After a dominating performance in last season’s Super Bowl win against the Denver Broncos, the Seattle Seahawks have begun their quest to become the first team with back-to-back championships since the New England Patriots did it in ’03 and ’04.

Most of the championship team is still intact as Marshawn Lynch continues to lead the way in the running game and Russell Wilson resumes his role as quarterback. The defense lost a few players on the defensive line but secured big contracts with their star secondary known as the “Legion of Boom,” which includes Kam Chancellor, Earl Thomas, and Richard Sherman.

As defending champions, the Seahawks had the honor of kicking off the season with the first game on Sept. 4. The team looked exceptional as they outplayed the Green Bay Packers, another powerhouse in the NFL expected to go deep in the playoffs this year. Lynch ran for two touchdowns while Wilson passed for two touchdowns himself.

Unfortunately, the Seahawks did not fare so well in their first road game at San Diego as the Chargers managed to come away with the victory as the defense simply couldn’t get the stops that they needed.

On Sunday, the Seahawks proved once again that they are one of the better teams in the NFL with a win over the Broncos in the “Super Rematch.” This time the game went all the way to overtime, but, in the end, Wilson led the team to a victory.

The Seahawks do not play this week as they have an early week 4 bye this season. The team will get some rest as they get set to continue their season and the quest for a second championship. Sure is nice to have that first one out of the way.

MARINERS

For the first time in over a decade, the Seattle Mariners may get the chance to play baseball in October. The last time the Mariners made the playoffs was back in 2001 when they also tied a major league record with 116 wins. Since then, the team has not experienced much success other than fostering the fantastic careers of standout players like Ichiro Suzuki and Felix Hernandez.

This season the Mariners signed on Lloyd McClendon as the team’s new manager and added former New York Yankee second baseman Robinson Cano with a monster $240 million contract over the next ten years. Expectations for the team were not very high at the beginning of the season, but here they are, contending for a spot in the playoffs. Most of this season should be credited to the pitching staff, which leads the league in most categories, including ERA (earned run average).

The offense, however, has experienced familiar struggles—the Mariners have been shut out the second most times in the league. They’ve also lost several games in the last couple of weeks and run the risk of missing the playoffs once again if they can’t quickly turn things around. This weekend, the Mariners will wrap up the season against their division leading rivals, The Los Angeles Angels, hoping to end on a positive note.

WORLD CUP

This summer we got to experience another World Cup. The United States National Team surprised everyone as they made it out of the “group of death,” which included powerhouses Germany, Portugal, and Ghana, the team that eliminated the United States in the two previous world cups. Belgium defeated the U.S. in the first elimination round by a score of 2-1 in extra time, a game where goalkeeper Tim Howard set a world cup record in saves.

The host team Brazil fell apart toward the end of the tournament, losing by a large margin to the eventual German champions in the semi-finals. Brazil lost to the Netherlands in the third place match. Lionel Messi, considered one of the greatest soccer players in the world, is still without a world cup on his resume as Argentina fell to Germany in the final game by a score of 1-0.