A BEARS FAN LIVING IN SEATTLE
On cloudy Sunday mornings in Seattle, specks of orange and blue permeate the dreary streets. The source is a cluster of Bears fans who are a long way from home but are beaming with pride for their team colors.
Every Sunday the Bears play, a group of 10 to 15 fans gather at Goldies On 45th to cheer on their team, some traveling as much as two hours to be part of the excitement. The hostess of the festivities is 30-year-old Antioch, Ill., native Audrey Forth.
“I don’t come out just for the games because I could just watch some of the games at home,” Forth said. “I go there for the people, too, because that’s what’s really important. It’s the feeling of home and that feeling of familiarity.”
Forth, who is a fan down to the Bears underwear she said she wears on game days, decided to start the group after moving to Seattle in 2005 to work as a veterinary technician. The group has become more than just other people to watch the game with, she said. They’ve become her sole friends in the Emerald City.
Outside of her group is a Bears fan who could be considered an anomaly in the sports universe. Matt Steckler has been living in Seattle since he was 2 years old, yet he is as rabid a Bears fan as anyone who was raised in Chicago.
Now 30, Steckler estimated that he and his family have spent more than $25,000 over his lifetime on Bears merchandise, tickets and travel expenses. His cubicle at work is plastered with treasures from his collection.
“I am a firm believer in the Chicago colors,” Steckler said.
Steckler has traveled the world–thanks in part to his job as a software engineer for Birdstep Technology–but he has yet to see the Bears play at Soldier Field.
“I can only imagine what a hot dog would taste like in a stadium in Chicago,” Steckler said.
A ‘HAWKS FAN LIVING IN CHICAGO
In certain sports bars on the North Side, loud cheering can be heard during football season, but not for the team you’d think.
Listen up and watch closely. The loudest screams are coming from a blue-and-green-faced 22-year-old. That’s Marissa Baker spurring on her beloved Seattle Seahawks.
“We have to be vocal; we have to show them they are the best,” Baker said of herself and her fellow Seahawks fans who sometimes join her for game-day get-togethers around town. Baker moved to Evanston in 2005 to obtain a bachelor’s degree in biology from Northwestern University.
Though the two have never met, Kyle Patterson, a 23-year-old financial analyst at Bank of America, shares Baker’s passion.
“It’s about keeping your ties to where you grew up,” Patterson said.
Patterson relocated from Seattle to Chicago in 2001 to obtain a finance degree from DePaul University. Living more than 1,700 miles from home hasn’t stopped him from jumping on a red-eye flight now and again to see his favorite team play a home game at Qwest Field.
Patterson and Baker said they have an impressive arsenal of Seahawks gear, which includes banners, jerseys, sweat shirts and hats. However, it’s Patterson who took his obsession a step further by buying a full-sized replica helmet, he said.
Patterson’s goal for this weekend’s game is simple: to go to work Monday heckle-free.
“Could you imagine the outcry from Bears fans? To lose their second divisional home playoff game after a bye? It would be beautiful,” Patterson said.
