Back again for more, are you? The Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl almost two weeks ago, and I was on hand to cover everything on location from the San Francisco Bay Area. Well, almost everything, but there was a silver lining to be had on that front.
This is the conclusion of my two-part journal on my first Super Bowl in-person. The first part already covered some behind the scenes details on press conferences, the Media Center, and there’s even a little geography lesson mixed in. The bulk of this
chronicle is focused more on the fan side of the trip.
The bad news: I’m not going to the game
Let’s get this out of the way first: Super Bowl game week and game day credentials are not the same thing. My NFL issued credential is for game week, which well over 6,000 others received and are not too difficult to attain. Game day credentials are much more limited and it’s not really communicated to us who’s been approved/rejected on Friday.
Unfortunately, when SB Nation NFL News Director Jeanna Kelley returns from the credential pick-up line—there’s a designated person per organization who must get the game day creds for the entire group, and incidentally this em-dash usage is my own and not ChatGPT—I get the bad news that SB Nation didn’t get its full allotment of requests. We’re a group of four, we only got the minimum two. Bummer. Jeanna is super apologetic about the whole situation, which is beyond her control.
Not going in person? Bummer, but I’m already having a great time and never thought I’d even be at a Super Bowl week to begin with. Jeanna is the reason I even made the trip, so I’m grateful as is just going through this amazing experience.
But here’s the silver lining: I can be a fan. A cardinal sin in journalism is don’t cheer in the press box, and while I maintained professionalism throughout the week at press conferences and other events, it would’ve been hard to suppress myself on Sunday. There are genuinely some aspects of working on-site at an event that are disadvantageous compared to working off-site. For example, I literally cannot live tweet a game from Field Gulls social media accounts at the stadium the way I can from home. Being at post-game press conferences also takes away valuable editing time, so the whole operation for Field Gulls on game day would’ve been a little bit slower.
Okay, so I’m not heading to Lumen Field South in Santa Clara. My mind starts thinking about Plan B, which did fall into my lap unexpectedly.
Danny Coyle’s, the only Seahawks bar in San Francisco
Believe it or not, there is a Seahawks bar in 49ers territory. On Haight Street in between Pierce and Steiner sits Danny Coyle’s, an Irish pub that is all about drinks and not food. The owner, Brian Coyle, is actually a 49ers fan but his story about how this became the Bay Area’s premier hangout spot for Seahawks fans is fascinating.
And much like that time SpongeBob “appeared” in that Krusty Krab commercial, I’m in the shot!
On game day, I make a venture out to Danny Coyle’s to check the place out and hang out with some Seahawks fans before kickoff. Little did I know that within minutes I’d be taking photos with two Field Gulls readers: Reed and Scott. No bullshit: this has never happened to me before.
Thanks to Reed, we get a “SEA! HAWKS!” chant going with the place just about filled to capacity at 1:15 pm. Irish whiskey and Guinness is a-flowing.
I mostly shoot the shit for about an hour and talk about the game, Field Gulls, my story being at Super Bowl week, and I downed a glass of Pilsner. A lovely couple in Green Bay Packers jerseys, pet-sitting for a relative, offer me another drink, but I politely decline.
The place is vibrant, there’s a strong sense of community among Seahawks fans all around the country, and on a lesser day I’d gladly watch a game here and embarrass myself trying to play pool. But for Super Bowl Sunday, I can’t risk the two obviously bad outcomes: Seattle wins and my laptop is destroyed due to an overflow of jovial drinks, or Seattle loses and my laptop is destroyed due to an overflow of tears.
Before I head to my “work station” for the day, I ask Allan and Joel for their thoughts on the game and their favorite Seahawks of all time.
The Super Bowl Fan Experience
If nothing else, the NFL knows how to market itself and its history. Not only is the Moscone Center in Downtown San Francisco a workspace for media, it’s also home to the Super Bowl Experience for the general public. With my trusty credential, I can get in for free and steer clear of the clear bag policy.
Just to get this out of the way, I didn’t spend any money on concessions.
There’s a lot to do for adults and children alike. A few of the famed Combine drills are there, including the 40-yard dash, vertical jump, and the bench press. There’s a Pro Football Hall of Fame exhibit, autograph sessions with current and former NFL stars, photo-ops with the Lombardi Trophy, every Super Bowl ring ever, plus the usual set of sponsorship booths with fun activities and promotional giveaways, and laughably overpriced food. It’s cool seeing Seahawks legend Jerry Rice coach a girls’ flag football game, and cooler to see the incoming wave of Seahawks fans as the week progressed.
There are many who have the pleasure of taking photos with the NFC Championship trophy.
This is also where I conduct that survey you most likely read before the game. It’s an idea inspired by watching how the other SBNers Jeanna, RJ Ochoa, and David Fucillo approached fans and just talked to them for their sponsored video content earlier in the week. I just walk up to people, show my credential, and get to recording (audio only, to make everyone more comfortable if they don’t want to be filmed).
It’s extremely fun interacting with Seahawks fans from all walks of life, all ages, and from just about every time zone in the United States. This has definitely given me ideas for what to do when I attend Seahawks training camp again this summer.
Game day: The Seahawks are Super Bowl champions!
