Seahawks 31, Raiders 21

Neighbor Nicole and Me

Seattle's fans, loudest in the NFL, became known as the 12th man

Football fan or not, it's hard not to appreciate this stadium on a gameday

Blue Thunder, the Seahawk drummers

Would it be NFL without the hot cheerleaders?

So those of you who know me are maybe saying "What the hell was she doing at a football game? Does she even know what football is?"....oh wait, that would just be my HUSBAND that said that. I think he was secretly jealous that our neighbor, Nicole, invited me to attend a Seattle Seahawks pre-season game against Oakland Raiders.  Her accounting firm has season tickets and the games that the partners don't want (namely pre-season), they put into an office pool. Nicole's name was drawn and she asked me. I don't think she realized then that I am not much of a football fan. She assumed that when Jay hangs his Nebraska Huskers flag out in front of our house on college gameday that we are ALL fans over here. No, I am more familiar with the smaller white ball with red stitching. But who am I to be rude and decline such a generous invitation?!?! HELLYA I wanna go!!! After enjoying happy hour at a restaurant in downtown Seattle with two others that won tickets in the office, we headed to the game. Qwest Field is amazing and the fans are CRAZY!  I thought Mariners fans were spirited, but baseball fans have nothing on boisterous football fans. And maybe that is common knowledge and I am only now just figuring that fact out. I spent most of my time people watching. All the seats have signs warning spectators to "Keep It PG". That was my first clue. Then, I guess it wouldn't be a football game if a few fans from either team didn't get into some sort of "banter" (yeah, that's a good word for it) over who was the better team.  Needless to say, won't be bringing my young boys and their innocent eyes and ears to a football game anytime soon. The game itself was exciting. I clapped when they clapped and stood up when everyone else stood up...but really had NO CLUE what the heck I was watching (OKAY, I am not completely ignorant, I know what a touch down is!)  Maybe it was the two margaritas I had during Happy Hour or maybe I skipped the day they taught football in PE, but I couldn't even find the ball most of the time, much less figure out what was happening with it.  And what's with all the freakin' yellow flags?  OY!  I guess most could argue the same for baseball....we all have our thing, right?  I can respect the game and I am determined to get it figured out so that I don't have to have Jay narrate (or Nicole in this case) the entire game for me.  It's not rocket science, it's FOOTBALL and if I ever plan to accompany Jay to a Husker game someday, where they are nutty over their football team or stand on the sidelines when my boys are playing, I better learn alittle something about it.  This experience might've been just what I needed to push me in that direction.  Thanks Nicole for a fabulous girls night out!