New stadium, same old Seahawks

In the 1995 baseball season, Seattle overcame waning fan interest, brought on by a strike the season prior, to ignite a city and usher in a new era of Mariner baseball. Thus Safeco Field never witnessed the horrors that two decades of losing had so mercilessly wrought on the Emerald City. Instead, the new ballpark became a symbol of excellence for what has become an excellent organization.

As the Seahawks prepare to enter their new playground, Paul Allen's dream for a similar conversion is little more than that. The wave of optimism that comes from having a new $430 million toy has little to do with any actual turnaround in an organization that has now delivered more than a decade of incompetence and unfulfilled promises.

Unlike Safeco, where the price tag was soon buried under the ecstasy of winning, Seahawk Stadium will become only the latest and most expensive bust in the Seahawks' ever-growing list of failures.

The reasons for this dismal fate are too numerous to count. In the interest of brevity, here are the top five:

1. Mike 'Mediocre' Holmgren: With each passing season, Holmgren's brilliant orchestra of talent and personalities in Green Bay appears to have had more to do with good fortune than any winning formula. Three seasons after inheriting an 8-8 team from fired coach Dennis Erickson, Holmgren has finished no better than 9-7 and has amassed an overall record of 24-24. For his price tag, that's not good enough.

2. Quarterbackless in Seattle: Since when did Trent Dilfer become the answer? After winning the starting spot by default over incumbent Matt Hasselbeck, Dilfer is being touted in the Seahawks' ad campaign as a top player. Have they forgotten the guy was signed as a backup to help groom Hasselbeck and not as a starter to lead the team to the promised land?

3. Rain, sleet, snow and misery: The Seahawk's new outdoor stadium will certainly provide fans with a more old-fashioned, weather-braving brand of football. Keeping 72,000 butts in the seats, however, for a meaningless December football game on a cold, wet Seattle winter day will be about as likely as stadium architects' claims that half a roof will keep most fans dry. With its combination of wet and cold, Seattle may well become known as the worst place in the NFL to catch a game.

4. Meet me in St. Louis: With two games a year against their new NFC West division rival, the St. Louis Rams, the Seahawks will start every season 0-2 -- for at least as long as Kurt Warner and Marshall Faulk hang around. Despite the ridiculous claim of recent radio ads that the Seahawks' "D-backs are awesome," Seattle's secondary does not stand a chance against the high-flying leapers of Warner's arsenal. Without a prayer of stopping them defensively, Dilfer will be asked to match them offensively. Whoops.

5. Turning over a new Leaf: Could there be a more disliked man in Seattle? Holmgren has asked a lot of Seahawks' fans over the past three seasons. He's asked for patience in rebuilding, forgiveness for an unexpected tirade and $300 million for a new playground. But with the signing of former Cougar quarterback Ryan Leaf last week, he may have gone too far. Seattle fans will never cheer for a man they have loved to hate since his days as a Husky killer. Leaf's presence within the Seahawks' organization will add nothing to on-field production, while souring the taste of the entire product. Even as an extremely cheap third-string quarterback, Leaf is not worth it.

With ticket prices at more than $50 for bleacher seats, neither are the Seahawks.