Super Bowl Bound!!!

Wow, what an incredible feeling. I believed that the Hawks would win the game but I definitely didn't anticipate the ass-kicking that we witnessed. I knew our offense could move the ball, run on these guys and control the clock but I didn't anticipate 34 points, 51 rush attempts and a 42 minute time of posession. I thought we could contain Steve Smith but I didn't anticipate 5 catches for 33 yards. I knew Jake Delhomme would make mistakes if we could get a lead and get some pressure on him but I didn't anticipate 3 interceptions and a passer rating of 38. I really was nervous but it felt good to finally kick some ass and not have to bite my nails in the 4th quarter.

I bought my tickets to Detroit last night and I'm on the prowl for game tickets. I can't believe that face value is over $600 but I really want to go. You never know the next time the boys will be here and I want to make the most of it. Renee and Clifford have also bought airfare so we'll have a small group in D-Town. I'll talk about the Super Bowl later in this broadcast.

I went to see my grandparents on Wednesday and they were delighted to see me. It's really nice to be able to bring that kind of light into someone's world. They call me and my brother all the time and get really happy when they get to see one of us. It's nice talking to the old peole that they live with, too, because they have a similar reaction. They all love contact with younger people and I think it gives them the hope necessary to keep living each day. We went to Ruby Tuesday's, my grandpa's favorite restaurant, for dinner and I had the salad bar and a whole slab of ribs. The ribs are delicious and I had two big plates of salad. I think the salad bar is my grandpa's favorite thing about Ruby Tuesday's: every time I eat a huge salad he feels like he's sticking it to the man. I left on Thursday afternoon and picked up my boy CL in Federal Way then headed to Dookie's house in Auburn. He wasn't getting home for an hour so we went to Costco and I bought King Arthur, strictly because Keira Knightley is Guinevere. The cashier said that he didn't like the movie in the theater but he liked the director's cut, which I was buying, because it had Braveheart-worthy gore. He said the term "director's cut" about 10 times in the 30 seconds that I was in line and it's a new joke between me and CL. "Dude, director's cut! Seriously, the best thing about director's cut is director's cut! Director's cut is the best thing since director's cut."

Well, it sounds funny in my head so screw you all.

At Dave's house we drank some beer and watched The Boss' Daughter, a pretty bad movie that Dookie loves because he's in love with Tara Reid. His wife puts up with the obsession but loves to comment on how Tara isn't that hot. I think Dookie knows that to be true but he loves the sluttiness factor. After the movie, Tasha cooked up a fat pork roast for us. Marcus drove down, too, so the 5 of us enjoyed a great dinner of pork roast, potatoes and tossed salad. I stopped drinking so that I could drive home but Dookie kept plowing along. We watched the OC and at 10 PM, CL and I hit the road. I felt bad because Dookie was extremely loaded and wanted to hang out but I had to see my financial advisor in the morning and I wanted to shower and sleep in my own bed.

Friday morning I went to see my Financial Advisor in Bellevue and he let me know that I still have money so that's a good thing. The meeting ended at 11 and since I was in the Eastside I called Dookie for a lunch date. We headed to Dixie's BBQ and I was hungry so I ordered a ton of meat. The meat at Dixie's is unbelievably good but one of their main draws is "The Man". The Man is an old black guy who walks around with a pot of insanely hot sauce and taunts people with it. The first thing he said to me was, "Where you from?" and when I answered, "Seattle", he said, "You don't look like you're from Seattle!" I replied with, "Where are you from?" to which he shouted a defiant, "AFRICA!" He then started to taunt me with, "How much you want, big man? Can you handle it?" Well, I never take taunting well and I got him to give me a pretty big helping of his sauce. I definitely regretted it while finishing my sandwich, having to stop eating repeatedly to stop the churning in my stomach. Marcus and Selena stopped by to say hi and Marcus almost died when he took a bite of my food. "The Man" was still kicking my butt that night when we went out and my butthole was on fire. Can you tell that I'm in pain in this picture?


Getting Crunk at the Club 

We partied until the club closed at 2 AM then went to China Town for some food. It's usually a bad idea but I was sober and rememebered to brush my teeth when I went to bed. The restaurant had great soup and honey walnut prawns.

On Saturday Davis, CJ, Steele, Hao-Tam, Brogan and I went to the Huskies-Oregon basketball game. Before the game we went to the Ram for burgers and beer. Ted Ferguson, Bud Light daredevil, was in town for the NFC Championship game and came to the bar to promote his beer. Steele was saving a booth for us but the Bud Light promo team offered him free beer in exchange for his booth. There was a table right next to the booth so Steele took the offer and we all drank for free until gametime.


Ted Mother-Effing Ferguson 

The Huskies played really well and kicked the Ducks' butt. After the game we went to Davis' place and I took a nap there. He wouldn't let me go home to take a nap because I'm notorious for passing out and never waking up to kick it later. He slept from 9-9:30 and I got a wink in from 9:30-10. The girls(Renee, Erica, Noelle, and Amanda) came over at 11 PM but we eventually decided to stay in and relax before the big game on Sunday. We ordered pizza and watched a movie before calling it a night relatively early. I was really tired and I got a good night's sleep despite the pregame jitters.

