Seattle people used to root for the Niners.

[rpmischris]

Born and raised in San Diego so its the Chargers for me. However, I bleed green and blue now. My dream is a SD/SEA superb owl with the hawks winning 54-7.

 

[lsheldon]

Never rooted for the 40-whiners. My most hated team was the Raiders when Seattle was in the AFC. Now, I don't care about the Raiders but hate the Whiners. How things change...

 

[chris98251]

Raiders here, why, look at this years Seahawks, bravado and backed it up.

 

[rigelian]

I used to root for the 49ers and the Vikings. Back in the days of John Brodie, Gene Washington, Joe Kapp and the other Gene Washington. I was crushed when both teams kept getting knocked out by the Cowboys, or whoever the Vikings happened to play in the Superbowl. I still hate the Cowboys. This love affair with the 49ers and the Vikings up until the day that Seattle got a franchise. I never looked back since.

I lot of folks back then were 49ers fans (or Rams fans ugh).

 

[Throwdown]

I was born in 88, I have had no reason like ever to root for the 9ers

 

[Mitch]

I was a Raiders fan before the Hawks existed. Back in the Lamonica/Blanda/Biletnikoff/Otto/Tatum/Davidson years and even into the Kenny Stabler/Howie Long years. Everybody hated Oakland and I was born there, Seattle didn't have a team, so they were it. You didn't bet against the Raiders back in those days. Pretty much hate them and all of the gang affiliation sh*t now! My cousin was and still is a 9ers fan, and he lives in Seattle. Named his kid Montanna. We don't watch football together!

 

[irocdave]

Been a hawks fan since day 1. Still remember cutting out UW emblems from Safeway paper bags and covering my elementary school books. Seahawks were a oddity, fun but not serous, to many gimmick plays to be competitive. Anyone else remember Breezin jackets? Did MS swipe their emblem? Lol, just a faint memory of growing up in Kirkland along with dock jumping my bike at Waverly Park all summer of 1982ish. Anyhow, my fathers company moved our family to Sacramento in 1983. I was so proud of what the Hawks were doing at the time, but only got my information from newspapers and George Michaels highlights on cable TV late on Sunday nights. So many fights with raiders fans during JR high and HS.... my best friends were niners fans, man the memories are still so real...still remember tripping my best friend in his front yard after a Hawks loss in the playoffs and the niners rolling...Still feel bad about that. Man have things changed. Information is at the tip of our fingers now. Moved back to the Seattle area in 1991 and picked up where I left off with hawkdom. Bad timing.

My wife was born in Texas, her teenage years in northern California then moved to WA and has grown to despise Jim H and the niners. My oldest son remembers the debacle that was the SB40...and ALL of us hate the Stealers. My youngest son hates the Stealers also even though he was born in 2006.

We as a family are learning to despise the niners. It wont be hard as one of my brothers wife's relatives are die hard niner fans. Same people that I have mentioned in other posts about the niners. My sister in law asked me last weekend why I don't discuss football with her brother in law Mike who is a supposed die hard niner fan. I told her it's simple, I tried. He just doesn't know enough about his own team to have a legitimate debate. Typical of niner fans I have encountered. The example I speak of is that at a 4th of July party last year ( 2013) he told me Kap has a year more of starting under his belt than RW and RW was trying to live up to Kaps reputation.

Go Hawks!

 

[NINEster]

Liking AFC West rivals more than the 49ers back in the '80s.....amusing.

Meanwhile, the Seahawks were at most an interesting team in the AFC West that one would root for given their small market and underdog status. That's how I saw it and I'm sure many NFC fans at the time did. A Giants' friend of mine rooted for them in the 2010 playoffs simply because of their underdog status.

I've said before that I didn't see the Seahawks as a truly hated rival until 2010. I rooted for them in their only super bowl.

I guess retroactively I can say I am happy with the result. :lol:

What I can surmise is that those who hated the 49ers before 2002 are akin to hating dominant teams of all eras for being good (steelers, cowboys, packers, patriots). I'll admit to having hated the Patriots in the '00s for no other reason but this.

Now, no longer.

 

[Kixkahn]

I have never really liked the 49ers, but not until Harbaugh do I hate them. He just emulates a reason to strongly dislike him. It is also annoying to watch a grown man throw two year old temper tantrums. Their attitudes don't help either.

 

[Polaris]

Back in the 1980s (when I first became a Seahawk fan), I really didn't care much about San Fran one way or the other. I do remember rooting against them in the late nineties but only because I tended to root for the underdog on general principle. Otherwise when I though about them at all, I though they were a good 'miquetoast nice' team.

Honestly even after Division realignment in 2002, my thoughts about the Niners didn't change much for a long time. That's because until 2010, the Niners were frankly irrelevant (sorry Niners fans but it's true) and the Rams were the Rivals....but even then I found it hard to dislike them as much as I disliked the Raiders or Broncos back in the day.

Now, I have no trouble "strongly disliking" the 49ners because of their fans. It seems as though the moment the Niners smelled any kind of even potentional success, they suddenly acted like the NFL owed them homage for five rings older than than my nephew. It was particularly bad prior to the 2010 season (pre-Harbraugh) when Niner fans noses were stuck up so high I was suprised they didn't have nosebleeds. Seeing them lose their first seven that year was a joy to behold.

Harbraugh has merely intensified this feeling of late.

