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Palladino: The Seahawks Don't Like NYC? FUHGEDDABOUDIT!

By Ernie Palladino
» More Ernie Palladino Columns

Hey, you, with the Seahawks sweats! Whaddya mean taking shots at the Big Apple?

You'd think these guys had something better to do -- like maybe play a Super Bowl -- than come to Prudential Center for Tuesday's Media Day crush job and complain about good old New York City.

Maybe a few things have changed since Bill DeBlasio took over the day-to-day operation for Mike Bloomberg a few weeks ago, but jeez! Get real, you guys. You're about to play a game in the shadow of the greatest skyline in the world, and you're complaining about traffic and pedestrians in Manhattan?

That's how running back Michael Robinson and wide receiver Doug Baldwin depicted the Jets' and Giants' fair hometown. And while we're at it, let's not have any of that New Jersey home stuff. The teams just play in that great big compromise of a stadium out there in the former swamp. The name, the designation that enables those teams and anyone else connected to it to have a national and worldwide reach, is New York. You can go from Exit 1 of the New Jersey Turnpike to the George Washington Bridge, and all you'll be doing is traveling northward in New York's poor relation.

"I heard New Yorkers are rude," linebacker Bobby Wagner said.

Yeah? Up yours, Wagner! How's that for rude?

It's just hard to believe that a bunch of pro athletes from another part of the country would come here with such disrespectful attitudes. Then again, maybe it's all part of the culture there. The Seahawks already carry chips on their shoulders. Richard Sherman told everybody how he feels about 49ers receiver Michael Crabtree when he tapped that end-zone throw to end the championship game. We knew going in that Pete Carroll is capable of strong dislike.

Marshawn Lynch hates the press, and proved it with his "now you see him, now you don't, now you do" act at Media Day.

Besides their runaway emotions, they get to play in a city that sees approximately 200 days of rain per year. A city so depressing that it has one of the highest suicide rates in the United States.

You pack that much into the emotional ditty bag and you're bound to get a bit crusty.

But to go as far as these guys -- tight end Zach Miller said his teammates won't even pronounce the sacred syllables "New-York" -- well, that just kind of makes people around here want to root hard for the Broncos.

That's not a hard thing to do. Denver is a nice town. Very clean. And the Broncos have Peyton Manning, a quarterback who knows how to command an audience without going ultra-ballistic on national TV.

They're classy. Even when running back and New Jersey native Knowshon Moreno went off the rails a bit in proclaiming the Jets and Giants as Jersey's teams, cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie brought that train right back by invoking the euphoria of New Year's Eve in New York. And just so there's no misunderstanding, he said he'll be partying hearty in one of Manhattan's many nightspots after his team wins the Lombardi Trophy.

Somehow, he forgot to mention that cultural hub called Newark.

Or did he?

Maybe the Seahawks are just a little nervous about having to fly all the way across the country to have Manning and his fleet of receivers beat their soggy brains in on football's grandest stage. Can't blame them, really. Seattle put together a nice all-around team this year. But the Broncos, fleet on offense, and plenty good enough on defense, have already outclassed them off the field.

And you watch, they'll do the same thing to Seattle inside MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Then, the Seahawks will have earned the bad taste they have for all things New York.

Until then, Seattle, fuhgeddaboudit!

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