For the second year running I managed to get tickets to see the Seahawks beat the pretty useless Rams at Quest Field on Sunday.

For anyone – especially from the UK – who hasn’t been to a game it’s a pretty good day out. After going to watch Newcastle at St. James’s Park a few weeks ago it’s interesting to compare the experiences.

Plus Points:

• Before the game – it’s fantastic when the Seahawks come out, with the hawk (yes, a real one) flying out, then fireworks, loud music, it really gets things fired up
• The 12th Man – you really do feel like the team’s extra man. Raising the 12th man flag before the game, showing how many false starts at Qwest Field caused by the roar (by far the biggest in the NFL) , all good stuff
• Blue Thunder’s giant drum – I usually hate drummers at games, but this truly is massive. Supposedly it’s the biggest bass drum in the world. And boy does the drummer give it a wallop.
• Garlic Fries – not as good as at the baseball (no slice of apple!) but still easily the best food I’ve had at a sports stadium
• “Family friendly” atmosphere – it’s definitely not anaemic, and plenty of beer is drunk, but the mix of young and old, male and female, drunk and sober keeps things raucous and friendly. I guess the lack of away fans helps too (although there were a couple of poor Rams fans in front of me)
• Half-time entertainment – I’d never seen a marching band before, but they were surprisingly good to watch. Never thought I’d say that. Maybe it was just the pretty patterns they were making and the beer kicking in?

Minus points:

• Game duration – there’s just too much time spent hanging about waiting for the ad breaks to finish. The stop/start nature of the game isn’t that bad, giving plenty of time for “refreshment” breaks, but sometimes it just breaks up the flow of the game
• Shouting loudest when the opposition has the ball – I understand why they do it, to make it hard for the opposition to hear audible calls etc. but it’s still too bizarre for me to try to keep quiet when your team has the ball
• Crap singing – American crowds just can’t do it. When your best chant is “Seahawks clap-clap-clap” repeated about 3 times, you fail dismally compared to a British crowd all spontaneously singing to get behind their team
• Passionate atmosphere – although keeping things clean and polite is generally a good thing, sometimes you need that buzz of danger, anger, passion to really get things going

I’m not sure what the conclusion of all this is. Two completely different experiences, one probably a better day out for the neutral, but the other usually a more passionate and engaging atmosphere.

I guess it really comes down to football being a better game than football – and I think you all know which one is which :-)