Seahawks fever has escalated as fans in the Kent area prepare for the Super Bowl matchup against Denver.
After the harrowingly close victory over San Francisco, the 12th Man are making plans for what will certainly be a tense and emotional end of the season.
Mary Clark, of Kent, says she plans to have 15 people at her house for the game. In addition to breaking out her Seahawks gear, she plans to make a plate of nachos with “all the fixings,” her standard game-day dish. Her favorite memory of the season? Richard Sherman’s now famous tip in the fourth quarter against the 49ers. The moment’s leading up to that decisive play left her incredibly tense.
“At the 2-minute mark I was walking back and forth, I could not sit down,” Clark said. But she’s less worried about Seattle’s chances for this game than she was for the playoff. “The last game, it was a nail biter, but we got the 49ers, I’m not scared of the Broncos.”
Edwin Singh and Jay Gounder, students who go to local community colleges, are both looking forward to their game-day party with unbridled enthusiasm. While they don’t have any particular traditions for the day, they do plan to have a large party at their house in Kent.
While many fans say that Sherman’s tipped pass was the highlight of their season, Singh and Gounder said that their personal favorite moment from the season was Seattle’s second-half comeback against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. “That game was more of a screaming match,” said Singh, who described seeing the Seahawks point deficiency as “the worst feeling.”
Both Singh and Gounder schedule their work around the games on Sunday, and if they can’t, they find other ways to watch the game. Gounder keeps the TV in the store tuned to the game, while Singh, who works at Fry’s, finds reasons to go back to the TV section to stay updated.
The students said that their favorite memories of Seahawks games are cheering and screaming at the TV when the great plays are made.
“The Seahawks are the one thing that brings everyone together,” Singh said.
Businesses also have jumped on board, decorating their stores with Seahawks flags and banners, and employees roll in with jerseys and other spirit merchandise. At Trapper’s Sushi in Kent Station, bartender Chris Watson sported his No. 25 Sherman jersey for Blue Friday.
“The guy is just a beast,” he said, citing his eight interceptions. He said that while his family used to host games at different houses, they’ve remained at his house for good luck. “They lost when we were somewhere else, so now it’s at my house,” he said. His gameday meal includes some of his home-brewed IPA and light eats. While he likes going to games, he says watching from home can be more convenient. Not only is it more comfortable, but “you don’t have to drive anywhere, so you can drink more.”
Watson expects to see a 27-13 victory, assuming the Seahawks can keep pressure on Peyton Manning.
As far as his favorite memories of games go, he likes the community of having everyone talking about the game at halftime, going back over the triumphs and failures of the first quarter.
It’s hard to get the Seattle area to agree on anything, with issues like marijuana and taxation. But if there’s one thing that can unite an area, it’s their football team.
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Super Bowl XLVIII kicks off at 3:30 p.m. Sunday on FOX TV, Channel 13, from MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
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