KIRKLAND -- Football, especially "Monday Night Football," always loomed large in Jerheme Urban's world.
As a kid growing up in Victoria, Texas, the best part of any football-stuffed weekend was the prime-time finale on ABC. If the Cowboys were playing, all the better.
Tonight, Urban, the Seahawks' free-agent wide receiver, will make his regular-season starting debut on "Monday Night Football" at Qwest Field -- against the Cowboys team for which he always dreamed of playing.
To say this season has become a surreal experience for Urban is a few brush strokes shy of painting the complete picture. He was signed off the practice squad last month when rookie receiver D.J. Hackett went on injured reserve. His locker is next to that of Jerry Rice, the NFL's all-time leading receiver who was acquired by the Seahawks in October.
Now this -- a chance to play on the NFL's night of nights; with Rice, and against the Cowboys.
"This is part of the full circle of growing up wishing you could be an NFL player, and wishing you could play for the Cowboys," Urban said. "It's the next best thing to being able to play against them."
And what of Rice's influence on a skinny kid from a southern Texas town where three state highways intersect?
Rice is part of what Urban calls "my favorite 'Monday Night Football' story." It was Dec. 11, 1989, and 9-year-old Urban had been sent to bed because it was, after all, 9:30 on a school night.
"It was a big game. I was into it. I was really upset that my father was making me go to bed," he said. "So I belly-crawled out of my bedroom into the living room. I was behind the couch and the love seat, peeking between the two watching the game."
He squirmed with delight on each of Rice's five receptions. But the play that blew young Jerheme's cover came when John Taylor, the 49ers "other" receiver, caught a slant from Joe Montana and took it 92 yards for a touchdown as San Francisco won 30-27.
"I jump up, whooping and hollering," Urban said. "Of course I got in trouble. But it was worth it."
Playing on "Monday Night Football" always has been a reason to rejoice for the Seahawks, partly because they aren't invited to the big party that often. The Seahawks have played on Monday night three times in the previous five seasons. This is the Cowboys' third Monday night game this season.
The special-feeling experience began with the Seahawks' first Monday nighter in 1979.
"I don't think anyone on that team knew what 'Monday Night Football' was like until we got there, until we experienced it," said Jim Zorn, then the team's quarterback and now the man who coaches the position for the Seahawks.
"It is different than a regular-season game," he added. "You have an almost Super Bowl-esque situation, where you're really playing to win and everybody is giving full effort."
That night -- Oct. 29 -- the Seahawks used a few pre-Halloween tricks to pull out a 31-28 victory, as Zorn completed a pass to kicker Efren Herrera down the middle off a fake field goal, and Herrera also recovered his own onside kick.
There have been other memorable Monday night moments:
<LI>Oct. 29, 1984 -- The Seahawks shut out the high-voltage Chargers offense in San Diego, 24-0, as strong safety Kenny Easley intercepted a club-record three passes.
<LI>Dec. 8, 1986 -- Another shutout, this time 37-0 at the Kingdome and against the Los Angeles Raiders. It might have been the loudest the Kingdome ever got, as Raiders quarterback Marc Wilson's attempts to silence the crowd by waving his arms only ignited more noise.
<LI>Nov. 9, 1987 -- Same opponent. Same venue. Very different outcome, as Bo Jackson ran around, through and even over (with Brian Bosworth starring as a goal-line speed bump) the Seahawks for 221 yards as the Raiders romped 30-14. Jackson's most memorable runs were a 91-yarder, where he disappeared up the tunnel in the south end zone; and a 2-yarder, where Bosworth's attempted tackle ended up looking more like a toy poodle running into a glass door.
<LI>Nov. 30, 1992 -- The Seahawks beat the Broncos 16-13 in overtime for their second, and final, victory of the season. But the more lasting impression was longtime radio play-by-play man Pete Gross being inducted into the team's Ring of Honor at halftime. Gross, who was battling cancer, died two days later.
<LI>Nov. 1, 1999 -- It wasn't just the Seahawks' first MNF appearance since '92, it was Mike Holmgren's first game at Lambeau Field after leaving the Packers to coach the Seahawks earlier that year. The Seahawks won, 27-7.
Tonight's game "features" two struggling teams, the type of matchup that won't happen this late in the season if ABC gets its wish of being able to focus on more attractive games as the year progresses.
Not that this game isn't meaningful to the participants.
The Seahawks (6-5) can't afford to drop another winnable game to a beatable opponent at home, not when they have to take their inconsistent act on the road to Minnesota and the New York Jets the next two weeks.
The Cowboys (4-7) can't lose another game, period, if they want to continue clinging to their already fiber-optic thin playoff hopes.
