Super Bowl 2026: Meet super Seahawks and Patriots fans from Long Island

Seahawks fan Tom Dolan has his grandchildren on his side.

In 2011, he made a bet with his son, Giants fan Tom Dolan II, on the Seahawks-Giants regular-season game at MetLife Stadium. If the Seahawks won, Dolan’s grandson and Dolan II’s son Aiden would be raised as a Seahawks fan. If the Giants won, he would be raised as a Giants fan. Well, Seattle won, 36-25. Aiden, now 16, remains a big Seahawks fan.

Dolan repeated his betting magic with two more grandsons in the following years with Seahawks wins over the Giants, securing Seattle fandom for Colin, now 12, with a 38-17 win in 2014 and Jackson, now 5, with a 27-13 victory in 2022.

Dolan, 69, a Lindenhurst resident and lifelong Long Islander, said at least six of his eight grandchildren are Seahawks fans. He and his wife, Karen, annually travel to games in Seattle. They are among a collection of Seahawks fans on Long Island looking forward to Super Bowl LX against the Patriots on Sunday, a chance at “redemption”  — as Dolan put it — after New England’s 28-24 win over Seattle in Super Bowl XLIX in 2015.

“I absolutely see this as an opportunity for us to redeem ourselves and to rid ourselves of some ghosts,” said Dolan, who became a fan in 1993 because he was the principal at Carey High School, which has the Seahawks mascot.

Plenty of Patriots fans live on Long Island, too. That can be a tougher dynamic, considering most Jets and Giants fans despise the Patriots (and their six Super Bowl rings).

“I definitely get a lot of hate,” said Patriots fan Sara Fodera, 32, of Jamesport. “People definitely run their mouth. But when they're asked why they hate the Patriots so much, they never have a valid answer. At first, it was Tom Brady is a cheater, and Tom Brady has enough rings he doesn't need any more. Those aren't valid reasons.

“So I get a lot of hate, but I don’t care.”

Why the Seahawks or Patriots?

It makes geographic sense for Patriots fans to be on Long Island, but Seattle is about 3,000 miles away.

Loren and Gina Creone, a married couple who live in Bohemia, had their own paths to Seahawks fandom.

Loren, 60, was born and raised near Seattle. Growing up, his family liked motorsports and the SuperSonics were the only pro team in town. But his dad was a crane operator and helped put the roof on the Kingdome, which meant they got tickets to the Seahawks’ first preseason game on Aug. 1, 1976. That was the moment he became a fan.

“I was absolutely hooked,” Loren said.

Gina, 48, was born and raised in Queens. The couple moved to Washington state in 2004, and their neighbors invited them to the NFC Championship Game between the Seahawks and Panthers on Jan. 22, 2006. Seattle’s 34-14 win marked Gina’s first football game, and the true start of her fandom.

The Creones are traveling to Seattle to watch Sunday’s game. They wanted to be in the city for the Big Game. 

“We're definitely happy to represent and bring the spirit of the Seahawks to the Island,” Gina said. “No matter where we are, we'll follow them and definitely be their supporters.”

Dan Kruse, 28, from Blue Point, became a Seahawks fan around 2004 because he loved their jerseys. He has a Seahawks tattoo on his bicep and hosts a podcast called “Seahawks Sessions” for Belly Up Media.

Patriots fans Dave Follick and Jeff Jones are 50-year-old Massachusetts natives who live in the same Salisbury neighborhood in Nassau. Their respective fan origin stories are location-based, but the passion remains in Jets and Giants territory.

“When I used to send my kids to daycare, I never had to worry about any of the clothing getting lost because all the Patriots stuff always came home,” Follick said. “Nobody else wanted to wear it.”

Jones has been a Patriots season-ticket holder since 1996. His wife planted a “I [heart] Drake Maye” flag in their backyard.

“We’re certainly having a good time with it and are not afraid to let it be known — respectfully — where our rooting interests are,” Jones said.

The Darnold factor

The most obvious New York tie-in to Sunday’s game is Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold, the Jets’ No. 3 overall pick in 2018.

“People have asked me, ‘Hey, what do you think of Sam Darnold?’ ” Kruse said. “I thought he was good when he got drafted. I thought the Jets [tenure] was a really bad situation for him. What I thought he needed was a new change of scenery as an overhaul.”

After Darnold’s Jets tenure officially ended in April 2021, he made subsequent stops as a starter in Carolina, a backup role in San Francisco and a starter again in Minnesota. His Jets career has added another storyline in the local Super Bowl discourse, which includes a wide array of strong opinions about his departure from the Jets.

The Patriots went 3-0 against the Jets in games that Darnold started, including the infamous Monday Night Football game in 2019 when he was “seeing ghosts” in a 33-0 loss.

“You throw in the Sam Darnold mix, that is another little bit of a nudge, pouring salt on the wounds of Jets fans versus the Pats,” Jones said. “It certainly creates a story.

“I'm sure New York fans are going to be rooting for Seattle, but there's a lot to chew on here.”