OT: Seahawks fans welcome team home

Mods, please feel free to move this or merge it with a previous thread I started about a year ago (I'm not very tech savvy and don't post very often so couldn't find that thread).

So I have been living here in Seattle and got to experience the pats winning the superbowl from here, which was awesome! I was living in Philly when they beat the Eagles, also very satisfying. It was great to rub it in a little to my coworkers and we had some friendly wagers going that netted me enough alcohol to host a nice victory party. I miss New England like craz, but, hey I'm not going to be shoveling any snow this week.

It has been fascinating to see the sports culture out here, and I posted about this a year ago before we played Seattle in the superbowl. There is a general optimism that borders on childishness, but it's cute and maybe even a little infectious. They were having a terrible season early on, but few fans (at least the ones I interacted with) seemed to lose hope or jump ship or leave the bandwagon (there are plenty of those). Victories against poor teams were celebrated, whereas I think we pats fans would just look past those and be onto the next week as quickly as possible. Even the radio guys out here seem to at least enjoy the team.

Which leads me to this: After getting destroyed by Carolina, the Seahawks arrived back in Seattle last night, to find the airport packed with fans welcoming them home, and some of the streets lined with fans as the bus went to the stadium. I don't know, I thought that was pretty cool. And while the Lynch not playing in the prior game was a story, it was beaten to death on the radio here. Now, I tried to imagine just how many of us pats fans would welcome the team home (I, and I think a lot of this board certainly would, as I have seen so many threads about just how much we appreciate this team, but I'm not sure about the bandwagoners or some those in the game day threads). And let's say Gronk decided he was not ready to play in a playoff game, and team went on to lose a game (not a perfect analogy to the Lynch situation, but something to ponder...). How crazy would Boston sports radio be?

I love the pats, and I love reading this board for excellent, educated football talk. But I do yearn for some occasional media support from our local guys (Curran is great, but that's pretty much it...).

I just think of the poor reception the colts got after they lost to the Saints in 09

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PatsDoc said:

Mods, please feel free to move this or merge it with a previous thread I started about a year ago (I'm not very tech savvy and don't post very often so couldn't find that thread).

So I have been living here in Seattle and got to experience the pats winning the superbowl from here, which was awesome! I was living in Philly when they beat the Eagles, also very satisfying. It was great to rub it in a little to my coworkers and we had some friendly wagers going that netted me enough alcohol to host a nice victory party. I miss New England like craz, but, hey I'm not going to be shoveling any snow this week.

It has been fascinating to see the sports culture out here, and I posted about this a year ago before we played Seattle in the superbowl. There is a general optimism that borders on childishness, but it's cute and maybe even a little infectious. They were having a terrible season early on, but few fans (at least the ones I interacted with) seemed to lose hope or jump ship or leave the bandwagon (there are plenty of those). Victories against poor teams were celebrated, whereas I think we pats fans would just look past those and be onto the next week as quickly as possible. Even the radio guys out here seem to at least enjoy the team.

Which leads me to this: After getting destroyed by Carolina, the Seahawks arrived back in Seattle last night, to find the airport packed with fans welcoming them home, and some of the streets lined with fans as the bus went to the stadium. I don't know, I thought that was pretty cool. And while the Lynch not playing in the prior game was a story, it was beaten to death on the radio here. Now, I tried to imagine just how many of us pats fans would welcome the team home (I, and I think a lot of this board certainly would, as I have seen so many threads about just how much we appreciate this team, but I'm not sure about the bandwagoners or some those in the game day threads). And let's say Gronk decided he was not ready to play in a playoff game, and team went on to lose a game (not a perfect analogy to the Lynch situation, but something to ponder...). How crazy would Boston sports radio be?

I love the pats, and I love reading this board for excellent, educated football talk. But I do yearn for some occasional media support from our local guys (Curran is great, but that's pretty much it...).

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1) People still welcome the team home, regardless of result. They do. Every year. It's just not a big story a) and b) they don't really go anywhere. They mostly play home games.

2) It was a bigger deal when the Patriots won for the first time pretty much, 30 years ago, when people turned up to welcome the team back.

Sports radio, and the BSM never have the team's back, especially when they're winning. There's nothing new there, and it doesn't sell papers or drive ratings.

But, unlike other places, losers don't get parades or banners. And to be honest, that's one thing I love about this area. You win, you get the accolades, but there is no second winner.

The "everyone gets a trophy" routine is great in Indianapolis or Seattle, but trust me (and the 09 Colts is a great example), it will get tiresome, quickly.

I also live in Washington and I find Seahawks fans insufferable. There was always a core group of hardcore fans but now there's an over abundance of people who said football was stupid 5 years ago that are now somehow diehard football fans. The funny thing is, at the beginning of the season, the Seahawks flags were out in front of everyone's house, on their cars, hell you couldn't walk 5 feet without seeing Seahawks something. When I dropped the kids off at school, literally 5 out of 10 parents and kids had something Seahawks on, and sometimes almost 100% But...

