12th Man Showed Up Strong For Seahawks Victory Parade

The 12th Man showed up strong with easily over 700,000 to help the Seahawks celebrate their Super Bowl XLVIII with a victory parade.

There were blue and green as far as the eye can see with apartment buildings and business offices hanging 12th Man flags from their windows and rooftops. The streets were crowded, as were the top of buildings along the parade route.

Most fans were arriving around 8-9a.m., that's about 2-3 hours before the parade was even scheduled to begin. Not even the cold temperatures, about 28 degrees, kept the city from showing love for their beloved Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks.

A lot of  younger kids were taken out of school for the day with one person tweeting out, "My sons orchestra class usually has over 50 kids, today there was 3." Seattle's school district allowed each principal to decide whether they would excuse kids for the parade with supposedly 25% of the classes empty throughout the city, including teachers. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, especially considering our last championship season was after the 1978-79 NBA season when the Seattle SuperSonics won it all, their parade consisted of around 300,000 fans lining the streets that year.

The parade started from the Seattle Space Needle and ended at Century Link Field. The party wasn't over just then, as Century Link was filled with even more fans who filled the stadium well before the parade had even begun. With Century Link meeting their capacity limit early the city opened Safeco Field, the Mariners home field, to allow the overflow of people to watch the presentation of the Seattle Seahawks as Super Bowl champions. I was lucky enough to get a couple tickets for Safeco, although I had to wait online for over 3 hours in order to get them, but they were free so I can't really complain.

The parade was scheduled to begin around 11a.m. but was delayed because of the major traffic issues around the city. Once the parade was  finally set to begin their was another delay because the police had to clear out the roads because people were filling the streets trying to see their Seahawks.

The city had estimated that 250,000 to 500,000 people would attend this event, boy where they wrong, and the Seattle Police Department had to request help from police departments around the area to help with the parade, some coming from as far as Portland.

AP Photo/The Seattle Times, Steve Ringman

The Parade consisted of players riding on team buses, military humvees, and of course the famous Seattle "Ride-The-Ducks" boat/bus that included Marshawn Lynch on the hood throwing skittles to all the fans. Lynch began beating on a native drum handed to him by a fan by the time he had reached Century Link Field.

Once inside Century Link Field, the players had their finger measurements taken for their Super Bowl ring before the presentation. That was followed by the teams entrance to the field. The players were announced individually by their jersey number. Once they got to #4,  kicker Steven Hauschka, they skipped one last player and began introducing the coaching staff. That last player introduced was 2nd year QB Russell Wilson who was introduced last carrying the Lombardi Trophy to the center of the field.

Wilson was met in the middle of the field by Marshawn Lynch, who doused Wilson and the trophy with a bottle of Dom Perignon. The crowd went out of control after seeing two of the city's favorite players celebrate.

Maybe the biggest cheer of the day came when former Seahawk and one of the newest members into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Walter Jones, raised the 12th Man flag to begin the ceremony. Former Seahawk wide receiver and current Seahawk radio broadcaster, Steve Raible, was chosen to start the presentation off.

Pete Carroll, Russell Wilson, and Richard Sherman each got a chance to speak to the crowd. Carroll said in his speech, "We're just getting warmed up, if you know what I'm talking about," which started another rumble you could hear throughout the entire city. Wilson, who spoke of the offense, had a similar opinion saying, "Our plan is to win another one for you next year," and as you would expect the 12th Man exploded into cheer again. Sherman, who spoke on behalf of the defense, also gave high praise to the 12th Man and stated that their defense consists of some of the best at their positions in the entire NFL.

What it all comes down it is Seattle has the best sports fans in the world and if you don't believe it come out here and see for yourself.

Photo by Lindsey Engh

Whether its the 12th Man showing up for a Seahawks Super Bowl Parade or a rally to bring back our Sonics, we show up in full force (So bring a team already Adam Silver).

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