“Here comes…uh, someone!”

Seattle celebrated this week.

Not because of what we did to your Broncos in front of the largest national TV audience of all.  It’s because our talent-packed Seattle Seahawks played their best game of the season in the one that really counts.  It’s been a lot of years since we’ve seen some professional sports madness take over the town, but this has been a steady build all season.

Now, to be clear, the majority of Seattle fans are confident, not cocky. If you were sitting in my living room during every Seahawks game, you might have heard a relative display a very traditional Seattle sports trait.  We’d fail to score in the red zone and out would come, “Oh, here we go!” or “Well, this is where the bubble bursts.”  It was if they were expecting us to fall short.

But this Seattle Seahawks team has taught us to believe.  We’ve spent a season witnessing what they can do. When they were down three scores to Houston and it looked like we were heading for our first loss of the season, we made an incredible comeback and won the game.  It was that game that convinced me, this team is very real.

Week after week they would demonstrate it.  Every Sunday game became must-sees. But, being tucked away here in Seattle, it’s hard to get the rest of the country to follow the magic that was going on here.  Back in the day, Seattle and Denver were AFC rivals and would always put on a good show.  I’m sure you remember those Elway days.  You won more often than we did.

This time around, we met in a neutral corner and you had American football royalty at your helm, coming off a record-setting season for scoring points.  The media had all but crowned Denver the winner.  Rumors had it that boxer Floyd Mayweather had bet $10-million on the Broncos winning.  You had a great team going into the Super Bowl game and were chosen the favorite in a squeaker.

In this blog a week ago, I went out and said, “Yep, they’re going to win.  Count on it!”  But I’m mad at myself for not going further and predicting a blowout.  This hard-hitting, charismatic collection of young athletes is a crowning achievement unlike Seattle has ever seen.  We knew that, but were hesitant to brag about it.  While there are always a few drunken exceptions, the bulk of us just aren’t that way.

This week, we celebrated the way any championship city salutes their victorious team after winning a national championship.  A parade, TWO stadiums packed with fans, all savoring the moment. Peyton Manning is still a great quarterback, you have a good team and no doubt, your turn will come again.  But the 2014 Super Bowl was our year.  It was in our sights the entire time and we wanted it.  Had it been a close game, you might have been tempted to think our win was a fluke, that you could have won if the refs hadn’t missed a key call, etc.   We’ve been there.

Unfortunately, the media didn’t pass along to you just how good this team was.

So, forgive us as over 700,000 of us take to the streets and go a little nuts.

We are the Champions!  Go Hawks!

Tim Hunter