After cheering for the Seattle Seahawks since I was a young boy, I finally got to celebrate a Super Bowl win with my family and friends. Then, a few days later, I was able to celebrate the Seahawks first ever Super Bowl win with almost 1 million other Hawks fans. What a party!
After watching the Seahawks dominate the Broncos, I celebrated the win by staying up all night. I just couldn’t go to sleep; I was so dang excited. I watched tons of postgame interviews, celebrations, I watched the game again, played some Madden and enjoyed using social media to see the Seahawks tweet their excitement. Eventually my parents woke up, so I went upstairs and shared the special moment once again with them.
That next day I was the happiest man in the world and what did I decide to do? Well, I got myself a haircut and made sure to shave off that nasty playoff mustache. Sometime around 3pm my body shut down and I fell asleep. I woke up again at 9pm and stayed awake for another hour, just to make sure this wasn’t all a dream. And then I slept till 11 am. Those were two great days.
So once I woke up, I realized that the amount of people for the parade was estimated at 300,000. Prediction was a bit off, but it got the point across. I decided that I needed to make my way over to Seattle asap in order to make the best out of this experience. So I booked a hostel and headed on over to Seattle. My hostel was located right next to beautiful Pike Place Market. I scouted out the best spot on the parade route walking down 4th Avenue and around the stadium.
The 12’s are awake bright and early
It was a quick stop at the hostel, because when I was walking at 8pm I saw that people were already parking and setting up spots for the parade. I was at the hostel just long enough to shower and use their computer to tweet my excitement. I checked out of my hostel (it was a short stay) and drove over to Century Link Field. I paid for my great parking spot for an even better price, well at least until 4am when it became “Event Parking.” That is when I said good bye to my spending money. Before catching some sleep I made sure to secure a spot on the sidewalk. I had an extremely cold sleep in my car until 7am and then I walked two blocks to my parade spot. Lots of people were already lining up for the parade, so I had to pick up my bag and leave the sidewalk. There was going to be no comfortable seating for anyone. It was PACKED by about 10am. The 12th Man is truly a family, and we had to get comfortable and up close real quick.
I was waiting from 7am till about 2pm and eventually the players, coaches, cheerleaders and a whole ton of skittles came through. The wait and anticipation was all worth it. Getting to see the players up close and personal was very cool. I managed to stand in the 3rd row of the packed crowd. I cheered, started SEA!!! Hawks!!! chants, took pictures, chanted L.O.B., took some more pictures and truly enjoyed sharing the moment with the many 12th Man and the Seahawks players.
Luke Willson is the man
Once everyone passed, I followed the players into the stadium. Well, not quite. I was able to get into the stadium parking lot and watch the rally on a nice big screen TV just outside Century Link. All the Seahawks players were introduced, speeches were spoken and fans were going wild.
After the show was done, I was in dire need of some water. I was exhausted! It had been a long day of standing and walking. Luckily, I found a place just outside the stadium where they were selling deep fried donuts or something like that. Anyways, all I wanted was some water. But, the line took about 30 minutes, and I froze my butt off. But, looking on the bright side of things: I eventually got my water and I got to talk to a fan that went to NY to watch the Super Bowl. He had a lot of great pictures and stories to share.
I finally headed back to my car, but on the way back there was a Fox reporter interviewing some fans and talking about the parade. So I made sure to photo bomb the news and I, in fact, did make it on TV. You can see me in the upper corner of the TV, yes I am now famous. My car eventually warmed me up and I could finally layer down. I could breathe!
On the drive home I was able to reflect on the Seattle Seahawks amazing season. What a great finish to a fantastic season. As a fan, the Seahawks have done more than just win games. They have changed people’s lives in a positive way. The Seahawks have given us all something to cheer about when life isn’t all high-fives and thumbs up. The Seattle Seahawks appreciate the 12th Man’s support just as much as we appreciate their play both on and off the field.
Doug Baldwin lovin the 12th Man
So, as the 12th Man slowly ventures from cloud 9 back to reality, we can reflect and remember the great moments we have all shared with each other. Through the ups and downs of life we can always remember the time that the Seattle Seahawks achieved greatness by winning the Super Bowl. We can remember the time that the Seattle Seahawks went down 4th Avenue holding up that Lombardi trophy in front of nearly 1 million fans. And finally, we can remember when this group of normal people used their athletic ability to positively change lives and show all of us that anything is possible. Would it be too much to anticipate another Super Bowl victory parade in the near future? Not according to Pete Carroll who said, “We’re just getting warmed up, if you know what I’m talking about.” Yes, you read that right. The Seattle Seahawks are just getting warmed up. Watch out NFL. Go Hawks!
David.Stobbe 