Should We Still Tell Strangers That Russell Wilson Played Baseball in Pasco?
So, I was working out this idea in my head for an article. I wanted to do a fun write-up on the things we as Tri-Citians say to out-of-towners to impress them. Then when I wrote down the first "flex," I realized that maybe it aged poorly. You know the one. We used to say it with pride every single day.
Russell Wilson played baseball for the Tri-City Dust Devils. It's not as fun to say these days, is it? It's unfortunate, really. I remember how folks flocked to Gesa Stadium when the Dust Devils gave out Russell Wilson bobbleheads or when they put the life-size Russ in the common area of the ballpark. He was celebrated like he was the best player in Dust Devils' history, which he wasn't.
It's as if the once highly-revered Wilson has become a pariah. Untouchable in a land he once ruled. When rumors started swirling a couple of seasons ago that Wilson may want out, people cried to the heavens and prayed that it wasn't so. When he was traded, fans thought the Seahawks had been robbed. But at that point, his legacy in Tri-Cities and Washington as a whole was still intact.
When he was winning, and winning for the Seahawks, Tri-Cities embraced him like no other player in Seahawks history. I used to get rebuked all the time when I pointed out his robotic personality and bland media presence. It seems that winning can hide everything. Now that he's struggling in Denver, he's become a meme and nobody has taken more pleasure in his failures than Seahawks fans. That's why I'm asking this very simple question:
Are we still bragging about Russell Wilson playing baseball in Tri-Cities?