(all pictures are low res, for high res click here)
As most of my friends know, I'm a hardcore football fan,
regardless of who is playing. Thus, I have season tickets to the
Seattle Seahawks but my heart will always
bleed black and gold. This can
be further evidenced by the inscription on my charter seat in
Qwest Stadium
. As
true football fans, it is a requirement that we participate in some
hardcore tailgating before each game.
Our tailgate usually consists of :
3 separate vehicles
2 Canopies
2 Grills
2 Flat Panel Displays
2 DirecTV Tuners
1 Subscription to the NFL Sunday Ticket
1 Satelite Dish
1 DVD player
Lots of camping chairs and furniture
1 Generator
2 propane heaters
3 coolers of beer
2 pots of homemade chili
Mindy's egg bake - yum
general snacksTM
And usually somebody gets drunk and burns a few sausages on the grill
Usually, my beautiful wife
Ellen joins me on these
outings, but she was busy this day and one of my great friends,
Chip joined us instead.
Others joining us include Peaboy and Dawn
plus
Mike. Yes, Dawn is wearing a McNabb
jersey, she's a fan of the
Philthadelphia Iggles We usually arrive at the stadium around 9:00 am,
grab coffee at Zeitgeist and then
begin setting up.
It
doesn't usually take too long until we are eatin' chili
and
watchin' football
(usually
morning games). After 4 hours of eating great food and consuming mass quantities
of beer we queue up to enter the stadium. This week security was extra tight, so
the lines were absurdly long (took us 20 minutes to maneuver thru the queue!)
. This
week was special as the Seahawks were playing the
St. Louis Rams in the NFC Playoffs
which is a precursor to the Superbowl.
As usual, our seats provide an incredible view of the action
(zoomed in
), but
unfortunately, it wasn't long til the Rams scored a
touchdown. (video - remember videos take a long time to load, so be
patient). Finally, the Seahawks got the ball
and
moved it downfield for a score (video). It
looked like a we had a see-saw battle on
our hands. This game was being broadcast
nationally so the ever present
skycamTM
which provided great views
to the home audience and the stadium crowd
.
At halftime, there was a show of dueling drum bands which included the
UW marching band vs. the Seahawk
band "Blue
Thunder"
. The second half was pretty
much the same as the first - a see-saw battle. In the end, the Seahawks had an
opportunity to tie the game with a touchdown on the last play...but the ball was
dropped by
the receiver. The Seahawks lost a heartbreaker, 27-20
and were out of the playoffs. I was slightly sad, but I knew my Steelers were
still in contention. Did I mention that I have tickets to see the
Steelers play in the Superbowl in
Jacksonville? If you have tickets too, I'll see you there!
