The chance to be legendary

The goal was always just to win one. To get the monkey off the back, reject the theory that Seattle was America's most miserable sports city, celebrate the ultimate prize, just once. To walk with confidence instead of hope. To have a little big of "we have swagger but we don't know what to do with it." The Seahawks do know what to do with it, and they're on the verge of becoming legendary. In this city, maybe they already are.

Today, the Seahawks will face the New England Patriots for the chance to become the first back-to-back Super Bowl winners since Tom Brady and the Patriots did it in 2004. Every team that's done it in my lifetime are indeed teams nobody will ever forget -- Montana and the Niners, Aikman, Smith, and Irvin and the Cowboys, John Elway and the Broncos, Tom Brady and the Pats. Now, Wilson, Lynch, Sherman?

I haven't really known what to do with myself over the past two weeks. It's not the same feeling as last year, where I really didn't sleep well for the majority of the week leading up to Sunday. I'd give myself a C+ for my night's sleep last night, where as last year was a straight up F. I badly want the Seahawks to repeat today, but I don't carry the same desperation I did a year before. I didn't know what it was like to be a champion last year, and I definitely don't know what it would be like to be a dynasty now.

With this city, the chance to shove a middle finger to the media who's spent years referring to the Mariners as a city that resides in Southeast Alaska would be wonderful. Things aren't just turning around for Seattle fans, they've turned. Even if the Seahawks don't win today, the damage has been done, so to speak. Seattle's on the map. Marshawn Lynch is a national phenomenon. Russell Wilson is a national treasure. This team, with that star power, doesn't easily fade.

The Mariners can join in. They've wrapped star power around Felix Hernandez, and while a Seahawks-level of dominance throughout the regular season doesn't seem likely, a playoff appearance kind of does. If we can allow ourselves to shed the misery and pessimism that used to be associated with being a fan in this city. We can, and we should. We've already entered a new era of being a Seattle sports fan. It's time to extend that confidence to the Mariners. Bring the buzz back into a city that's shown they're capable of sustaining it.

Once today is over, there will be just over a month until the Mariners play a game.  The buzz in a city has usually had to wait over two months before baseball starts, and with disappointments bookending the break, any anticipation around the baseball season usually dissipates by the time it starts. I'm not talking about us, the diehards -- I'm just talking about the city as a whole. Seattle used to be a baseball city. Blue Fridays might as well have been Teal Weeks during bright blue summers in the middle of the 90s. What is going to happen to this city if the Mariners can become even close to as good as the Seahawks have been? The foundation is there, long laid dormant and ready to once again explode. I know it's still there.

Today, Seattle can cement themselves in history. Depending on your definition, they can be a dynasty. They can be historical. They can permanently alter the perception of this city, long after Marshawn Lynch retires and a decade goes by. They can stop all the jokes about the kind of city Seattle is when people talk about the Mariners, too. It's about respect, and the Seahawks are earning it not only for themselves, but for Mariner fans, too.

So even if you aren't a Seahawks fan, or if you don't live in Seattle, root today for the people of Seattle that have suffered from little brother syndrome their entire lives. Seattle has a storied, yet understandable obsession with respect. Today, they can earn it in permanence. A chance to not just be champions -- a chance to be legendary.

For the very best in Seahawks coverage, go read Field Gulls. Danny, Kenneth, Jacson and company absolutely kill it on a daily basis. Go Hawks.