💯 it starts at the college level in Seattle. As Huskies- we root for WSU if they play a rival to our state. WSU is like the Pats- they will cheer for one team and if you don’t they will tell you how you aren’t a real fan of your team.

We’re ready for Superbowl 😘

I’m sorry for your loss. 😔

I am! I’m rooting for the Patriots.

But I won’t wake up miserable the next morning if my hometown wins.

Seattle would have as well the last time they met! It was a very smart call by Carroll to try for a very quick, high percentage pass before trying the inevitable run, which would have ended the game either way.

Why risk the superbowl on one play, when you can have two?

He just got outcoached.

Nope.

Continuing:

"…There is no villain that can reflect your heroism.

New England is more like Europe where comparisons drive national pride, and it’s through 'others' that your identity is carved.

Seattle is just… Seattle."

The other brother (same loyalties) says:

"I think it’s very accurate. I like that you put the City above the team/sport for Seattle and the sport/team as the core in New England.

I feel like Seattle has fans who place-identify because there really isn’t a rival or neighbor to compare to."

Same brother:

"The perfect blend of both is where the purity of sports fandom wins."

Fair! I'm not very hard-core. Having moved around a lot, I subscribe heavily to King Kaufman's Complicated Calculus of Teams I Root For™ which I suppose makes me a fair weather fan.

One brother, a Seattelite but *unequivocal* Pats fan, comments:

"I think the truth is somewhere in between. The perfect balance of both. Seattle fans have a 'fairweatherness' to them that is offputting to a pure sports fan but Boston fans have an edge that makes them hated and overly dogmatic."

Anyway, I think Seattle fandom feels more wholesome, but my heart will always be with New England.

But if Seattle wins I'll celebrate with my Dad all the same!

If you're a fascist, you're a bad person. I can't forgive that.
"I can't stand here listening to you / and your racist friend."

But if you have a Yankee's cap on, you just grew up somewhere else. It's not a genuine friction point, it's sort of the opposite: a common language and shared culture.

Seattle fandom is purer, I think, to what makes make sports so valuable to society: it's an outlet for our worst partisan instincts that would otherwise erupt in politics and wars, but in a forum that fundamentally doesn't matter.

It lets us playact partisanship without any harmful stakes.

New England fandom is partisan.

It's a fandom teams other fandoms love to hate. The fandom feeds on the resentment that comes from jealousy of great teams. Logan has all the championship banners up at security for visitors to seethe at.

It's not healthy, but it's delicious, like dessert.

New England is old and its fandom is just as deep. It's part of one's identity.

If you wear a Gronk or Orr jersey you are expected to have stories about their games you've been at (I saw Nomar's 3 grand slams!)

A Red Sox hat implies a hatred of the Yankees. It's part of the canon; it's doctrine.

Seattleites take pride in their city and their sports reflect that. Loving Seattle means loving the weird corners of sports you might never actually see, like the Reign, Storm, Kraken, and Sounders.

You can wave the 12th man flag and not know who Sam Darnold is and that's OK! You love your city.

My (incorrect?) perspective on the fandom is this:

Both cities have their sports as a civic religion, but Seattle sports are secular and Boston sports are religion-religion.

As in, you don't need to care about football to be a Seahawks fan in Seattle. You just need to care about Seattle.

Aha, so it seems Brad Gibson was the last [email protected], before Martin White's wiki took it over around 2005.

But it only started in 1999, so there probably weren't many before him, perhaps just the one person who started it.