The deluge of hype, buildup, beer and pizza ads will be over on Sunday, because either the Seattle Seahawks or the Denver Broncos will rise victorious out of the swamps of Jersey — raising high the trophy that goes to the winner of Super Bowl XLVIII. Back in the hometowns, the fans are gearing up.
Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson checks in with Andy Hurst in Seattle and Jay Keller in Denver. Hurst is a producer for The Record, the midday news magazine on KUOW, and Keller is digital editor for Colorado Public Radio — both Here & Now contributing stations.
Interview Highlights: Andy Hurst and Jay Keller
On the mood right now in their hometowns
Jay: “I think the fans here like to be called Broncomaniacs, at least the true fans. And everything is orange, and we definitely believe in mile-high magic.”
Andy: “I think Seahawks fans right now are honestly about to explode. As you may know, Seattle has had years upon years of just absolute sports misery, and while I think everyone is just so excited about the Super Bowl and wanting to come out with a win, I think we’re also secretly terrified we’re gonna lose, and it’s gonna demoralize us a little bit.”
On what fans will be drinking
Jay: “I think most people would say that the banquet beer [Coors] is the beer of choice, but, you know, with all the craft beer that is made here in Colorado, most people kind of stick to their old favorites.”
Andy: “Plenty of microbreweries here, lots of craft beer, but it wouldn’t surprise me if I showed up to the Super Bowl party I’m going to on Sunday and everyone had a latte in their hand. Wouldn’t surprise me. Maybe spiked a little bit, but it could happen.”
Talkin’ smack
Andy: “Here’s a little fun fact for you: In the 1980s, the Denver Broncos lost three Super Bowls in four years. In all those Super Bowls, the Broncos were wearing orange uniforms. Well, guess what they’re wearing on Sunday? They’re the home team, so they’ve chosen to wear orange. So as a uniform nerd, logic tells me that, for that reason alone, the Seahawks are gonna win.”
“The last time Peyton Manning played in the Super Bowl, he lost. People like to talk about Peyton as if he were a god and untouchable. But, you know, he’s been there before, he’s won; he’s been there before, he’s lost. So it could happen again.”
Jay: “I find it interesting hearing advice coming from a Seahawks fan, because what I hear Seahawks fans do when their team wins the Super Bowl is to turn off the Xbox. But anyway, I think that we’ve won a Super Bowl in blue, one in white, and now we need one in orange. But I think it’s pretty clear the one X factor that we have that nobody else has: we have PFM. Peyton Manning and his brain have done us pretty well this year.”
“The one thing that I know folks here in Denver would appreciate is we only need 11 people to win football games, and it seems that you guys need 12.”
A healthy wager
Andy: “So as we all know, orange is the worst color. And if the Seahawks lose, I will dress to the nines in orange and come to work the day after the Super Bowl. But if the Seahawks win, you have to wear, Jay, some awesome neon green to work all day.”
Jay: “I was gonna suggest something similar – maybe that we could prove it with some photos, and I thought of some iconic representations, you know, to have you dressed as a Broncos fan in the Space Needle would be so cool. But at the same time, we could also arrange that if things don’t go our way, to put on some neon green and go up to the state capitol or something like that as well.”
Guests
- Andy Hurst, producer for The Record at KUOW. He tweets @andy_hurst.
- Jay Keller, digital news editor for Colorado Public Radio. He tweets @jaykeller.
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