In 2006, when the Seahawks went to their first Super Bowl, I saw a story written by an East Coast sports writer who identified the team’s hometown as “Seattle, Oregon.” It seemed back then that, despite being a cutting edge economic powerhouse that had given rise to major enterprises such as Microsoft, Boeing, Starbucks, Nordstrom and Amazon, Seattle was still perceived by folks east of the Mississippi as a frontier town in the far corner of the country whose exact location was hidden in the rainy mist.
For a long time, Seattle’s sports teams, too, were often discounted, if not overlooked, by the East Coast-centered sports entertainment complex that treated the Pacific Northwest as a backwater. Twenty years later, that has changed. With the Seahawks’ dominating win in the 2026 Super Bowl that crushed the hopes of a resurgent New England Patriots team, anyone who still cannot find Seattle on a map is probably the kind of person who has trouble finding their way out of an airport restroom.
Even in this moment of triumph, it can be acknowledged that the glories of sports teams are fleeting and ephemeral. Seattle would be a great and gorgeous city, even without the Seahawks. And the exceptional performance of the professional athletes who have been gathered from all over the country to play on the local NFL team does not make any of us who reside in Seattle exceptional; none of us made those touchdowns or took those hits to our bodies.
Still, Seattle’s team winning one of the most significant championships in American sports provides a vicarious thrill that makes us feel better about ourselves and our community. If nothing else, a Super Bowl victory makes Seattle loom large on the map of our minds and makes us just a little happier to live here.
So, let’s seize this moment to celebrate our team and our town. Go Seahawks! And go Seattle!
See more of David Horsey’s cartoons at: st.news/davidhorsey
View other syndicated cartoonists at: st.news/cartoons
Editor’s note: Seattle Times Opinion no longer appends comment threads on David Horsey’s cartoons. Too many comments violated our community policies and reviewing the dozens that were flagged as inappropriate required too much of our limited staff time. You can comment via a Letter to the Editor. Please email us at letters@seattletimes.com and include your full name, address and telephone number for verification only. Letters are limited to 200 words.
