So, 99% of my life, I would consider myself someone who really couldn’t care less about football. I don’t care about players stats, I don’t care who’s fumbled the ball, I don’t care what team we’re up against this weekend. My dad considers this one of his shortcomings as a father: not managing to pass his love of football on to his eldest child.
But, in that final 1% of my life, when our home team makes it all the way to the Superbowl, giving my city something to get excited about in the midst of dreary February… I can get a little like this:
I feel bad for the people who continue to hate sports even when they give us something to celebrate about. Seattle hasn’t had a major championship win since 1979 – That’s before myself or any of my friends were even born. The Mariners are an embarrassment, we don’t even HAVE the Sonics anymore, and the last time the Seahawks went to the Superbowl we were totally stomped. The past few months (and especially these last few weeks since the Playoffs) have filled Seattle with camaraderie, sportsmanship, team spirit and best of all hope.
I’ve seen more 12th Man flags, more buildings shining blue and green lights, and people walking around jerseys than people in wizard garb at a Harry Potter con. You can help but get involved. It’s infectious.
I might not really care about the game itself, but I can appreciate an exciting event when I see one, and more so an excuse to throw a good party. Which is exactly what my friends and I (and most of the city of Seattle) did yesterday.
We came up with all sorts of silly traditions, such as taking jello shots at kickoff (and then again after halftime) – Justin ended up eating the final 1/3 of a cake he began eating during the Playoffs game, David wore a football helmet during the offensive plays and everyone pretty much sat in the same seats we sat in two weeks ago – there was obviously some sort of good luck vibe going on so we couldn’t mess any of it up.
I know a lot of the country thought yesterdays game was boring, and I understand that. Winning by a landslide is not nearly as thrilling of TV as an evenly matched, down to the wire game. But please just imagine what it felt like for a Seattleite, watching one amazing play after another and just feeling totally awesome about our city. The perpetual underdogs, rising up for a freaking amazing win. I am so proud to be from Seattle right now, I’m proud to have experienced this crazy event, and I am so happy for my friends and family (especially my Dad) who spend so much more time being invested in this team.
Today marks my retreat back to being a non-sports fan, but I enjoyed it while it was happening. I’m happy this made so many people in my city so happy.