Do you know what happened when they started losing? Flags got brought in, car flags were no where to be seen, apparel turned to more standard clothing (probably 2 out of 10 now). What happened when they started winning again? The jerseys came back, the flags came back out (seriously?!), people stopped showing up for church again when there were 10am kick off times.

After last year's Super Bowl, I literally had to stop wearing Patriots apparel (which is half my wardrobe) to
restaraunts for fear someone would spit in my food, I had a Patriots sweatshirt and coffee thermus stolen from work last year, everyone calls me "cheater" (like I deflated the damn balls). People stop and do double takes and scowl in disbelief as I shop in a store or walk on the sidewalk. I keep to myself as well, I didn't trash talk once last year. In fact I was at a Seahawks Super Bowl Party with my Brady jersey on and I kept quiet, I was trying to be respectful and didn't scream when Malcom intercepted it, as bad as I wanted to. I don't live in Seattle like OP but in my city the Patriots are the most hated team. More so than the 49ers. People talk more about how much they hate the Patriots than they do about their own team. It's incredible!

I've met quite a few people here, Packers fans from Wisconsin, quite a few Steelers fans born in Penn., there's Broncos fans, Titans fans, lots of Cowboys, Raiders, and 49ers fans. Every SINGLE one of them loved Super Bowl 49, not because it was a great game, but because they can't stand the Seahawks or their fanbase. I've never got an ounce of crap from them about deflategate and they've all been nothing but respectful.

So yeah, maybe they did show up in full force to the airport. I think they just want something to hold onto considering the joke of a sports state they are. Prior to the only 3 good years of the Mariners they held onto a 1979 Sonics title and a UW Husky football program that won the 1991 National Title and many Rose Bowls. But guess what? Sonics are gone, Mariners are the Browns of MLB, the band wagoners jumped off the UW football team (the only Washington State sports team I will root for) and migrated towards the Seahawks.

I prefer Washington State to suck at just about every sport, that way, half the current fans will go back to sewing and I can go back to enjoying my sports in peace.

/rant

TommyD4207 said:

But, unlike other places, losers don't get parades or banners. And to be honest, that's one thing I love about this area. You win, you get the accolades, but there is no second winner.

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You mean like when Ray Bourque got a parade?

PatsDoc said:

So I have been living here in Seattle and got to experience the pats winning the superbowl from here, which was awesome! I was living in Philly when they beat the Eagles, also very satisfying.

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Please tell me that you are moving to Denver this week and either Carolina or Arizona in two.

Classy move by the fans to recognize the team's efforts not only in fighting back against Carolina, but it's probably more symbolic of the the fans recognizing they've been treated to the best three year span on football in franchise history. Good post.

Sometimes we forget that fans of other teams are not scum and that they are just passionate football fans who happened to be born (or live) somewhere else.

PatsDoc said:

So I have been living here in Seattle and got to experience the pats winning the superbowl from here, which was awesome! I was living in Philly when they beat the Eagles, also very satisfying.

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Too bad you aren't living in Carolina or Arizona.

It seems like Seahawks fans are more passionate about themselves and their little "12s" club than the actual football team. It's bizarre. Like they're content to lose as long as the fans show passion. It's not a bad thing, it's just not my thing.

I've never really understood the almost constant snobbery of football fans of recent years - if you listen to them talk, you come away with the impression that the only way to follow a team is their way.

I think the 12th man thing is pretty cool - anything that helps a bunch of fans feel like a community is a good thing - this goes for FB groups, message boards and the like.

Then we have guys who think that rooting for the team is such a serious business that is can only be done in a particular way - people forget what the whole reason for supporting a team is, and what being a part of a fan base is all about.

None of the above applies to Jets fans obviously.

When you go to Seattle the #12 is everywhere, storefronts, restaurants and lot of fans show their pride.. one time when I was there asked some people if #12 was their way of paying homage to Tom Brady?? Couple of folks smiled, but one guy got pissed so I knocked it off..

If you were to compare Pats rabid fan base to Hawks rabid fan base, they might win..

Back in the Superbowl Run in 96-97, as fans we were all incredibly hungry, during that run would go over after work and welcome the team home at T.F. Green Airport, to catch a glimpse of the returning players.. most of us old time fans really needed that injection of hope, after years of despair.. airport security was different then.

Concussion Protocol said:

It seems like Seahawks fans are more passionate about themselves and their little "12s" club than the actual football team. It's bizarre. Like they're content to lose as long as the fans show passion. It's not a bad thing, it's just not my thing.

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I agree. I respect the Seahawks fans and their commitment to the team but the 12th man thing seems like a cool thing that snowballed into an over the top marketing campaign run amok.

