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| The Greatest Place on Earth, © Jonathan Dalar |
So when the news broke that left guard Steve Hutchinson would be visiting the Seahawks, I naturally assumed the Mayans were right about this whole "world is ending in 2012" thing. The writer in me took over, however, and the first thing I did was start to think about plot twists in a story. Well, no. Technically that was the second thing I did. I first checked the temperature in Hell. Astonishingly, snow was not in the forecast.
For those of you who are not following, I'll bring you up to speed with a little back story necessary to understand why this would be so improbable. Actually the back story is the story. The visit is simply the climax at the end.
Hutch is an absolute beast, a high-caliber player that tremendously impacts the success of a team. He's been to the Pro Bowl seven times, four of them with the Seahawks. They picked him with the 17th pick in the 2001 draft, and he quickly became a cog in one of the best offensive lines we've seen in the NFL. Between 2001 and 2006, he played beside Walter Jones, forming if not the best offensive line tandem in the game, certainly one of a select few great ones. He was tremendously valuable to the Seahawks, and a big part of their trip to Super Bowl XL* after the 2005 season. Ah, things were going well!
But then things went sour, and they did so quickly. In 2006, Hutch was scheduled to become a free agent. The Seahawks front office, then led by a somewhat discordant team of head coach Mike Holmgren and president and general manager Tim Ruskell, placed the Transition Tag on Hutch instead of the safer Franchise Tag. The move saved the team $500,000.00, but cost them the ability to secure his services for another year while they worked out a long-term contract.
The Minnesota Vikings were quick to take advantage of that situation, and offered him a huge poison pill-laden contract, at the time an unprecedented amount of money for his position. The poison pill was two-fold: first, the contract stipulated he had to be the highest paid lineman on the team (on the Vikings he would be; on the Seahawks, Walter Jones deservedly earned more), and second, he could play no more than a half a dozen games in Washington State (the Seahawks play eight home games a year). If either of these provisions were not followed, the entire $49 million contract was guaranteed. Of course, that made the contract impossible for the Seahawks to match. They took it to arbitration, but lost, and Hutch became a Viking.
It was a divorce straight from the script of The War of the Roses. Hutch, frustrated with the Seahawks' dysfunctional front office, had very little nice to say about the split. Seahawks fans everywhere took affront. Hutch instantly became one of Seahawks fans' most hated players in the game. He was branded a traitor, and much worse. "It was all about the money!" "What a greedy, selfish bastard!" "Huck Futch!" The insults came hot and heavy, and sentiment regarding Hutch didn't really change, even as the years passed and memories faded. His money-grabbing move crippled the Seahawks' front line, triggering the team's sharp downward spiral just a season away from the Super Bowl. He took something away from us. Seahawks fans had every right to be pissed.
Or did we? Hindsight is 20/20, so they say, but we don't have the luxury of hindsight when we're in the middle of a story. We read it as it plays out, and react accordingly. But what we see isn't necessarily all that's going on behind the scenes, and it's only at the end that we start to figure out what's really going on. This has never been more true than with this story.
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| Self, © beholder via Flikr |
We fans were still quite enamored at the time with Tim Ruskell. He'd come to the team at the beginning of the 2005 season, and a few key moves that year were what propelled them to their best season yet and a trip to the big dance. It appeared he was the mad genius, the final missing cog that brought the team to glory from a rather dismal and emotionally draining past. "In Ruskell we trust" became many fans' byline, almost overnight.
In the years since, that façade has crumbled away, as decisions made then did the exact opposite of what we expected. The team plodded to back-to-back horrible seasons, mired as ineffective moves came back to haunt it. We've come to understand that there was far more dysfunction and discord in the front office than we realized. Ruskell, no longer the hero, was now judged by his track record, and it wasn't a pretty record at all. The decision to assign the Transition Tag to Hutchinson is viewed by many as his worst, the fatal blow that ripped the team from playoff contention and mired them once again in mediocrity.
Since those dark days, the team has had an entire reboot. An entire new front office was installed, and the team no longer has a single player from that magical 2005 season left. Not one. At least not until Steve Hutchinson re-signs. It's definitely not your daddy's "Same Old Seahawks".
Re-signing Hutchinson may be just what the team needs. He's older, but he's still a great player, and would make an outstanding mentor to the younger linemen on the team. As an emotionally involved fan, I'm split. I still vividly feel those feelings of betrayal and letdown when he scorned us for better pastures. It still hurts. But I also realize he'd be good for the team. This is not the same Seahawks team he left, and there's no reason to assign correlation to the old front office. Business is business in the NFL, and this is no different.
So how does this story apply to the concept of deus ex machina? Simple: it's the perfect example of how to write a story and avoid having to use it. Thinking your plot through a little deeper allows you as a writer the ability to create wild, unexpected plot twists, without having to sideswipe your readers with something out of the blue, something that only serves to shove your plot in the direction you want it to go, but can't get your characters' actions to get it there.
