Commentary: Lack of A-list sports star power in Seattle has city stuck in middle gear
SEATTLE – We have the sports. NFL, MLB, NHL, Big Ten football and basketball, MLS, WNBA, NWSL – they’re all here.
We have success stories. A Super Bowl, a national football championship, four WNBA titles, two MLS Cups to start. We might not be Boston or L.A., but we’re a long way from Buffalo.
What we don’t have, however, are stars. Not A-listers in the sports world at the moment. And that’s new.
The most-watched teams in Seattle are in the middle of a collective “bleh” period. The Seahawks are 3-3 after losing three straight. The Huskies are 4-3 after a 24-point drubbing at the hands of Iowa. The Mariners missed the playoffs last season, as did the Kraken. The Storm were swept in the first round, and the Huskies men’s basketball team just hired a new head coach after five straight seasons missing the NCAA Tournament.
The one team breaking up the monotony of mediocrity is the Sounders, who are tied for the fifth-most points in MLS. But even there, the chasm between them and the league’s best is fairly distinct.
Still, it’s not that unusual for teams in this town to be middling (which is a lot different than irrelevant). What’s strange is this city lacking an active sports icon whose celebrity spans across the country.
Take the Mariners, for example. They missed the playoffs far more than they made them from 1989-2000, but had perhaps the game’s most recognizable and talented player in Ken Griffey Jr. those years. Randy Johnson, Edgar Martinez and Alex Rodriguez were also on the team at points during that stretch – and for most of the 21-year playoff drought that began after 2001, names such as Ichiro and Felix Hernandez still occupied the roster. That’s star power.
Last decade, the Seahawks may have had a bigger collection of NFL A-listers than any team in the NFL. Russell Wilson, Marshawn Lynch and Richard Sherman were legitimate red-carpeters. Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor and Bobby Wagner were all elite talents, too.
Yes, turmoil and tension ensued with most of those guys, but their names rang out. Is that true of anyone now?
It was certainly true with Kelsey Plum, who took the Washington women’s basketball team to the Final Four a year before setting the NCAA single-season and all-time scoring records. It was certainly true of Michael Penix Jr., who finished second in the Heisman trophy voting last season before leading the Huskies football team to the national championship game. It was certainly true of Sue Bird when she helped rack up four titles with the Storm, just as it was with Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp with the Sonics and Megan Rapinoe or Hope Solo with the Reign.
But now? Who ya got? Who’s the most popular Seattle athlete right now?
A couple of years ago, it seemed like it was going to be Mariners center fielder Julio Rodriguez, who won the American League Rookie of the Year in 2022 and finished fourth in the MVP voting in ’23. But let’s be honest, he hasn’t quite blossomed into a top-tier player. Same with any M’s pitchers, who are lights-out collectively, but low-profile individually.
Might it be Geno Smith, the quarterback who replaced Russell Wilson behind center two years ago? Possibly. QB1 for the city’s NFL team is never a bad guess. That said, Smith has never led the Seahawks to more than nine wins in a season, and his good-but-not-spectacular play is part of the reason.
It might be his teammate, wide receiver DK Metcalf. He has two Pro Bowls to his name and a leading man’s look. But have you ever considered him a top-five receiver? Has anybody who follows the game closely?
I don’t know that anyone on the Kraken qualifies, either. Their playoff run two years ago was by committee. The Sounders? Their leading scorer, Jordan Morris, is tied for 20th in MLS in goals.
Not sure Jewell Loyd has anywhere near the notoriety of previous Storm teammates Bird or Breanna Stewart, and the core of the Huskies football team is made up of almost entirely new faces – none of whom has distinguished himself nationally.
This is certainly not a boring time for Seattle sports. Most of the teams are relevant, and talk of the NBA returning gets hotter by the month.
But a true superstar? That’s a vacant position I’m sure folks around here want to see filled.