We got to Tailgater's Heaven at 10:30 AM and started drinking and cooking right away. Sean missed the Redskins game and we missed his superb food. Will has a great blog up about the experience here. The game didn't start until 3:30 PM so we brought a lot of food and our friends brought 2 full-sized kegs and one pony keg. There were way more people than normally tailgate and way more hot chicks. A few years ago, when the Mariners were winning 116 games, Safeco Field became filled with hot chicks. I think the Seahakws recent success will bring the bandwagon chicks out of the woodwork and I definitely welcome them with open arms. Here are some pictures from tailgating:


Why is there a hole in the side of this can? 


Bitches and Beer 

You know how the game went. The Seahawks got the lead early and never looked back. Here are some pictures I took at the game:


Kneeling on the Ball, such a great feeling 


12th Man Flag 


It's Official! 


Celebrating the big W 

I think that the first few drives will be crucial in this Super Bowl. Both teams play really well with the lead when they can run the ball and make the opposition throw. I didn't really watch the game, but it looks like the Broncos were able to run the ball before the game got out of hand. Their running backs had 67 yards on only 14 carries but they had to throw the ball more than they wanted to because of early turnovers. I don't think that the Seahawks will turn the ball over 4 times and I really think we can get this done.

Everyone bitches about respect but seriously, who cares! My friend Brent, back in October, was bitching about how we were only 6th on CBS Sportsline's power rankings and I said to him the same thing I'll say now: WHO CARES ABOUT RESPECT!!! WIN GAMES AND IT DOESN'T MATTER! I don't care if people say we had an easy road and that we won't be able to handle the pressure of the Super Bowl. We've proven all the experts wrong so far and if you WIN the games, respect is a moot point. If I get to see my team hoist that trophy, I could give a rat's ass about what all the non-believers said. The Panthers were one of the hottest teams in football coming into the NFC Championship game, they were the hot pick, and they got whupped. Seriously, that was an absolute demolition. I don't think Pittsburgh will get whupped but I definitely think it will be a great game and I think the Seahawks can pull through. Pittsburgh had the 3rd ranked rushing defense in the NFL but the Panthers were number 4. Pittsburgh's offensive line is great but Carolina's is pretty good, too, and our front 4 did a great job all game. OH MAN! IT'S THE SUPER BOWL!

I'm going to have a hard time waiting 2 weeks for this game. Even though we first got our season tickets only 7 years ago it feels like we've gone through a lot to get here. Fistly, you always feel the burden of your team's history, regardless of age. All Red Sox fans felt the 86-year monkey before wining the World Series. Secondly, the years that we've had tickets have always started with high expectations and ended with mediocrity. The first year we had tickets it was in the Kingdome and was Mike Holmgren's first year. The team started 8-2 but finished at 9-7 and lost to Dan Marino in the first round of the playoffsin the last game ever played at the Kingdome. The next year the team went 6-10 and acquired Matt Hasselbeck in the offseason. The Seahawks went 9-7 in his first year but missed the playoffs again. Hasselbeck was only 5-7 and Trent Dilfer won all 4 games that he started. Fans were booing Matt and calling for Dilfer after every failed pass attempt. They played at Husky Stadium both of those years and, finally, in our 4th year we got to play at the brand new Seahawks Stadium. Dilfer started the season at QB but got injured mid-season and Hasselbeck led the team to a strong finish of a dismal year. The team was 7-9. In 2003, the Seahawks went 10-6, 8-0 at home, but were horrible on the road suffering a devestating loss to the Baltimore Ravens and Anthony Wright. I still have nightmares about that game. We had to play at Green Bay and suffered the Al Harris interception return. I remember watching that game at my house with all the Super Fans and having to go to work right after the game ended. I wanted to drive my car into Lake Washington but when I got in, Bob Marley was on the radio telling me that, "Every little thing's gonna be all right". I took this as a sign and decided not to drive off the bridge. In 2004 the Super Fans decided to take things to the next level and attend at least one road game per season in addition to our season tickets. We went to New Orleans for the first game of the year and watched the Hawks roll over the Saints. We won the NFC West but suffered an unbelievable blown game to the Cowboys on Monday Night Football and 3 painful losses to our division foe, the Rams, including a home defeat in the first round of the playoffs. The Super Fans were in such shock at the end of that game that we sat in our seats as the stadium emptied, unable to say a word until finally, 15 minutes later, someone said, "well there are worse things" and we all stared incredulously and asked the unanswerable question, "like what?" Finally, this year, the time of atonement has arrived and our Seahawks put it all together. The Super Fans traveled to Jacksonville for game one and even though we lost the game, we played a good team really tough and set the tone for the rest of the season. 13-3, number one seed, NFC CHAMPIONS!!!!! One more win, boys, one more win. I will be there and I will be channeling the spirit of the Super Fans. These will be the longest two weeks of my life.