Randy asked us, about a month or so ago, if we wanted tickets to the Seahawks game on December 11th against the Carolina Panthers. Of course, we do, I never say no to free tickets. He electronically transferred them to Mom, and she sent them to me so I could put them on my phone. That meant, we would be taking the party bus up to Seattle. I went and wrote it on the calendar so I wouldn't double book myself since December was starting to fill up fast.
This was the first Seahawks game I've been to since November 2019. Del had gotten rid of his season tickets when he moved with Nicole to Tumwater so we can't look forward to at least one of those each year anymore. He had offered them to Ben and I but it would quite the commitment. We like going to one or two of them a year. I was excited to go again, and Ben was super jealous he didn't get to go. I explained that they weren't my tickets, they were Mom's.
The night before I got out all of my Seahawk's stuff, my clear bag and, most importantly, made sure I could access our tickets from my phone. The day of, I got up and got ready and met Mom at O'Blarney's just before 10 a.m. We found a place to park, made sure I had everything, and we found the bus we needed to be on. We found our seats and made ourselves comfortable for the ride up to Seattle. This time we were better prepared for gambling and raffle tickets. Last time we were newbies and had no idea what we were doing.
Both Mom and I brought enough money this time so we could gamble. We pulled out of O'Blarney's parking lot and got onto I-5 north. Meanwhile, a 10x10 grid was being passed around and we each got to fill in 3 squares, a dollar a square. We pitched in $6. We were hoping that we were going to win at least one square. Mom put in for the raffle. We will see if we win a prize or not.
We chatted about the game, the last time we sat in Randy's seats which was on Monday Night Football back in December 2018 against the Vikings. We won that game 21-7 and made Kurt Cousins look really bad. We merged off of I-5 and took 99 to the stadium...probably because it was easier for the bus to maneuver around. We parked in the designated bus zone around 11:30 a.m. and sat there for a few minutes while he did the raffle drawing.
One of Mom's tickets was chosen, and she won a leather Seahawk backpack...kind of like one of those you can get at the state fair or bought at a flea market. Either way, she won something. We left it on the bus, grabbed our clear bag and walked towards WAMU event center and the stadium. I asked Mom if she wanted to wander around Touchdown City for a bit and she said sure.
We went through security, had our belongings checked and then grabbed my phone so they could scan our tickets. They never used to do it here and anyone with or without a game ticket could come into Touchdown City, but they changed it for some reason. Not sure if it's because of security reasons or because of Covid.
We walked in, saw where everything was and what kinds of activities were going on. We spent a few minutes watching some of the games that were already going on and checking our Fantasy Football stats. I saw they had a face paint booth and decided since we have a while until the game we could stand in line for a bit. We found the end of the line and waited. Two people behind us asked us if we wanted their extra rally towel and I said sure and thanked them.
We got to the front of the line, and I asked them to spray on a Seahawk logo and the chevron shapes, they called them "feathers". Mom got a tiny 12 painted on her face. They asked if we wanted glitter, of course we wanted glitter! I threw in a couple bucks as a tip. Then we went over to the AmFam booth so we could get a gameday picture and a free clear bag -- Mom wanted one.
We wandered around for a little bit longer and then I asked Mom if we were ready to go into the stadium so we could get some Ivar's. She said yes. We went up the stairs and into the stadium. I continued to hope that the weather would hold up because it was iffy. We walked up the ramp up towards our seats. I asked Mom if we wanted to get food now or in a little bit. She said now. We found an Ivar's and stood in line. We both got a 3 piece with fries, she got a water, and I got a Coke Zero in a cup. We found our condiments, napkins and a place to stand undercover and eat our food because it was starting to sprinkle outside. The weather said it wasn't going to rain!!
We finished our food and walked back to our seats. It had stopped sprinkling. We sat there waiting for the game to start. The Seahawks were the clear favorites that afternoon after not knowing how this season would turn out after the giant blockbuster Russell Wilson trade last spring with the Denver Broncos. We all had our doubts when Geno Smith was named the starting quarterback at the beginning of the season. By mid-season, we were actually doing okay and could possibly make playoffs somehow.
Our first play of the game was an interception that lead to a Carolina field goal. That interception kinda set the tone for the rest of the game it seemed like. We did not look comfortable at all against a struggling Panther's team. The NFC South was the worst division in football and sadly, four of our losses were against all four of the NFC South crappy teams. Why? It's because we were not consistent throughout the season and played down to their level.
The end of the first quarter we were down 10-0. We just couldn't get anything to happen on offense. When we did well on defense, we would let them run the ball after getting them stopped for a 3rd and long, then they would get a whole new set of downs. Darnold has got to be one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL right now and just about the entire game he did not dare throw the ball, I think he attempted throwing it a few times and each one almost got picked off. He settled for handoffs because we just could not stop the run. It was so frustrating to watch!
The second quarter we finally started to figure it out on offense and managed to get two touchdowns to their touchdown and a field goal. Unfortunately, an obvious offsides penalty wasn't called so Smith thought he had a free play that resulted in a really bad interception that destroyed a great drive. We were on the Panther's side of the field too. When halftime approached, we were only down 20-14. This was still winnable if we came out with a purpose and stopped the run in the second half.
It was very back and forth in the third quarter and nothing substantial happened. A lot of three and outs on both sides but we managed to get a Jason Meyers field goal out of it. At the end of the third quarter, we were down 20-17.
We had several chances to take the lead in the fourth quarter, but we couldn't find that offensive rhythm that came easy earlier that season. We held our ground most of the fourth quarter on defense but let them have another touchdown and a field goal. We nabbed ourselves a touchdown and a field goal during garbage time to make the loss look less bad. We lost 30-24 to one of the worst teams in the NFC and the NFC South.
The positive side of it was that we were still in the running for the playoffs, and we were still above .500 with our record in the standings. We had four games left and I saw us coming out of it with a 2-2 record. We will see though.
Mom and I, with the rest of the crowd, made our way back down to the lower level and left the stadium to head back to the bus. We sat there for a while waiting for everyone to get back. Two people didn't get to come back with us because they were really late, and we needed to get back to O'Blarney's at a decent time. I did not hear what ever happened to them.
About halfway through the bus ride home, we did more gambling, Mom and I did not partake in the pull-tab game because we didn't know how it was played, so we just watched and were entertained. They figured out who won each quarter on the grid game and Mom won $25 for the fourth quarter square. She would have won another square if the Hawks would have scored a touchdown in the second quarter. But still, we came away with money and a prize this time!
We got back to O'Blarney's and we got into our vehicles and went home. I told Mom to call or text me when she gets home because she had further to drive. I headed home, got cleaned up, watched the rest of the Sunday Night Football game, ate some popcorn and worked on my blog for a while. It was nice to be able to go to a Seahawks game again...it's been way too long. I just wish we would have gotten a win out of it though. Oh well.
Next Adventure: Christmas Cookies with Barlow, 2022 Christmas Ornament and Ed's Party at the Ram
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