The Seattle Seahawks are the 2005-2006 NFC Champions, and are going to the Super Bowl. A moment of silence please. As a Seattle sports fan I realize how truly important this moment is.

What does one say? Seattle sports teams, save the Storm, are perennial underdogs never given the respect they deserve in the media and frankly rarely given much respect even by their own fans. The Hawks are perfectly emblematic of this most Northwest of struggles. How many 8 and 8 seasons did they have, or perhaps 9 and 7 seasons, when 10 and 6 teams all made the playoffs? At least gone is the endless turmoil of the ruthless AFC West, but even now to many outsiders this 30 year old team is still an expansion club.

But can you feel it? Now it’s all different; the Hawks have arrived and so have these patient Northwest fans. What was it that made the difference? It wasn’t just Mike Holmgren, the new uniforms, or even the new Qwest Field—it wasn’t even MVP Alexander or the resurgence of fan support the Hawks have enjoyed in recent years. I feel it was simply the entire team and the entire Northwest absolutely unwilling to stew in mediocrity any longer.

This rebirth, this realization, is much larger than the Sonics making the 1996 NBA Finals, and probably larger even than the infamous ‘Refuse to Lose’ season of the Mariners in 1995 that saved professional baseball in Seattle. Sunday night walking through Pioneer square amidst a sea of fans I felt an overwhelming groundswell of satisfaction. Not gloating, not unbridled revelry, but the kind of tangible contentment that is earned only after a long tumultuous road. There’s no surprise police made few arrests Sunday night, the fans were too shocked to be out of control.

The naysayers will remain of course, but we’re used to that up here. The same writers that proclaimed Carolina would demolish Seattle are now lamenting Carolina’s shattered running game and the long plane ride to Seattle that broke the game in Seattle’s favor, even though Carolina was a week ago so good on the road none of that would matter. (Mind you, this is not the same thing as the road trips Seattle teams make for every away game every year.)

The Seahawks will roll into Detroit the underdogs again, in the middle of a very hostile crowd, with the media still doubting their pedigree. But that’s okay with us, because, can I say it again? The Seahawks are the best team in the NFC and are going to the Superbowl. Rejoice fans of the Northwest, taste sweet redemption, we have arrived.

Chris Reiff, Matt Redding, and the author at Sunday’s NFC Championship.