Fireworks erupted over Puget Sound within moments after the end, an improbable 23-17 Seattle victory over the San Francisco 49ers that, in two weeks, will pit the Seahawks against probable MVP Peyton Manning and Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII. What seemed to be shaping up as one of the most agonizing playoff losses in Seattle sports history instead resulted in one of the great moments in the annals of Northwest sports.

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Early in the second quarter of Sunday's NFC Championship, Seahawks punt-coverage gunner Jeremy Lane was forced out of bounds on the 49ers sideline, then leveled by an unidentified man wearing sweats. Video of the unpenalized play quickly went viral and caused a stir.

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A week after he became a minor sports celebrity,  Michael Bowie found himself out of Sunday's NFC Championship game. The seventh-round draftee was a starter against New Orleans last week -- the first start of his life at left guard -- but Sunday was on Seattle's pre-game list of inactives.

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GAME: #5 San Francisco (12-4, 2nd, NFC West) at #1 Seattle Seahawks (13-3, 1st, NFC West). TYPE. NFC Championship. WHEN: Sunday, 3:30 p.m., CenturyLink Field. MEETING: 31st (series tied 15-15). STREAKS: 49ers W 8; Seahawks W 2. HEAD COACHES: Jim Harbaugh, San Francisco; Pete Carroll, Seattle. LINE: Seahawks by 3½. TV: FOX. RADIO: ESPN 710 AM, KIRO 97.3 FM.

The San Francisco 49ers own the NFL' s longest winning streak at eight games and can crow over the most victories and best defense in the league since Week 4. Plus, they have an offense that has hit its stride. But the Seahawks have dismantled the 49ers the last two times at CenturyLink, where Seattle is 16-1 since the Russell Wilson era began.

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As with the most beautiful girl in class whose attention never comes your way, the Seahawks can only imagine what it would be like to hang with Percy Harvin for an entire game. Unrequited affection is an awkward thing, and not just for the involved. Imagine those who are second choice. Ask Golden Tate.

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Not heavily worn, this path from Seattle to a major pro sports championship.

As any fan dragging a 55-gallon drum of Seattle chagrin knows, the Sonics won once, in 1979. In 41 NBA years, they also made the Finals in 1978 and 1996. That's it.

The Mariners made three American League Championship Series in one seven-year stretch. But in 37 years, they never made a World Series.

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If you experienced in grade school the wise guy who sat behind you in class and flicked your earlobe, then quickly returned to work before Teach caught on, then you know a little bit about Marshawn Lynch.

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WR Percy Harvin has been ruled out of Sunday's NFC Championship game because his concussion lingers. The good news for the Seahawks from the medical department is that LB K.J. Wright will play, six weeks after breaking a bone in his right foot that required surgical repair.

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The last time the Seahawks played for an opportunity to go to the Super Bowl, Jan. 22, 2006, owner Paul Allen hoisted the 12^th Man Flag before the NFC Championship game against the Carolina Panthers. Why not? Without Allen, no Seahawks. So who will hoist this Sunday? The perfect choice has to be Jerry Rice, who would jack the animosity level in the rivalry to a whole new level.

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RENTON -- Nine games into the regular season, Pete Carroll had a bit of an epiphany: Before the Seahawks could form one of the league's most consistent run defenses, they had to get back to basics.

The day after averting seasonal disaster with a desperate, 27-24 overtime win against winless Tampa Bay, Carroll, a steadfast believer in consistency, put a plan in motion.

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Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said Thursday that he doesn't know when WR Percy Harvin will return from the concussion that knocked him out of Seattle's divisional round win over the Saints. Harvin didn't practice Thursday. Carroll said that the doctors evaluating Harvin's injury haven't determined a timetable for his return.

"There's a deadline from the doctors. They're really the ones that are in charge of this thing at this point, and I don't know what it is," Carroll said. "They've got to go through the process." 

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At the apex moment of a sports season, it is the task of the fan to over-think, over-worry and over-react. It is the task of the participant athlete to do the opposite.

“For me, one of the big challenges is shutting my brain off,” Seahawks kicker Steven Hauschka said Wednesday.  “There’s only so much control you have over the kicking motion. At some point, you want your training to come out, and not think about it. Trust your instincts, trust your practice.”

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Since 49ers WR Michael Crabtree returned to the lineup Dec. 1, the 49ers are 7-0. Since San Francisco owns an eight-game winning streak, and has the look of last year's Super Bowl runner-up, plus the addition of WR Anquan Boldin, it raises concern for the Seahawks' No. 1-ranked pass defense.

Wednesday Seahawks S Earl Thomas complimented Boldin, then issued a warning as the teams prepare for Sunday's NFC Championship (3:30 p.m., FOX).

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San Francisco is the hottest team in the NFL playoffs. The 49ers have won eight in a row, five on the road, including a pair in the playoffs at Green Bay (23-20) and Carolina (23-10). While the 49ers are peaking at the right time, the Seahawks have flattened. They went 2-2 in their final four regular season games before defeating New Orleans 23-15 in a divisional playoff game that came closer than it should have to getting away.

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Delirium in Seattle and San Francisco over the pending football disagreement Sunday has reached a point where mayors in both cities have reached out to their colleague, Toronto mayor Rob Ford, to restore order and appeal for calm. Ford was zip-lining naked and couldn't be reached for comment.

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Pete Carroll isn't sure when he first met Jim Harbaugh. They might have briefly crossed paths in the early 1990s, when Carroll was the Jets defensive coordinator and Harbaugh was a young, dual-threat quarterback for the Bears. They might have first spoken in the mid-90s, when Harbaugh played in Indianapolis, and Carroll had stops with the 49ers (defensive coordinator, 1995-96) and Patriots (head coach, 1997-99).

"It might have been when (Harbaugh) was with the Colts, and he was running around crazy trying to win games there and doing a pretty good job of it," Carroll said Monday.

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Just when the NFL was upon a great celebration of its present (Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning) and its future (Russell Wilson vs. Colin Kaepernick), the past reared its concussed head.

A deal struck just before the start of the season designed to quiet the growing controversy over the NFL's responsibility for the consequences of brain trauma among retired players, was denied preliminary approval Tuesday by a federal judge in Philadelphia overseeing the case -- during the week of the conference championship games.

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The Seahawks beat San Francisco 29-3 at CenturyLink Field Sept. 15 and the 49ers returned the favor, 19-17, at Candlestick Park Dec. 8. The Seahawks had a cmbined point differential of +24, but the difference in total yards was negligible: Seahawks 554, 49ers 525). Seattle won the first game largely by intercepting Colin Kaepernick three times, and the 49ers won the second when Frank Gore's 51-yard non-scoring run set up Phil Dawson's game-winning field goal. Recaps of the two meetings:

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