Ed Kaim - Being The 12th Man

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Monday, January 23, 2006

Being The 12th Man

I grew up in New York and lived in various parts of the state until a few years ago. I loved being a fan of NY teams since they were perennial contenders. Their owners had wads of cash and were willing to spend it to make a run every year. Being a fan of a winning team is one of the most exciting things I knew growing up and, honestly, I grew to take it for granted.

The first sport I followed closely was baseball. Born in Flushing, Queens, the Mets were the obvious choice. The first full season I watched was in 1986 when I was glued to our TV. The Mets went all the way that year and I felt like I was a part of it by watching every game I could (sometimes sneaking out of my room after bedtime to watch them on west coast trips).

As high school approached, I began to find baseball boring and made the move to hockey. We had moved to Putnam County (around an hour north of Manhattan) and had a solid 10-12 weeks of "frozen lake" weather to really get the most out of hockey. However, when it came to the NHL I had a tough decision to make.

That year, the Rangers were a huge disappointment and didn't make the playoffs. The Islanders, on the other hand, did make the playoffs and went pretty far. Buffalo had a team, but they were hundreds of miles away, and the team in Hartford was, well, in Hartford. However, Putnam was technically Ranger country (in my mind) so I made the hard decision and picked them. Sure enough, they went all the way that year, winning their first Stanley Cup in 54 years. I watched almost every regular season game. I bought the newspaper with Messier's "We Will Win Tonight" guarantee and watched the entire game on my feet in the living room. I watched Matteau eliminate the Devils in double overtime on a scrambled TV (I was at my grandparents' house and they only got the Ultra-Super-Basic cable package). I watched the Rangers almost squander a huge series lead to the Canucks, only to cap off the Finals at home. I really felt like I was a part of that championship.

Although NY football teams had some great success while I lived there, I never really got into the game. Even though I played in high school, it always seemed like an "old man" sport and there weren't enough games in the year to make it interesting. However, last year it occurred to me that I am effectively an "old man" now. With a wife and kid[s] (note the "forward compatibility"), I'm about three pairs of plaid pants away from a Golf Magazine subscription. Finally, I made the plunge and bought Seahawks season tickets.

It's been an amazing year as a Seahawks fan. Sure, I could go on and on about the great things that have happened. I could talk about the NFC championship we won yesterday. I could talk about the 10-0 home record. I could talk about watching the league MVP every week. I could talk about the amazing last minute win over the Cowboys. I could talk about the supernatural powers that protected our perfect season against three game winning field goals by the Giants. Instead, I'm going to talk about the same thing Paul Allen and the rest of his organization talk about—the 12th man.

This year I really felt like I was a part of the Seahawks championship. I felt like I deserve 1/68,000th of the credit that went into making Qwest Field the single hardest place for NFL teams to play this year. More than any other team I've been a fan of, the entire Seahawks organization makes me feel like they really care. Sure, we might be their main source of revenue, but their appreciation seems sincere. After all, they've even retired #12 in dedication to their 12th Man—the fan. If there's one thing I've learned about business, it's to make sure your customer feels like they're as important to you as possible.

For the record, this is also my first year following an NBA team closely (the Sonics). This should disprove any "closet fan" theories :-)

PS: This guy can suck it for all I care. If I was as bad at my job as he is at his, there's no way I'd still have one. I am *praying* he picks the Steelers to win in the Super Bowl since that seems to be the only way to lock up a victory for us.

1/23/2006 1:19:39 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)