Although nationally the Seattle sports culture has taken a hit in being voted America's most miserable sports city for the second straight year by Forbes magazine, it isn't all doom and gloom for those who support the state's professional sports teams.
The sports culture locally is one of bustling pre-game marches and celebrations, sold out stadiums and an infatuation for the newest pro franchise, Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer.
In 2009, Sounders FC became the second team in MLS history to make the playoffs in its inaugural season. Rabid fans supported the team through the run, as all 15 Sounders FC MLS regular season home matches, their home playoff match, and their 4 home U.S. Open Cup matches (played at Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila) were sold out.
Fans bought up the team's trademark scarves in droves and team owners debuted the team's own marching band, Sound Wave, a 53-member marching band consisting of brass and marching percussion. The March to the Match, in which fans march from Occidental Park to Qwest Field before each home game, is led by the Sound Wave.
The NFL's Seattle Seahawks benefit from an equally strong fan following, despite their 9-23 run over the past two seasons - all coming after making the playoffs for five straight years, including a run to the Super Bowl in 2006.
The Seahawks began playing at Qwest Field in 2002, and fans have flocked to the stadium ever since. Every regular season and playoff game at Qwest since the second week of the 2003 season has been played before a sellout crowd - a streak of 52 consecutive games. The Seahawks also have a ceremony before each home game where a flag bearing the No. 12 (a jersey number awarded to fans for their raucous cheering) is raised by a prominent individual in the community.
And that No. 12 is well deserved.
In the 2005 season Seahawks fans got so loud the New York Giants committed 11 false start penalties in large part because of the crowd noise.
When it comes to pro baseball, the Mariners haven't had quite the success at the turnstiles as the Seahawks and Sounders FC, but they have done pretty well considering they haven't made the playoffs since 2001.
Fans still come out to Safeco Field, as the Mariners ranked 18th out of 30 teams in 2009 attendance figures, breaking the 2 million mark with 2,196,461 fans.
And although the city's NBA team, the Seattle Supersonics (which won the city's only professional world championship), left for Oklahoma City in 2008 after losing an ugly, public battle for a new arena, the WNBA's Seattle Storm remain.
The Storm fosters a fan friendly, family environment at home games and features an all-kid dance squad, which leads young fans in a conga line on the court during time-outs.
The team has played pretty well of late also, winning the WNBA championship in 2004 and sprinting out to a 24-4 record this season.