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Mariah Zhao (second from left) and other members of a Chinese 12th man meet up group muster smiles after watching the Seahawks Super Bowl loss in 2015
The 12th Man Abroad
In Washington state, the "12th Man" refers to the famously loud and passionate fans of the Seattle Seahawks.
Before the NFL gained popularity, Chai Wan started a "Seattle Seahawks” group chat on QQ, an online chatting software, but the Seahawks gained more popularity after their Super Bowl XLVIII win.
Mariah Zhao, a Seahawks fan who lived in Redmond for a period of time before moving back to China, started an offline community for fans in Beijing in late 2014.
"It was too sudden a cool down from the football fever in Seattle after that Super Bowl championship, to my football-less surrounding in Beijing. I knew there must be 12s out there and was eager to find them.”
-- Mariah in the Seattle Globalist, 2016
Since then the group has been home to Chinese fans, American expats, and even traveling Seahawks fans.
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