would need to flop

why do teams dedcide to have reps or not have reps

Comment by Mike Sando @ 12:29 - Thursday, March 29th, 2007

http://blogs.thenewstribune.com/seahawks/

Committees are where much of the behind-the-scenes work gets done. Teams engage as they see fit. Some teams might have more qualified people than others. Some might have better connections. Some might be more aggressive in pursuing spots. The Raiders' reputation as a maverick organization seems to line up with the chart, etc.

Comment by skrati @ 12:58 - Thursday, March 29th, 2007

The Cards part surprised me as well, mostly because the Bidwells have never seemed like the kind of ownership that has contributed alot to the league.

Comment by skrati @ 13:02 - Thursday, March 29th, 2007

Another thing - Mike, your note about the recent history of the Hawks only being on one committee reinforces the prevailing sentiment that Whitsett was definitely responsible for a lot of the bad in the Seahawks organization, it's rep with players and around the league.

Other than DJack, who's chief complaint is with respect to an alleged Whitsett "deal", everything from the Seahawks seems to be exuding class and competence. Good to see that they are leveraging that by being more active on the committees.

Comment by PapaHawk @ 13:04 - Thursday, March 29th, 2007

Funny how two of the most heavy handed owners had the least representation at the meetings. Perhaps only the owners egos would fit into the plane to get down to Arizona. Can you imagine "the Daniel" and Al Davis in the same room? Both those guys are pretty classic. I'd love to meet each of them. But from afar they are portayed as very heavy handed and probably overly involved in their football operations.

Who were the Seahawks 7? Obviously Leiwicke, Holmgren, Ruskell...who else?

Comment by vitalogist @ 13:12 - Thursday, March 29th, 2007

nice selection there on the teepee menu. only one question - why would anyone order the "small pitcher" of beer? kinda seems like there really only needs to be one option there...

Comment by bjr26 @ 13:55 - Thursday, March 29th, 2007

This is interesting stuff. Some graduate student somewhere could write an interesting paper examining the correlation between committee membership with overall success of the franchise -- and if committe is a "lagging" or "leading" indicator of future success.

Comment by lemonverbena @ 14:10 - Thursday, March 29th, 2007

Sando's beloved Raiders sit on the "Pending Litigation" and "Bitter Senility" committees.

Comment by jibo1 @ 14:16 - Thursday, March 29th, 2007

How will the committee work help win games?

Comment by PapaHawk @ 14:39 - Thursday, March 29th, 2007

I think teams that tend to work more towards "the greater good" tend to also work more on their own teams towards their greater success. Generally in business, those who are more involved in affairs outside their personal scope tend to be more well-rounded and successful. Not always the case of course, but I have noticed that seems to be a trend.

I believe we refer to the other folks as-- hermits.

Its kind of like a theory- you must give before you can get.

Comment by Southendzone @ 14:49 - Thursday, March 29th, 2007

Looks like they scanned a menu that had a grease stain up at the top of it. It doesn't get any more authentic than that.

Comment by TOUCHmeDOWNthere @ 14:50 - Thursday, March 29th, 2007

Papahawk, could that be why the SB was rigged against us... we haven't payed our due to the league in order to be crowned champions....

OK, sorry guys, enough with that garbage.

However jibo, let say that a certain team is having trouble getting past a conference rival and into the SB due in some effect to how little pass interference had been called in their playoff games. If said team is on the Competition Committee and garners enough backing to make PI much easier to be called than before, wouldn't that in turn help a team win a game?

Honestly it's probably not true (either statement) but none of us really know...

Comment by TOUCHmeDOWNthere @ 14:52 - Thursday, March 29th, 2007

ya'know the place must be good... Bush's photo is on their website as having visited there. If anyone knows good mexican food it's Bush

Comment by IDHawkman @ 14:57 - Thursday, March 29th, 2007

I think the teams that "CARE" about their teams, the league and the sport are reflected in the participation of the committees. In other words, if you don't care about the team (look at the Raiders for instance, Al won't spend any money on a coach, no money on players, etc) how can you possibly care about he league, the sport or anything else. Some owners are out to milk as much out of the system as possible. I think Snyder fits this mold to a T.

