Area Seahawks fans feed on football frenzy
There is no Cascade Curtain when it comes to Seahawks pride.
As Seattle’s National Football League team gears up for its second Super Bowl appearance in as many years, Eastern Washington and North Idaho are, to borrow a team slogan, all in again.
Jerseys, sweatshirts, socks and hats are selling fast.
The Swinging Doors bar in north Spokane is taking reservations for the big game. Scratch that – it was taking reservations; it was completely booked for Super Bowl Sunday by 9 a.m. the morning after the Seahawks’ stunning comeback win over the Green Bay Packers, owner Bob Materne said.
Ron Newberry was painting “Beast Mode” and “Legion of Boom” on the front entrance at Dick’s Sporting Goods in Spokane Valley last week. The owner of High Impact Window Splash and Graphics said it was his fourth Seahawks paint job so far, with three more scheduled.
Downtown Spokane is festooned with 12th Man pennants, courtesy of the Downtown Spokane Partnership. STCU hoisted a 12-by-18-foot flag on its Hutton Building downtown. The Clocktower in Riverfront Park has a lighted 12th Man display and various downtown buildings glow green and blue at night. Every other business, it seems, has added “Go Hawks” to its signage.
Restaurants and food shops are offering baked goods playing off the team’s 12th Man theme and colors. The Scoop on Spokane’s South Hill is churning a special blend of key lime and blue raspberry ice cream, topped with Marshawn Lynch’s favorite candy – Skittles – all piled into a blue-and-green waffle cone.
“We made the cones and we were like, ‘OK, we need to make some ice cream,’ ” said Jennifer Davis, owner of The Scoop.
The fandom isn’t surprising, said Marla Nunberg, vice president of the Downtown Spokane Partnership.
“Spokane in general gets behind sporting events no matter what they are,” she said. “Spokane is a sporting town.”
Seahawks gear moving quickly
Sales of Seahawks stuff have been booming, say retailers who carry the team’s licensed apparel, and not just recently.
When safety Kam Chancellor intercepted a pass for a touchdown against the Carolina Panthers on Jan. 11, “Immediately, people were calling” asking for the No. 41 jersey that Chancellor wears, said Jennifer Meese, sales manager at Sport Town in downtown Spokane.
It seems that the more the Seahawks win, the more stuff people want to buy, she said.
She believes the popularity of Seahawks apparel is due in part to the NFL’s decision to switch licensing for official gear from Reebok to Nike in 2012.
“It’s so much better-looking now. More and more people love the look and the styling,” she said. One color and one style just are not enough for many customers.
Prices aren’t cheap, and they’re going up.
Last year, a stitched fan jersey went for $135. This year it’s $150. Next year, the price is projected to be $170.
Mike Morris, who owns the Fuel sports bar near CenturyLink Field, bought $400 worth of Seahawks and Gonzaga items at Sport Town last week.
The demand for Seahawks stuff is so high in Seattle that some fans called Sport Town at Christmas to order items they couldn’t find over there, Meese said.
Meese said she saw Seahawks knit hats, like the ones the players wear on the sidelines, selling for $86 on the Web late last year. They retail for $26. The hats are in stock now, but were sold out before the holidays.
Zome Design isn’t licensed to use the official Seahawks logo, but the Spokane company is doing just fine with its own designs, as well as custom products using company logos in blue and green, owner Brayden Jessen said. “Everyone is just wanting to figure out any way they can to show support,” he said.
“It’s been crazy; I had to answer the phone three times during a meeting (for orders).”
At Dick’s Sporting Goods, customer Lisa Cleveland was going through stacks of Seahawks apparel, getting ready for a trip to Estacada, Oregon, for a Super Bowl party with her husband’s family.
“He said, ‘Do we really need to get new shirts?’ and I said, ‘Yes.’ ”
Even her 83-year-old mother has become a fan, joining her neighbors in their 90s next door in Chewelah, Washington, on game day, she said.
Also shopping at Dick’s was Lynne Nee of Wilbur, Washington. She was looking for Seahawks hats and T-shirts to be properly dressed for next Sunday’s Super Bowl get-together with friends.
“I have plenty of Seahawks gear,” she said. “But this deserves some new stuff.”
A trend has emerged nationally of fans wanting to wear what they see during big games on TV.
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll was wearing a pullover thermal fleece on the sidelines. At $90, it’s been a popular item at Sport Town. Another hit has been the updated No. 80 jersey, a throwback to the 1970s and ’80s when legendary wide receiver Steve Largent wore the number.
Gathering places cashing in
At the Swinging Doors, Super Bowl Sunday will include special menu items and giveaways.
