The 2025 NFL season has been an exciting one for the Global Traveler/FXExpress family. Philadelphia Eagles fans Emily Gladu and Katie Skrzek have shared their experiences attending Eagles games this season in recent blogs, and most of my colleagues in our Philadelphia-based World Headquarters have been cheering on the Birds, hoping they would repeat last year’s Super Bowl appearance. And Chicago-based online writer and Talking Travel host John Wroblewski has regaled us several times this season with his view from the Soldier Field sidelines and press box as the Chicago Bears enjoyed a season of miracles. Unfortunately, both teams lost in the run-up to the NFC Championship game, but, fear not, my team, the Seattle Seahawks,

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came through.

Tucked up here in the far northwest corner of the country, the Seahawks often fly under the radar (pardon the pun) of the national sports press and most football fans, but they have a very devoted (one might even say, hawkish) fan base that spreads from Hawai‘i to Montana, Alaska to Idaho. Granted, in its 50-year history, the team had many seasons that one could generously say were not particularly noteworthy. Its first Super Bowl appearance, in 2006, ended in a loss to the Steelers. Its second big game and only Super Bowl win, in 2014, saw Russell Wilson lead the Hawks to a crushing defeat of the Broncos, 43–8. That was a heady time, when the Legion of Boom dominated on defense, Pete Carroll enthusiastically roamed the sidelines and the 12th Man became an intimidating factor for visiting teams in Seattle. The very next year saw us back at the Super Bowl but with a different outcome, as a heart-crushing last-minute goal-line interception led to the Patriots’ win over the Seahawks, 28–24.

That brings us to this season, with the Seahawks boasting a 14–3 record but, up until recently, getting little national recognition for their play. Quarterback Sam Darnold has quietly led the team without a lot of flash but with confidence, even when he wobbled in a few games. Coach Mike Macdonald, at just 38 years old and in his second season with the team, was recently named the NFC Coach of the Year and has earned the devotion of his players and the fans. There are several standout players on both sides of the ball, but everyone contributes, and no one seems to need the glory all for himself.

And, of course, the fans have been there all the way, wearing their Seahawks gear all around town on Blue Fridays and deafening opponents in Lumen Field

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on game days. The 12th Man flag

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and team logos can be seen everywhere, from my house in Southern Oregon to the Seattle skyline,

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and blue and green flash from the Seattle Great Wheel

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and the Space Needle.

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As you can imagine, the whole region is looking forward to next Sunday’s game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. A legion of Seahawks fans will be in attendance; and although it’s only about a six-hour drive from my home, I’m afraid I won’t be among them. I will certainly be watching and cheering mightily, though. It seems only fitting that, in this 50th year of the team’s existence, the Seahawks should be playing in Super Bowl LX and getting the chance to put aside the painful memories of their last Super Bowl appearance and, this time, defeat the New England Patriots.

Go Hawks!!

— Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor