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Fathers and sons will unite across the world for Super Bowl XLIX, watching New England and Seattle face off in one of the most anticipated NFL championships in recent history. Seahawks defenders Earl Thomas and Michael Bennett will start in Sunday’s contest. And just like when Seattle blew out Denver to claim last year’s Super Bowl, the defensive duo will be watched up close by their proud fathers. “What a dream come true for a parent to have their son play in the Super Bowl two years in a row,” said Earl Thomas Jr., whose father was Thomas Sr. “I don’t think it gets too much better than that. … It’s like it hasn’t been real, to be honest.” Shining XLVIII rings and 43-8 are proof the first dream existed for Thomas (West Orange-Stark High School) and Bennett (Alief Taylor). Now, the ex-Longhorn and former Aggie will unite again in Glendale, Ariz., with everything from the fallout to Deflategate and the Patriots’ battered legacy to the Seahawks’ potential dynasty on the line. “People hate us because when you talk a lot of smack, people usually hate you,” Bennett said. “But when you talk a lot of smack and you back it up, they hate you even more.”
Thomas Jr. felt it then and remembers it the same now: Everyone thought he was crazy. Even his wife. The father constructed homemade batting cages. He taught his child form-tackling. He turned barrels into “shotgun alley,” teaching his son to run straight, hard and unforgiving. “I didn’t know too much in life but that is one thing I did know,” Thomas Jr. said. As a baby, Thomas initially crawled backward instead of forward. “I thought something was wrong with him,” Thomas Jr. said.
Seahawks safety Earl Thomas (29) said “(Orange) gave me crocodile skin. It made me a beast.” (Jordan Stead, seattlepi.com)
By 8, the boy was catching footballs better than high schoolers. By high school, Thomas was locking down receivers as a star defensive back. The vow the father had made to himself – raise a child better than you – held true. “I just messed a lot of my opportunities up, being young and dumb and full of it,” Thomas Jr. said. “When Earl, my baby, came along, (that changed).” Dan Hooks watched Thomas barrel for 98 yards against West Orange-Stark as a freshman running back. The following season, Thomas changed schools. He was a Mustang. And he was soon a four-sport athlete willing to do anything his new football coach ever asked. “He was really a special person,” said Hooks, who retired two years ago. “He was one you get every once in a while.” Hooks witnessed the beginnings of the intense pride that has become a trademark of Seattle’s secondary and the Legion of Boom. “He’s always been confident but not to the point of being cocky,” Hooks said. “He knew his ability and he performed. That was the bottom line.” Thomas never let go of the people that made him. He annually returns to his hometown for a free youth football camp. He bought a house in nearby Mauriceville for his mother and the father who constructed shotgun alley. Orange, a small city along Interstate 10 that is tucked between Beaumont and Lake Charles, La., remains in Thomas’ personal view while the world waits to watch XLIX. “(Orange) gave me crocodile skin. It made me a beast,” Thomas said. “Pain is nothing. Your environment, that’s how it is. But I didn’t really let that change me, in terms of being a good person. I didn’t let the hood, or whatever that environment was, change me. It’s always going to be in me. But I know and I understand who I am.”
Bennett Sr. thought the dream was done. It was Green Bay 19, Seattle 7 with a little more than two minutes left in the NFC Championship. Devoted Seahawks fans had exited. The father of two NFL athletes (Martellus plays tight end for Chicago) would have to live with one Super Bowl trophy. “Honestly, I thought the game was over with,” said Bennett Sr., who resides in Katy and works near The Galleria. “The Packers should have won the game.” Then an onside kick, a two-point conversion and Russell Wilson to Jermaine Kearse for 35 yards, a game-ending touchdown and overtime euphoria in Seattle. The craziest victory Bennett Sr. has ever watched was summed up by his 6-foot-4, 274-pound son riding a police officer’s bicycle along the turf of CenturyLink Field.
Michael Bennett’s postgame bike ride at the NFC Championship Game was “kind of cool,” according to his father. (Joshua Trujillo, seattlepi.com)
“I saw him and I was like, ‘Michael’s on a bike,’ ” Bennett Sr. said. “Then he came over. It was kind of cool.” Seattle’s 2013 Super Bowl run was perfection for the father. An unforgettable week in New York. Then the Seahawks’ humbling thrashing of the Broncos. “I had never had an experience like that before,” Bennett Sr. said. This year, the father raised his personal involvement to another level. He flew to Seattle for the NFC Championship contest, watched Martellus in last week’s Pro Bowl, then remained in Glendale for the build up to the biggest game in the world. For 29 years, Bennett Sr. has watched his son up close and from afar. Sunday, the man the Legion of Boom calls “Pops” will take in XLIX as only a father can. Bennett Sr. already knows who’s going to win. Now, the dream just has to play itself out again. “The Patriots haven’t played a defense like Seattle. … I don’t think New England has a chance to beat them,” Bennett Sr. said.
