Back on December 18, after we beat the Rams in that crazy Thursday night game, I told Cari and Sean that we were gonna win the Super Bowl.
And I haven’t worried about any of the games since. It just felt inevitable.
And tonight, they became Super Bowl champs. Ta-da!!!!
Go Hawks!!!! 💙💚💙💚💙
If you’re a big football fan who’s traveling to Hawaii during NFL season, you might reach a point during your trip planning where you wonder … Where am I gonna watch the football game on Sunday?
My wife and I have been to different Hawaiian islands probably 2-3 times during NFL season, and each time we’ve managed to find some good places that open up early Sunday for tourists to catch their favorite team’s game. Our most recent trip was last month when we visited the Big Island (Hawaii) with friends. But we were the only ones who wanted to find a place to watch NFL games — preferably with other Seattle Seahawks fans! — so the planning was all on our own.
Good news: There are three sports bars nestled closely together in Kailua-Kona and each one opens early on Sunday mornings for NFL fans!
My wife and I ended up at Oceans Sports Bar, which is just off Ali’i Road, the street that runs along the coast. As we were walking there, we passed by two other sports bars that were also open early and had TVs on for people to watch the games — Bongo Ben’s and Laverne’s. There are a few other bar/restaurant-type places in that same area that may have also been open, but we didn’t walk to them.
(By the way … we’re talking 7:00 AM in Hawaii. That’s when the early games kickoff, at least before the mainland changes its clocks. If it’s after the clock change, kickoff will be at 8:00 AM Hawaiian time.)
Oceans has a pretty big bar area with a bunch of TVs above showing the games, and then several more TVs placed throughout the dining areas.
My wife and I arrived just as the game began and picked a table in the first dining area, where about 10-15 Seahawks fans had already gathered. It’s always fun to watch a game with other 12s, and this was no exception.
The crowd grew as the game went along, and there were eventually about 25-30 Seahawks fans spread across two dining areas. There were also some Broncos fans, Chiefs fans and a few other teams represented … but Oceans Sports Bar seems to be the place for Seahawks fans to gather.
Service was excellent. Our waitress was quick to bring my wife a mimosa and kept me filled with various tropical juices all morning. For breakfast, they offer a buffet that runs $14 per person, as I recall, which is pretty much a bargain for Hawaii. It was fairly standard stuff — scrambled eggs, bacon, home fried potatoes (to die for! OMG), biscuits and gravy, fried rice and some fresh fruit options. I think they had the fixins for a loco moco, too. As part of the buffet, you can also order a Belgian waffle — it looked delicious, but we were too full to try it.
All in all, we had a great morning. The food was good. The service was good. The atmosphere was really fun. And we got to watch the Seahawks beat Detroit alongside a big group of fellow football fans. If you’re an NFL fan looking to watch the games on Hawaii’s Big Island, you can’t go wrong with Oceans Sports Bar — especially if you’re a Seahawks fan!
I was on the phone with my mom today when she mentioned how cold it is in the Philly area. I said I was watching NFL Network as the teams arrived in Jersey for the Super Bowl and that it was cold and snowy there. The rest of the conversation went like this (she’s 80 years old, by the way):
Mom: “You must be excited for the game next week.”
Me: “You have no idea. Can’t wait.”
Mom: “Who’s the guy on your team that talks a lot??”
Me: “Richard Sherman?”
Mom: “Yes. I like him!!!!”
(At this point, I start giggling because the thought of having a discussion about Richard Sherman with my mom was pretty much the last thing I would’ve guessed happening.)
Mom: “He’s very intelligent.”
Me: “Yeah, he had a 4.2 GPA in high school in Compton –”
Mom: “– and he graduated from Stanford with a degree in…” (she couldn’t remember)
Me: “In Communications. Yep. He’s going for his Masters, too. And he’s only 25.”
Mom: “He’s very well-spoken. And he tells it like it is. He doesn’t suffer fools easily.”
I love her so much.
The Legend Of Sherman grows and grows.
Saw this sign at Century Link Field last month when Sean and I went to see the Seahawks.
Priority seating in a rest room. It’s a thing now. Who knew??!!
An ESPN pre-draft power ranking means absolutely nothing, but it blows my mind to think how quickly things have changed for this Seahawks fan.
A little more than six months ago, I was in Arizona to watch the Seahawks’ season opener with my friend Mat. The game was ugly. The Seahawks couldn’t protect the QB, couldn’t move the ball much and — most embarrassingly — couldn’t stop backup Cardinals’ QB Kevin Kolb from marching his team down the field to win the game.
I’d already looked at the Seahawks schedule and picked them to win maybe six games. Then, when Russell Wilson was named the starting QB, I figured having a rookie QB would cost them another game or two. So I was figuring 4-5 wins for the season.
Wrong. Obviously.
And now the draft is a month away and the Seahawks are one of the Super Bowl favorites. The turnaround is mind-boggling. It’s shake-my-head and pinch-me-is-this-real? kind of stuff.
And in 2013, along with another friend named Matt, I’ll be a season ticket holder. Talk about picking the right year….