Seahawks Fans Get A Chance To Attend Practices

Published on August 3, 2009 by Seahawk Fanatic     

The fans brought an energy to the field not felt by many Seahawks players untill Sunday games.

Yet the open fan practices are being welcomed with open arms, i personally can’t wait till my turn on Thursday so i can also give my shouts and opinions of the newest Seahawks, and the tried and true veterans i have watched for so many years as a Seahawks fan.

I am so pumped to get to actually go to a practice without begging my many friends in the press to get me in because im so unimportant to the Seahawks, just another fan? I guess not anymore. I think the best thing the Seahawks did was opening 12 days of camp to the people who yell and root and lose there voice every Sunday when the Seattle Seahawks play in Quest field,  i havent been to too many games where i did not lose my voice, yet now i can do it on a regular day of the week, wow how good is this!

Below are some excerpts of the first day of training camp open to the public-

“It’s like it was church over there,” Terrill said.

“Over there” is the berm that is adjacent to the practice fields, a grassy knoll that became part of the team’s year-old digs on the shores of Lake Washington so fans could attend training camp practices.

Those in attendance Monday responded to Terrill’s bring-the-noise request, turning just another training camp practice into a unique experience.

“It’s just practice, you can make a little bit of noise,” Terrill said.

The after-practice buzz was positive – from the fans, the players and coach Jim Mora.

Every time wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh made a catch, the fans saluted him with a chorus “Hoooooush.”

“It’s kind of cool,” Houshmandzadeh said of his personalized salute. “You’d rather look good than look bad. So you’d rather make the catch than not make it.”

Even without his own chant, Houshmandzadeh is all for the open practices.

“It makes practice not as mundane and boring,” he said. “You play the sport because it’s fun, but you also play because of everybody’s opinion about you. People might not admit that, but it’s the truth.

“The fans just give you energy, and it’s fun.”

Mora also noticed the difference.

“It really did change the environment of practice,” he said. “You could feel that there was a little more enthusiasm. Just like on Sundays (when) our fans help us during the game. I think during training camp they’ll carry us through the dog days of camp.

“Because those are coming. You get into that second week of camp and you’ve been pounding on each other and you’re tired and you’re sore, and you’ve got a group of 1,500 fans out here screaming for everything you do, that lifts you up.”

The Monday evening practice also is open, as are the single practices Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday this week. Friday’s 6:30-8:30 practice will be held at Husky Stadium and also is open to fans. Next week, there are open practices at VMAC on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. But all the sessions at VMAC are sold out.

“It was fun today with fans out there,” Mora said. “It certainly spices up practice a bit. I hope (the fans) enjoyed it. We enjoyed having them.”

Tags: Attendance, Berm, Buzz, Chant, Coach Jim, Digs, Excerpts, Grassy Knoll, Little Bit, Many Games, Open Fan, Open Practices, Salute, Seahawks Fan, seahawks fans, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS, Shouts, T J Houshmandzadeh, training camp, Wide Receiver