Guess I lost my PG-13 rating already.

#12thman

I lost my faith in my team yesterday for about 17 minutes. I’ll admit it: I’m a jittery fan. I had taken off my jersey during halftime, thinking that I might have put a hex on the Seahawks, and started flipping channels during the third quarter. I mean, the fake punt was amazing and flawlessly executed. I even made a comment to Kyle, “at least they’re showing signs of life. That’s all I ever ask of my teams: win or lose, play hard for the full game.” The Yankees of the 80’s never did that. Drove me apeshit crazy. Well, with the exception of Mattingly, because he always played hard. But the rest of the team, if they got behind a run and would just fold up and die. Like “We’re losing, so why bother?”

Either way, when I realized that the end of the shutout came from the offense without Wilson on the field, I said, “but the game is still over.” I think the biggest reason for this defeatism was because Russell was not the quarterback I’d been watching for the last month or two. When you’ve been picked twice in the first half, you need to stop trying to fix the deficit with one throw. Move the ball with small steps; you don’t have to fix things with one throw. The Packers had their shit together and they proved it for most of the first 50 minutes of the game: the only thing they did badly was get 3 points instead of 7 when in the red zone on three different times and I attribute that to the Seahawks’ defense holding them to those 3 points

No, I was pretty sure that I wasn’t a jinx after halftime, especially since I’ve worn the 12 gear and watched more a fair share of winning games this year, but it was so painful to watch yesterday that I started to waver.

Kyle on the other hand, never took his jersey off. Either because he doesn’t know how to take off his own shirt yet or he has unwavering faith in the Seahawks I cannot say, but he wore his gear until he went to bed last night. Jolene thinks I’m nuts for even caring about who wears or watches what.

So, come Monday morning, I remain in awe of the collapse of the Packers and the rise of the Seahawks. They city of Seattle was alive with horns and cheers – and likely tears – last night and it’s all anyone is talking about at work. It was an unexpected victory that went to the team that wanted it more for a longer period of time and had luck go their way at two crucial moments. I don’t know if GB was just shell shocked during the second half of the fourth quarter or somehow had begun to believe “they can’t come back” but they had their miscues long before the borked onside kick… it felt like the momentum just went in the other direction at the right time for both the team and the city of Seattle.

Last night, long after the second NFL game finished, I was on an email thread that had one poor coworker in a position where the team from where he used to live would be playing against the team from where he now lives; having spent a number of years in New England, he already feels the conflict between the teams for Super Bowl XLIX. Of course, I replied that after spending over 30 years in New England, I felt no conflict in support the Seahawks, because you know… Hawks.

How can I not feel even a little conflict, when over half of my Facebook friends list like has open or closet Patriots fans on it? Hm. Look at the team. They call themselves the New England Patriots, but that’s a misnomer. They only ever play in Massachusetts, in the quiet nook of Foxborough, a Boston subburb of sorts. Given that the Boston Celtics play [used to] play in CT or RI from time to time, but the Patriots only play in MA… they could just as easily be the Boston Patriots, given how little love they show the other five states in New England. And almost all NFL teams are named after cities. Oh-ho, so in truth, they are really a Boston team. Hm. Do you honestly think that my hatred for the Red Sox would bleed over into the rest of the Boston teams, across five other major sports leagues? I mean, are you so quick to assume how I feel about the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, Revolution (MLS), or Cannons (MLL) just because of the whiny annoying little twats in the stands at Fenway and how they act during the 162 marathon season or how they complain about the Pats in the middle of summer, when their football team is penalized for spying on other team practices or allegedly deflating games balls?

You bet your ass my hatred is not isolated to one Bostonian sports team. The same fans act the same way regardless of the league. Or in other words…

#fuckbrady

Go Hawks.