Winless in Washington

Maybe it would be best if they just all left town.

Just packed up and left like the Seattle SuperSonics.

Because the heartache, the frustration and the disappointment that the Seattle Seahawks, Washington Huskies, Washington State Cougars and Seattle Mariners are bringing fans here has never been worse.

Combined, the Seahawks, Huskies and Cougars are 0-8 on the football field for the first time ever. Add Eastern Washington's football team and that cumulative record slips to 0-10. The Mariners are on the verge of becoming the first team with a payroll of more than $100 million to lose 100 games.

Effect on personal life

"These are very tough time for sports fans around here," said Ron Smith, a professor of psychology at the University of Washington. "Fans identify with their teams. They live in some significant ways the success and failures of the teams they identify with."

And when their teams lose, it spills over into a fan's personal life.

"Some guys really get depressed," said Gerry Rich, a Seahawks season-ticket holder for 18 years and a Lacey resident. "I like to go and root for the team. A loss stings for a little and then it's over."

Not every fan is as resilient.

Psychologists have a name for a mood disorder spurred by overcast days, a common occurrence in South Sound. The acronym is SAD, or Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Sports fans here are suffering from FUN, or Fed Up Now.

"I don't like to pay that kind of money to go up there and watch them play crappy," said Ron Sheets, a longtime Seahawks fan and Tumwater resident. "If the Seahawks lose 9, 10, 11 games, not as many people show up. That's because nobody likes to watch losers."

UW and WSU are both 0-3 and coming off blowout losses. Two weeks ago, in a 66-3 loss in Pullman to California, fans started heading for home by halftime. Only a few thousand stayed until the end.

"It was really strange," said Steve Smedley, a WSU grad and season-ticket holder. "It was like there was no one there."

The Cougars have been outscored 150-33.

The Seahawks are 0-2 for the first time since 2002. They lost in overtime 33-30 at home Sunday to the divisional rival San Francisco 49ers.

"I'm certainly not on the top of the mood scale when I think of the teams I root for," Smith admitted.

Losing and brooding

If rain causes doldrums, then losing causes brooding. Fans cheer when their team scores and boo when their team fumbles. Like the stages of grief, sports fans experience shock, anger and, eventually, apathy.

"Everyone is horrible right now," said John Meyer, a longtime Mariners fan. "You don't even watch them. Or, if you do, you don't watch them to the end."

Besides not showing up to games or watching on TV, the spillover for disgruntled fans could affect job production, getting speeding tickets and giving to charities, fans say.

"When people are unhappy, they are more likely to be grumpy," Smith said. "There's all kinds of evidence that mood strongly affects everything from volunteering and giving to aggressive behavior."

Smith's remedy is to forget about it.

"Some people will get down after a game and forget it very quickly," Smith said. "They have other things in their lives. I would say the more central the role that the team plays in the individual's life, the more they link their personal identity to the outcome of that team, the more of that frustration you're going to see."

Getting perspective

Smith said booing the quarterback's bad pass or a ref's call is all part of the game. It's when that frustration spreads into a person's workweek that there's an indication something is out of whack.

"For heaven's sake, put it in perspective," Smith said. "One of the best ways to climb out of a bad mood and to be happy in the long run is to compare their current state with situations that are of even more unfortunate."

For Bob Atwell, a Huskies football season-ticket holder for 20 years, that means comparing UW's football program to WSU's.

"They delight in our misery, and we delight in theirs," Atwell said.