Hey California, you should root for the Seahawks in the Super Bowl | Opinion
If you kept reading past this story’s headline, you’re probably either chuckling or seething. But hear me out: Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers fans, you should root for the Seahawks in the Super Bowl this year.
Seriously. I know the dislike is strong, and really much stronger than dislike. I lived among you for nearly 20 years as a card-carrying Californian. I heard what you said about my Seattle Seahawks, especially as I sat quietly smiling at a 2014 NFC championship watch party in Oakland.
Why should you set aside your disgust? Simple. If you lose to the ultimate winner, you’re less of a loser.
Okay, maybe I should have phrased that differently. It means you lost to the best, and therefore you’re better than everyone else.
Other than the Seahawks.
Trolling aside, there’s a bigger reason. In a match-up between two historically loathed franchises, are you really going to turn your back on the West coast? (Yes, we are also on the West coast!) Are you going to root for a team from a place that likes Atlantic salmon?
I’m from Tacoma, but any rivalry with Seattle tends to disappear when you move to a state where plenty of people don’t know Washington from Oregon. Despite the fact, California, that these are the only two states that share both a coast and mountain range with you.
Likewise, you should side with your regional rival over someone who thinks they’re better than you in all things, not just football. Seriously. Which is more of an underdog: Seattle or “New England?” You know that includes Connecticut, right?
Yes, yes, the sun has set on the Patriots’ dynasty era. You could see them as the little guy now. But do you want to?
In some ways, the Bay Area has already won. The team Las Vegas stole from them, coached by the Seahawks’ former coach, didn’t make the playoffs this year. There is definitely a “there there,” and the Raiders didn’t have it without Oakland. Plus, didn’t Marshawn Lynch prove you can love the Bay and the PNW?
I’ll admit it, California. We’re basically your little cousin, and we should look up to you. The Niners have more Super Bowl appearances than the Seahawks, where you have a win rate higher than we do.
So you couldn’t trip Rashid Shaheed before he took the kickoff across the end zone. Who cares? You’ve had historic greats, like Joe Montana, Steve Young and Jerry Rice. You even sent us Rice to finish his career in the Great Northwest, as well as a Bill Walsh-trained Mike Holmgren. In case we didn’t say it, thanks.
And Los Angeles, you’re on the cusp of winning the bronze here. You have a fantastic coach, and you beat us once this season, so you know you can do it again. More than that, you already know your city is better than Boston. Let us prove we are too. Enjoy your sunny winter and escape the awards season by heading down to offseason Disneyland. No need to win the Super Bowl first.
I get wanting to see the team that crushed your dreams face plant. I know Riq Woolen taunted you. But that doesn’t make this a school play where your bully got cast over you in the lead role. The Seahawks losing the big game doesn’t mean you deserved the part instead. If it makes you feel better, L.A., you can have your actors wish us well with a “break a leg!”
It’s okay to be a situational fan. Just to mix things up, I root for my alma mater Cal over the Huskies (but only in football — I’ve been waiting almost 30 years for the Huskies men’s basketball team to destroy those fake Huskies in Connecticut). That’s even though I owe my existence to UW, where my parents met.
You, too, can be complex and contain multitudes. Root for the ‘Hawks in the Super Bowl.
This story was originally published January 26, 2026 at 2:40 PM.