So what if that bad guy wasn't really that bad a guy after all? What if actions earlier were done for completely different reasons and motivations than were assumed? Suddenly the dynamics of your plot shifts naturally, without the need for a character epiphany, or sudden change of heart, or mandate from an outside force. In Hutch's case, he isn't having an unexpected change of heart. He's not repenting, coming back to a team he spurned before. He's operating exactly the same way he always has. He's staying in character, making a move that's aligned in his best interests. This new front office is looking for a capable, talented guard, and he could well be the man for the job. It makes perfect sense now, even if such an ending would have been viewed as completely absurd halfway through the story.
I don't know about other Seahawks fans, but I think I'd be willing to root for him again in blue and green. The unlikely story will have come full circle. What was once thought impossible is now possible, because things weren't quite as we once thought they were. It's not exactly ironic, but it is about as unexpected a plot twist as one can imagine.
And is it just me, or is it poetic justice that it's all happening on the Ides of March?
Update: So we don't get our happy ending. He's accepted a three-year contract with the Tennessee Titans, reuniting him with former teammate Matthew Hasselbeck, at least for now. Still, the sentiment stands. And of course, your story is your own. You can write the ending any damn way you please.
To establish my Seahawk fan status: I don't have a closet full of jerseys, but I do have the Seahawks logos tattooed all the way across my back, and a blue raptor on each shoulder.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your assessment of Ruskell, mostly, but the Hutch situation was mostly not his fault IMO. As the GM, he gets the blame, and I understand that. But your portrayal of the situation is incomplete, at best.
The transition tag had very little to do with saving money. People who make that claim tend to use it to justify their anger toward Ruskell.
When I first heard that the Seahawks had placed the transition tag on Hutch, I freaked out like many Seahawk fans. But then came the explanation from the Seahawks front office: they had told Hutch that they would use the transition tag so he could go out and find his true market value, something that would be impossible with the franchise tag. Hutch's and the Seahawks' money numbers were pretty far apart, and this would be the easiest way to determine a fair deal.
Your back story didn't go far enough back. To provide a proper context for the transition tag, you have to back a few years to when Walter Jones had the franchise tag on him for three consecutive years. And for three consecutive years, he held out.
This time around, the Seahawks wanted to avoid that situation. So they told Hutch to go out and make his best deal, and the Seahawks would match it.
To establish my Seahawk fan status: I don't have a closet full of jerseys, but I do have the Seahawks logos tattooed all the way across my back, and a blue raptor on each shoulder.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your assessment of Ruskell, mostly, but the Hutch situation was mostly not his fault IMO. As the GM, he gets the blame, and I understand that. But your portrayal of the situation is incomplete, at best.
The transition tag had very little to do with saving money. People who make that claim tend to use it to justify their anger toward Ruskell.
When I first heard that the Seahawks had placed the transition tag on Hutch, I freaked out like many Seahawk fans. But then came the explanation from the Seahawks front office: they had told Hutch that they would use the transition tag so he could go out and find his true market value, something that would be impossible with the franchise tag. Hutch's and the Seahawks' money numbers were pretty far apart, and this would be the easiest way to determine a fair deal.
Your back story didn't go far enough back. To provide a proper context for the transition tag, you have to back a few years to when Walter Jones had the franchise tag on him for three consecutive years. And for three consecutive years, he held out.
This time around, the Seahawks wanted to avoid that situation. So they told Hutch to go out and make his best deal, and the Seahawks would match it.
Did the Seahawks save ~$500K by using the franchise tag? Yes. Was that their primary motive for using it? No. But many people insist that even if it wasn't the stated motive, it was the ulterior motive, and thereby discount what was otherwise a good faith effort on the part of the Seahawks.
ReplyDeleteHutch then went out and signed the poison pill contract offer with the Vikings.
At the time it happened, there had never been a poison pill like it, so it is important to define terms.
The NFL had previously banned poison pills that required the rights-holding team to pay more money than the offering team. Other "poison pills" were simply front-loaded contracts, designed to take advantage of the right-holding team's worse salary cap situation -- but the important thing to remember here is that the contract required exactly the same payments from either team that ended up with him on that contract. If the rights-holding team wanted to, they could cut players and make whatever cap adjustments they could in order to meet the terms of the contract, and the terms of the contract would apply equally to them as they would to the team that made the offer.
Hutch's situation was different. By using the clauses you mentioned and guarantees, Hutch and the Vikings were able to circumvent the NFL's ban on poison pills because the actual numbers were the same.
Nobody saw it coming. In my opinion, it is unreasonable to hold Ruskell accountable for not foreseeing something that had never been seen before.
ReplyDeleteI remember when news of the Vikings' offer broke in Seattle. For most of the first day, the focus was on the numbers 7 years and $49 million. It wasn't until later that evening that the poison pill really became the focus of analysis. Then, Hutch was asked about the poison pill, if he knew it was there, and he said he didn't. By the end of the week, he was admitting he knew about it.
When the NFL's arbitrator ruled in favor of Hutch, it finally came out that the poison pill was there because Hutch had ASKED FOR IT TO BE THERE, and as such, was a primary part of the contract.
