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Joe Seahawk
01-12-2006, 12:29 AM
I'm a big fan of Ed viesturs (edviesturs.com) the legendary mountain climber and it turns out he is heavily involved with helping to motivate the team.. Cool tidbit you can share with your buddies as you watch the Superbowl.. ;) BTW, Viesturs raised the 12th man flag on top of the Space Needle this week.

Seattle Times: Hawks seeking top of mountain
By Jose Miguel Romero / Seattle Times

KIRKLAND — Before all of this success happened, before the wins and big plays and laughs and smiles of being 7-2, the Seahawks listened.

Standing before them one day shortly before the regular season started, renowned mountain climber Ed Viesturs came in at the request of coach Mike Holmgren. The plan to bring Viesturs before the team to deliver a motivational speech came after team president Tim Ruskell and vice president of administration Gary Wright heard Viesturs speak and suggested him to Holmgren.

Viesturs, a Seattle mountaineer who became the first American to climb all 14 of the world's 8,000-meter mountain peaks, was the right man to motivate a Seahawks team that perhaps wasn't sure how the season would unfold.

"It fit in with the team," Holmgren said.

Viesturs left everyone with a climbing hook, like the ones he uses to scale mountains. And so began a tradition that has continued with every Seattle win — each player and coach receives a new hook as a memento, and all are asked to latch the shiny blue and green hooks onto another one to make a chain.

The chains of hooks dangle eight deep now in each player's locker stall at team headquarters. One for each Seahawks victory, plus the original hook from Viesturs.

"He [Viesturs] gave us the first one because he had accomplished so much climbing mountains all over the world," kicker Josh Brown said. "Talking about the adversity he had to fight, the months of preparation it took to reach the ultimate goal of getting somewhere."

The hooks have messages like "Teamwork" and "One step at a time" inscribed. Their meaning to Viesturs has a similar significance to the Seahawks, as far as the manner in which they are trying to reach their goals.

"Everybody keeps them in their locker to symbolize one thing at a time, detail by detail," Brown said.

"Those hooks, you hook on to your partner when you're climbing mountains," Holmgren said. "That hook saves your life, and you depend on the guy you're hooked to, and that was the thrust of the message."

It's just another in a series of ploys that have worked in favor of the Seahawks this season.

greg63
01-12-2006, 01:55 AM
This is cool!



...Too much to read; I'll take your word for it. :D

Halfcan
01-12-2006, 01:56 AM
I was actually the first american to climb all 14 peaks, but have never said anything-I figured nobody would believe me-lol

greg63
01-12-2006, 01:57 AM
I was actually the first american to climb all 14 peaks, but have never said anything-I figured nobody would believe me-lol

Were ya been? Hows it goin?