Jake and I arrived in New York, and made it to our Hotel in Manhattan. Checking in at the front desk, we were told we had the right colors on, we were wearing our Seahawks gear. We didn't have any idea, but the staffer said "why don't you guys go ahead and take this room." Not sure what he was talking about, we made our way to our room. I opened up the blinds and wow, I knew what he what he had in mind in. The Empire State Building was lit up in Seahawk blue and green and our view was unobstructed.
On Superbowl Sunday, we headed to Penn Station at about noon. Getting to the game was a bit crazy to say the least. There was two options to get into the stadium, the fan express bus or the NJ transit. Fan express buses were all booked by the time we decided to head out to NY. Luckily we arrived with, I would say the first 10,000 fans. Waiting in the transit station was adventure, we were shoulder to shoulder most of the time. You had to stand on the stairs for 10-15 minutes if you were lucky and longer if you weren't, The 12's took full advantage of having thousands of fans inside the transit stations. There were deafening Seahawks chants that were a wave from one end to the other end of the building. It was awesome. The Broncos fans tried to come back with their own cheers but it was mainly in retaliation, they needed a lot more practice. I felt like I was going to pass out twice on the trip, once on the transit from Penn Station to Secaucus and once standing on the stairs heading to the next train from Secaucus to the Meadowlands. At least I wasn't like one of the guys on our first train who was puking all over himself the entire ride. HA!
Arrived at Metlife stadium around 2:30PM.
We expected hours of waiting in security lines at the stadium but we got inside in less than 30 minutes.
This was the set outside the stadium for the NFL Network. You can tell by the pictures below, Deion Sanders was inside, Willie McGinnest actually came outside and said hello to a few fans and even took a picture with a kid.
We checked out our seats, the welcome pack that was there and went to buy some gear and souvenirs. The welcome pack had hand warmers, a beanie, a pouch for your waist to warm your hands, a poncho and a few other things I can't remember. We also walked around the stadium, took some pictures, ate some food and got on face time with our wives and kids.
The first snap from scrimmage sent all the Hawk fans into a frenzy. We were all jumping up and down going nuts after the botched snap and safety.
The beanies that were given to us, were equipped with LED lights in the front. The lights were controlled and were part of the halftime show. The lights you saw on TV around the stadium were on our heads. It was pretty cool to watch in person. I think it was a great idea to get every fan involved as part of the halftime show.
Bruno Mars was good and it was a nice change up to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
If felt like we were jumping and yelling the entire game, there was always something to cheer about. Complete domination by the Seahawks and now it was time to celebrate! The first Superbowl win in Seahawks history, and I was there to witness it. People always ask me what it was like, the trip, the Superbowl itself and the overall experience. In all honesty it's hard to put into words. Amazing. Epic. Dream come true. Cloud 9. Once in a lifetime. Those words still don't seem to do justice to what it felt like to be in NYC and watch the Hawks win the Superbowl. Next to marrying Heidi, and the birth of all my kids it was certainly the best day of my life.
Superbowl 48 champs!!!! We hung around the stadium for a few hours to celebrate, take pictures and soak it all in. We did it! I've got to give the Broncos fans that were there some credit, after getting smacked by the Seahawks most of them that I ran into either shook my hand or patted me on the back and said congratulations. Almost all of them were classy. We are talking grown men, literally crying but still had the class to say congrats.
