Published: Thursday, May 8, 2008
SEAHAWKS: Fellowship of the little-known ring
Now veterans with Pro Bowl pedigrees, Seattle's Matt Hasselbeck and Mike Wahle forged a lasting bond back when they were low-profile Green Bay rookies and part of a group that liked to party.
By Scott M. Johnson
Herald Writer
KIRKLAND -- The first year of their careers as professional football players took Matt Hasselbeck and Mike Wahle to some pretty glamorous places.
Like Rossi's Deli.
Nicky's Lionhead Tavern.
And Bill and Teri's Bar and Grill.
While their high-profile teammates were off trying to earn a spot in a third consecutive Super Bowl, four Green Bay Packers spent the weekends of the 1998 season tucked inside some of the darker corners of the NFL's smallest city. Hasselbeck, Wahle, fellow rookie Scott McGarrahan and linebacker Jim Nelson kept each other company by painting the town.
What there was of it.
"We would party on days when everybody else was getting ready for the games," Wahle said this week at the Seattle Seahawks minicamp. "We had a good time. It was a lot of fun."
While McGarrahan and Nelson have since retired from the game, Wahle and Hasselbeck recently were reunited as members of the Seahawks. Since the days of rookie inactivity, they've both come quite a long way.
Hasselbeck has been to three Pro Bowls during his seven seasons in Seattle. Wahle eventually became a starting guard in Green Bay, then moved on to the Carolina Panthers, for whom he was a Pro Bowl player in 2005. He signed with the Seahawks in February.
Wahle said Hasselbeck was a factor in his decision to sign with Seattle, but not necessarily because of their friendship.
"When you look at it, you've got to have an elite quarterback to have success in this league," Wahle said. "And Matt's one of the elite quarterbacks.
"Knowing him on a personal level helps a little bit, obviously, but the respect that I have for him as a football player is probably even more important."
Wahle and Hasselbeck grew close as rookies due in large part to their similar circumstances. The Packers were coming off back-to-back Super Bowl appearances, so there weren't many opportunities for rookies to play. The misery of not suiting up for games was comforted by the company of other inactive players.
"Our class, the Class of '98, was mostly guys who had to sit and watch," Hasselbeck said. "Vonnie Holliday was a first-round pick, so he was playing, and so was Corey Bradford. But for the rest of us, it was kind of like getting redshirted."
Hasselbeck spent the 1998 season on the practice squad, watching Brett Favre start every game while veteran backups Doug Pederson and Rick Mirer waited in the wings. Even in practices, Hasselbeck rarely threw a pass. By the end of the season, he was seeing more time at tight end than he was at quarterback while getting his teammates ready for games.
Wahle, whom the Packers selected in the second round of the July supplemental draft after he resigned from the Naval Academy, was on the active roster but rarely played. He spent most days lining up across from some guy named Reggie White at Packers practices. Wahle's only appearance in a game that season -- the 1998 regular-season finale -- resulted in a knee injury.
And so the brown-haired quarterback from Boston College and the Navy product with the blond locks spent most of their fall weekends together, along with Nelson and McGarrahan.
It started as a rotating dinner, with a different player hosting each week, but Nelson's messy apartment and Wahle's two annoying ferrets led the foursome to begin going out. They played darts, pool and a bar video game in which patrons watch a televised game and try to guess which play is coming.
"We were pretty good," Hasselbeck said of playing the game when the Packers were playing on television. "Of course, we knew all the plays because we'd been studying the game plan all week. But nobody knew who we were, so we just went with it."
There was also the Saturday afternoon when Wahle, McGarrahan, Hasselbeck and younger brother Nathanael Hasselbeck went to an open field after a walk-through practice and played a game of 2-on-2 football. Nathanael got a bit overaggressive on one play, lifting his elbow and accidentally breaking his oldest brother's nose.
Occasionally, when Matt Hasselbeck and Wahle were killing time with conversation, the subject of their football careers would arise. At the time, neither one of them could have imagined getting named to the Pro Bowl.
"We were a long way from there," said Wahle, who has since gone bald, just like Hasselbeck. "The one thing I can say about Matt is that he was always very ambitious. You knew he was going to work his way into being a good player, and he certainly has."
Hasselbeck has indeed made it, but his former Green Bay and current Seahawks teammate isn't letting his head get big. Asked what draws him to Hasselbeck's personality, Wahle shrugged.
"Matt's probably one of the guys with the worst set of jokes that I've ever heard," he deadpanned. "But he keeps throwing them out there, so he's going to eventually get you to laugh."
Said Hasselbeck: "That's true. I can't argue with that."
Given a chance to retaliate with a shot of his own, the loquacious Hasselbeck was uncharacteristically short on responses.
"All I can say is that we got married on the same day (June 13) in 2000," the Seahawks' quarterback said. "I loved my honeymoon. (Wahle) and his wife decided to go to Disneyland. I think their honeymoon lasted about two days in Disneyland. Then they went to Plan B."
Notes: Three days into a four-day, voluntary minicamp, wide receiver Bobby Engram is still a no-show. Engram is seeking a contract extension. According to a report in Wednesday's edition of the Tacoma News Tribune, the Seahawks are unwilling to extend Engram's contract. … Wide receiver Courtney Taylor was among the players who did not participate in Wednesday's workout. Taylor was sidelined with an undisclosed injury. … The current minicamp ends this morning.
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