Hutch lied. No matter what else is considered, that fact remains.
When that became clear, I wondered about how much of that money he would really get. Washington is a state with no income tax, such is not the case with Minnesota. I looked up what the income tax would be on the $49M broken down by year -- using 2006 MN tax rates, Hutch would pay about $3.96M in state income tax over the life of his contract, money he would have kept had he stayed in Washington.
In effect, he paid almost $4M for the privilege of flipping off the Seahawks and fans on his way out the door.
I am amused by people who say such things as "He has to take care of his family" and "It was a once-in-a-lifetime deal". It wasn't a once-in-a-lifetime deal, it was a twice-in-one-week deal.
ReplyDeleteYes, the Seahawks were far more dysfunctional than we ever would have guessed at the time. I can even understand why Hutch would want to leave. But I would have a whole lot more respect for him as a man if he would have owned up to the poison pill in the beginning, and told us straight up that he wanted out (and hopefully, his reasons for wanting out).
Instead, he acted less like a man and more like a weasel (no offense to weasels).
In the end, I try to look at the big picture. Hutch leaving contributed directly to the decline of the Seahawks. Had that decline not happened, perhaps Holmgren doesn't (temporarily) retire, perhaps Ruskell doesn't resign, and we don't end up with Pete Carroll and John Schneider in charge.
But on the other hand, had Hutch remained with the Seahawks, perhaps Shaun Alexander doesn't break his foot, and perhaps we return to the Super Bowl with a better officiating crew.
There's no way to know. But I do know that in spite of all of Ruskell's other blunders, this one was not primarily on him. Hutch bears the brunt of the blame.
Whatever, I'm just glad I don't have to cheer for him as a Seahawk.
Thanks for the comments! They really help to tell the rest of the tale for Seahawks fans that I didn't tell for writers. I did skip over a lot of the story, because the post wasn't really intended to be documentation of what happened, but rather a good example of plot and story in regards to the concept of deus ex machina. I appreciate you filling in some of the blanks for those who want to know more about what really happened.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember hearing that Hutch actually asked for the poison pill verbiage to be put into the contract. If true, he was definitely a "bad guy" in the story. And while I wasn't trying to paint him as the saint in all of this, I don't really think he was as bad as people made him out to be when it happened. He might have been, but there was far more provocation and reason than we knew at the time.
I think it was a bad relationship that soured quickly, and $4 million (as compared to the larger contract number he was receiving) was a small price to pay for him, as that was really the only way he could get back at the front office besides just walking away. Of course, that begs the question of what he really felt the need to lash back like that for. What was so wrong with the treatment that he felt justified in taking such extreme measures? Again, I think there are a couple of key pieces to this puzzle we're still missing. Hutch was a weasel, but I think he reacted like one more than he acted like one. Semantics, for what they're worth.
In the end, I think the 'Hawks are in a much better place than they would otherwise be with the old front office. I'm very happy with how things are going. Just bringing Hutch in for a visit, as purely an interested free agent shows things are run differently. Would we have gone back to the Super Bowl the next year with Hutch still on the team? Quite likely, even if everything else was the same. You'll remember, we came a few yards shy in overtime from going back to a second NFC Championship game as it was. Hutch's presence could well have been a big difference. It doesn't, however, change the horrible drafting history we had under that leadership, and that would have featured largely in our success or failure from there out. I'd say we'd have postponed what happened over the last few years by maybe a year or two, but it would have been the same in the end.
Eh, that's life as a Seahawks fan.
The NFL's special master ruled that the contract as proposed by the Vikings would remain intact with all of its clauses intact, specifically because Hutch asked for them to be there. That was the basis for his decision.
ReplyDeleteThe truth? Who knows? Did he really not know, but lie to the special master so he could get his contract with the Vikings? Or did he know about it all along, and just lie about it to the Seattle press early on in order to temporarily save face?
It doesn't matter now, of course. It's ancient history in the NFL. But this aspect of the fiasco is often overlooked.
I do remember the NFL's special master ruling that the contract would remain intact, poison pills and all. I also remember uttering quite a number of choice curse words upon hearing that. I don't remember that Hutch specifically asked for them to be there, but then again, I don't remember hearing that he didn't. Too many years and too many beers.
ReplyDeleteThe truth? Heh. That'll never be completely known, and it's not the only truth that will remain hidden either. Bad guy, good guy, it's all about the money and fame in the end. I have no illusions. Of course I don't; I'm a frickin' Seahawks fan!
And you're absolutely right; it doesn't matter. Ancient history in the NFL is about a week ago. Except in the minds of fans of the game. That shit can linger for years. Trust me on that one! And yea, that aspect of the fiasco (apt word, by the way) is often overlooked. Too bad.
Still, I wish in a way he would have signed with the Seahawks. Would have made a great story. A great ending. A wild and unpredictable ending to an improbable story. The stuff movies are made of. And I think it would have been good for the team.
Oh well. I guess I can go back to my scorn and derisive gestures toward him with a clear conscience.