By Stan Friedman
WESTMINSTER, CO (February 5, 2014) — After Covenant Shores Retirement Community in Mercer Island, Washington, challenged their counterparts at Covenant Village of Colorado with a wager of apples on the Super Bowl, the latter responded in a fax, “Should the unthinkable happen, and your beloved team wins, we should like to offer you some of Colorado’s finest teas from Celestial Seasoning’s in Boulder, Colorado.”
Of course the unthinkable did happen, and three cases of tea are headed this week to Mercer Island.
“We really were looking forward to having apple pie,” said Mark Osweiler, Covenant Village’s executive director.
“We’re planning a celebratory tea,” said Covenant Shores executive director Bruce Erickson.
The Covenant Shores resident council had issued the challenge on January 20. Covenant Village accepted the challenge almost as quickly as Denver center Manny Ramirez snapped the ball over Peyton Manning’s head and into the end zone.
“We appreciate our Colorado teammates participating in this challenge,” Erickson said. “It made the experience a lot of fun for the residents.”
He noted that Osweiler had sent him “a very gracious statement of congratulations.”
Residents at both campuses gathered around large-screen TVs to watch the game. “It has been fun to see everyone so excited,” Erickson said. One of the residents shared, “We yelled and hugged every time (the Seahawks) scored, and all ended up losing our voices.”
In Colorado, the crowd thinned as the game went on. “We did enjoy the pregame activities and the national anthem and the first few seconds of the game,” said Kay Sorvik, chaplain at Covenant Village. “Yet, we are still proud of what the Broncos accomplished this year, and we do congratulate the Seahawks on their Super Bowl victory.”
In preparation for the game, Covenant Shores residents contributed Seahawks memorabilia that was set up in the lobby. “One item, a 12th man flag on loan from resident Dick Axell, was too large for the display, so we proudly mounted it on the roof of the Lodge,” Erickson said.
“Much of the memorabilia dates back earlier in Seahawks history, when our fans stuck with the team through the lean years,” Erickson added. “All Seattle weather jokes aside, I guess you could say we don’t have fair-weather fans in these parts!”
Osweiler will continue to hear about the loss when executives of the Covenant Retirement Communities gather for a strategy meeting at the end of the month. He and Erickson had a side bet on the game. “We said whoever lost had to wear the other team’s colors,” Osweiler said, laughing.
