Hey gang.
I've been a fan of the Seahawks since 1976, but the only time I've ever been to Seattle was in October of last year. I grew up in southern Maine, and I've lived in seven cities/towns in four states (NJ, ME, IL, CA), and I've lived in Brazil for over 20 years now. I've now been to one Seahawks home game: the loss to the Ravens last year. I'd been waiting 43 years to go to a Seahawks home game, and even though the 'Hawks lost, it was a great experience anyway. My only "complaint" is that I found at certain moments, like arriving at the stadium in a Sounder train car full of other people in 'Hawks gear and thinking about my dad, discovering that my seat in the stadium was in front of the sign representing Jacob Green's place in the Ring of Honor, and participating in the "SEA! HAWKS!" chants, that it was awfully dusty there. Somebody oughta do something about that.
I've also been to two Seahawks away games. My dad took me down to Foxborough to see them in 1984 and 1986. The result of the '86 game was better, but the '84 game was special to me. First, I finally got to go to a stadium to see the 'Hawks play, and then we waited around for the players near the team buses after the game, and I got a bunch of autographs in the game program. By that time, Zorn, who was my first childhood sports hero, had become the backup QB because Krieg had taken over as the starter. I never resented Krieg for that, because I knew he was better than Zorn at that point, but it was still such a huge thrill to me to be able to tell Zorn to his face that I had had his autographed picture framed on my wall in Kennebunk, Maine for years. I wish I could remember what he said (it wasn't anything complicated or profound - just something like "all right!"), but I can remember his face perfectly. He seemed genuinely happy to hear it.
2019 was the first time I actually got to see all of every Seahawks game in a season, because I got a subscription to the international version of NFL Game Pass. That subscription doesn't let me watch games when I'm in the USA, and I spent almost the whole month of October of last year at my mom's in Maine, except for the weekend of the Ravens game, when I flew out on Friday and flew back on the Sunday-night redeye. I was fortunate that all the Seahawks' games in October of 2019 were on TV at my mom's house.
My parents weren't Seahawks fans, but I think they both ended up developing a certain fondness for them because of me. Dad was first, starting back in the '70s when he thought it was cool that I'd chosen my own team. Mom started to show signs of it too in recent years. She also started to get frustrated with their fan-frustrating performances, like when she had to turn off the TV and go clean out a cabinet when the 'Hawks were doing frustrating things in the game against the Giants in 2017. Dad always kept up with as much Seahawks news as he could, and passed it on to me when we talked. That really helped a few times when it was hard for me to follow them, like during my first year in college and my first couple of years in Brazil. I really wish he'd lived to see XLVIII, but he missed it by almost three years. In 2013, I decided to start watching more NFL games as a way of staying closer to my mom. So every week, I'd find out what games she planned to watch, and I'd watch at least one game she was going to watch too so we could talk about it. I also watched as many Seahawks games as I could, which was most of them, but not all. And then when XLVIII happened, I was in the horrible little room I was renting near the University of São Paulo, and my mom was at her house in Maine, but I was able to share that moment with her through the magic of the internet.
It's hard for me to choose an all-time favorite Seahawk. I immediately start thinking about some old-school Seahawks. As I said above, Zorn was my first childhood sports hero. When I couldn't watch many Seahawks games (they didn't show up on TV in Maine much), but my parents had gotten me a subscription to Norm Evans's Seahawk Report, I loved reading about Jacob Green and Kenny Easley. I still think of 28 as being Curt Warner's number. And of course Largent was so great. My avatar is from just after he hit Harden on that play.
But it's not all guys from the '70s and '80s. Gotta love Walter. Tez too. And of course there are the recent (XLVIII) and current players. In addition the obvious ones, I guess I'll mention that like Jacob Green himself, I had no problem with Red Bryant wearing #79.
I'll go with Zorn and Jacob Green. If you force me to choose just one, OK, I guess it's Zorn.
As for favorite current players, I'd prefer to wait. I got a little stung because for some time, ETIII was my favorite player in the NFL, and well...
For now, I'm rooting for all the players on the current roster.
