I’m really stoked for the Seattle Seahawks NFC Championship game today. A lot of my oldest friends from high school are probably surprised that I’m a big Hawks fan, as I was actually known to be pretty anti-sports in high school.
The answer to this is simple:
I was never anti-sports. But I was anti-high school jock. In high school, most of the jocks I knew (outside of the handful who were friends like Thomas Herron, John Anderson and a few others) were assholes and privileged brats who mostly came from old Republican West Seattle money, and they never shied away from a chance to demonstrate that in school.
I’ll never forget the time I saw one of our West Side High so-called “star” jocks knock a girl to the ground in the halls, simply because she wasn’t one of the popular, cheerleader pretty girl types. Pissed me off to no end.
Myself, on the other hand, well I was more of a hippie, rocker, and yes, stoner type who came from more working class roots and values. And yes, I was the guy who helped that “ugly” girl up to her feet. Got me free burgers at Herfys (where she worked) for quite awhile I might add.
These are the same values I see demonstrated by the Seahawks. They are the perennial underdogs who through hard work and a dedication to excellence have risen to the cream of the crop in the otherwise elitist atmosphere of the NFL, and they have brought this city together to foster a civic pride that is nothing short of contagiously awesome.
This year has been particularly sweet because of the way they overcame their own mid-season identity crisis (I loved the 1995 Mariners for much the same reasons).
A repeat trip for this amazing team to the SuperBowl would be awesome.
Go, Hawks!