Seahawks Briefly Flew South

Had things worked out a little differently, Los Angeles might be rooting on the Seahawks in Super Bowl XL.

After all, the franchise moved to Southern California ever so briefly 10 years ago this month, relocating to the Rams’ old facility in Anaheim. Former Seahawk owner Ken Behring had asked for $150 million in improvements to the Kingdome. He said that desire was rooted in fears of what might happen to the stadium in an earthquake.

On Feb. 2, 1996, Behring announced his plan to relocate the team. Locks were put on the doors at Seahawk facilities in Kirkland, Wash., and moving vans hauled the club’s equipment to Anaheim, where many of the players wound up conducting their off-season workouts.

It wasn’t until the NFL threatened to fine him $500,000 a day that Behring agreed to return the Seahawks to Seattle. He was also prompted by lawsuits filed against him by King County, Wash.

The mess opened the door for billionaire Paul Allen to purchase an option to buy the franchise.

He completed the deal in June 1997 after voters approved funding for a new stadium, which became Qwest Field.

Fullback Mack Strong is the only remaining Seahawk from that team. He learned about the relocation from his girlfriend, who later became his wife.

“I don’t know how she got that inside information,” he said. “But it was a weird time in the organization’s history. It was two weeks of weirdness. We actually had to pack all of our bags and move all of the equipment and computers and everything down to Anaheim.

“We were working out every day and it was just very weird. It was very weird to be down there, not knowing if we would have to move our families down there. Everything was just sort of in limbo and we were just waiting for the word, but at the same time trying to get prepared for the season.”

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Win or lose Sunday, Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, will be fine. He reportedly once had a net worth of $30 billion -- which the Detroit Free Press reported would have bought every share of common stock in General Motors and Ford ... with $4 billion left over -- before poor investments reduced his holdings to $21 billion.

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A day after being held out of team drills because of a sore ankle, Pittsburgh safety Troy Polamalu ran and cut without any noticeable limp Friday, though he did sit out the last 30 minutes of an 85-minute practice.

The former USC All-American was listed as probable for Sunday’s game and undoubtedly hoped to avoid a repeat of the Orange Bowl three years ago, when an adverse reaction to a pregame pain-killing injection left his left leg numb and he was unable to play for all but two snaps in the Trojans’ 38-17 victory over Iowa.

Polamalu was inconsolable after that game, his last at USC.

“Troy’s fine,” Coach Bill Cowher said after Friday’s practice.

Cowher attributed Polamalu’s ankle soreness to the switch from natural grass in Pittsburgh to the artificial surface in the Pontiac Silverdome, where the Steelers practiced this week.

Polamalu had an MRI exam Thursday night and the results were negative, Cowher said, adding, “I’m hopeful that he’ll be fine and ready to go Sunday.”

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Quarterbacks who wore No. 8, as does Matt Hasselbeck of the Seahawks, are 5-0 in the Super Bowl, with Troy Aikman winning three times and Steve Young and Trent Dilfer once each. Quarterbacks who wore No. 7, a la Ben Roethlisberger of the Steelers, are 3-7 in the Super Bowl.