SEAHAWKS!!!!

It still hasn't hit me. I don't know if it ever will. So many feelings have gone over me the last couple hours. I can't describe it. For once Seattle is a winner. After years of heartbreak, pain, of almost getting to the promise land, we have done it. We. Are. Super Bowl Champs. I laugh thinking about it. It's almost surreal. I watch ESPN and they're talking about us. All the heartbreak we've endured,has melted away. I just have trouble fathoming it. 

If your a Seattle fan, you get no respect. Yes it sucks to be a cubs fan, but at least people respect you. Same with Boston during all of those years they were awful. But if your a Seattle fan you get dissed by everyone. You get mocked and called sea chickens by Colin Cowherd, bill Plashke says your villains to Manning's White Knight ( Plashke just be honest and call him the great white hope), you go into a bar and people ask" hey isn't that Canada?". People think your just a bunch of coffee drinking Frazier Crane Portlandia types and they say "oh it rains and you have sucide's, and serial killers and trees right?". Maybe that's true. 

Maybe yes we have a high rate of weirdness. Maybe we like good coffee. Maybe we give a shit were we get our food but you know what else, we are a tough place full of a tough people. We're tough not just because of the terrain and weather. We're not just tough because we've always been willing to fight the system whether it be the 1919 general strike or the WTO riots. No we're tough because even in the face of humiliation and heartbreak, we continue to push forward to carry on. 

In the 30 years that I've been alive, I've dealt with the heartbreak of Seattle sports. Being 11 and watching Joey Cora cry after we lost to the Indians. Losing to Jordan in the 96 finals. Watching as our teams would implode. Never being able to beat the Yankees. Losing again and again. Watching  Griffey, one of  the greatest players of the past 50 years never reaching a World Series. Losing the Sonics to Oklahoma City! Seeing the Seahawks be so awful in the 90s. Thinking as a kid," man why wasn't I born someplace else, losing sucks". Growing cynical to the point that you believed the awful things people would say about your teams. You start thinking we're never going to win. You one day see that the Jabba the hut looking owner wants to move the Seahawks to LA and you think " great what else is new?"

But things change. At first it seems strange. You get a new owner, a nerd who seems to give a damn. He's willing to spend the money to get the right talent. He goes out and blows your mind right away because he hires Mike Holmgren, the best coach on the market. That's not supposed to happen. You expected us to get the assistant to the Niners, but Mike Holmgren ? This guy won a freaking Super Bowl, he's coming to Seattle? He changes the mindset of the team, he changes the mindset of the fans. Maybe we aren't losers? Maybe we have a chance! He takes you to the Super Bowl and we get screwed. Pittsburg fans now admit it, the Seahawks got screwed. Maybe we wouldn't of won, but it would if been a lot closer. In the mist of that heartbreak you keep on charging forward thinking one day we'll win. Maybe one day we'll win. 

But you don't win and things get worse. 

But as the team gets old and beat up something happens to the fans. We slowly go insane. We're told we don't care. I guess if you don't throw batteries at the opposing team or boo Santa your not a real fan. We hear that and go " Oh yeah! Fuck you clown, this is how a fan is!" The 12th man and our insanity starts to take over. We start to make Raiders fans look like children. We know we will win just give it time. 

Holmgren leaves and we suck hard. You hear they're going to hire Pete Carroll and you go "Pretty boy?" You think is he just going to be another Nick Sabin and head back to college? Is he hiding out? Of course USC fans think he's a villain though every program is dirty and you show me an honest program and I'll show you a dead hooker. Your hesitant, but then you give the guy a chance because that's what you were taught. The guys not a screamer like a Ditka or a brooding killer like a Belichek. He's about having fun and being positive in the face of insanity. You think " what hippie commune did this guy come from?" But  you realize, he's an ex player who never got his shot at the pros. All he ever wanted was to just play one play. He got close to his dream and never got it. You thing wait a second maybe this guys all right. So you drink the Kool aid .

At first things are crap. Your friends mock you. They say " Pete Carroll's too nice to be an NFL coach". But something happens. Out of pure luck you get into the playoffs. Your not supposed to win, but because of Marshawn Lynch's run ,that will be up there with Griffey sliding into home, you win. Maybe Pete's right. Of course your Bay Area relatives give you crap, especially your great uncle. But you stay the course you don't abandon your team. This hippie coach has the presence of mind to go with a rookie  QB over the sure fire thing and you start winning. All of those who dissed you are now praising you guys. They say" maybe this is your year".  

At the beginning of the season you feel something in your gut. It's saying " I think this is the year". Of course you keep it in check. But as the season keeps on going, this gut instinct grows more and more. You think it's going to happen. But you keep your cool. You've had your fare share of heartbreak. But you just know in your heart it's your time. You get to the Super Bowl. Of course the pundits by now have called you thugs and villains. A racial dimension takes hold. They don't think your the real deal. But you keep your cool and when the game starts it's as if all the pain and heartbreak, every diss, every put down Seattle has ever received is taken out on the other team.  It's almost as if the Seahawks turned into Ralphie  from " A Christmas Story" when he beats up the bully. When the dust clears, the Seahawks are Super Bowl Champions.

This win wasn't just a win for The Seahawks. This was for years of pain and agony by Seattle sports fans. This was for  the 06 Super Bowl. This was for the crappiness of the Huskies, thanks to the NCAA.This was for never being able to beat the Yankees. This was for the Sonics moving to Oklahoma City. This was for Ken Griffey Jr. never getting a ring. All of this is what the 12th man represented. 

Now we go forward. No longer as everyone's punching bag but as victors. I won't think about the future just yet ,but for now I will enjoy this moment. I will walk with a bit more swagger. I will walk not just as a Seahawks fan, but as a proud son of Washingtonian.