Laurie and Rick Gobel have had a Cleveland Browns flag waving outside of their Mill Creek home this week, and they’re making jokes about serving up something called Seahawks stew when they host a Sunday party for the NFL game between Cleveland and Seattle.
But don’t hate. The Gobels still consider themselves Seahawks fans.
“People around here get so excited about the Seahawks, so we jumped on the bandwagon when we moved here,” said Laurie Gobel, who came from Oregon with her husband seven years ago.
This week, however, the Gobels aren’t hiding their allegiance. They want the Seahawks to lose, and they hope that the Browns quarterback has another stellar performance.
That’s because Cleveland’s Derek Anderson is Laurie’s son and Rick’s stepson.
“It’s pretty easy to root for my son’s team, even over the Hawks,” said Rick, an engineer for a company called TSI in Lynnwood who has attended a handful of Seahawks games over the years.
The Gobels have been married for 15 years, but they didn’t move to Washington until after Anderson had graduated from Scappoose (Ore.) High School and headed off to Oregon State.
After growing up in a town of 6,000 people and going to college in Corvallis, Anderson said his move to Ohio has taken some adjustment.
“It’s a little bit different,” the Browns’ quarterback said during a Wednesday conference call with Seattle reporters. “Cleveland is not the biggest city I’ve been in. My mom lives up in Seattle, so I’ve been up there, (but) I stay as far away as I can — just due to the traffic.”
Anderson has had a breakout year after spending most of his first two NFL seasons as a backup. He took over for Charlie Frye in the first half of the regular-season opener and kept the job when Frye was traded to Seattle two days later.
Anderson’s 17 touchdown passes this season rank second in the NFL, trailing only Tom Brady’s incredible total of 30.
“It’s been kind of surreal, like: ‘Somebody wake me up from my coma,’” Laurie Gobel said of watching her son get off to such a great start this year. “It’s been my total focus. We’re just so, so proud of him.”
While the Gobels have attended two Browns games since Anderson arrived there in 2005, they’ll be watching Sunday’s game on a television at their home. And they’re even planning on letting some Seahawks fans attend the party.
“We’ll allow that,” Laurie said. “That’s what makes it fun.”
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