I have always heard about “where were you when?” moments. Usually, the phrase refers to major historical events like 9/11, the Kennedy assassination, or the Apollo 11 moon landing, moments people remember with bizarre specificity. Sports fans have their own versions too. They remember exactly where they were, who they were with, and what they were doing when some unforgettable game or play happened.
Despite watching nearly every Seahawks game since 2015, I never thought I had one. I remember plenty of games, obviously, but not in that strangely specific way people describe. Maybe it is because I watch every game. After enough Sundays spent on the couch watching the Seahawks find increasingly creative ways to raise my blood pressure, they start to blend together.
Then today, while I was in the shower, YouTube recommended the highlights from Week 16 against the Rams.
I was in Japan for that game. Because of the time difference, I woke up at 5 a.m. to watch it and remember getting dressed in sweats because my room was freezing. My girlfriend was arriving later that day, so sleep was at an even greater premium than usual, but this was Seahawks-Rams, to determine who had the inside track to the No. 1 seed in the NFC on the line. Obviously, I was watching.
Four hours later, Seattle was down 16 in the fourth quarter and I finally gave up. It was my friend’s birthday, we were supposed to get curry (a food I notoriously dislike, but is my friends favorite), so I figured I had already sacrificed enough of my morning to watch the Seahawks lose. After we finished eating, I remember pulling out my phone from my left pant pocket to check the final score, only for my data to completely crap out. When I finally got it to load, the Seahawks had somehow tied the game. So while my friends left to get takoyaki, I stayed cramped in the back of the curry restaurant watching overtime on my phone.
And that was what surprised me today. As soon as I watched the highlights, all of it came back immediately: waking up at 5, the cold room, getting curry, my data refusing to work, my friends abandoning me for takoyaki. It was exactly the kind of oddly detailed memory I had always heard sports fans describe. I just had not recognized it as one because, well, it happened a few months ago.
Apparently, you do not necessarily know when you are having your first “where were you when?” sports moment. Sometimes you only realize it later, when YouTube randomly recommends the highlights while you are taking a shower.