Seattle Seahawks v. Arizona Cardinals

This past Sunday the Seattle Seahawks played a National Football League game with the Arizona Cardinals in the Century Link football stadium (warmly referred to as the Clink) right here in Seattle. And we won! The game tickets were part of my birthday gift package to Mike last week. We had never been to a Seahawks game together – it was the home opener and we were stoked about going.

We beat the traffic into the city by taking a bus and that was fast, cheap and easy. We went directly to the Central Saloon, Seattle’s oldest bar, for breakfast. We stopped to chat with the owner – someone I originally knew over 25 years ago when I tended bar in Pioneer Square – and then we made the walk over to the Clink.

We saw this festive truck - all decked out in the blue and green.

Seattle's finest - and longest police vehicle!

The restaurants and bars had a good morning, the lines were full of fans, and the atmosphere was lively.

The forecast was rain, but it was only cloudy as we made our way through the growing crowd.

We stopped to watch this amazing band – not only were they playing music and revving up the crowd – but they were doing gymnastics while playing their instruments! Very cool. A short video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEDlIYq2ZOc. The blue and green was everywhere.

We worked our way up to the 300 level and found our seats. Not bad for $50 each through a Nintendo offer! I slipped away to buy Mike a Seahawks cap and a jersey.

I got him a jersey with the #12 and the name “Fan.” He loved it and put them both on. He looked so cute!

The pre-game festivities began and the flag waved in all her glory.

They raised the "twelfth man flag" and the crowd roared!!!

Soon enough the players hit the field. And so did the rain. I was very happy to be sitting in the nosebleed section – that was covered – as sheets of rain pummeled the field and uncovered fans. It was so intense that clouds blocked the view of Puget Sound and we couldn’t even see the water! Unbelievably, that lasted only about five minutes and it ended up being a nice, sunny day.

This guy was two seats down from me...his head hung low the entire game!!! TOO MUCH TAILGATING!!!

The game was fast and exciting. And we yelled and cheered and clapped for our Seahawks! It was close at the end, but we came away with a 13-10 victory and our first win of the season. We walked with the other 66,199 fans out of the stadium with huge smiles on our faces and made our way to our bus stop. Before we knew it we were home. What a fantastic day – GO SEAHAWKS!