Seahawks arrive, find black-and-gold reception

DETROIT -- The Seahawks were fortunate to arrive in Detroit one day ahead of the Steelers. It gave them an extra few hours to get used to seeing so much black and gold in the Super Bowl city.

Even though the Lions' home jersey is a shade of blue close to what the Seahawks wear, the color of choice this week already appears to have a Pittsburgh hue. At the airport, in the shopping malls, in Greektown -- wherever -- the only non-Lions NFL apparel seems to sport the names Bettis and Roethlisberger.

The Seahawks did get some feel for home Sunday at the suburban Dearborn hotel where they are staying. A 12th man flag flew above the hotel, and a dozen or so fans gathered in the lobby, all of them dressed in Seattle garb.

Team owner Paul Allen also brought along one of the flags, symbolizing the encouragement of the Seahawks' supporters, on the plane ride east.

"It was nice to see that," defensive end Bryce Fisher said Sunday night. "Our fans have been with us the whole time. When we were playing Dallas and New York and all the media people were saying we were going to lose, the fans stuck by us and believed in us."

Still, the Seahawks' greeting party was far smaller than the number of people wearing Steelers jerseys on the streets of downtown Detroit on Sunday -- a full week before the Super Bowl.