I went with a few friends and one of their kids to Wrestlemania last night. One of my friend's neighbors works for the WWE and got tickets and he decided to throw me a bone. I haven't watched wrestling in over a decade and hadn't been to a live show in just as long, but before that I was a pretty big fan growing up. As I grew older and my love for the Seahawks grew, my love for wrestling died. But hey, it's Wrestlemania so I figured I'd just cross it off the bucket list. 13 year old Dave would be proud of 26 year old Dave.
As I was sitting there in Section 222, in my $160 seat (INSANE! The Super Bowl definitely won't be cheap. They were selling championship belts for $400 and I saw people with them all over the place! Gouged!) I kept thinking about how I'll be back in this stadium 2 more times before April 7th, 2014. There's the regular season game with the Giants. And then there's the first cold weather Super Bowl in NFL history! Both times, I'll be watching the Seattle Seahawks attempt to win on the East Coast.
A funny thing happened yesterday. I found myself getting caught up in the action that was taking place. I stood 10 feet from one of my childhood heroes, Good Ole JR, Jim Ross. It brought back some amazing memories of me and my dad going to Madison Square Garden to watch Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels put on a show. I looked around and saw all the kids going nuts and I couldn't help but think back to when I was just like them. It was pretty great. When the rain started to fall during the pre-show, I thought of how perfect it was to be at Wrestlemania, in the rain. Then, the skies cleared and the sun came shining through.
But as I was sitting there with my Hawks jacket and Russell Wilson jersey on, I couldn't help but let my mind drift. I was thinking of how far away the ring seemed but how if I were in these seats during a football game they'd be an AMAZING view. As the rain fell, I started thinking how great it would be if it snowed during the Super Bowl. The moment the first snowflakes hit the ground, people would go nuts. It would add a whole new element to the biggest game of them all.
Russell Wilson talks a lot about "visualizing success." He envisions himself in all different kinds of situations and being successful in all of them. I did something similar last night. I imagined the stadium decked out with Hawks fans. The 12th Man Army travels strong to this one and amazes the rest of the country with their uhhh, diehardness. If Wrestlemania was any indicator, the fireworks and pyro displays will be incredible. The atmosphere in the stadium is going to be electric and no one will even notice that it's 25 degrees out and snowing. Seahawks fans will be running on pure adrenaline while Broncos fans or whoever makes it to face them will be thinking "what the hell did we get ourselves into?"
I pictured Antoine Winfield coming out of the tunnel, doing the Bernie while overcome with emotion to the point where his teammates have to hoist him around like Bernie, as after 14 years of never tasting a Super Bowl, the moment had finally come for him. The stadium fell quiet every time Russell Wilson had the rock, even rival fans mystified by his poised and utterly ruthless performance. The term "straight surgical" is thrown around by fans and broadcasters alike. The other team's receivers look like the Packers in the 2011 playoffs against the Giants, dropping passes and blaming it on the cold, but really just afraid of getting punished by the likes of Kam Chancellor and Brandon Browner in the bitter, cold weather.
When Russell finally takes that final knee and the clock strikes zero, the party begins. Utter pandemonium from NYC to Seattle, and everywhere in between. And it never stops.
I know what you're thinking, I've got quite the imagination. But you know what, maybe my imagination is not that crazy. 4 years ago when I used to tell people that one day in the next 5 years Pete Carroll and John Schneider will make the Seahawks champions everyone used to laugh hysterically. Now when I bring up the Seahawks, they're not laughing anymore.
As I was sitting there in Section 222, in my $160 seat (INSANE! The Super Bowl definitely won't be cheap. They were selling championship belts for $400 and I saw people with them all over the place! Gouged!) I kept thinking about how I'll be back in this stadium 2 more times before April 7th, 2014. There's the regular season game with the Giants. And then there's the first cold weather Super Bowl in NFL history! Both times, I'll be watching the Seattle Seahawks attempt to win on the East Coast.
A funny thing happened yesterday. I found myself getting caught up in the action that was taking place. I stood 10 feet from one of my childhood heroes, Good Ole JR, Jim Ross. It brought back some amazing memories of me and my dad going to Madison Square Garden to watch Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels put on a show. I looked around and saw all the kids going nuts and I couldn't help but think back to when I was just like them. It was pretty great. When the rain started to fall during the pre-show, I thought of how perfect it was to be at Wrestlemania, in the rain. Then, the skies cleared and the sun came shining through.
But as I was sitting there with my Hawks jacket and Russell Wilson jersey on, I couldn't help but let my mind drift. I was thinking of how far away the ring seemed but how if I were in these seats during a football game they'd be an AMAZING view. As the rain fell, I started thinking how great it would be if it snowed during the Super Bowl. The moment the first snowflakes hit the ground, people would go nuts. It would add a whole new element to the biggest game of them all.
Russell Wilson talks a lot about "visualizing success." He envisions himself in all different kinds of situations and being successful in all of them. I did something similar last night. I imagined the stadium decked out with Hawks fans. The 12th Man Army travels strong to this one and amazes the rest of the country with their uhhh, diehardness. If Wrestlemania was any indicator, the fireworks and pyro displays will be incredible. The atmosphere in the stadium is going to be electric and no one will even notice that it's 25 degrees out and snowing. Seahawks fans will be running on pure adrenaline while Broncos fans or whoever makes it to face them will be thinking "what the hell did we get ourselves into?"
I pictured Antoine Winfield coming out of the tunnel, doing the Bernie while overcome with emotion to the point where his teammates have to hoist him around like Bernie, as after 14 years of never tasting a Super Bowl, the moment had finally come for him. The stadium fell quiet every time Russell Wilson had the rock, even rival fans mystified by his poised and utterly ruthless performance. The term "straight surgical" is thrown around by fans and broadcasters alike. The other team's receivers look like the Packers in the 2011 playoffs against the Giants, dropping passes and blaming it on the cold, but really just afraid of getting punished by the likes of Kam Chancellor and Brandon Browner in the bitter, cold weather.
When Russell finally takes that final knee and the clock strikes zero, the party begins. Utter pandemonium from NYC to Seattle, and everywhere in between. And it never stops.
I know what you're thinking, I've got quite the imagination. But you know what, maybe my imagination is not that crazy. 4 years ago when I used to tell people that one day in the next 5 years Pete Carroll and John Schneider will make the Seahawks champions everyone used to laugh hysterically. Now when I bring up the Seahawks, they're not laughing anymore.
