Admit it – when you heard last April that Ellis Hobbs was drafted by the New England Patriots, you would’ve considered his chances of winning a Super Bowl much higher than those of “The Legend” Seneca Wallace this season. I believe my exact reaction to Hobbs’ selection in the draft was “wow, poor Seneca.”

The Seahawks advance to Super Bowl XL in two weeks, having blasted the Panthers back to Carolina, where they can consider ways to improve the most one-dimensional offense in recent memory. This comes much to the chagrin of the pundits, critics and so-called insiders who picked the Panthers in a wash at Seattle.

Still, despite having rolled over the admittedly weak NFC, the Seahawks get no respect. Pittsburgh is a three-and-a-half-point favorite in the Super Bowl. Wow. A number one seed against a number six seed, and the top seed an underdog? Meanwhile, ESPN.com has more than 64 percent of fans picking Pittsburgh.

I know the Steelers steamrolled everyone’s favorite, Manning, and since then it seems they are on a mission from God to win the title, just remember before you bet on the Steelers that they beat John Kitna, Peyton “I can’t handle the playoffs or the blitz” Manning and Jake “The Flake” Plummer to make it where they are today. The Seahawks actually have a quarterback who can play. Where is the love for the Seahawks?

The answer, sadly, is lost in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. As a part-time Seahawks fan (after my beloved Dolphins, of course), I can name more than four starters on that team, which is more than can be said for most of America. Call it East Coast bias. Blame the media if you like, as it would be fair to do so. Despite having an acclaimed coach, a very good quarterback and league MVP Shaun Alexander, nobody knows the Seahawks because we spent all season being told how great Mannings is. We listened to tireless babble from Terrell Owens and Chad Johnson, but not much about Seattle.

Seattle rolled to a 13-3 regular season, with losses only at 12-4 Jacksonville, an overtime loss at the wild-card Redskins and a meaningless loss in week 17 to Green Bay. In the playoffs they beat the Redskins again, without Shaun Alexander for most of the game, and followed that with the walloping of Carolina. This team deserves more fans than it has, and more respect than it gets.

Now the world has to deal with a team it doesn’t recognize, and I laugh it up. I am waiting for the barrage of Seahawks jerseys and caps to come out of the woodwork, especially if they win in Detroit. But I suppose bandwagon fans are better than none at all.

So sit back, all you non-Pittsburgh fans, and have fun rooting for a team you have never seen before last weekend. Their jerseys are different, and thus cool, if for no other reason than for displaying individuality in a copycat league, their team is underrated, they have “The Legend” and you know you wish your team played in a stadium as cool as Qwest Field!

Let’s go Hawks. Seattle 27 Pittsburgh 20.

-ÿNathan Chiaravalloti is a junior in journalism and mass communication from Davenport.