There isn’t a sport I don’t like. I don’t really watch TV apart from live sport. Whenever I travel I always have a look to see if there’s a game going on nearby.
My main two passions though are the Seahawks and the English men’s national football team (I refuse to use the word ‘soccer’).
As sad as this might sound, my life will be complete if I ever see England win anything. It’s hard to describe how important football is over here. I think this video might help explain it. These are scenes after England won a penalty shoot-out against Colombia in 2018 to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup. It meant they were one of eight teams remaining in the competition. They didn’t actually win anything. And that’s how the country collectively celebrated.
In 2024 I basically didn’t sleep for three days, checking online websites for flights to Germany so I could go and watch England play Spain in the final of the European Championships — hoping to see a bit of history and have an unforgettable life experience. Three days before the game, I somehow secured a flight. I went over, alone, and watched them lose. This was four years after watching them lose the same final to Italy.
When they lost to Italy I epically sulked for two weeks. I only snapped out of it when my daughter, aged four at the time, asked why I was sad.
These are actually the glory days of being an England fan. For the first thirty-odd years of my life England were mostly awful and any thought of winning anything was a preposterous dream.
I’m still not sure how I’ll react if they do eventually win something. It will probably be embarrassing for anyone who’s with me.
I bring this up to say that despite four decades of dedication to sporting fandom, I’ve not really had anything back for the investment. Not that I expect anything, of course. But a slight reward every now and again would be nice.
I’m sure Mariners fans can relate to everything I’ve said and share the sentiment.
The only thing that has truly brought me joy as a fan is the Seahawks Super Bowl win from the 2013 season. I could barely believe a team I supported had actually… won something. It was five years after I started writing Seahawks Draft Blog and felt like a truly special time.
Even England getting dumped out of the 2014 World Cup a few months later after just two group games didn’t matter. The Seahawks were Super Bowl Champions. For the first time ever, something to celebrate.
The sporting gods clearly saw that joy and decided after 12 months to exact some revenge.
Perhaps we all enjoyed ourselves too much? Did we push our smile quota beyond the legal limit?
We all had one year to enjoy beating the Broncos before the most crushing, misery-inducing loss imaginable.
I didn’t sleep after the Patriots loss and that interception because it was about 4am and I had work in an hour. One of my tasks was to read a morning sports bulletin every half-an-hour stating the result of the Super Bowl.
I didn’t go to bed until midnight the following day. After two days of stunned disbelief I forced my poor wife to watch the final drive while she listened, sympathetically, to me breaking everything down through tears.
It was like a grieving process. I didn’t snap out of it for probably about two years, truth be told. I wouldn’t wish it on a fan of any rival, in any sport. It was just so incredibly shitty.
We still have the memory of the first Super Bowl win. Yet every time I see highlights of it, inevitably I remember what happened next. It’s not ruined but some of the gloss has come off, at least for me.
I so badly want this team to be able to get to the Super Bowl this year. I want this new group, which is so incredibly likeable and easy to root for, to get a victory for themselves. They deserve it, for an outstanding effort this season.
I also want us as fans to have some joy again. To have some new memories, legends to celebrate and to be able to have a moment that provides a little bit of closure to what happened 11 years ago.
The Seahawks face the toughest possible opponent on Sunday and there’s a very realistic chance the Rams will win. If they do, they’ll have earned it. Three road wins to make the Super Bowl would be a heck of an achievement. They have a great coach, quarterback and one of the top performing players in the NFL in 2025 at receiver.
If the Seahawks are to overcome this final NFC challenge to reach the Super Bowl, it’ll take a supreme effort. Yet they’ve shown through 18 games that they are worthy of being the conference’s representative in the final game of the season.
If you’re a true sports fan, watching your team win a trophy is a bookmark in your life. You’ll never forget that period of your existence. On the tough days it’ll raise you up. Years later you’ll reflect on how significant those moments were. They’re among the best days of your life.
We don’t get many of those moments. I really want the opportunity to have another. It feels like it’s time.
I am absolutely desperate for the Seahawks to win on Sunday.
Go and beat the Rams.
