They鈥檙e not really ours, but we will cheer for them anyway. The Seattle Seahawks are going to the Super Bowl, and Victoria NFL fans are feeling the fever.
Islanders who pine for the thrill of the big leagues always have to look across the water to find a team to love. While we cheer our Royals and Grizzlies, and a plethora of other local teams, we still need to put Canucks pennants on our cars and hang Lions jerseys on our walls.
When it comes to Major League Baseball and the National Football League, we have to look not just across the water, but across a border to the Mariners and the Seahawks. And some of us are not content to worship only by television. The Seahawks say that 300 to 500 people with Island addresses attend each of their games.
The fever might even convert new Victoria Police Chief Frank Elsner, who made a losing bet on his beloved San Francisco 49ers in Sunday鈥檚 game.
Who wouldn鈥檛 want to be part of a fan base so loud it鈥檚 called the 12th Man? It鈥檚 the kind of enthusiasm we don鈥檛 usually associate with Starbucks-loving Seattle, and it makes the games a wild ride.
Of course, the ride will never be as wild as Islanders鈥� tortured love for the Canucks; coach John Tortorella鈥檚 suspension for grappling with Flames personnel on Saturday outweighs anything that happened on CenturyLink Field on Sunday.
But it still feels as if 鈥渙ur team鈥� is headed for the big game in East Rutherford, N.J., on Feb. 2.
