The Spirit of No.12

Source: 20six Fresh

Source: Fun For All

Win or lose a competition, you have to love the game spirit. Seattle faces San Francisco today in the NFC championship to determine the next Superbowl contender, and the fans are bat-shit crazy. I readily admit, that I'm the last football fan, but I've become quite amused with Seattle Seahawk's team spirit and embrace of the number 12, signifying a tradition of the "12th man"—the team's greatest fan. The number 12 can now be seen in every possible orientation, fontstyle, size and spacing—at the top of the Space Needle, in corn mazes, on pizzas, in the produce aisle...I even saw a homeless man sporting a 12th man flag on his backpack. Recently spotted on the gum-covered bricks of Seattle's Post Alley gum wall was the number 12 gum "collage".

Source: Chromix

Source: Darla Lorbeski on Seahawks fan page

Source: Me

Source: Idalina on KUOW FB page

Source: Tacoma News Tribune

As traditions go, Seattle cannot rightly claim the "12th man" as their own. Legend has it, they stole it from Texas A&M University where it originally began in 1922. Despite this claim—the mystery remains. In a recently unearthed 1870 photograph from the Washington State Historical Society, mountain climber's, Hazard Stevens and P.B. Van Trump, are seen holding an official 12th man flag which they carried to the summit on the first ascent of Mt. Rainier (previously known as Mt. Tacoma). They've got game.