Seahawks fans bring S.W. Washington fire to Phoenix

“I got a little road sick,” Noce said. “It was pretty rough. We probably should have flown to San Diego and rented a car. The flights to Phoenix were too expensive.”

Still, Noce said that journey was as arduous as getting the tickets themselves.

Shortly after the Seahawks beat Green Bay in the NFC Championship on Jan. 18, Noce learned via email that he had won the right to buy two Super Bowl tickets. He had a three-day window to buy them in person at CenturyLink Field.

But it wasn’t as simple as simply driving to Seattle going to the box office. Noce said scalpers were hounding anyone walking toward the stadium. Police were called in to keep order.

Face value for most Super Bowl tickets is roughly $1,000. Two days before the game, most tickets were fetching more than $10,000 on the secondary market. On Friday afternoon, the cheapest ticket on StubHub was $8,950.

“There were guys with wads of bills just harassing people,” Noce said. “They were saying things like ‘think about your wife and kids. Couldn’t they use the money?’ “

Noce said he heard an offer of $5,000 shouted at him.

But for Noce, you can’t put a price on a once-in-a-lifetime experience. And that’s why he traveled south.

Seahawks roost in desert

Ken and Max Bishop didn’t have to travel south to cheer on their Seahawks. The brothers from Kalama have lived here for years.

In 2006, Max Bishop helped start the Phoenix chapter of the Sea Hawkers, the official Seahawks booster club.

There were only seven members when it started. Now, there are more than 600, making it the largest chapter outside of Seattle.

The group has turned an Irish pub in suburban Scottsdale into an official Seahawks bar. On a recent evening, hundreds of Seattle fans were packed shoulder to shoulder. Seahawks flags and jerseys adorned the walls.

From a small corner stage, a musician shouted “Sea!” The crowd lustily responded “Hawks!”

Above the din, Ken Bishop explained how people don’t leave their fandom behind when they move away from the Northwest.

“Most (club members) have some sort of Washington connection,” he said. “When my brother and I took over the club, our mantra was let’s create something where people feel like they’re at home in the Northwest.”

Max Bishop started going on every Internet gathering spot of Seahawks fans to get word out about the new Seahawks club. By 2007, there were 100 members. It has grown each year since.

This season, the bar was packed so early on Sundays that two other bars were enlisted as satellite locations to watch the Seahawks games. Ken Bishop said a few people camped overnight before the NFC Championship to reserve their favorite seat.

Today, he expects a crowd of 1,400 to fill the bar and a roped-off section of the parking lot.

“It’s going to be mayhem,” he said, adding that more than 1,000 showed up to watch last year’s Super Bowl.

Mayhem and memories. For Southwest Washington fans traveling to Arizona or those who already live here, Sunday’s Super Bowl promises both.