Two AHS WEB staff members, Joel Devick and Anna Ogilvie reflect on the upcoming Super Bowl as fans of both teams.

Ogilvie: My whole life I’ve been a Patriots fan. Even though I’ve grown up in Ames, I still hold on to this small (very small) grip to Boston, Massachusetts, where I was born. The Patriots hold my heart like no other NFL team. True, the Patriots have been consistently good for as long as I can remember, but I can’t see myself dawning other colors besides blue and red. Here we are in 2015 with Tom Brady’s 13th year as a starter, and I couldn’t be more excited for the Super Bowl and his 7th Super Bowl appearance. Every year, there is some new team that flies onto the radar and everyone is suddenly a fan. I remember when the Broncos first started to make headlines, then there was the year that Drew Brees captured the hearts of tweens across America, and even when Brett Favre somehow ended up on the Jets and Vikings and had all of the Packers’ fans, and myself, thoroughly confused.

Yet the Patriots are always up there. I have never seen a program more consistently ranked in the top ten like the Patriots are.

This year when the season started, there was a little bit of tension about Brady and Belichick after one bad game. All of the sports media blew up overnight with ideas about how “Brady’s time has come and gone” and how “the magic is over.” Here we are now, just before the Super Bowl, and who is making headlines again? The power-team of Belichick, Edelman, Gronk, Wilfork, Gray, Blount, and most importantly, Brady. The team has depth with excellent players which makes them even harder to stop. Throughout the playoffs, I have been impressed with how the Patriots have played each game with the tenacity that I have known the legacy to be.

Without a doubt, people have not forgotten 2007 when Bill Belichick was involved in the “Spygate” controversy with filming the Jets. I have some family friends who refer to the Patriots as the “Cheaters” whenever we talk about my team, but that’s the thing about being a fan/supporter of anything; you acknowledge the mistake, you apologize for it, you strive to make your team better and prove all the doubters wrong next year.

Then with the Patriots “Deflategate” news this year just has me laughing. Yes, this matter should be taken seriously and repercussions should follow, but the media caught on to a little piece of drama and blown it out of proportion. Once one understands the facts and full story of the controversy, then one can make an argument, but not before. I think we can all agree though that the Colts just weren’t ready to take the victory (no matter the condition of the balls during the 1st half. Patriots outscored the Colts 28-0 using Indianapolis balls).

Even though the Patriots have been paired with multiple Richard Nixon puns, they’ll always be my team. I can’t wait to rally with all of the Patriot fans across the US as we take down the returning champs on Super Bowl Sunday. Make sure you get out your #12 jerseys and make a big batch of clam chowder. #PatriotNation

Devick: I am many things, but a bandwagoner I am not. It’s definitely strange for a person to like the Seahawks who lives in the middle of Iowa. Usually when you are from the Midwest, team allegiance is determined by proximity or by who your parents supported. So technically, I should be a Packers fan. I remember when I first started to legitimately follow football, and being such a diehard fan of sports in general, it became evident that I needed a team to support.

Around this time is when Seneca Wallace, (legendary) Iowa State quarterback was drafted in the 2003 NFL Draft by the Seattle Seahawks. I figured having a guy from the Cyclones in the NFL fighting to be a starter was probably the best connection I had to any team in the league at that time. Thus my fandom for the Hawks was born.

I actually kind of liked supporting them for the fact that I was probably one of very few of true Seahawks fans in the 515. They were a franchise that had been, well, mediocre over its history since becoming as an expansion team in the 70s. I hoped, however, they were one that had their best days in the playoffs ahead of them. I was right.

There were quite a few years after the Seahawks march to the Super Bowl in 2005 (where we lost) where it was really tough to see the team play. I could tell, though, that our time would come, that a rebuilding process would take shape, and we would become a strong team once again and make it to another Super Bowl. Last season, with our stout, young, record-setting defense and solid running led offense behind our literal beast of a running back, Marshawn Lynch, and poised second year quarterback Russell Wilson, we won our first Super Bowl title. So now with our newfound “success,” the bandwagon blame game began. I saw no problem with being called a bandwagoner by people, because I know that i’m not one at all.

I really am just glad I have been a fan to see us win a title, because the payoff has been sweet after seeing a few bad teams before this one. The only problem with this is it made us thirsty for more. After all, if we can do it once we can do it again, right? The only thing that can equal a championship high is another championship, and there’s the rub.

In sports, pressure to perform is brought on in many ways. I think the most pressure a team or individual could possibly feel is from being the reigning champion in your respective league. That title currently belongs to the Seattle Seahawks, and in the beginning, it wasn’t dealt with easily. We went 3-3 to start, and after a loss to the Chiefs pulled us down to 6-4 in a crucial part of the season, a lot of hope was lost among the passionate 12th man fan base. After that game, though, something changed. We proceeded to run the table of the remaining games on our schedule to earn the overall top seed in the playoffs. After surviving through a near miraculous NFC Championship game where we came back from down 19-7 with 5 minutes left in the game to win in overtime 28-22 over the Green Bay Packers, anything seems possible. I honestly don’t even know how we won, but I am definitely not complaining about it. Definitely one of the best games I have ever seen in my lifetime.

Now we face the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 49, a team that Anna loves as much as I love the Seahawks. I’m wary of it being a win for the Pats, but I have 100% belief that we are capable of winning and repeating as champs. #GoHawks