But Hall of Fame fan has lots of memories

Monday, March 27, 2000

By CHRIS McGANN
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

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Patti Hammond picked up the pace. The implosion was four minutes away, and the closest television was in the lounge in Concourse B at Sea-Tac Airport.

Hammond, also known as "Mama Blue," is the only Seahawk fan immortalized in the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

And not even a flight to Reno, Nev., could keep her from watching yesterday's implosion.

"I have to see it to believe it," Hammond, 69, laughed as she ran. "I feel a little queasy.

"It's like losing an old friend," she said, trying -- only a little -- to hide her excitement. "But I have lots of old friends."

Hammond squeezed through a small crowd at the bar 69 seconds before the blast. She bowed her head as the countdown neared five seconds, then quickly looked up again.

"Oh, boo, I don't like it," she said, turning away before the roof even hit the ground. "I lost my friend."

But even as tears started streaming down her cheeks, Mama Blue reaffirmed her commitment to her beloved Seahawks.

She steadied herself with a deep breath. She removed her blue-rimmed glasses then wiped her eyes with a blue tissue.

Those sacred colors -- blue and green -- permeate almost every aspect of Hammond's life, right down to her blue 1977 Continental Mark V, complete with "Mama Blue" vanity plates, and the jumbo green and blue eyelashes she dons on game days.

Hammond's dearest memory of the Kingdome came on the day Pete Gross, longtime Seahawks announcer, was added to the Ring of Honor days before he died of cancer.

In the outdoor seasons that lie ahead, Hammond plans to keep warm by adding more lights to her blue wig that she wears every game.