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16 Feb Best story ever? Looking back on Seattle’s Super Bowl coverage

Posted at 15:47h in In the News, Media News, Students Write by
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BY MARINA TAYLOR

12s. 12s everywhere.

A single 12 flying proudly atop the brightly illuminated Space Needle, 12s flapping from car windows in the cold Seattle wind, giant shining 12s spanning entire faces of skyscrapers, and even a special 12th Man Boeing 747 flying in a 12-shaped flight pattern.

More than 700,000 12s came to downtown Seattle to celebrate the Super Bowl champion Seahawks this month and witness history as the team brought home its first Lombardi trophy.

It’s not every day that a Seattle sports team makes it to the playoffs, let alone wins a championship. For sports journalists in the Northwest, the Seahawks’ tremendous success meant a week and a half of media mayhem and awesomeness.

In the week leading to the game, photographers, sports columnists, broadcasters, and journalists headed to New Jersey to kick off the Super Bowl festivities by attending Media Day. Seattle sports reporters in attendance took to Twitter to provide 12s with live updates.

Two of the most sought after players that day were Seattle’s own Marshawn Lynch and Richard Sherman, both of whom had recently stirred up some media controversy.

Sherman, whose hot-headed post-game interview with Erin Andrews following the NFC Championship victory over the 49ers had people talking for weeks, was composed and eloquent. Said Seattle Times sports columnist Jerry Brewer:

Marshawn Lynch responded to questions regarding the fine issued to him by the NFL for his media silence in a single sentence: “I’m just ‘bout that action, boss.”

Brewer tweeted about the now famous quote saying he wanted to put it on a t-shirt, followed by the hashtag #BeastModeWisdom.

Super Bowl XLVIII marked the first Super Bowl ever held in the New York area. Seattle photographers and journalists took advantage of the few days leading up to the big game to explore the city.

KING 5 sports anchor Paul Silvi made a guest appearance on the Today Show.

Seattle Times photographer John Lok took time to visit the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

After a few days of play, it was game time.

On Sunday morning press and media personnel filed into MetLife Stadium to get ready for kickoff. Photographer Lok got creative and tried to stake claim over his spot with pink gaffer tape.

He later commented on Instagram to say that the tape had disappeared within minutes.

Aaron Levine, Sports Director at Q13 Fox, posted a photo once inside the stadium:

And “win it all” is exactly what they did. In one of the most decisive wins in Super Bowl history, the Seattle Seahawks crushed the Denver Broncos 43-8.

KING 5’s Chris Egan even declared it the “Greatest day of my sports broadcasting career!!! #seahawks #sb48.”

Congratulations to the Seattle Seahawks, the hundreds of thousands of 12s, the city of Seattle, and the entire Pacific Northwest. This Super Bowl victory means far more than a shiny trophy or ring. It’s the ray of sunshine to break up the dark cloud looming over Seattle sports.

This is just the beginning.

Contributor Marina Taylor is a student journalist at the University of Washington, a videographer at the UW Daily’s “The Doubleshot” and secretary of the UW SPJ chapter. Find her at @tweetmemarina.

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