Dear Seattle Sports,
Our relationship started off on the wrong foot from the very beginning. I was born on May 8th, 2001, in a hospital located just 25 minutes away from the home stadium of the Seattle Mariners. Funnily enough, the only Seattle sports game on that day was the Seattle Mariners vs. Boston Red Sox, which ended in a 4-12 blowout in favor of Boston. That 2001 Mariners team would go on to tie the major league record for wins with 116. The game against the Red Sox was the only time all season the Mariners would be beat by a margin that large. They would then go on to lose in the American League Championship Series and immediately enter one of the longest playoff droughts in sports history. Perhaps it was just a coincidence that I was born on the same day the record-setting Mariners suffered their worst loss: regardless, it was an indicator of our relationship to come.
I still remember the first sports game I ever watched live, Super Bowl XLII, Seattle Seahawks vs. Pittsburgh Steelers. My dad spent the whole week leading up to it buzzing with excitement and made sure the whole family sat down and watched the game with him. Bored out of my mind staring at the small TV, I took a nap during the Halftime Show only to wake up to my mild-mannered dad yelling swear words, banging the coffee table, and proclaiming the Super Bowl was rigged. I had never seen him so angry and for the first time in my life, I feared my father. I ended up blaming this on you. I hated seeing how you twisted my dad into an angry man, and how the aftermath of the Super Bowl loss ruined the mood of Seattle. After that game, I was convinced that sports brought out the worst in people. Even when I became an athlete myself and was one of the top swimmers in the nation, I did not bat a second eye to watching professional sports again.
And then I slowly began to change. I don’t know whether it was because I matured or if it was because I was so invested in my career as an athlete, but something changed in me. Instead of viewing sports games with disgust and ire, I began giving it more attention. Then, I watched a 2-minute fan-made hype video for the 2016 Carolina Panthers and I was caught hook, line, and sinker. The dabbing, the physical play of quarterback Cam Newton, and the dominant record drew me in like a moth to a fire.
Looking back now, it’s bittersweet that the Panthers drew my interest first and not my hometown Seahawks. When the Seahawks faced the Panthers in the 2016 divisional round with a third straight NFC Championship appearance on the line, I sat at home cheering for the boys in baby blue. I felt more sadness for the Panthers losing in Super Bowl 50 than I did for the Seahawks losing in Super Bowl XLIX just one year prior. The Panthers took many of my firsts. My first time watching a full football game. My first-time ordering food for a sporting event. And my first time complaining about a referee call. All of them were experiences shared with the 2016 Panthers, something that I truly regret.
Even though I changed and was a bandwagon Panthers fan, you never lost faith and brought me back home. The infighting between Seahawk Quarterback Russell Wilson and the dynastic Legion of Boom defense. The Mariners perennial struggle to make the playoffs. The Seattle Sounders FC facing the Toronto FC in the MLS Cup Finals three times in four years. Seattle Storm Point Guard Sue Bird’s bid to become the greatest WNBA player of all time. Our constant fight to get another NBA team back to Seattle. These fascinating storylines drew me back to Seattle, and over time my crush with the Panthers faded as I began falling in love with Seattle sports.
In the years since, you have been a constant in my life. You bring out the worst in me. You make me curse, swear, and pound the table in frustration. But you also bring me happiness. Whether it’s a home run, a touch down, or a made goal, there’s no better feeling than cheering for your hometown team. You’ve sparked my passion for journalism and have been my main stress reliver during the rigorous dental school application process. You’ve taught me more lessons about life than I ever could’ve asked for, and in many ways, I’ve shared more memories with you than anyone else.
Thank you, Seattle sports, for always being entertaining and never failing to amuse, even if that entertainment is getting intercepted on the goal-line or missing the playoffs for twenty-straight years. Never change.
Lifelong friend,
Eric Yin