Seattle Mariners Fan’s Open Letter To Seahawks Fans

For the second time in as many years, the Seattle Seahawks are in the Super Bowl. I, like most people in the region, am super excited and can’t wait to see the Seahawks cement their legacy by defeating Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.

I will be cheering for the Hawks on Sunday, but I want to make one things clear: I am not a “true” Seahawks fan. But I’m not a bandwagon fan either. I did not start liking the Hawks last season when they made their run.

My attention was first grabbed by the Hawks during the 2004 season. I was a beat reporter for OregonInsiderSports.com (no longer in existence) and my beat was the Oregon State Beavers. I had obtained press credentials to the October 10th, 2004 game at then-Qwest Field, to cover Steven Jackson of the St. Louis Rams in his first visit to the Northwest since being drafted by the St. Louis Rams, out of OSU.

That game was my first professional football game.

I grew up a baseball fan. I only watched football during the playoffs and never pretended to actually like it. It wasn’t until I started covering the Beavers in 2003 that I first started to like football.

So, being in an NFL press box covering an NFL game was not as big of a deal as it is for me to be in an MLB press box, but the moment was not lost on me either.

Live Feed

FanSided

Why am I telling you all of this? I’m getting there. In that game, the Seahawks were up on the Rams 27-10 six minutes into the 4th quarter. Victory seemed assured.

But the Rams scored on the ensuing drive, to cut it to 27-17. After forcing a Seahawks punt, Marc Bulger threw a 41-yard TD strike to cut the lead to 27-24.

By now, I have made my way onto the field – as they let press on the field in the last three minutes of regulation to grab players for quotes.

I have never heard anything so loud in my entire life. 66,940 fans screaming at the top of their lungs as the Rams drove down the field to try to win the game. The 12th Man in full effect, trying to distract Bulger and the Rams.

Jeff Wilkins hit a 36-yard field goal with eight seconds left to tie the game. We were going to overtime.

Three minutes into overtime, Bulger threw a pass to Shaun McDonald, who ran past multiple defenders, 52 yards for the winning score. That raucous 66,940 fans became silent in a nanosecond. It was one of the most chilling moments I have ever experienced.

I went from not being able to fight off the pain in my ears due to the 12th Man and their cheers, to being able to hear a pin drop from the nosebleeds.

That experience, made me a fan. I know, I said I wasn’t a “true” fan, that doesn’t mean I’m not a fan. So when I say I am rooting for the Seahawks, I mean it. As a Mariners fan and a NW native, I always felt a certain obligation to support the Seahawks, but that experience won me over for good.

And now the Hawks are in their second straight Super Bowl and the bandwagon fans are coming out in droves. And while that may be true, there are also some fans who are pretending to be “true” fans but are actually bandwagon fans. And worse yet, some of them are bashing the Mariners and M’s fans.

Like this guy who called out Logan Morrison on Twitter recently.

So, take a minute and go through these replies. This “Mike Honcho” appears to have a lot of hate for the Mariners and is very defensive of the Hawks. But check out this tweet.

Hawks r champs. Yes, they won the Super Bowl almost one year ago. Before that? They had only been to one other Super Bowl, the one they lost to the refs…err…the Steelers. No, the Mariners have never even been to a World Series, but that shouldn’t matter if you’re a true fan.

But if this guy – and others – are basing their love of the Seahawks and hate of the Mariners on the fact that the “Hawks r champs” and the M’s haven’t made the playoffs since 2001, then that by definition is a fair-weather fan at best and a bandwagon fan at worst.

I don’t see Patriots fans bashing Red Sox fans or vice versa. Because they are the same fan. And the Red Sox went 86 years between World Series titles at one point. So, why can’t Seahawks fans rally around the Mariners as they complete the turnaround?

My plea is simple. Let’s all rally around each other. Lift each others fan base and have each others backs. Same city, One city! Team Seattle!

The city of Seattle is on the verge of sports greatness, with the Hawks defending their title and the Mariners as one of the favorites to win one as well. Not to mention the success of the Sounders and the rejuvenation of the UW football program, Seattle is primed to grab the national spotlight for years to come.

Be a part of the fun. Don’t do it because the team(s) is (are) good. Do it because it’s YOUR team.