Comment by Ruskell_Guy @ 15:20 - Thursday, March 29th, 2007

If your getting Mexican food in Arizona the Salty Senorita is the spot... or so Im told.

Comment by rmayer121 @ 15:26 - Thursday, March 29th, 2007

Ok so something completely unrelated...when does the new Hawks schedule come out?

Comment by bjr26 @ 15:55 - Thursday, March 29th, 2007

Or it may be correlation and have little to do with direct causation. Here's an analogy: The "broken windows" theory of crime says that more crimes will be committed in neighborhoods with broken windows because the windows indicate a neighborhood that no one cares about (hence criminals are more likely to succeed in their crimes). The crime isn't directly "caused" by the broken windows, but it correlates with it -- and fixing the windows can lower crime rates.

Perhaps NFL committee membership works in the reverse direction. Teams that participate actively in the NFL signal to their employees that they care about the NFL community, thus elevating [something, not sure what -- sportsmanship? Team loyalty? Reduced crime by team members?]

Just a theory, but one that seems borne out in part by the distribution list posted by Sando.

Comment by rramstad @ 16:15 - Thursday, March 29th, 2007

Ok so something completely unrelated...when does the new Hawks schedule come out?

The date I've heard is April 5th, and that's NFL wide... the complete schedule for all 32 teams should be out then.

Comment by Seahawksfan57 @ 16:19 - Thursday, March 29th, 2007

PapaHawk-

Paul Allen is on one too here is Mike's earlier column it has a pretty indepth answer to your question. Hope it helps.

http://www.thenewstribune.com/sports/seahawks/story/6430496p-5730757c.html

Comment by snydro22 @ 19:01 - Thursday, March 29th, 2007

Wow, Mike.. Congratulations on eating. Tonight I had tater-tots and a cheeseburger, courtesy of my wife.

Another Sando exclusive.. Forget the draft or free-agency, tonight Mikey had an enchilada.. I hear it was a treat.

Comment by Hero @ 19:40 - Thursday, March 29th, 2007

Mike did you try the Pink Taco down there?

Ooops...I meant Pink Taco Restaurants.

:D

Comment by RatManHawk @ 20:06 - Thursday, March 29th, 2007

syndro is a smart ass again wow that is a shock.

Comment by thohul @ 21:29 - Thursday, March 29th, 2007

SNYDRO - Dude, get a life, quit giving Larry trouble on the M's blog, the season hasn't even started and there are 4 posts. And one is from you giving Larry shiite talk about not updated his blog as much as Mike "The Standard" Sando. Obviously the Seahawks blog has set standards across the NFL that beat writers are hard pressed to keep up with. You then come over to 'The Standard's" blog and spout off about your dinner, WHO CARES, save it buddy, it is not adding anything to the overall atmosphere and information give/take that is why the MAJORITY of people are on here. Now, when the Mariners are winning and interest is peaking, then give Larry a chance, he answered your question and you didn't even give him a shout out or a "Thanks", you should be ashamed of yourself...

Comment by DukieO @ 21:29 - Thursday, March 29th, 2007

or he's just an idiot

Comment by snydro22 @ 23:04 - Thursday, March 29th, 2007

Wow, it was a joke.. I think Sando knows the difference between a light-hearted jab and an attack.

He can stick up for himself if need be..

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Seahawks Insider

Frank Hughes took over the Seahawks beat and Seahawks Insider blog in July of 2007. Hughes covered the Sonics for The News Tribune from 1997-2007. Frank also contributes to ESPN.com, KJR-AM radio and Pro Sports Exchange. In 2005, Frank co-authored "Slick Watts's Tales from the Seattle SuperSonics." Frank lives in Seattle with his wife, two sons and yellow lab.

News Tribune columnist Dave Boling and sports reporters Eric D. Williams, Ryan Divish and Darrin Beene also contribute to the Seahawks Insider blog.