The mainstay sports bar of north Spokane will offer a menu item specific to Seattle’s foe, much like the Lambeau Burger that was for sale last weekend. But Materne, the owner, wasn’t ready to say what New England-themed food he’d be serving next Sunday.
Across the Idaho border, Capone’s will offer its own Super Bowl special, said Chris Parks, manager of the Coeur d’Alene location.
“I want to mess around with a shot called the ‘Deflater,’ ” Parks said with a laugh, referring to the kerfuffle over the air in the footballs used in the Patriots’ victory over Indianapolis.
Capone’s isn’t reserving tables for its end-of-the-season blowout, which will include prizes in conjunction with a local radio station. Parks said last year the bar wasn’t packed, likely because people wanted to host their own Super Bowl parties with the Seahawks in the big game.
“They’re the closest thing we have to a pro team,” Parks said.
For those wishing for a little less raucous crowd, but who still want to cheer on the Seahawks, Happy Time Tavern on North Division Street in Spokane will host a potluck party. Owner Bonnie Hunter said the bar’s big Seahawks logo painted on the outside of the building was paid for with money donated by a regular customer.
“This is a regular bar; we have the same people every week,” she said. “We all love the Seahawks.”
For a big-screen showing of the big game, the Bing Crosby Theater on West Sprague Avenue is showing the Super Bowl on its 30-foot screen. Doors open at 2:30; the event is free, with donations accepted at the door.
“There will be snacks, beer and wine at the concession stand,” said John Rawley, with Friends of the Bing, the sponsor. “Yes, you can take it into the movie theater.”
Longtime fans have lived with ups and downs
Tiffany Kennedy Helm grew up watching the Seahawks with her dad, Ron Kennedy.
She was a child in the ’70s and ’80s, and Largent was her idol.
“I remember my dad yelling at the TV and they were just so terrible,” said Helm, who’s a bartender and waiter at Poole’s Public House on Hastings Road. “I grew up in the middle of all that – we were great fans.” The whole family watched the Seahawks lose to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XL in 2006. Unfortunately, she said, “We never made it to a game.”
When her father died in June 2011, Helm and her mother went to look for an urn to hold his ashes. Nothing seemed quite right.
“And then I looked at the top of these skinny shelves and there it was,” Helm said – an urn shaped like a Seahawks helmet.
“I looked at my mom and said, ‘Dad can really rest in that,’ ” Helm said.
On Sunday, she’ll get off work early and head home to once again watch the Super Bowl with her family.
“I wish dad could see this,” Helm said, “but I know he has the best seat in the house at CenturyLink Field; I know he’s watching.”
Like Helm, Liz Comfort is also a Largent fan.
“It was love at first sight with me and Steve,” she said, laughing.
Comfort has been a Seahawks fan as long as there’s been a Seahawks team and she proudly displays one of her favorite possessions: a near full-size newspaper photo of Largent.
The huge photo was published on several pages of the Tacoma News Tribune in December 1989, and a friend of Comfort’s – who was actually a Redskins fan – picked it up for her.
“It was my bedroom wallpaper even after I got married,” said Comfort, who’s the office manager at Westerberg and Associates in Liberty Lake.
Comfort said watching the last Seahawks game almost did her in.
“I was on my knees on the floor; people had to help me back up,” she said.
Her dog, Gus, growls every time referees are shown on the TV screen, she noted. “I guess it’s because he can tell I’m tensing up.”
When Comfort heads over to a friend’s house to watch the Super Bowl, she’ll likely be wearing 12th Man earrings of her own design, a Seahawks jersey and cap, and she’ll be flying a small Seahawks flag from her truck.
And though her main crush will always be Largent, she has nothing but good things to say about Russell Wilson.
“He is humble and supportive. He’s a great quarterback – he’s what every quarterback should be.”
Parents make do when kids’ activities intervene
The Super Bowl Smackdown volleyball tournament hosted by the Eclipse Volleyball Club at the Valley HUB usually draws a good crowd of players and spectators. When the Seahawks are playing, though, it really is a whole different ballgame.
The indoor event center has only a single television with an old-fashioned rabbit ear antenna for parents desperate to watch the event, said director Phil Champlin.
“It’s kind of sketchy,” he said of the signal. “I think they did Web streaming last year.”
Some parents have hit on a solution, though: “Some of them will leave the girls here and head to one of the sports places nearby to watch the game,” Champlin said.
Parents who bring their children to a birthday party at the Jump-N-Party facility on North Division Street have a somewhat more convenient alternative. “We do have a TV here,” said employee Ralph Rickards – in the lobby. Rickards said he expects more parents than usual to be watching next Sunday. “They’re not in the bounce rooms playing with the kids,” he said. “They’re out here watching the game.”