Then there's Urban, who is playing with his hero and against his dream team.
seattlepi.nwsource.com
As a kid growing up in Victoria, Texas, the best part of any football-stuffed weekend was the prime-time finale on ABC. If the Cowboys were playing, all the better.
Tonight, Urban, the Seahawks' free-agent wide receiver, will make his regular-season starting debut on "Monday Night Football" at Qwest Field -- against the Cowboys team for which he always dreamed of playing.
To say this season has become a surreal experience for Urban is a few brush strokes shy of painting the complete picture. He was signed off the practice squad last month when rookie receiver D.J. Hackett went on injured reserve. His locker is next to that of Jerry Rice, the NFL's all-time leading receiver who was acquired by the Seahawks in October.
Now this -- a chance to play on the NFL's night of nights; with Rice, and against the Cowboys.
"This is part of the full circle of growing up wishing you could be an NFL player, and wishing you could play for the Cowboys," Urban said. "It's the next best thing to being able to play against them."
And what of Rice's influence on a skinny kid from a southern Texas town where three state highways intersect?
Rice is part of what Urban calls "my favorite 'Monday Night Football' story." It was Dec. 11, 1989, and 9-year-old Urban had been sent to bed because it was, after all, 9:30 on a school night.
"It was a big game. I was into it. I was really upset that my father was making me go to bed," he said. "So I belly-crawled out of my bedroom into the living room. I was behind the couch and the love seat, peeking between the two watching the game."
He squirmed with delight on each of Rice's five receptions. But the play that blew young Jerheme's cover came when John Taylor, the 49ers "other" receiver, caught a slant from Joe Montana and took it 92 yards for a touchdown as San Francisco won 30-27.
"I jump up, whooping and hollering," Urban said. "Of course I got in trouble. But it was worth it."
Playing on "Monday Night Football" always has been a reason to rejoice for the Seahawks, partly because they aren't invited to the big party that often. The Seahawks have played on Monday night three times in the previous five seasons. This is the Cowboys' third Monday night game this season.
The special-feeling experience began with the Seahawks' first Monday nighter in 1979.
"I don't think anyone on that team knew what 'Monday Night Football' was like until we got there, until we experienced it," said Jim Zorn, then the team's quarterback and now the man who coaches the position for the Seahawks.
"It is different than a regular-season game," he added. "You have an almost Super Bowl-esque situation, where you're really playing to win and everybody is giving full effort."
That night -- Oct. 29 -- the Seahawks used a few pre-Halloween tricks to pull out a 31-28 victory, as Zorn completed a pass to kicker Efren Herrera down the middle off a fake field goal, and Herrera also recovered his own onside kick.
There have been other memorable Monday night moments:
<LI>Oct. 29, 1984 -- The Seahawks shut out the high-voltage Chargers offense in San Diego, 24-0, as strong safety Kenny Easley intercepted a club-record three passes.
<LI>Dec. 8, 1986 -- Another shutout, this time 37-0 at the Kingdome and against the Los Angeles Raiders. It might have been the loudest the Kingdome ever got, as Raiders quarterback Marc Wilson's attempts to silence the crowd by waving his arms only ignited more noise.
<LI>Nov. 9, 1987 -- Same opponent. Same venue. Very different outcome, as Bo Jackson ran around, through and even over (with Brian Bosworth starring as a goal-line speed bump) the Seahawks for 221 yards as the Raiders romped 30-14. Jackson's most memorable runs were a 91-yarder, where he disappeared up the tunnel in the south end zone; and a 2-yarder, where Bosworth's attempted tackle ended up looking more like a toy poodle running into a glass door.
<LI>Nov. 30, 1992 -- The Seahawks beat the Broncos 16-13 in overtime for their second, and final, victory of the season. But the more lasting impression was longtime radio play-by-play man Pete Gross being inducted into the team's Ring of Honor at halftime. Gross, who was battling cancer, died two days later.
<LI>Nov. 1, 1999 -- It wasn't just the Seahawks' first MNF appearance since '92, it was Mike Holmgren's first game at Lambeau Field after leaving the Packers to coach the Seahawks earlier that year. The Seahawks won, 27-7.
Tonight's game "features" two struggling teams, the type of matchup that won't happen this late in the season if ABC gets its wish of being able to focus on more attractive games as the year progresses.
Not that this game isn't meaningful to the participants.
The Seahawks (6-5) can't afford to drop another winnable game to a beatable opponent at home, not when they have to take their inconsistent act on the road to Minnesota and the New York Jets the next two weeks.
The Cowboys (4-7) can't lose another game, period, if they want to continue clinging to their already fiber-optic thin playoff hopes.
Then there's Urban, who is playing with his hero and against his dream team.
seattlepi.nwsource.com
