I was among the hundreds of thousands lining 4th Avenue in downtown Seattle today to catch a glimpse of the Seahawks victory parade.
I took the No 12 bus to Westlake Center and walked north along 4th Avenue to Belltown, checking in on the crowds at several of the cross street corners.
Look for Blitz, the Seahawks mascot, in my pictures below.
I believe that is defensive back Julian Love holding the Vince Lombardi trophy.
Sports anchor Paul Silvi is right next to him in the yellow KING5 jacket.
In another picture, a guy in stars-and-stripes pants wears a t-shirt that says WE.DID.NOT.CARE.
Those were the words of head coach Mike Macdonald following the team’s victory in the 2025 NFC Championship game, commenting on a reporter reminding him that many pundits had written the Seahawks off as an ‘afterthought’ in a division dominated by the Rams and the 49ers.
There is going to be a trophy celebration event at Lumen Field tomorrow at 10 am (tickets sold out in an hour or so on Monday).
Then, targeted for around 11 am, a parade will start along 4th Avenue in downtown Seattle.
The Seattle Times reminds readers that in 2014, hundreds of Seahawks fans had already camped out along 4th Avenue by 6.30 am .. and also that the day is sure to set light rail ridership records.
In 2014 some 500,000 people attended the parade and at that time the light rail ran only from Capitol Hill to Seattle-Tacoma airport.
BEEP BEEP THE HAWKS ARE BACK IN SEATTLE.
And so are 750,000 of your closest friends, all coming to Seattle to celebrate our SUPER BOWL CHAMPS.
So if you’re heading to Seattle tomorrow, take whatever ferry, bus, train, or spinning teacup is closest to you.
Please.
– Tweeted on X by Washington State Dept. of Traffic @wsdot
Picture tweeted on X by Washington State Dept. of Traffic @wsdot
NFL staff writer Saad Yousuf from The Athletic ranked every Super Bowl halftime show since 1991. (In the 70’s and 80’s the halftime show featured marching bands and non-profits that staged song and dance performances).
His assessment is that last night’s performance by Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny (real name: Benito Ocasio) came in 6th. His review is below.
(Points out of 10 were awarded in each of four categories: Music and Dance, Staging, Performance Relative to Circumstance and Performance Relative to Stature).
Post from X @nytimes
6. Bad Bunny (2026): 36.5 points
The NFL managed to bring in one of the top artists in the world, at the height of his powers, and he delivered. The set was incredible. When the performance began, you wouldn’t know if you were watching something in Santa Clara, Calif., or in Puerto Rico. Even if you didn’t understand a word that he was singing, Bad Bunny’s performance and the production was more than enough to elevate the show. He leaned into the heritage and had unifying messages throughout the show, whether it be on the video screen in the stadium or written on the football he flashed to the cameras.
The bit where he gave the Grammy to the little child watching Bad Bunny receiving it on TV was touching, no matter how the viewer interpreted that moment. Given all of the scrutiny he was under coming into the performance, Bad Bunny showed that the stage — the Super Bowl or the current political climate — was not too big for him.
5. Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar and Eminem (2022): 37 points
4. Coldplay, Bruno Mars, Mark Ronson and Beyoncé (2016): 38 points
3. Michael Jackson (1993): 38.5 points
2. U2 (2002): 39 points
1. Prince (2007): 40 points (Prince performed “Purple Rain” as it rained during halftime of Super Bowl 41 in Miami Gardens, Fla.)
Congrats to the Seahawks for their decisive win over the New England Patriots!
Matt Barrows writes for The Athletic on NYTimes.com:
The Seattle Seahawks, who rode a dominant defense to their first Super Bowl title 12 years ago, did it again Sunday, suffocating Drake Maye and the New England Patriots in a decidedly defensive 29-13 win at Levi’s Stadium.
Egged on by a raucous, pro-Seattle crowd, the Seahawks sacked Maye six times and picked him off twice, one of which was returned 45 yards for a touchdown by defensive lineman Uchenna Nwosu. The Patriots did not score until the fourth quarter, and Seattle also forced a fumble.
In praising his players, coach Mike Macdonald had to shout to be heard above the din of the fans who gathered in the southeast corner of the stadium.
“They made it happen,” he said of the dream of reaching the Super Bowl win. “They made it come to life. And we won the game.”
Reporting from The Athletic at nytimes.com. (Drake Maye is the New England Patriots quarterback.)Mon. Feb. 9: Front page of the Seattle Times. There will be a victory parade along 4th Avenue in downtown Seattle on Wednesday.
