THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Before the Seahawks get going, let the other Games begin

The international sports world will be rocking soon. 

In nine days, to be exact. 

I’m certain about that date because of an email from a reader.  

This fellow (name withheld by request) clearly intends to throw himself into the excitement with both feet. 

And assorted other body parts, as well. 

He is totally, fully, a zillion percent INTO it, and he’s already sleepless — worrying over a question that likely has plenty more fans pondering the same thing. 

You can feel their passion. 

Here’s the email: “This might be a championship team, but can they possibly survive at linebacker with a couple of free agents replacing Bobby Wagner and Jordyn Brooks?” 

Right, in case your calendar isn’t up to date, the Seahawks open training camp next weekend. 

There are plenty of puzzles surrounding Mike Macdonald’s first year as head coach, but the notion of Tyrel Dodson and Jerome Baker inheriting those inside linebacker spots has vastly increased psychiatrist appointments throughout the Northwest. 

Millions are worried sick. 

Oh, but if you need help, there’s another event starting next weekend, something that might help take your mind off the Seahawks’ porous run defense. 

The flame will be lit to begin the 2024 Paris Olympics. 

SURE, I was being a bit sarcastic there. 

The Seahawks might be a surprise contender in the NFC West this season, but their fan base is fairly limited in eastern Europe and the lower parts of Asia — not to mention that they don’t play an exhibition game until Aug. 10, and the regular season begins with a scrap against Denver on Sept. 8. 

Those linebacker applicants, Dodson and Baker, could be selling cryptocurrency by then. 

Meanwhile. 

The Olympics are breathtaking, and they reach most households on the planet. 

Even my partner, Melissa, who wouldn’t watch any sports event unless held prisoner by terrorists, sets aside entire weeks for the Olympics. 

She would struggle to name the Seahawks quarterback, but happily watches any in-depth video about an Albanian gymnast. 

In case you’ve missed the programming, Netflix is now delivering sports features on famous individuals or glamorous teams from various eras. 

They’re aimed at a global audience — several are soccer-themed — and naturally, that means the Olympics. 

The time spread is magic, from current American sprinters Sha’Carri Richardson and Noah Lyles to the racial struggles of icon Jesse Owens — defying Hitler at the Berlin Games in 1936. 

There are also amazing peeks into the lives and personalities of record-holding Jamaican sprinters — at home, and during workout sessions with reggae music blaring across Kingston. 

Some of the most insightful thoughts were presented in various snippets featuring Usain Bolt, without argument the greatest sprinter of all time. 

So many of these cuts are one-off, either short interviews or action replays that still produce goosebumps. 

COMING right on the doorstep of the Paris Olympics, so many of these track and field tales have already become watch-again material. 

Most of it is dramatic, but it’s not all heart-warming.

The story of American sprint queen Florence Griffith-Joyner, whose world record in the 200 meters from 1988 incredibly still stands, can produce tears after all this time. 

Flo-Jo died of a brain seizure, just 38 years old, and even now, I remember the world of sports just standing still to process the shock. 

It’s also tough to watch the multiple-episode whose title says it all: “The Life and Trials of Oscar Pistorius.” 

Anyone who follows sports at all will remember the thrills of seeing Pistorius, the South African wonderkid who ran on an artificial foot — and won, eventually competing against able-bodied athletes. 

Oscar was a worldwide hero, living proof that you can overcome physical and mental handicaps. 

But tragedy overwhelmed this feel-good story, when Pistorius shot and killed his live-in girlfriend — by accident, he claimed. 

The trail and appeal dragged on and on, with a sports icon in the middle and two seemingly lovely families enduring heartbreak on both sides of a stunning death. 

The bottom line, and the reason I’m mentioning both the Olympics and some of famous (or infamous) athletes in the middle of these stories, is that even icons are human. 

The Netflix productions remind us again, and the Olympics — featuring competitors from big-city neighborhoods to village hamlets — will underline it all again. 

Back at our house, we’ll be watch the Albanian gymnast again and again, no matter how she does. 

That’s sports. 

That’s life. 

Email: scameron@cdapress.com 

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press four times each week, normally Tuesday through Friday unless, you know, stuff happens. 

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”