Johnny Manziel says Texas A&M has the real 12th Man, not Seattle (Photo)
By Josh Hill
Last night in the NFC Championship game, the infamous ’12th Man’ in Seattle was as loud as they’ve ever been as they watched their team win the NFC crown. But while all season long we’ve heard endless stories about how amazing the ’12th Man’ in Seattle is, future NFL quarterback Johnny Manziel is not impressed.
Manziel took to his Instagram account on Sunday night to take a shot at the Seattle version of the ’12th Man’ by saying Texas A&M has the real ’12th Man’.
Manziel may rub Seattle fans the wrong way with this, and he’s setting himself up for a fun first trip to CenturyLink Field, but he has a point.
The Seattle ’12th Man’ was started in 1984 to commemorate the Seahawks fans who helped make the team’s first home, the Kingdome, one of the loudest venues in football. The evolution of that has made CenturyLink Field the loudest stadium in professional sports, but it’s not the original ’12th Man’.
We can be certain when the term ’12th Man’ was coined in the way we recognize it today, but Texas A&M got the jump on a lot of sports teams. Back in 1922, the Aggies pulled a fan out of the stands to serve as a player on the roster, and thus the ’12th Man’ took on a literal meaning.
Manziel can take all the shots he wants at Seattle, as he’s clearly not going to be playing football for the franchise. But his first trip to the city will likely remind him that while the Aggies had the original version of the ’12th Man’, Seattle has the loudest.