Thankful for Seahawks football

It’s Thanksgiving, which means multiple things including the day off work, a full day of Thursday football, Black Friday shopping tomorrow and tons of turkey, stuffing and the likes for everyone to eat. It is also a day with historical roots in giving thanks for what the year has brought.

Some fans are not thankful that the Seattle Seahawks are 6-4 thus far in the 2017 season, as hopes and aspirations were for better. For others, 6-4 through the first ten games represents far better than the team performed through this point of the season for much of its long history, and they are happy to enjoy the ride of Seahawk fandom. Regardless of the record, many onlookers will state that in the end the team’s record is irrelevant because football is just a game and is not important in the long run. It may be just a game, but for some people at certain points in their lives, there may be nothing else more important.

For those people, football transforms from just a game into an escape from the reality in which they are living. For a small window of time each week, regardless of whether the team wins or loses life outside of Seahawks football ceases to matter. Stresses and worries fall by the wayside, and for three hours each week in the fall these fans are able to live a life not burdened by the crushing weights of expectation and burdens. For a short period each week the Seattle Seahawks are an escape from whatever life has brought to the forefront. It is a three hour window to breathe, relax and think about nothing but football. A respite from the trials and tribulations of life, some minor, some severe, and at the end of the day an opportunity for the the mind to rest enough to endure another week.

For some fans the Seattle Seahawks are the drug to cope with whatever life can throw at a person.

I am one of those people. Without the Seattle Seahawks, I probably wouldn’t be here today.

To me, the Seahawks are more than just a football team, they are a coping mechanism I adopted long ago to deal with whatever life decides to prod me with. Over the past several years I’ve dealt with bed bugs, subpoenas, job losses, Hurricane Irene, Hurricane Sandy, Hurricane Irma, a dog nearly biting my finger off, PTSD, had my car damaged in a hit and run (twice), nails in multiple tires after moving in next to a roofer and had my identity stolen multiple times to go along with all the other normal trials and tribulations of life.

Some times were harder than others and there were dark times when I felt all alone with nothing to look forward to. But there is always Seahawks football to look forward to. Whether it’s a game next week, free agency or the draft in the spring, OTAs in early summer or the hype and hope of training camp, Seahawks football is always just around the corner as something to hold on to, to grab and to look forward to.

So, while I’m thankful for many things this Thanksgiving, one of the things I am most thankful for is that the members of the Seattle Seahawks are willing to do what they do and put their body and minds on the line for my entertainment each week. They provide a release and an escape that has helped me through periods of my life I was not sure I’d get through, and to each and every one of them I am happy to say, thank you.

That does not just include the Seahawks of today, but those of years past as well. For every Russell Wilson touchdown pass to Doug Baldwin, I’m just as thankful for the scores tossed to Darrell Jackson and Bobby Engram by Matt Hasselbeck. For every touchdown run by Thomas Rawls, I’m just as grateful for those by Chris Warren, Shaun Alexander and Ricky Watters. Michael Bennett puts it all on the line today, just as Cortez Kennedy, Sam Adams and Brandon Mebane have done in the past. The individual names change, but the team remains the same. Some seasons the team is great; some seasons the team is far from great. But at the end of the day what the team does is the same: provide hope and a small escape, however brief, into a world where outside stresses take a back seat for just long enough. So while many may consider what they do nothing more than a game, for people like me, what every single member of the Seattle Seahawks does is a life saver.

And for their sacrifice, I am thankful.