It is a time-honored tradition for countries and postal agencies over the world to issue postage stamps to commemorate the Olympic Games.
The Unites States Postal Service has not issued stamps for the 2026 Games, though.
Here is host country Italy’s stamps.
Very abstract— compared to say, the issue from Japan for the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo.
From olympics.com:
Sapporo 1972 was significant for both Japanese and Asian winter sport.
As the first Winter Games held in Asia, they inspired people across the continent to watch, and take up, snow and ice disciplines.
The success of the Japanese ski jumpers– known as the Hinomaru Squadron– created national heroes and showed that Asian winter sports athletes could compete with the best from Europe and North America.
The 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games XXV, Milano Cortina, Italy Issued by Poste Italiane, Jan. 21, 2026 Miniature sheet of 2 stamps | Perf. 11 Die Cut | Engraving by I.P.Z.S. S.p.A. – Roma | Self-adhesive | No watermark 4877 FLV | €3.35 Multi-colored shades of green, yellow-green | Milano Cortina 2026 “Futura” emblem 4878 FLW | €3.35 Multi-colored shades of dark blue, purple, violet | Milano Cortina 2026 “Futura” emblem [Sources: stampworld.com, Google AI Overview]The 1972 Winter Olympic Games XI, Sapporo, Japan Issued by Japan Post, Feb. 3, 1972 Miniature sheet of 3 stamps | Perf. 13¼ | Photolithography | No watermark 1103 A730 | 20 yen Ultramarine & multi-colored |Downhill Skiing 1104 A730 | 20 yen Ultramarine & multi-colored |Bobsledding 1105 A730 | 50 yen Ultramarine & multi-colored |Figure skating, pairs and Makomanai Indoor Skating Rink (now known as the Makomanai Sekisui Heim Ice Arena) [Sources: 2021 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue Vol. 4A, stampworld.com]
Today was another very mild winter’s day here in the city (57 °F/ 14°C) with clouds and sun.
I walked down to the Melrose Avenue overlook to see if the 12’s flag is up on the Space Needle yet.
(It is not. I believe it will go up tomorrow, Friday).
Look for the sunlight reflecting off the glass panels of the observation deck at the top of the Needle. That’s Harrison Street between the buildings to the right of the Space Needle, running all the way out to Climate Pledge Arena, home of the Kraken (ice hockey team). At the very bottom right of the picture the spires of Saint Spiridon Orthodox Cathedral church are visible. Those are the Olympic mountains in the distance, with the twin peaks called The Brothers. There should be more snow on the mountains at this point – a lot more snow! 😟 Snowpack levels in Western Washington are very low, with most areas reporting only 37% to 45% of normal, a concern for water supply and increased summer fire risk.
I had a great view of the Snow Moon this morning, looking through my kitchen window.
The Snow Moon is the traditional name for the Full Moon in February, named for the heavy snow typical of this month in North America.
Looking out my kitchen window towards the west, at 7.15 am just before sunrise. Sunrise is at 7.32 am.
Here is the traditional Vietnamese lacquer artwork (called sơn mài) that I had bought in Ho Chi Minh City.
I love the bright colors and the gold background.
By the way: the Vietnamese have a long tradition of holding their wealth in gold. Vietnamese savers are estimated to have collectively socked away around 400 tons of gold items at home.
So what also happens is that a person building a home or starting a business, would borrow money from a relative in the form of gold— rather than taking out a loan at a bank.
The meteoric rise of the gold price has made a world of trouble for these borrowers, because they have to pay back their debts in gold, as well. They now have to buy it back at almost double what it was say, a year ago. The gold price has tumbled by 10% these last two trading days, but is still up by about 90% over the last 12 months.
Water buffalo are called con trâu in Vietnamese. They are a deeply symbolic animal in Vietnam, often referred to as a “living tractor of the East” due to their role in agriculture. The boy with the kite, and the people on the bridge are all wearing their nón lá (the traditional Vietnamese leaf hat). Works of sơn mài art done can be very meticulously crafted and time-intensive. It is a traditional, 800-year-old technique. I don’t know how much time went into making this piece. The price was US$45. (The minimum hourly wage in Viet Nam is the equivalent of about US $1.00). It is possible that the gold background in the artwork was done with gold leaf. The artist also used a little bit of mother-of-pearl eggshell— in the flower baskets and above the thatched roof.
