Seahawks Sundays with Sam: Falcons Game
Sam put it so aptly prior to the Seattle Seahawks versus Atlanta Falcons game on Sunday: “Is it wrong to bring your own refreshments if the restaurant has bad food?”
He had shown up to our usual spot to watch the Seahawks play, an unnamed sports bar that most likely will not be in business in a year. The service is bad, the food is bad and the drinks are watered down. It is, in fact, the Cleveland Browns of sports bars.
Still, the bar supplies us with a place, at least temporarily, to watch the Seahawks play on a huge screen with sound. Things could be worse. So, maybe the bar is more the San Francisco 49ers of sports watching venues. Lousy, but not awful.
Then the game started. The first half was amazing. Sam and I were both totally into the play and not really focused on the beer. Like many Seahawks fans, we may have felt a little too comfortable. The Seahawks rarely take what seems like total control of a game in the first half against a good opponent enough where as a fan I feel like I can relax. Obviously the Seahawks have been extremely successful over the last several seasons, but fans have gotten used to tight games. The Falcons game seemed too easy.
And in fact, the first half was not indicative of how the game would play out in the second half. I partly blame Sam. I am a superstitious fan. Game going well? Do not change anything. Season going well? Wear the same jersey and drink the same beer during games. At halftime of the Falcons game, Sam has a gift. He pulls out two glasses with the Seahawks logo on them. The words Seattle Seahawks are also on the glass. Sam has the waitress bring out two new beers in the glasses. The words, “Seattle Seahawks,” are blue. Sam explains that the words turn blue when the drink is cold, like the cheesy Coors Light bottles. The glasses are still pretty nice, though.
But the third quarter is a mess. The Falcons score three straight times and take the lead. I half-jokingly play the change in the game on the new glasses. Maybe the Falcons gaining control had more to do with the Seahawks defensive miscommunication and Atlanta moving receiver Julio Jones around more. Or maybe it is the group of Australians who have come in and taken a large table to our immediate right and are drinking plenty of shots but do not care about the game. Or maybe the change is due to the family who has taken seats directly in front of us who somewhat half-heartedly root for the Falcons.
Atlanta fans are an odd bunch. The Falcons are good. But Atlanta is not a great sports town. The Braves, and admittedly they were awful, ranked 22nd in attendance in Major League Baseball. The much better Falcons rank 16th in home attendance this season in capacity-filled percentage in the National Football League, the same as in 2015. The Hawks ranked 20th in the National Basketball Association home capacity-filled attendance. The city used to have two different National Hockey League teams and have zero now. My point being that I assume Atlanta sports fans are extreme die-hards or just rooting against the team the home team is playing against, and only kind-of on that last part, and these fans were going to be no trouble.
Seattle, of course, comes back in the fourth to take the lead. The lady behind us to our left has been alone at her table since before we arrived. She is wearing a Tennessee Titans jersey. The Titans game was earlier than the Seahawks and is long over. She begins talking to us as the Falcons begin their last, and as it would turn out unsuccessful, drive. She seems nice enough, but this is annoying. Maybe she does not understand what is happening in the Falcons and Seahawks game. Sam turns to me and says, “This lady has been trying to get me to sit with her for a month.” This seems to be true, but Sam does not move, of course, and refocuses on the game.
The Falcons throw long on fourth-and-ten in a play we all know could have been called pass interference but was not and Seattle wins another close game. The glasses do not end up being a jinx. I go home but Sam stays and talks to two guys who have set to left of where we are sitting. He texts me later and says he had an extended conversation about hiking with two guys from Colorado. If the Seahawks had lost, Sam probably would have left as well, but when the Seahawks win the world is just a better place.
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