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• • •
Thomas Jr. felt it then and remembers it the same now: Everyone thought he was crazy. Even his wife. The father constructed homemade batting cages. He taught his child form-tackling. He turned barrels into “shotgun alley,” teaching his son to run straight, hard and unforgiving. “I didn’t know too much in life but that is one thing I did know,” Thomas Jr. said. As a baby, Thomas initially crawled backward instead of forward. “I thought something was wrong with him,” Thomas Jr. said.
Seahawks safety Earl Thomas (29) said “(Orange) gave me crocodile skin. It made me a beast.” (Jordan Stead, seattlepi.com)
By 8, the boy was catching footballs better than high schoolers. By high school, Thomas was locking down receivers as a star defensive back. The vow the father had made to himself – raise a child better than you – held true. “I just messed a lot of my opportunities up, being young and dumb and full of it,” Thomas Jr. said. “When Earl, my baby, came along, (that changed).” Dan Hooks watched Thomas barrel for 98 yards against West Orange-Stark as a freshman running back. The following season, Thomas changed schools. He was a Mustang. And he was soon a four-sport athlete willing to do anything his new football coach ever asked. “He was really a special person,” said Hooks, who retired two years ago. “He was one you get every once in a while.” Hooks witnessed the beginnings of the intense pride that has become a trademark of Seattle’s secondary and the Legion of Boom. “He’s always been confident but not to the point of being cocky,” Hooks said. “He knew his ability and he performed. That was the bottom line.” Thomas never let go of the people that made him. He annually returns to his hometown for a free youth football camp. He bought a house in nearby Mauriceville for his mother and the father who constructed shotgun alley. Orange, a small city along Interstate 10 that is tucked between Beaumont and Lake Charles, La., remains in Thomas’ personal view while the world waits to watch XLIX. “(Orange) gave me crocodile skin. It made me a beast,” Thomas said. “Pain is nothing. Your environment, that’s how it is. But I didn’t really let that change me, in terms of being a good person. I didn’t let the hood, or whatever that environment was, change me. It’s always going to be in me. But I know and I understand who I am.”
• • •
Bennett Sr. thought the dream was done. It was Green Bay 19, Seattle 7 with a little more than two minutes left in the NFC Championship. Devoted Seahawks fans had exited. The father of two NFL athletes (Martellus plays tight end for Chicago) would have to live with one Super Bowl trophy. “Honestly, I thought the game was over with,” said Bennett Sr., who resides in Katy and works near The Galleria. “The Packers should have won the game.” Then an onside kick, a two-point conversion and Russell Wilson to Jermaine Kearse for 35 yards, a game-ending touchdown and overtime euphoria in Seattle. The craziest victory Bennett Sr. has ever watched was summed up by his 6-foot-4, 274-pound son riding a police officer’s bicycle along the turf of CenturyLink Field.
Michael Bennett’s postgame bike ride at the NFC Championship Game was “kind of cool,” according to his father. (Joshua Trujillo, seattlepi.com)
“I saw him and I was like, ‘Michael’s on a bike,’ ” Bennett Sr. said. “Then he came over. It was kind of cool.” Seattle’s 2013 Super Bowl run was perfection for the father. An unforgettable week in New York. Then the Seahawks’ humbling thrashing of the Broncos. “I had never had an experience like that before,” Bennett Sr. said. This year, the father raised his personal involvement to another level. He flew to Seattle for the NFC Championship contest, watched Martellus in last week’s Pro Bowl, then remained in Glendale for the build up to the biggest game in the world. For 29 years, Bennett Sr. has watched his son up close and from afar. Sunday, the man the Legion of Boom calls “Pops” will take in XLIX as only a father can. Bennett Sr. already knows who’s going to win. Now, the dream just has to play itself out again. “The Patriots haven’t played a defense like Seattle. … I don’t think New England has a chance to beat them,” Bennett Sr. said.
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