Super Seahawk

COEUR d'ALENE - What makes Ryan Edwards special is that he's a man balancing two marriages at the same time.

His wife of eight years, Holly, has slowly come around and warmed to the first, so it isn't as awkward now.

No more jealous scoffs, no more underhanded cuts, no more making fun.

After all, a man can't help with whom he falls in love.

"He's gotten my 3-year-old son way into it, and that's the thing that converted me," Holly said on Thursday, three days before the Seattle Seahawks, Ryan's first love, take to the field against the heavily-favored Chicago Bears in the National Football League playoffs. "If my son's into it, and my husband's into it, I better join them."

Turns out, last week's upset over the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints didn't end at the state line. Three hundred miles between the cities, and the surprising win was felt here, too. Now, local sports pubs are expecting big turnouts for Sunday's game against Chicago. Paddy's sports bar in Coeur d'Alene said there'll be "a bunch of 'em," and Capone's in Post Falls said it's looking forward to hosting loads of "crazy fans."

Ryan might not be Coeur d'Alene's biggest Hawk fan, but he's up there.

Player info and stats, as memorized as a pin number. His first live game was Hall of Fame wide receiver Steve Largent's last one in 1989. He dresses his family in uniform on game day, and he hasn't missed a game in years.

But in keeping the analogy going, loving the Hawks isn't exactly like dating the prom queen. If the Patriots, Packers, Niners and Steelers are the popular girls, then the Hawks, if they're invited to the dance at all, are standing somewhere against the back wall.

"I feel like it's, kind of, I don't know," said Ryan, 34 - a Seattle native who moved to Coeur d'Alene 11 years ago - trying to describe the feeling. "My wife always teases me for being a Seahawk fan. She says, 'you must like the punishment.'"

Seattle is one of 14 teams never to have won the big one.

And how about that '06 Super Bowl when Seattle lost to Pittsburgh? Oh boy.

"I do rouse him about that," Holly said, who wasn't a fan when the couple met in southern Oregon. "I ask him, 'are we destined to always be disappointed?'"

So Saturday's upset over the defending Super Bowl champs tasted all the sweeter. A tickle of success, after plenty of valleys.

"You're a part of something," said Ryan, who works at Simpson Strong-Tie Inc., describing the feeling of gratitude after plenty of Sunday depression. "You're enjoying the highs and lows and you're dedicated, you're a dedicated fan even when things are down. It makes the good times all the better."

And for loving teams, the over-the-top, borderline bizarre love affair boys have with teams, it's just the way it is. A boy grows up in a region and devotes himself to the local squad. For better or worse. Much, much later, he finds a girlfriend.

And Holly has adapted.

"If we could apply this type of knowledge to other things," she said of the memorized names, numbers and history of each Hawk player. "What other wild things could we do?"

But come Sunday, the family will invite friends over and take to the couch uniformed up, as they do every Sunday in the fall. The middle linebacker's number 51 for Ryan, the No. 12 fan jersey for son Zane, Holly in a pink Matt Hasselbeck shirt, and a baby onesie for newcomer Anika, born Nov. 3.

Anika's birth prevented Ryan from attending a live game this year, a worthwhile trade off, Ryan said. As for Zane, he likes to put his helmet on during games and toss the pigskin around.

"I play catch with Zane because he wants to pass the ball back and forth," Holly said, saying the husband is sometimes a bit too distracted. "Ryan wants to focus on the game."

Don't worry Ryan, one day he'll learn.