Thoughts and experiences from an enterprise software architect.
This is a personal weblog by Jorgen Thelin, a Senior Program Manager for Windows Live Identity Services at Microsoft in Redmond.
The opinions expressed here represent my own views and not those of my current, prior or future employer(s).
Question: How do you win againsts a 12-man football team?
Answer: You dont!
Tonight Seattle is going wild celabrating the Seahawks 34-14 victory against the Carolina Panthers. The Seattle Seahawks dominated from the get-go, and looked like a team ready to win the Super Bowl.
The Seattle Seahawks are totally undefeated at home this season for one very good reason: the twelfth man - the name given to all the Seahawks fans who are in the stadium actively supporting their team with noise, noise, and more noise.
The 11 Seahawks players on the field played a great game (especially by covering the Panther's star player Steve Smith so tightly that he couldn't do anything), but the match was really won by the 12th Man overall.
The atmosphere in the stadium was completely electrfying (Josh Brown described it afterwards as "enough electricity to jump start a car!") and the effect of the local support on the opposition team was noticable and decisive - the Panthers just couldn't get their game togather and were totally demorolized and crushed by the fan support. You get a flavour of the stadium atmosphere from these clips recorded before and during the game, but even they are a pale reflection of what it was like to be there.
So, after a brief celebration, next stop for the Seahawks is Superbowl XL in Detroit on Feb 5th.
To understand just how big an event the Superbowl is in the USA, consider these facts:
- The 12 most watched TV programs of all time are Super Bowls, with the 2004 game the highest rated ever, with 144.4 million viewers watching at least a portion of the broadcast.
- More Americans watched the Super Bowl last February than bothered to vote in the 2004 presidential election.
- About 44 million people attend 7.5 million Super Bowl parties on game day, making it a bigger excuse for a party than New Year's Eve.
75 percent of the Seahawks Super Bowl XL ticket allotment will be available to season ticket holders through a lottery system, with tickets priced at USD 620 each. Tickets and travel packages for other fans are being sold through the PrimeSport website, with packages starting at USD 3749 each including flights. Superbowl is a big money event!!
Me: I'll have to settle with watching the game at home or at some yet-to-be-decided Superbowl party on Feb 5.
Copyright (c) 2003-2008 Jorgen Thelin. All rights reserved.
This weblog is licensed under a Creative Commons License.