Song Of The Day 2/2/2014: Frank Zappa - "The Mud Shark"


Super Bowl XLVIII Preview: And here's a look at your NFC Champion Seattle Seahawks:


- The City of Seattle appeared out of nowhere in the 1850's. An apothecary was traveling in a westbound stagecoach near Castle Rock, Colorado, bearing samples of Hemileia vastatrix in small vials. Coming towards him at great speed was an unfocused prospector, fleeing the small Nevada mining town of Golconda on a stolen horse, and carrying a so-called "social disease" he had obtained from a Mormon storefront of questionable intent. The two parties collided. The apothecary's vials flew skyward, the prospector was unceremoniously emasculated, and both made landfall at the northern mouth of Puget Sound. One week later the Smith Tower sprang up and has remained erect ever since.

- Until 1948 it was actually illegal to carry concealed grunge in the State of Washington.

- When asked about his rushing style, Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch told journalist Charles R. Cross, "The exercise of power is determined by thousands of interactions between the world of the powerful and that of the powerless, all the more so because these worlds are never divided by a sharp line: everyone has a small part of himself in both, boss."

- Rejected names for the Seahawks' powerful secondary now known as the "Legion Of Boom" include:
  • "The League Of Extraordinarily Cranky Gentlemen" 
  • "Extra-Strength Lemon Pledge" 
  • "Medium Ball-Point Antipathy" 
  • "Frasier Pain" 
  • "Amazon-Dot-BAM!!!" 
  • "Tom Skerritt's Unprincipled Accountants" 
  • "Zapitol Hill" 
  • "Zune" 
  • "The Shamanistic Spellcasters Who'll Rob You Of Your Innocence, Your Fortitude and Your Will To Live" 
  • And, of course, "Steel Magnolias."
- Head Coach Pete Carroll had a moment of melancholia in 1976 but decided not to mention it.

- Quarterback Russell Wilson's hair has a pilot in development for the 2015-16 FX summer schedule.

- The number "12" was invented in Seattle, when a put-upon mathematician wanted to screw with computer engineers' heads by messing up their binary system. It was later adapted by loud people in pickups and eventually spread as far south as Roy, Washington. Today "12" leads a quiet life growing organic rayon on a farm outside Shelton.

- Seattle held a special election last weekend, recalling new mayor Ed Murray and replacing him with Richard Sherman. In a secret ceremony Sherman thanked voters for their confidence and named Murray his deputy mayor. Sherman then resigned the position citing scheduling difficulties, and Murray was promoted back to mayor. These events all took place in the space of three minutes at Tom Douglas' new restaurant, Shave, in total darkness. There was also some annoying construction going on next door.

- At the Seahawks' 2014 home opener, the 12th Man Flag is scheduled to be raised by beloved Pacific Northwest writer Raymond Carver. Logistics for this "get" are expected to be difficult since Carver's been dead for 26 years.

- Finally, Seattle was the home of internationally listed blogger Paul Pearson, until the middle of 2014 when he disappeared over Eld Inlet.

- Go Hawks.


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