Les Carpenter / Times staff columnist
Not easy for Tim Hasselbeck to carve niche in own family

By Les Carpenter
Seattle Times staff columnist

	ROD MAR / THE SEATTLE TIMES Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck could oppose his brother, Tim, a Washington quarterback, tomorrow at FedExField. The two last played on the same field for Xaverian Brothers (Mass.) High School.
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ASHBURN, Va. — Long before the Hasselbeck boys grew up and joined the family business of knocking helmets in the NFL, there was a joke that ran among the children.

"Back in high school we used to call Tim 'son of Don and brother of Matt,' " says Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck. "Because all the stories about him in the newspaper would always say 'Tim Hasselbeck, the son of Don and brother of Matt.' "

If you think that disturbs the son of Don and brother of Matt, it does not. Tim Hasselbeck has had a lifetime to get used to it. Like the time he stood before a second-grade class and the teacher said "This is Tim Hasselbeck and he's moved here because his father just got traded to the Minnesota Vikings."

When you grow up in professional football, you lose your identity pretty fast.

Tim Hasselbeck is a quarterback for Washington, or at least he has been for the past few weeks. Over the last two years, he has also been a quarterback for Buffalo, Baltimore, Carolina and Philadelphia, which means he has a lot of yellow, change-of-address stickers on his mail. It also means he doesn't have a lot of name recognition.

Quarterbacks who drift from team to team as the last player on the roster don't build much in the way of name recognition. And hardly a week goes by in which some fan goofs and refers to Tim as Matt. He says the people are usually genuinely sorry the moment they realize their mistake. He also says he doesn't mind.

"It's never been a bad thing for me to be compared to my big brother," he says.

Still the big brother is becoming quite famous these days as the quarterback for the Seahawks, perhaps more than even their father, who was a rugged tight end for the New England Patriots. Everyone knew Don, everyone is getting to know Matt but no one has heard much of Tim. He has probably never been more the son of Don and brother of Matt than now.

To make matters worse, Tim's wife, Elisabeth, was on the cast of "Survivor: The Australian Outback" and was one of the last four to remain on the show. She has her own fashion show on the E! Network and is one of three finalists for a regular spot on the daytime TV show "The View."

"Now I'm the 'son of Don, brother of Matt and husband of Elisabeth,' " he said.

It hurt the first time Tim was released by an NFL team. Not because he was out of a job but because his father had always been so good and his brother came right out of Boston College and onto the Green Bay Packers. Tim had just finished a career at Boston College that sparkled next to his brother, standing as the school's sixth-best quarterback in total yards and total offense. He just assumed he would be in pro football for years as well.

He looked around and saw his friends from college who were still trying to hang on with NFL teams, flush with the excitement of being so close to professional football. Tim felt empty, ashamed of somehow failing at the family business.

"It bothered me because football was so normal to us," he said. "I had always thought this is the way it's supposed to be."

So while one brother is among the top passers in the NFL this year, the other has thrown three passes and completed two. But there is a chance the drifting could stop for Tim Hasselbeck. Washington coach Steve Spurrier has been taken by his young quarterback's ability to learn the team's complicated offense in just three weeks. And given the way current starter Patrick Ramsey has been pounded by opposing defenses this year, there is a good chance tomorrow's game could pit brother against brother.

As far as the Hasselbecks can tell, it would be the only time two brothers have been the quarterbacks in the same NFL game.

The last time they played together on the same field, Matt was the senior quarterback in their suburban Boston high school playing a game in Connecticut and Matt threw a 5-yard pass to Tim, then a freshman backup quarterback moonlighting for one play as a receiver. Tim caught the ball, broke two tackles and ran for 40 yards.

"That probably stopped us from fighting for a week," Tim laughs.

And you can imagine how the story went in the next day's papers.

"Matt Hasselbeck threw a 40-yard pass to Tim Hasselbeck. Tim is the son of Don and brother of Matt."

Les Carpenter: 206-464-2280 or lcarpenter@seattletimes.com.

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