Congrats to Team Alcaraz for winning the Australian Open.
He lost the first set against a sharp Djokovic, but then found his footing and did not look back.
Final score 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5.
Alcaraz has commemorated previous major wins with small tattoos—
a strawberry🍓for Wimbledon,
the Eiffel Tower 🗼for the French Open,
the date of his first U.S. Open title 🇺🇸,
and after his second U.S. Open title in New York, the Statue of Liberty 🗽 and the Brooklyn Bridge.
Word is that he will now add a kangaroo tattoo 🦘 om his leg for Australia.
Post on X from German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Here’s a cartoon from today’s Seattle Times.
(Yes, bullfighting is still legal and protected as part of the cultural heritage in most of Spain, although its popularity is declining and it is banned in specific regions like the Canary Islands.)
Happy Friday.
It’s finals weekend at the 2026 Australian Open.
World No 1 Carlos Alcaraz (22, 🇪🇸) survived his marathon 5½ hour 5-setter semifinal match against Alexander Zverev (28, 🇩🇪) 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (3-7), 6-7 (4-7), 7-5.
He will meet Novak Djokovic (38, 🇷🇸) in the final.
Djokovic was not supposed to beat world No 2 Jannik Sinner (24, 🇮🇹) in the semis, but he did: 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
In the women’s final Aryna Sabalenka (27) will meet Elena Rybakina (26, 🇰🇿).
P.S. There are AI-animated versions of the matches posted on espn.com in addition to the real ones. Why? Just for fun, I guess. Alcaraz is in green.
The animated players play with an oversized tennis ball. The AI engine is still a work-in-progress when it comes to the finer detail, though— such as showing the hands of the players gripping the racquets.
Amazon is laying off 16,000 employees. That’s on top of 14,000 that were let go in October.
The company is America’s second-largest private employer, behind Walmart. It has over 350,000 corporate employees, so these recent rounds of cuts represent about 9% of the company’s overall office staff.
Amazon also announced just this week that they are closing all of their Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh grocery stores. (The Whole Foods franchise stays put and will be expanded. Grocery delivery for orders placed online will continue as usual).
Finally, there is the troublesome matter of Amazon foisting a documentary about First Lady Melania Trump on America.
Oy, Amazon. What the hell?
Here is whatNicole Sperling and Brooks Barnes write for the New York Times about it:
The film’s rollout is huge — a $35 million marketing campaign that includes television commercials during N.F.L. playoff games and a premiere simulcast in 25 theaters in the United States.
Starting Friday, the film hits 3,300 theaters worldwide.
Amazon’s all-hands-on-deck handling of “Melania,” follows Melania Trump, the first lady, in the days leading up to her husband’s second inauguration.
Ms. Trump produced the film, which was directed by Brett Ratner, who has not made a movie since 2017, when multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct. He has denied those accusations.
Amazon paid Ms. Trump’s production company $40 million for the rights to “Melania,” about $26 million more than the next closest bidder, Disney.
Dry January has come to an end, with rain last night and today— about a quarter inch here in the city today.
There will be more on Thursday and Friday.
The cloud cover made for elevated temperatures as well: 48 °F (9 °C) in the morning, with a high of 52 °F (11 °C).
Three amigos ran out to Rookies Sports Bar and Grill (on the right) on Ferdinand St in Columbia City.
Every time I look, the gold price is up by hundreds of dollars.
Is there an impending upheaval that buyers of gold expect and that the rest of us are unaware of?
Last year some traders predicted the gold price will cross $5,000 in 2026, and they were right.
It’s only January and it already sits at $5,313.30.
That was+192.70 (3.76%) just for today.
The stamp from Japan is just for fun.
Even the goldfish looks shocked 😲.
From the Definitive Series 1967-69: Fauna, Flora and Japanese Motifs Issued by Japan Post, 1967 Perf. 13½ | Photolitho. | National Printing Bureau 913 A564 | 7 yen | bright yellow-green & deep orange | Goldfish [Sources: 2021 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue Vol. 4A, stampworld.com]
“There is such a sadness for all we have lost, the rage and disgust that propels us forward, unimaginable before, held together by our trust in our democracy, now shattered by video proof, we do live in a police state. Maybe not in your neighborhood, yet, but history teaches that they will arrive.
