The Game, The Team

Photo: Seahawks.com

 

 

I was a young teen living in Washington state when I started to really think about football. I grew up with football on. My dad loved it, my mom couldn't care less. I was ambivalent. But then we left my home and friends in Oregon and moved to Washington when I turned 13. Not a particularly wonderful time in life anyway. I was lonely.

So I started to pay attention. My little brother loved football. Wore the gear, watched the games, talked football. My dad loved football. I started by loving the math of football. I quickly started breaking down the win-lose points for each team and getting my dad and brother to guess the outcomes of each NFL game each week. I took math to the problem, not with any sophistication. My 7-year old brother paid attention and started learning how to average scores and guess outcomes. (So my mom was happy, because he was learning.) And football became a way to connect.

Then I started loving the people of football. Steve Largent, Curt Warner, Dave Krieg, Jim Zorn...they were people with stories and families. The team was people and I love a good story.

Being a fan is inclusive. And being a fan in Seattle (or the Northwest really) is a participative sport. Fans would go to meet the team plane after heartbreaking losses or exhilarating wins in the middle of the night. The city would wear Seahawk gear, and talk Seahawks. I never loved much about Seattle, but I did love being a Seahawk fan.

And then slowly over the years, I began to know the game. And I began to love the game. I began to love the breathtaking long bombs thrown into nothingness and sometimes mysteriously caught. I began to love the Herculean runs and hurtling tackles. The amazing kickoffs, punts, and field goal attempts. The blocked field goals. The defense trying to break through to sack the quarterback.

I'm a fan of underdogs. I cheer for the team most likely not to win. It is my nature. It is strange to find myself a fan of Super Bowl champs. But watching the fan celebration yesterday in Seattle, I have to love this team. These players gathering to be cheered who brought their cameras to record the crowds there for them. Like they still couldn't believe it. I love Golden Tate who says "Please let me be a Seahawk. I will take a pay cut to stay." This team exudes a love of the game that the fans share. They may be on top but as commentator after commentator said over and over, "They are too small, too young, too inexperienced, too untalented to be on top." So now I'm a fan of a team who overcame the odds with hard work, determination, and LOVE of the game to be no. 1. It's a good thing to be. Go Hawks!