The absolute laziest but most economical decision possible is going to a free watch party across from my hotel in Emeryville. Bay Street Emeryville is an outdoor mall with terraced seating, a Shake Shack upstairs, and free Wi-Fi that actually works well. The atmosphere is more casual, family-friendly, and even still there are several Seahawks fans to talk to. Many neutrals seemingly are pulling for Seattle over the Patriots, as well.
My “press seat” is next to a 49ers fan who’s pulling for the Seahawks because it’s a West Coast team. He says he’s a San Francisco Giants fan but doesn’t hate the Los Angeles Dodgers… he just hates Dodgers fans. Hey, I get it.
Between the main floor and additional monitors upstairs I’d say there are around 200 people for the first half at the very least.
The crowd is a little more sparse after they were enthralled by the Bad Bunny halftime show, but that’s totally fine with me. It also didn’t help that the temperatures dropped significantly while winds were picking up, so the organizers handed out blankets to those who wanted them.
Remember earlier I said no cheering in the press box is a cardinal sin? I don’t think I would’ve ever been allowed in an NFL building ever again after the A.J. Barner touchdown.
(The guy to my left is a Patriots fan, incidentally. He’s a good sport about the whole thing)
Funniest moment the whole night is a 49ers fan chanting, “Block that kick!” after Uchenna Nwosu’s touchdown made it 28-7. Yes, I’m sure that would’ve made a pivotal difference, ma’am.
As the crowd disperses and Kenneth Walker III gets his Super Bowl MVP, I shut my laptop down after setting up whichever articles need to be set up for Field Gulls, order some victory lemon pepper wings and fries for the hotel and record the post-game podcast with Bryce Coutts. Not a blip in the connection, no issues getting work done, no hostility in the crowd, it’s a truly relaxing Super Bowl and a nice alternative to not being at the game. Two Seahawks fans I spoke to before the game predicted 30-10, so kudos to them for being pretty damn close.
Farewell to the Bay Area, and final tidbits
- In Part 1, I noted Brian Thomas Jr (well, I’m 99% sure it’s him) was staying at my hotel. While I can neither confirm nor deny his involvement in the NFL Players Choir, it turns out rehearsals were going on at the hotel. Those dudes can sing.
- The day before the game, I went to a Taste of the NFL with Jeanna and sampled all sorts of delicious food from celebrity chefs like Tyler Florence to local Bay Area chefs. The short rib egg roll kicked ass, as did the Rockfish Cioppino, the pulled pork slider, the jerk chicken drumstick, the crab dip on a Doritos chip, and the crispy Sinigang wings. Oh yes, and Lorenzo Neal fist-bumped me after I said fullbacks (such as himself, Mack Strong, and others) should be in the Hall of Fame. I stand by that sentiment. As you might have seen in The Feed, Shaun Alexander was also there. It’s an incredibly cramped place, so hopefully future editions are outdoors again.
- I got to film a sponsored interview between my SB Nation colleague RJ Ochoa and Hall of Fame linebacker Luke Kuechly. After filming, I took a photo with Kuechly and told him that he killed the Seahawks with his pick-six in the NFC Divisional Round back in the 2015 season, but I was his biggest fan when he got a pick-six off Carson Palmer the following week in the NFC Championship.
- The loudest cheer I heard for anyone at the Super Bowl Experience was for NFL RedZone’s Scott Hanson. And he also got his in-5 trivia in two clues.
- Best hangout of the week was with Athlon Sports’ Doug Farrar, who’s done his fair share of guest columns on Field Gulls this season and once was a regular columnist here during the John Morgan days. He’s a wealth of knowledge and an awesome dude, and it was great having dinner with him, RJ, David, and Jeanna.
- Somehow I neglected this in Part 1, but Tuesday night I attended a media party at EA Sports in Redwood City. I saw some content creators simming the Super Bowl on Madden, and one of them called a QB draw with Sam Darnold and lost a fumble. Hey, he got the outcome he deserved.
The return to Portland from Oakland was joyous. Beyond the Seahawks merchandise being sold, there were scores of 12s in the building, many of whom are on my flight. The flight attendant is talking mad shit about the Patriots on the intercom, which almost makes up for Southwest not letting bags fly free anymore. Almost.
Upon landing and after the absurd PDX marathon to get to baggage claim, I run into to Cory (Corey?) from Camas, Oregon. I unleash one more “Go Hawks!” and then ask if he went to the game (which he did). He recognized me not from Field Gulls, but from The Seahawks Syndicate podcast. There’s a first time for everything!
This was an extremely fun week that I will cherish for the rest of my life. It still hasn’t really sunk in that I got to go to my hometown to cover a Seahawks Super Bowl win. I cannot thank Jeanna, Fooch, and RJ enough for their tireless work at SB Nation, and I learned a lot from them during our few days together. Interacting with so many Seahawks fans was also so enjoyable, and lest you think the 49ers fans were obnoxious, the ones I spoke to were cordial and good-natured. It wasn’t uncommon to see Seahawks-49ers couples or Seahawks-49ers families.
I hope I get to do this again in Los Angeles next year, only this time I’d be inside SoFi Stadium for the Seahawks’ Super Bowl repeat.
Oh, (in Columbo’s voice) just one more thing. My last breakfast before flying home, without any inkling from the server that I was a Seahawks fan, I was given this order number.
Go ‘Hawks. And thank you to everyone who consumed Field Gulls’ coverage of an unforgettable Seahawks season.
