Meet Mexico City's Biggest Seahawks Fan
Image: Adam Wiseman
The last thing I expected to see while walking through a Mexico City marketplace was a shop completely decked out in Seattle Seahawks flags. Yet there, like something from a dream, amid the produce and dry goods stands of the Mercado Melchor Ocampo was Boutique de Sabores la Macarena, a small booth selling imported products from Spain under the familiar banner of the 12.
No, the items he sells have nothing to do with Seattle or the NFL, says proprietor Erick Morales. But the decor has given him a visibility boost in the lively neighborhood marketplace—more commonly known as the Mercado Medellín. And, more important, it’s how he expresses his love for the team.
On the surface, Morales is an unlikely Seahawks fan. He has no personal connection to Seattle or its Halcónes Marinos. But in 1989, when he was a teenager, he saw a black-and-white drawing of the Seahawks logo in a sports magazine and took a liking to it. He didn’t see the logo in color or an actual photo of the uniforms until some months later in a different magazine. But this was enough to set him on the path.
Now, he’s part of a fast-growing segment of NFL fans in Mexico. The Seahawks are not exactly popular in the country, relatively speaking (the top teams are the Steelers and Cowboys), but there is a tight-knit community of diehards who watch games together and connect on social media. Morales, who now has that logo he fell in love with tattooed on his forearm, is one of the admins of their Facebook group. Folks bring him all kinds of stuff from Seattle, too: mugs, towels, action figures, even a special-label bottle of Jim Beam.
Image: Adam Wiseman
Morales would love it if the Seahawks played in one of the games the NFL typically hosts in Mexico City every year. “We’ll see what I’d have to pawn, but I’d be there,” he says. But what he really wants is to catch the Seahawks at Lumen Field.
“My personal American dream is to go to the United States and see a Seahawks game.”
He wants to try a Seattle dog, and to catch a frozen salmon at Pike Place Market. In the meantime, he says, he’ll occasionally toss the odd serrano ham or hunk of Manchego cheese to a customer at his own market. It’s not quite a Chinook, but you better believe he captures the spirit.
