Seattle on Sundays

Being in the city of Seattle on a fall Sunday has opened my eyes to the hype behind the fans in Seattle. They are the textbook definition of die hard.

Now I am far from a Seattle Seahawks fan. I would even goes as far as to say that I don't particularly like them. That may have started when Giants kicker Jay Feely missed three game winning field goals against Seattle in 2005 causing us to lose the #1 seed in the NFC playoffs.

Regardless of my prior feelings, I couldn't help but appreciate. Downtown Seattle on Sunday morning. I could not find a single person who was not adorned with Seahawks apparrel. Even the homeless and panhandlers had managed to throw on their Blue and Green attire.

Nick and I contemplating getting tickets for the game until we realized that the minimum we would find was $150 a ticket. I still haggled for the sport of it, stating "$30 cash in hand, I walk." No luck.

My prior NFL tailgating experience consists of thousands of drunk Giants fans screaming at each other and opposing fans in a parking lot in New Jersey for hours.

Seattle's pre-game celebration consists of packed sports bars, a great drum line, peanut vendors, and a small parking lot filled with rowdy fans firing footballs into the crowd at the other end of the parking lot, only to repeatedly hit un-expecting people in the head with that football.

HIGHLIGHTS:

-A mid fifties female Seahawks fan swears that she recalls being intimate with me in the 1970s at a nightclub. (2 mustache points for me.)

-3 Seahawks fans mistake me for the character "Russell Hammond, from Almost Famous." Their words, "STILLWATER! You're the singer from Stillwater!" (another 3 mustache points)

- A tailgating mother insists that we eat her Seahawks rice-crispy-treats. She won't let us leave without them. Who do I hold responsible? (My mustache.)

MY CONCLUSION:

Seattle rocks, has always rocked and will continue to rock like a hippie's bassinet! What rocks harder than Seattle? Seattle on Football Sundays. It felt like a college campus on gameday, only it wasn't a college, it was a city. I will never question the home field advantage of Qwest Field again.

However.....as great and as passionate as Seattle's fans are, they will never, ever compare to the die hard, blue blooded fans of the New York Giants. I've watched two smack talking mid-twenties Eagles fans get ripped from their car windows and slammed down to the Meadowlands pavement they had so cockily rolled over, by two grey haired Giants Fans who's only message or explanation to boys was a calmly stated "watch your mouth."

All in all, I love football, I love America and I love jetBlue for making this trip happen.

-Mike