So, Does Sleaze Beat Stupidity?

As they did a year ago in decidedly different circumstances, the Seattle Seahawks came here Sunday in search of answers.

The questions?

A) Are we really expected to call Al Davis’ new extortion villa and petting zoo “Network Associates Coliseum,” and

B) Just how do you tailgate on a Harley?

Oh, there were some football issues involved, too, in Seattle’s 20-17 loss to Oakland. But frankly the football part of Raiders football has always seemed pretty much beside the point.

Or so we thought.

Our judgment was always colored by strolls through the parking lot, communing with the touched and tattooed of Raiders Nation - a dare that seemed only slightly more dangerous than running along the West Bank screaming “Neener-neener!” at the jihad du jour.

In these surroundings, sleaze rules. Tonya Harding could pass for Nancy Kerrigan.

Yet it isn’t just that it’s a tough crowd - though it is - but that the values are so different. Put it this way: To the Seahawks constituency, the low point of the Dennis Erickson era was his unfortunate DUI. To the Raiders faithful, Jon Gruden could win a Super Bowl and not be as popular as he was for failing his breathalyzer.

So much for sociology.

If it had any impact on Sunday’s events, it’s that way too much of it spilled on the Seahawks - who suffered a severe identity crisis and the end of any realistic playoff ambitions.

“We looked,” said defensive end Michael Sinclair, “like the Raiders of old.”

They looked like George Blanda?

“I’m talking about the penalties, the lack of discipline, the dumb plays,” said Sinclair. “I’m kicking myself.”

He wasn’t the only one.

“Dumb things cost us the game,” said Erickson, fuming. “It was a stupid play,” said back-up cornerback Fred Thomas, whose many failings include lapsing into the singular when he lives in the plural.

“It was a dumb play on my part,” said guard Brian Habib, shrugging.

“So many stupid penalties, stupid plays,” said Sinclair.

That’s two votes for dumb, two for stupid. You break the tie.

The dumbing down of the Seahawks allowed the hated Raiders to escape with a sweep of the season series despite having to play a fellow at quarterback named Donald Hollas - who we could have sworn was the boyfriend’s name on “That Girl,” but who instead looks more like Warren Moon than Warren Moon does.

We thought he was a quarterback from hunger, but he’s actually from Rice. Five years in the league and never broke a sweat, but the Seahawks are singlehandedly getting him into the Hall of Fame.

He was at the controls when the Raiders put together drives for two field goals and a touchdown in the game’s final 8:17. He played his tight ends like Strads, unearthed the feared Tim Brown after he’d been invisible most of the game and flinched at just the right moment to draw the penalty of the game.

And the Hawks had meganominations for the honor. They were hit with 14 flags for 141 yards - and basically accounted for a third of the yardage on Oakland’s final two scoring possessions with their indiscretions.

“We can’t make the dumb plays we did and win a game,” said Erickson.

OK. We get the message.

It was Thomas’ blitzing rough of Hollas on the last drive that put the Raiders in range for Greg Davis’ winning field - this after Oakland had declined a penalty on Seattle for having 12 men on the field.

“I left my feet, he adjusted to me and I just reached out and grabbed him around the neck,” said Thomas. “I should have never left my feet.”

But then, Habib should have never have taken a poke at Oakland’s Richard Harvey or Thomas grabbed a face mask a few minutes earlier - two 15-yard penalties on third and fourth down that gave Oakland a short field to cover for a go-ahead touchdown. Thomas earned another 10 yards for a bad block on a punt return - is yellow his favorite color? - Sinclair shouldn’t have lost his head and committed a personal foul before that.

Lots of things the Seahawks shouldn’t have done - and should have.

After Joey Galloway’s punt return for a touchdown a minute into the game, the Seahawks reached the Oakland 38, 29, 40 and 4 on their subsequent possessions - and came away with all of three points. The defense made two dramatic holds - at their own 12 and at the goal line - yet broke when the game was on the line.

“We didn’t move the ball consistently, again,” said Erickson. “We made some plays, but not enough of them.”

Enough to be a .500 team - 5-5 - which, of course, is not going to be enough to get into the playoffs or save Erickson’s job. “It puts us deep in the hole,” he said. “We’re two games behind them and there’s no room for error, period.”

He’s a game late. There was no room for error here, either, and the Hawks opened up new frontiers.

Six weeks remain until the playoffs and the Hawks have still not found a rhythm on offense, clutch players on defense nor the discipline unique to the best teams.

No answers, or at least the wrong ones.

“It’s terrible, to have a chance to win and make dumb plays the way we did,” said Erickson, expanding on his theme.

Of course, the Seahawks do have a chance to win six more games. Really.

“There’s no reason we can’t,” said Sinclair, keeping the straightest of faces. “If we cut out stupid penalties, stupid turnovers… .”

And if they don’t?

“There’s no more slack in the rope,” he said.

The one around his coach’s neck, he means.