 

[HAWKAMANIA]

I was never a fan of the team but I was and still am a huge fan of Jerry Rice. I think it was the way he carried himself and put the team first. He was/is a positive role model. The current Niners could take note. The other team I rooted for in growing up were the Bills. I had a poster of Thurman Thomas and Bruce Smith right next to my Largent and 'Tez posters.

 

[baumer64]

From what Ive heard, because of where population transplanted from etc..prior to Seattle having its own franchise a lot of Seattle people were Viking fans. I have no idea if its true..just have had a few people in airports, bars, etc tell me this when Im over here.

I should have added the Vikings to one of my favorites as a kid on my post. My Mom's family moved to WA from Minn. so I felt a connection there. Always respected Bud Grant, Tarkington, the Purple People Eaters. Also remember Jack Patera came to us from the Vikings.

 

[TwoDayBooze]

I always casually rooted for Seattle before the re-alignment, heck the first game I ever went to was 'Hawks v Raiders at husky stadium. Kenny Easley is one of my favorite players of all time. I do wish both fanbases could be a little more civil towards each other, but alas that is the first thing that goes out the window in a heated rivalry.

 

[AF_Hawk]

Never rooted for them. I liked Rice and Young growing up but I never cheered for the Whiners to win.

 

[BlueTalon]

Before the Hawks came along, when I was a kid, SF and the Raiders were the closest teams to Washington.

This. Even at a ripe young age, I kinda knew I was supposed to pick one, and I picked the Raiders. I didn't personally root for the Digits back then, but I understand why people did.

 

[Lords of Scythia]

Been a hawks fan since day 1. Still remember cutting out UW emblems from Safeway paper bags and covering my elementary school books. Seahawks were a oddity, fun but not serous, to many gimmick plays to be competitive. Anyone else remember Breezin jackets? Did MS swipe their emblem? Lol, just a faint memory of growing up in Kirkland along with dock jumping my bike at Waverly Park all summer of 1982ish. Anyhow, my fathers company moved our family to Sacramento in 1983. I was so proud of what the Hawks were doing at the time, but only got my information from newspapers and George Michaels highlights on cable TV late on Sunday nights. So many fights with raiders fans during JR high and HS.... my best friends were niners fans, man the memories are still so real...still remember tripping my best friend in his front yard after a Hawks loss in the playoffs and the niners rolling...Still feel bad about that. Man have things changed. Information is at the tip of our fingers now. Moved back to the Seattle area in 1991 and picked up where I left off with hawkdom. Bad timing.

My wife was born in Texas, her teenage years in northern California then moved to WA and has grown to despise Jim H and the niners. My oldest son remembers the debacle that was the SB40...and ALL of us hate the Stealers. My youngest son hates the Stealers also even though he was born in 2006.

We as a family are learning to despise the niners. It wont be hard as one of my brothers wife's relatives are die hard niner fans. Same people that I have mentioned in other posts about the niners. My sister in law asked me last weekend why I don't discuss football with her brother in law Mike who is a supposed die hard niner fan. I told her it's simple, I tried. He just doesn't know enough about his own team to have a legitimate debate. Typical of niner fans I have encountered. The example I speak of is that at a 4th of July party last year ( 2013) he told me Kap has a year more of starting under his belt than RW and RW was trying to live up to Kaps reputation.

Go Hawks!

I have a lot of great memories like this--meeting Seahawks in the seventies, going to games. My best friend was an Oakland fan. A lot of people were, if the Seahawks were sucking--almost by default. The black gear, or the pirate patch, or something.

 

[Kakaww]

Of course, I was also from Anacortes, home of the original Seahawks. My dad, my cousin -- both played football as Seahawks before there was a pro team

I went to Peninsula High School (Seahawks), so that makes two original Seahawks Paul Skansi, if you remember him, went to Peninsula several years before me. Was so exciting to see my hometown hero play for the Huskies and then the Hawks, even though he was always catching passes over the middle and getting lit up.

Anyways...

I grew up a Seahawks and Packers fan, as my Dad came over from Wisconsin as a kid. We also cheered for the Vikings, which in hindsight seems strange. The Niners were really off the radar, having some bad years when I was a kid. I did enjoy watching them in the 80s and was a huge fan of Montana, but I was never a Niner fan.

 

[Seahawk Sailor]

I'm simply amazed by the amount of people who rooted for AFC West rivals even after the Seahawks were around. These teams were our mortal rivals. Oakland was an absolute nemesis. So were Denver and KC. San Diego was the only team out of the AFC West we seemed to beat regularly throughout those years. I absolutely hated those teams, and still do, although the rivalry has faded somewhat. I can understand guys rooting for those teams prior to 1976, but after that? Uh-uh. No way. Never.

As a kid, the 49ers were probably my favorite NFC team. They were a far distant second to anything Seahawks, and I really ever only rooted for them when they were going to the big dance and Seattle was home for the season. Especially the Denver-SF Super Bowl in the 80's, I remember cheering loudly for SF because I hated the Broncos so much. The Packers and Vikings were also cool to an extent, because they were teams that shared at least a little with Seattle as far as latitude and proximity.

Of course, now things are different. Even without the intense division rivalry, this 49ers team is nothing like the Joe Montana-led teams of the 80s. Now, they're pretty easy to hate. Funny how things change.

 

[Lords of Scythia]

Oakland was our biggest rival back in the AFC West days, and yet most people rooted for them once the Hawks were out of it. I doubt if anyone roots for the Niners the same way--I sure as hell don't.

 

[RolandDeschain]

People used to own slaves, too. Times change, and wrongs are corrected.