Super Bowl Eve
I have been a diehard Seattle Seahawk fan nearly forever. I have put up with so many losing seasons, so many years without playoff games. That is not to say that there have not been years that the Seahawks did not do well, it just did not happen that often.
In the first hint of an improvement in the team, came one fateful day when the Seahawks would face the Green Bay Packers for the NFC championship on the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field. It was a good game, championship caliber, until regulation ended, and Seattle’s quarterback decided to pull a “Joe Namath” and during the coin toss, instead of just calling the side of coin, decided to add, “because we’re going to win.” Unlike Broadway Joe who actually won his game that he bragged about, Matt Hasselback threw an interception to a Packer that scored the winning points.
But in 2006, magic and consistency developed for the Seahawks. So much so, I had a gut feeling that it was going to be their year. Unlike the boast made by the former quarterback, I had something else to be the deciding factor of the Seahawks going to the Super Bowl, Murphy’s Law.
I was due to travel to China to adopt my youngest daughter. And as the timing drew near, my fears would come true. There was a good chance that I would not get to watch the Super Bowl not only for the first time in my life, but the Seahawks would actually be in the Super Bowl. I even joked with a friend that he should “bet his house” on the Seahawks beating the St. Louis Rams for the NFC championship. “I am telling you, the Seahawks are going to win the NFC championship, and go to the Super Bowl, and I will not get to see it because I will be flying to China.
The Seahawks beat the Rams to go to the Super Bowl. And I was flying over the North Pole during kick-off. When I landed in Hong Kong, I called my father to let him know that we had landed, my father, who knew as much about football and I did about Nascar (he may have known the color of a football, and I knew cars went around in circles). My father broke the news to me that it was good that I did not get to see the game and then began to rattle off one statistic after another, clearly he was paying attention to the announcers. But the Seahawks had lost to the Pittsburg Steelers.
And so, with a 13 hour time difference, Emmalie was placed in my arms later that Super Bowl Sunday.
I never did get to see the game. I had DVRed the game, but technology combined with my desire to record the game in HD… memory had been filled during the two weeks we were gone, and the Super Bowl, being the oldest program, was deleted from the memory.
But every year, I would get my daughters into the Seahawk spirit to route along with Daddy, and cheer on the Seahawks.
So last year, should have been the year that I finally got to enjoy the Seahawks return to the Super Bowl with a rising star at quarterback. I had been planning on hosting a Super Bowl party, but had decided against it, as I was in the middle of my divorce, and instead watched the Seahawks dismantle the Denver Broncos for their first Super Bowl Championship from my laptop.
Here we are, the Seahawks have the chance to repeat as Super Bowl Champions, the first time since it was done last, by the opponents they face tomorrow, the New England Patriots. All controversies aside, all I want to see is a good game. I wish my daughters were here with me to see it, but I will be surrounded by friends who remind every day, that my daughters are always with me, in my heart. This time of year always means more to me than just a game.
My pick… Seattle 24 New England 20
Paul's Heart 