Readers see hope, or hype, in game

Football fanatic or bandwagon novice, everyone seems to be talking about the Seattle Seahawks going to the Super Bowl.

Well, almost everyone.

“Frankly, I am a little tired of all the hype. The team got lucky this year. I doubt if it will happen again in my lifetime,” said Don Purvis, 76, of Everett.

Purvis is a member of The Herald’s Reader Network. But his viewpoint was in the minority among those who responded to a query on Thursday regarding the success of the Seahawks.

Gretchen Bonador, 64, of Monroe is part of the frenzy supporting the Seahawks.

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“I am the queen of frenzy,” she said. “It just seems so unreal to be able to say Seahawks and Super Bowl in the same sentence.”

Bonador said she’s more of a fan than her husband.

“My poor husband basically just puts up with me during football season. He’s a fair-weather fan, and I always get very frustrated by him not having faith.”

Even those who don’t necessarily like football are getting into the spirit.

“I’m not a fan of football, but it’s so exciting to be able to root for the home team,” said Vaughn Blethen of Marysville. “We are going to have a tailgate party at work, with root beer, hot dogs and chili.”

Like Blethen, Rebecca Boyd, 43, of Everett is excited that her workplace is into the game.

“My employer has hopped on the fan wagon, and we all get to wear jeans with Seahawk attire every day until the Super Bowl. How cool is that?” she said.

But Boyd also is a huge Seahawk fan at home.

“I love the frenzy. It’s about time. I usually watch the Super Bowl every year, but this year we are having a party, and I won’t just be watching it. It will be better than that, because I am the 12th man.”

Allison Raduziner of Granite Falls said she supports the “fans gone wild” motto.

“I love it. I was at the first Seahawks game, and have been waiting ever since. Thirty years’ waiting warrants wild behavior,” she said.

A season ticket holder since 1976, Margaret Bright of Lake Stevens is one of the lucky few going to the game in Detroit on Feb. 5. She bought her tickets in December.

“We were confident that the Seahawks were going to go this year (course, I have believed that almost every year),” she said.

A number of Reader Network respondents agreed with Ron and Bev Holmwall.

“The Seahawks don’t get respect in the press. Sad since we are a West Coast team. Wait ‘til we win. Then let’s see who gets the press,” their e-mail to The Herald said.

Kevin Gleed, 44, of Bothell said longtime Seahawks fans don’t get respect, either.

“I would like to see more reporting on the fans who supported the team through the lean years, like the ’90s, not just the Johnny-come-latelies or the fair-weather fans that are popping their heads up now,” he said.

Most of the folks who had anything bad to say about pro football complained about all of the hype.

“It is the media, both paper and broadcast, that drives me nuts by hyping it up to no end,” Jake Ritland of Marysville said. “I was sick of the hype a few weeks ago leading up to the first playoff game with Washington. Yes, it is a big game, but that is all it is, a game, played by fine athletes that are well, if not over, paid to entertain us.”

Robert Smith, 48, of Lake Stevens took it even further.

“A million starving children will just have to go without food for another day so that we can flaunt our excesses before the rest of the world and garishly squander our resources on meaningless entertainment, trophies, rings and fleeting fame,” he said.

Martha Bradley, 54, of Everett said the frenzy is about the wrong sport.

“Not everyone is caught up in the Super Bowl frenzy with the Seahawks. Now, if the Mariners were to go to the World Series, that would be something to get excited about,” she said.

Assistant city editor Steve Powell: 425-339-3427 or powell@heraldnet.com.

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