Sundays with Sam: Watching Seahawks week one versus Packers

Watching the Seahawks play is all about the kinship between the team and 12s. For years I have watched Seattle with my friend Sam. This is what week one was like.

Week one was awful, right? The Seahawks offensive line was terrible. A hurricane was destroying Florida and other parts of the southeast. The Rams actually looked decent. It was a bad week.

There are some friends who just make any experience different. It is difficult to say exactly why sometimes, though. With Sam, he is the kind of effervescent person I could never be. When we were younger we would go to concerts and Sam could find himself in near-fights one minute and then having a beer with the same guys literally 10 minutes later. (See: Eagles concert in Nashville, Tennessee, 1995.) This is Sam. A great guy who brings his own kind of entertainment.

Sam and I have been Seahawks fans for a long time, of course. I remember as we stared blankly in anticipation of a Seahawks loss to the Minnesota Vikings at the end of the 2015 season. We were two feet from the action. Waiting. Waiting for the sadness to kick in. Then Blair Walsh missed the field goal and we erupted with unexpected and amazing joy.

This is what being a sports fan is about. But these moments are always better with friends.

Week one: Seahawks versus Packers

Blair Walsh is now the kicker with the Seahawks, of course. Sam and I have talked about how Walsh’s kicks this preseason – and in the Packers game – have not just been good. They have been nearly perfect. Almost every Walsh kick does not just go through the uprights, it splits the uprights almost in half.

Sam usually brings the beer. He has good taste. No matter if the Seahawks win or lose, the beer is always good. During week one, however, Sam invited a friend over. The friend’s name is Andy. He went to school with Sam and me and I had not seen him in 25 years. Andy has never married and has had a great job since college. He’s also a good guy.

During breaks in the play in the devolving (for Seahawks fans) second half, Sam and Andy reminisce. Sam and Andy still see each other a lot for camping trips, however. The stories they tell have an energy. It helps to listen as the Seahawks offense fails to block well and Russell Wilson cannot move the ball.

Sam and I hate that the officials kick out Jeremy Lane for a phantom punch. Sam sees there is no punch before the replays show there is no punch. We also complain to no one in particular when Jimmy Graham gets interfered with but no call is made. But we know what all 12s know: Seattle did not play well enough to win.

Still, the evening ends with us standing outside with our friend Andy talking about the past. Friends always make things better. Seahawks games are important because they are not life and death. Football distracts from real life. Sports also brings people together. Like every Sunday for Sam and me.

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We stand outside and make plans for next week’s Seattle versus San Francisco game. The following week we will travel to see the Seahawks play the Titans in Nashville. We did the same at the end of 2016 when we watched Seattle lose the Falcons in Atlanta in the playoffs. Surely, Seattle will win against the 49ers, we say.

Either way, we 12s will be watching and hoping that Seattle wins in week two.