In a decisive victory, our Seattle Seahawks beat the New England Patriots 29-13 in Super Bowl LX to claim the Vince Lombardi Trophy. It was a low-scoring game, and some would argue a blow-out, but when you are in the building, the excitement is palpable and we were on the edge of our seats the entire game.

The previous two times that the Seahawks played in the Super Bowl, we were Down Under on the other side of the planet. In 2014, Dirona was at anchor in Fiordland, New Zealand during Super Bowl XLVIII. With only a 64kbps data connection, we had trouble getting a reliable audio feed, let alone a video feed. We made do, and actually had a great time, “watching” the Seahawks beat the Denver Broncos over a mobile play-by-play app. We weren’t sure if this was a step backward to a time before television, or a step forward watching via satellite, but as Seahawks fans it definitely was among the most enjoyable Super Bowls we’d ever watched.

“Watching” Super Bowl XLVIII at anchor in Fiordland, New Zealand

By the time Super Bowl XLIX arrived a year later, we were in Tasmania, Australia and were able to watch the Super Bowl through a local station. The commentators emphasized their southern Hemisphere summer by watching the game on lawn furniture in the studio, while their correspondent reported on-site from the Super Bowl. It was entertaining to see the Australian take on the whole event, and we really enjoyed watching the game on board Dirona while anchored in Tasmania, despite the Seahawks losing to the New England Patriots.

Watching Super Bowl XLIX at anchor in Tasmania, Australia

And eleven years later, we were finally in-country and able to watch in person the rematch between the Seahawks and the Patriots for Super Bowl LX. On the road to the Super Bowl, the Seahawks hosted two home playoff games and we attended them both. The atmosphere at each was electric.

We were on the field for the warmups before the Divisional match against the San Francisco 49ers, adding to the excitement of the playoff environment. In a trouncing, we beat the 49ers 41-6 to advance to the Conference Championship game.

Seahawks fans hold a Guinness World Record of 137dB for crowd noise at Lumen Field, with the highest number of opposing team false starts, and we hit a season record of 116 dB during the subsequent victory against the Rams. This was a much closer game, with a final score of 31-27 and no scoring in the fourth quarter. The stadium remained full right to the very end as fans started to believe we actually might make it to the Super Bowl for the first time in over a decade.

We arrived at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara about four hours before the Super Bowl LX kickoff to take in the festivities and enjoy the scene. Even that early, thousands of fans already were pouring into the stadium grounds. The majority were wearing Seahawks gear, with relatively few Patriots fans in evidence.

Our seats were in section 115 on the 50-yard line. This gave us access to two large lounges, and a terrace that extended onto the playing field directly behind the Seahawks’ bench. Everything was pretty quiet when we first arrived, but even close to game time never felt overly crowded.

And then it was time to head up to our seats to watch the game. We were sitting on the Seahawks’ side of the field, surrounded by so many Seahawks fans that it felt like a home game.

In a defense-dominated first half, the Seahawks held the Patriots scoreless, but only racked up twelve points themselves and failed to score a single touchdown. We were ahead as the players left the field between halves, but two scores would quickly erase that lead.

Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny performed at half-time. We were impressed at how quickly the crews were able to setup and teardown the elaborate sets in the 26 minutes allotted to the show. Bad Bunny wanted the set to recreate his Puerto Rican residency, replete with palm trees and sugar cane. But the NFL wouldn’t allow more than 25 carts on the newly-laid sod, and those were needed for the stages. The solution: some 400 extras dressed as trees who ran onto the field, stood as still as a tree for the show, and ran back off again at the end. The logistics alone made for an entertaining show.

The Seahawks recorded three more points in the third quarter to the Patriots none, putting the score at 12-0 as we entered the final quarter. We were starting to feel that we might actually win, especially after we scored a touchdown in the first 2 minutes that increased our lead to 19-0. But the Patriots responded with a touchdown less than a minute later. With the score now 19-7, the Patriots still were within two scores of taking the lead. In the modern NFL, that only takes a couple of minutes of strong play.

The Seahawks defense, who had been dominating all game, rallied with two interceptions, one that resulted in a Seattle field goal, putting the score at 29-7 with 5 minutes left in the game. With barely 2 minutes left, the Patriots scored another touchdown, but a failed 2-point conversion attempt put the score at 29-13, where it stayed until the end of the game.

Seattle had won and the stadium erupted in fireworks and Seahawks-colored green and blue confetti. We stayed for ages absorbing the win and the excitement. What a game!

750,000 to 1 million fans are expected to pour into downtown Seattle for Wednesday’s “Seahawks World Champions Parade”. We always chuckle at the “World Champions” designation for the Super Bowl victors after hearing British comedian John Cleese explain one of the differences between the UK and the US is that when the UK hosts a world championship, they invite other countries. But, hey, we do have an Australian punter.

GO HAWKS!!!!