It was the cameras in Viet Nam that relentlessly showed Americans what was being perpetrated in their name, that turned sentiment against the war. It was the videos in the murder of George Floyd that amassed protest against racism. And it is the videos of Gestapo tactics, used indiscriminately against all of us, exposing villainous lies, that will be that pivot point to what we knew was coming.
We the people do not consent.”
– NY Times reader DL, commenting on a report called ‘Watching America Unravel in Minneapolis’ by Charles Homans.
Homans is from Minnesota, and a political correspondent for The Times. He spent 10 days in and around Minneapolis observing clashes between federal agents and city residents and interviewing immigrants, activists and the mayor.
Charles Homens starts with this summary in his report for the New York Times: ‘Donald Trump’s most profound break with American democracy, evident in his words and actions alike, is his view that the state’s relationship with its citizens is defined not by ideals or rules but rather by expressions of power, at the personal direction of the president. That has been clear enough for years, but I had not truly seen what it looked like in person until I arrived in Minneapolis, my hometown, to witness what Trump’s Department of Homeland Security called Operation Metro Surge.’ [Photo by Philip Montgomery for NYT]
Sam Darnold threw three touchdown passes, and the Seattle Seahawks outlasted the Los Angeles Rams 31-27 in a thrilling NFC (National Football Conference) Championship Game on Sunday to advance to the Super Bowl for the first time since the 2014 season.
They will face the New England Patriots on Feb. 8 in a rematch of Super Bowl XLIX.
– Nate Atkins and Michael-Shawn Dugar reporting in The Athletic in the New York Times
That’s Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold, speaking into the microphone. Darnold has been with the Seattle Seahawks only since March 2025. He signed a multi-year contract after his strong 2024 season with the Minnesota Vikings. To the right of Darnold, his face hidden somewhat behind his clapping hands, is Seahawks head coach Mike McDonald (age 38), himself hired just the year before in January 2024. In just two seasons, Macdonald took a 9-8, middling team to 14 regular season wins and a Super Bowl berth. [Headline from the Seattle Times. Photo by Nick Wagner/ Seattle Times]
This January here in the city, has now seen a record-setting stretch of over 10 consecutive days without rain.
Every day has been sunny and cold, and the massive storm system playing out in the rest of the country is also passing us by.
Late afternoon, I ventured out for a quick walk (39 °F/ 4°C).
The ’12’ flag is up on top of the Space Needle.
(The 12 represents the “12th Man” —a tribute to the dedicated fans of the Seattle Seahawks NFL team.)
Happy Friday.
It is a major sports weekend for Seattle— the Seahawks face the Los Angeles Rams this Sunday for the NFC Championship and a spot in Super Bowl LX.
I spent a lot of time this week sorting the hundreds of loose stamps I had bought in Tokyo, by year. Here are some ones with nice postmarks and a sports theme.
International Table Tennis Championships, Tokyo Issued by Japan Post, Apr. 2, 1956 Perf. 13¼ x 13½ |Litho. |National Printing Bureau 618 A369 |10 yen |red-brown |Table tennis players Postmarked 31.4.5 which means 1956 April 5. The 31 refers to the 31st year of Emperor Hirohito’s reign (1925 + 31 = 1956). Softball at 33rd National Athletic Meet, Nagano Prefecture Issued by Japan Post, Oct. 14, 1978 Perf. 12¾ x 13 |Litho. |National Printing Bureau 1348 A938 |20 yen |multi-colored |Softball Players and Mt Yari Postmarked 59.7.3 (let’s say) which means 1984 July 3. The 59 refers to the 59th year of Emperor Hirohito’s reign (1925 + 59 = 1984). Badminton at 36th National Athletic Meet, Nagano Prefecture Issued by Japan Post, Oct. 13, 1981 Perf. 12¾ x 13 |Litho. |National Printing Bureau 1485 A1064 | 40 yen |multi-colored |Badminton player and Lake Biwa Postmarked 86.2.6 8-12 which means 1986 Feb. 6 8am-12 noon The 86 now refers to the Gregorian calendar year 1986. Handball at 40th National Athletic Meet, Tottori City Sports Arena Issued by Japan Post, Oct. 19, 1985 1665 A1233 | 40 yen |multi-colored |Handball Player and Mt Daisen Postmarked 89.6.21 12-18 which means 1989 Jun.21 12 noon- 6pm (Chofu is a city in Tokyo prefecture) The 89 now refers to the Gregorian calendar year 1989. [Sources: 2021 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue Vol. 4A, stampworld.com]
