In Seattle, 12th Man Sounds Off

SEATTLE — It’s hard to single out the stars of the Seattle Seahawks’ NFC championship dismantling of the Carolina Panthers because there were so many of them -- 67,837, by one count.

More than Matt Hasselbeck’s passing and leadership, or the offensive line’s dominance and Shaun Alexander’s cutbacks, or the way the defense shut down Steve Smith and the Panthers, Seattle’s 34-14 victory was about the fans.

They earned it. They deserved it. They needed it.

The fans in the field called Qwest are among the loudest collection of people you’ll find anywhere in any sport. They have supported the Seahawks through 30 years of frustration. Before Sunday, the Seahawks were one of seven NFL franchises that had never been to the Super Bowl.

“It has been rough, man,” said Paco Trayan, who sits directly behind the goal post in Section 122. “Perseverance. Perseverance to the max.”

He held up his arms, bearing black Old English lettering that spelled “Seattle” on one forearm and “Seahawks” on the other.

“I mean, I tattooed it on my arms,” Trayan said. “I can’t go nowhere without them on me. I love the Hawks, man. And for this to happen, it’s unbelievable. We’re going to the Super Bowl. We’re going to the Super Bowl, man. We’re going to the Super Bowl. And can’t nobody take it from us, man.”

When the Seahawks get it going, Trayan flails himself over the railing and pounds on the wall below with his fists, his Troy Polamalu-length hair flopping back and forth, making him look like a devoted fan at a heavy-metal concert.

And really, this felt more like a performance than a game. The stage belonged to the Seahawks, who did whatever they wanted to Carolina. They kept a safety on Smith’s side of the field to make sure he didn’t go deep. They ran at will. Hasselbeck completed 20 of 28 passes.

Carolina’s Jake Delhomme looked like a drummer without his sticks. He brought a postseason career passer rating of 108.5 into this game, but at one point during the third quarter his rating for the day sat at 1.6.

And through it all the crowd stood and roared.

“This is probably the loudest stadium in the NFL,” Carolina cornerback Ken Lucas said. “I think it had to have an effect on our offense today.”

The fans started cheering 30 minutes before kickoff and never stopped. They used any excuse to chant or cheer. A giant American flag unfurled for the national anthem prompted a “U-S-A! U-S-A!”

Whenever Alexander gained yards, the crowd serenaded him with “M-V-P! M-V-P!”

They cheered when referee Ed Hoculi announced the third quarter had ended, which meant a spot in the Super Bowl was only 15 minutes away.

Then, with 8 minutes 31 seconds left in the fourth quarter, it was time to start the one for which they all had been waiting.

“Super Bowl. Super Bowl.”

For the first time in a decade, Seattle is back in the championship picture.

The Mariners haven’t done anything memorable in the playoffs since they beat the New York Yankees in 1995. The next year, the SuperSonics went to the NBA Finals, where they lost to the Chicago Bulls.

Since then, it has been a steady stream of defections and disappointments for the local sports teams. Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson, Alex Rodriguez and Gary Payton all went elsewhere. Name another city that has seen so many iconic players leave in such a short span.

And yet the public has always come through. It cost nearly $1 billion to build Qwest Field and the adjacent Safeco Field baseball palace, and the taxpayers picked up most of the tab for two teams that never won anything.

Give the Seahawks credit for recognizing and rewarding the fans’ faith. Their latest campaign focuses on the fans as the 12th man. Blue flags with white 12s fly from ferries crossing Puget Sound and the top of the Space Needle.

And sprinkled among the jerseys with Hasselbeck’s No. 8 or Alexander’s No. 37 (and the occasional old-school Jim Zorn No. 10 and Steve Largent No. 80) were several No. 12s.

“I wear 12 because 12 will never get traded, 12 will never get hurt,” said Brandon Kickbush, a.k.a. “The FANatic.”

“You talk about community, you talk about the strength of spirit and the common purpose,” Kickbush said. “That’s No. 12.”

Seahawk owner Paul Allen pulled the ropes himself to hoist a “12” flag at one end of Qwest Field before Sunday’s game. (I bet that’s the most manual labor he has done in 30 years. Seriously, if you were worth $21 billion, would you do anything yourself? I’d hire someone to pour milk into my cereal.)

“Today you saw the connection between the players and the fans,” Allen said. “The players were urging them to make more noise ... as if that were possible.”

The Seahawks’ only other trip to a conference championship game was 1984. This was their first time playing host to one. If the Seahawks had blown this one, they would have had to install extra phones at the suicide prevention hotline.

“After so many years of this city sticking together and just wanting to believe, but not being able to when it came down to it, for us to believe and have the payoff, it’s the most incredible feeling ever,” Kickbush said.

“For all of those people who suffered through the dark times and the long, long ago, it is our turn. It is our turn.”

J.A. Adande can be reached at [email protected]. To read previous columns by Adande go to latimes.com/adandeblog