Top members of the Seahawks coaching staff -- Pete Carroll, Darrell Bevel and Dan Quinn anyway -- appeared at a "town hall" meeting in front of a select group of fans who got to ask them questions.
One of the questions directed to Carroll involved 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh and whether their rivalry was "real" and "competitive."
Carroll jokingly responded with a "next question" before launching into an interesting discussion about evaluating opponents on a similar plane.
"Honestly, this is going to really disappoint you but we don’t look at our opponents as rivals," Carroll said. "I know that doesn’t jive with what you think and it’s not as fun.
"I think over the long haul of thinking, I think it’s way more valuable to be disciplined about that kind of thinking than what’s normal. So what we do is every game we play like it’s a championship game."
We would've preferred "WHAT'S YOUR DEAL?" in response but that's pretty good insofar as coach speak goes.
Fortunately Carroll threw the crowd a bone when he wrapped up his answer.
"I think Jim’s a great coach. I’ve watched him in college, I’ve watched him in San Francisco," Carroll said. "He’s done a great job molding the style of play and he’s a big force in our division … and we love beating him."
No one's gonna complain about Carroll's approach to the game with Seattle coming off a championship season. The "every team is the same" thing must work. But at least he's not pretending those 49ers games aren't important.
