Had the opportunity to spend a lovely afternoon watching the Lions blow yet another winnable game in lovely Qwest Field out in Seattle a week ago. Far as football atmospheres go, this place had it all. It was loud. Not hey that music is kind of loud would you turn it down, it was hey pass the ear plugs and cotton balls or my ear drums will be permanently damaged kind of loud. Needless to say i was very impressed. With the Lions taking an early 17-0 the place got quiet in a hurry.
Being a Lions fans for my entire existence and having lived thru the past 8 years of ineptitude I was not expecting this to last. Sure enough by the end of the first half Seattle had taken the lead from Detroit and all was well in Seahawks land...and then came all of the colorful language. Having been to Chicago for several sporting events and endured my share of Michigan Wolverine fans over the years colorful language is something you come to expect at these types of events. I was not prepared however for every drunken yahoo sitting within a ten seat radius of me to unload every conceivable remark they could come up with.
I am sure this made the game much more entertaining from their standpoint as the Seahawks pulled away, it only caused to me to want to drink more and want to fight them. As it is i am not how you say big or for that matter strong, so rather than ratchet up this war of words to fists and beer throwing, I simply reminded the oafish fellow sitting down in front of me that Seattle has never won much and been a city of consistent sports failures (Sonics, Pilots, anything else that isnt soccer) at that point he yelled another colorful jab and wasn't heard from for the rest of the game.
So whats the big takeaway here? None really. The Lions lost but i had a great time with some great co-workers from ZAAZ and enjoyed being heckeld and berated by the best Seattle had to offer. Will I return? Absolutely! The atmosphere was fantastic and Qwest is a great place to catch a game. Will I wear the opposing teams jersey the next time out? Probably not, you can only be called d***head so many times before it makes the watching of the game unenjoyable.