PatsDoc said:

Mods, please feel free to move this or merge it with a previous thread I started about a year ago (I'm not very tech savvy and don't post very often so couldn't find that thread).

So I have been living here in Seattle and got to experience the pats winning the superbowl from here, which was awesome! I was living in Philly when they beat the Eagles, also very satisfying. It was great to rub it in a little to my coworkers and we had some friendly wagers going that netted me enough alcohol to host a nice victory party. I miss New England like craz, but, hey I'm not going to be shoveling any snow this week.

It has been fascinating to see the sports culture out here, and I posted about this a year ago before we played Seattle in the superbowl. There is a general optimism that borders on childishness, but it's cute and maybe even a little infectious. They were having a terrible season early on, but few fans (at least the ones I interacted with) seemed to lose hope or jump ship or leave the bandwagon (there are plenty of those). Victories against poor teams were celebrated, whereas I think we pats fans would just look past those and be onto the next week as quickly as possible. Even the radio guys out here seem to at least enjoy the team.

Which leads me to this: After getting destroyed by Carolina, the Seahawks arrived back in Seattle last night, to find the airport packed with fans welcoming them home, and some of the streets lined with fans as the bus went to the stadium. I don't know, I thought that was pretty cool. And while the Lynch not playing in the prior game was a story, it was beaten to death on the radio here. Now, I tried to imagine just how many of us pats fans would welcome the team home (I, and I think a lot of this board certainly would, as I have seen so many threads about just how much we appreciate this team, but I'm not sure about the bandwagoners or some those in the game day threads). And let's say Gronk decided he was not ready to play in a playoff game, and team went on to lose a game (not a perfect analogy to the Lynch situation, but something to ponder...). How crazy would Boston sports radio be?

I love the pats, and I love reading this board for excellent, educated football talk. But I do yearn for some occasional media support from our local guys (Curran is great, but that's pretty much it...).

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I liked you post until the last line.

Media is supposed to report. Not to act as cheerleader or troll.

Unfortunately, very few in the media do so, which is why getting a good, unbiased reporter/analyst is like finding gold to those of us who want actual information.

smg93 said:

You mean like when Ray Bourque got a parade?

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I'm a lifelong Bruin's fan and Bourque fan and I could never understand for the life of me why people celebrated the way they did when he brought the Cup back to Boston after wining it with the Av's. I had no animosity towards the move that sent him to Colorado and was relieved that h finally got "his" Cup. I wanted nothing to do with it until the B's brought it home in '11.

They admittedly have a good fan base. 105 consecutive sellouts as of 1/15, dating back to 2002, despite some pretty lousy losing seasons (e.g., 4-12, 5-11).

The reality is the Pats have consistently won, with an annual and realistic expectation of Super Bowls, for 15 years. The Hawks went in 2005, and returned 8 years later after a coaching change. The Pats fans saw this team win 3 of 4 between 2001 and 2004, have been pummelled by Spygate and Deflategate, witnessed 16-0 with a loss at the end and another Super Bowl loss before a phenomenal win last year. The behavior of the typical fan should be conditioned by what happens to the team.

Are there some fans of this team who likely do not appreciate this team and its accomplishments or might disappear if the team is not a championship contender one day? Sure. Is this a great fans base? Absolutely. Look at the attendance at preseason practices open to the public. Are the two fanbases the same? Probably not. But that does not make one better or worse, just different.

PatsDoc said:

Which leads me to this: After getting destroyed by Carolina, the Seahawks arrived back in Seattle last night, to find the airport packed with fans welcoming them home, and some of the streets lined with fans as the bus went to the stadium.

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I wouldn't say the Hawks got destroyed. They lost by a touchdown. The shut the Panthers out in the second half and scored 24 unanswered points in that time.

The whole 12th man things feels very obnoxious to me now, if I was a Seahawks fan, I'd like it, just like if I was a Steelers fan I'd like the terrible towel. It's something near and dear to those fan bases.

smg93 said:

You mean like when Ray Bourque got a parade?



Please tell me that you are moving to Denver this week and either Carolina or Arizona in two.

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I can't speak for Ray Bourque or Bruins fans. As a Whalers fan, I'd suggest that behavior's probably typical of them, atypical of the other sports fans in the area.

I was in Seattle in August, and for sure the Seahawks colors and 12 were EVERYWHERE. They certainly support their team.
The one guy who commented on my Pats shirt said "thanks for beating them in the SB" as he was a 49ers fan and was glad someone had shut them up. ;-)

I lived in Seattle when you could walk up to any ticket window at the Kingdome and get a ticket minutes before a game and you certainly didn't see people walking around in Hawks jerseys. Every team's fan base swells when the team does well. Claims otherwise are nonsense.