One of the ‘12’
A Seahawks Super Bowl Story with a Wylie Twist
Article By Greg Jaklewicz
A Familiar Super Bowl Feeling
It’s Super Bowl weekend, and the Dallas Cowboys are not playing.
Again.
That has been the story since Jan. 28, 1996, when the Cowboys won their third Big Game in four years.
Dallas’ 30-year drought began in 1997, when one of the teams playing in the Super Bowl was the New England Patriots. It was the Patriots’ second Super Bowl showing, having lost in 1986 to Da Bears. Eleven years later, New England would lose again, this time to Green Bay.
Little did Patriots fans know, however, that the best days were ahead. Enter Tom Brady and New England would make nine Super Bowl appearances — winning six times and losing three times — from 2002–19.
And there are the Seattle Seahawks.
Seahawks, Patriots, and a Scoreboard Full of History
Seattle lost the 2006 Super Bowl to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Eight years later, the Legion of Boom brought down Denver for the franchise’s first title.
Seattle made it back to the Super Bowl the next year, but lost in the waning seconds to … New England.
The scoreboard shows New England with 11 Super Bowl appearances to just three for Seattle.
Those two teams meet again Sunday in Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara, Calif., home of the San Francisco 49ers. This is the second Super Bowl to be played in Levi’s Stadium.
Microsoft Copilot pegs Seattle as 4–5 points better. Copilot has correctly predicted all but one of the playoff games.
Patriots fans are hoping Copilot did not factor in the human element, such as the Malcolm Butler Effect.
Papal Effect
Football fans, oddsmakers and, now, even AI have been weighing in on which team will win. Brady was a sort of football Moses, bringing New England to the Promised Land during his era. The Seahawks are hoping for pop from another sacred source … the new pope.
When Pope Benedict XVI was chosen in 2005, Seattle went to the next Super Bowl.
When Pope Francis was chosen in 2013, Seattle went to the next Super Bowl.
Pope Leo XIV was chosen in 2025, and here Seattle is back in the next Super Bowl.
The Seahawks are 1–1 with new popes. In 2015, Francis perhaps could’ve called a better play than coach Pete Carroll. The Seahawks chose to pass from the 1-yard line with 20 seconds left and were intercepted by Butler, sealing a 28–24 win by New England.
Seattle would love to even that score Sunday.
However, the Seahawks may not want to rely more on Pope Leo, whose hometown Bears worked miracles on the field this season but couldn’t make it to the Big Game.
Maybe rely on their fan base, which includes a superfan in West Texas.
One of the ‘12’
(Teacher Joanna Constantine)
Joanna Constantine, who teaches social studies at Wylie West Junior High, is perhaps the biggest Seattle Seahawks fan in Abilene.
Born and raised in Spokane, Wash., she has decorated the entrance to her sixth-grade room with pennants representing the pro teams in her home state. Her Mariners advanced to the American League championship series last fall, losing in seven games to the Toronto Blues.
A Seahawks win would help ease the pain.
Constantine and her younger sister, Lisa, grew up sports fans, thanks to their dad, Conrad Agte.
“From way back in the day, my dad made us grow up watching the Seahawks,” she said. “We had to have the Seahawks because otherwise, you’re just sitting in snow. No sun, no warmth, no nothing.
“That was our Sunday thing, watching the Seahawks.”
From the Kingdome to the Classroom
Not only did they cross the Cascades to see the Seattle sports teams, Joanna was a member of the Ferris High School marching band that performed at halftime of a game against the Philadelphia Eagles in 1992.
Highlight? Having the team’s mascot, a real seahawk, perch on her lap as the band sat behind the team’s bench.
Lowlight? Seattle took a 20–17 overtime loss in the Kingdome.
There are few professional teams in the Northwest, so, Constantine said, it was easy to cheer for the Seattle teams. At a school where she previously taught, Fridays during football season were Blue Fridays. Everyone wore blue.
She hasn’t kept count, but she has seen double-digit Seahawks games in person.
Her sister once worked for Starbucks and would snag tickets in a company raffle, taking family to the game.
They went to a game vs. the Jets in 2008 during a rare snowstorm and had to stand on their seats the entire game because the snow was so deep.
“We had our snowsuits on,” she said. Seattle won what was dubbed “the whiteout game.”
Her sister, who now lives in Seattle, went to both home playoff games this year. Her dad attended one with her.
Purple Pride Meets Blue and Green
Joanna and Terrill Constantine, who is the operations director at Kingdom Electric and is a Las Vegas Raiders fan, have been in West Texas for only a short time. They met in Spokane, where his military unit was stationed. His family eventually moved to Abilene and remains.
Despite his allegiance to the Oakland–Los Angeles–Las Vegas Raiders, the couple has stayed married for almost 32 years.
“We tried especially to go see the Seahawks when they played the Raiders,” Joanna Constantine said.
She brought her fandom down south.
“We were tired of shoveling snow,” she said, just days after Abilenians had to shovel snow like Northwesterners.
This is her fourth year teaching in Wylie ISD.
Sunday Plans and Super Bowl Predictions
Favorite player? Receiver Steve Largent, of course, thanks to her dad. But she also likes running back Marshawn Lynch, who still is often seen out and about in Seattle.
Thus, she has only watched the team’s remarkable run this year, going from 10–7 and missing the playoffs in 2024 to 16–3 and gaining its fourth Super Bowl.
The Constantines will be attending a company party. Her only request was that there be a TV somewhere away from the hubbub where she actually can watch the game.
She will be wearing her lucky “12” jersey. Like Texas A&M at the college level, Seattle prides itself on the support of its fans — the so-called 12th man.
Constantine believes the defenses will shine Sunday. Her low-scoring prediction is Seattle, 14–10.
“I feel good. I like our team,” she said, adding that receiver Cooper Kupp — who played collegiately at Eastern Washington — is the heart of the team, and “we have an advantage there.
“I like our chances.”