Thanks, in large part, to a wonderful group of readers who helped sponsor my tickets to the big game, I am in New York City enjoying the lead up to what we all hope is the first championship in Seahawks history. I will take time out when I can to share a few thoughts and experiences on the trip. I wish you all could be here. You deserve to be.
It is Friday morning, two days since my last journal entry. A good friend asked me last night on Twitter if I was in heaven. Two days of walking the streets of New York City, eating great food, meeting new people, doing fun things, and it all is building toward a day of days on Sunday. This is the time of my life. And I don’t think I am alone.
Seahawks fans are multiplying. The mix of Denver-to-Seattle fans started out as roughly even when we arrived on Tuesday. By last night, the count of Seahawks fans was clearly rising with many more due in today and tomorrow. This will not be like Detroit in 2006 when the Steelers fans overwhelmed the Super Bowl.
We met up with a friend, Shane, from Twitter last night at one of the countless Irish bars around Times Square. The Playwright Tavern off of 49th was a good spot to grab a whiskey and chat about the game. By the time Shane’s friends arrived, Aron and I were off to see if we could see the Empire State Building in blue and green. We thought it would be cool to go to the top while it was bathed in Seahawks goodness and get some photos.
As we began our trek down town, we noticed more Seahawks fans than the previous two nights. It is, of course, our habit to give a casual, “Go Hawks,” as we see anyone wearing Seahawks gear. We get about a 90% reciprocation rate, and about a 50% “who the hell are these people?” rate for New Yorkers wondering what just happened as they walk near and around us.
The closer you get to Times Square, the more models you see. Aron and I have started a game similar to slug bug whenever we see one. Not surprisingly, we stick to female model sighting. Anyone who has seen an episode of America’s Next Top Model (raises hand), remembers when the models were given the challenge to run between go-sees in Manhattan. These woman often have that look of either carrying the makeup from their last shoot on their face or stripped down to bare skin (on their face, fellas) for their next shoot while scurrying as quickly as their long legs will take them. We saw an impossibly beautiful French model at The Book of Mormon on Wednesday night.
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| Book of Mormon was fantastic, and the views were great on or off the stage |
The musical was fantastic. Trey Parker and Matt Stone have a gift for taking on sensitive issues with complete insensitivity, and finding a way to make you laugh, think, and cringe. Aron and I hit a restaurant/bar called Lillies across the street from the Eugene O’Neill theatre where we saw the play. I highly recommend it. I got the steak and the asparagus and sampled some whiskey. The setting was unique and fun.
Aron and I have shared season tickets for over ten years. I bought mine in 1997 after moving to Seattle, and Aron and I became friends through work a few years later. We are a perfect game day team as we both have a nearly limitless thirst for debate and alcohol. We alternated between marveling over the French model who we were having trouble believing was a real person and not some perfectly designed fembot shrouded in angel’s skin, and a philosophic debate over the role of religion in society. And, of course, the Seahawks. Aron was taking the stance that the world would be better off in the long-term without religion. He was making the point that basing our beliefs on science and progress would be best for a human race that will need to one day figure out how to survive a species-ending calamity that history shows is an eventuality for Earth. I don’t completely disagree, but I like a good debate and took the stance that Book of Mormon was espousing, which was that even if all religions are based on complete fabrications (e.g., golden plates buried in the United States, walking on water, etc.), it does not matter as long as the result brings together large groups of people to live better lives and be better people. I am not a particularly religious person, but I love being part of a community with shared history and beliefs. I respect everyone’s belief system, as long as it allows for tolerance and diversity. Aron and I drank, ate, philosophized, and objectified until after midnight. Good times. Good friend.
Back to our walk toward the Empire State Building. We crossed through Times Square, and saw Tony Siragusa posing with a couple of Seahawks fans before ducking into his hotel around 10PM. A few steps more, and I saw a few familiar faces. Aaron Levine, from Q13 FOX in Seattle, was shooting conversation with Ian Furness of KJR, Dave Wyman of 710 ESPN, and Mack Strong. It is fun seeing local news folks walking the streets and giving them a little, “Go Hawks,” as well. They have to feel overwhelmed here, and big-timed, as New York and national media treat local, smaller-market news people the way the FBI treats local law enforcement. There is a camaraderie among all the Seattle folks here. We are all being underestimated. We are all looking forward to ripping respect out of their arrogant, uninformed hands in just a couple more days.
