Having lived in Seattle since I began college in 1999, I've grown very attached to this city.  I grew up in a town of roughly eight thousand people back in Wyoming.  I've had more than a few bits of culture shock, and it took me a bit longer to adjust to certain aspects of city life than I would have preferred, but I have to say that while Seattle has its flaws, I really wouldn't want to live anywhere else right now.

However, transplanted resident or not, pretty much everyone in Seattle is experiencing something new as of right now.  The Seahawks actually made it to the Super Bowl.  Seattle isn't a total stranger to sports championships, but the sad fact is the Sonics haven't won the NBA championship in decades, the once-proud UW Huskies football team is in a state of disrepair resulting from a series of scandals and lawsuits (although the women's volleyball team won the national title this year), the Mariners consistantly underperform, and only three people in the entire city even care that Seattle won the 2005 WNBA title.  To top that all off, the last time the Seahawks won a playoff game, Voltron was on television without any ironic Cartoon Network commentary.

So with the Seahawks actually in the Super Bowl this year, things have gotten pretty weird in Seattle.  Usually, everone's tried to put the team out of mind by this time of year, but now the city is succumbing to the same brand of lunacy that a lot of a other sports cities have felt at times like this.  Billboards are plastered with messages asking God to bless the Seahawks.  Seahawk jerseys have suddenly become a roaring fashion trend. I was actually out in the University District for a short while when the Seahawks won the NFC title, and there was everything from general hooting and hollaring to celebratory gunshots.

(You know, there might be something to that "loud and gun-crazy" stereotype the Japanese see in us.)

This whole experience is new to me, as you can probably tell.  If the Seahawks win, I have absolutely no idea what's going to happen.  On the one hand, I can see a situation where half the city will riot in celebration, and I won't feel safe enough to leave my apartment for two days.  On the other, the Seahawks will lose, and...it'll pretty much just keep raining here.

Sports are weird.