The surprising Seattle Seahawks look to rebound from their first loss of the season against the struggling Giants. Before the action starts, who will lead off with the National Anthem?
The Seahawks face a lot of questions when they host the New York Giants in Week 5 at Lumen Field. Can the defense rebound from its struggles last week versus the Lions? Will Kenneth Walker get the run game going before the second half? How can Geno Smith improve on a record-setting performance? And most of all, who's going to sing the National Anthem to start it all?
Happily, there are pretty simple answers to all of these questions. With the return of several defensive stars, the Hawks' defense should be just fine. Uchenna Nwosu is back for his first game in almost a year. Leonard Williams and Julian Love should be on the field, and both are savoring the matchup versus their former team. Love is listed as questionable, but he'll clearly do everything he can to make this game. As for the singer of the anthem, read on!
Williams and Love aren't the only performers looking forward to wowing the 12s on Sunday afternoon. The Pacific Northwest "King of Soul," Andy Stokes, will deliver the National Anthem before the 1:25 PDT kickoff. Stokes is a two-time inductee into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame. He may not enjoy the level of national recognition he deserves - yet - but we 12s know all about that.
Now, some sharp-eyed 12s may think, "Hey, it's that Stokes guy who was in the Hawks training camp about 15 years ago." Ummmm - no. You've got a better memory than I do, so congrats. But that Andy Stokes, the NFL's Mr. Irrelevant of 2005, is not the soul master who's delivered hits for decades. And he certainly wasn't a member of the California Raisins. Yes, the Andy Stokes performing at Lumen Field has that credit under his belt, at least according to allmusic.com.
Stokes undoubtedly prefers to be remembered for his smooth R&B stylings like Turn Back Now and We on Da Flo. The latter features Snoop Dogg for those of you who can't get enough of the Grammy-winning grandpa. The latest hit from Andy Stokes is No Better. Don't take my word for the man's expertise; listen for yourself.
If the Seahawks can deliver a performance as smooth as Stokes, Week 5 will be another win for our team. Oh, as for those other answers, I won't leave you hanging. Yes, I expect K9 will get the running game rolling early in this one. As for Geno, he shouldn't be playing from behind the entire game, so he won't have to make a desperation throw at the end of the game. I see the Hawks coming out as smooth as a feather - just like Andy Stokes.
