No, Seahawks Fans Didn't Cause An Earthquake

That graphic shows a seismograph reading taken at the exact moment Marshawn Lynch scampered 67 yards to break Saturday's game open. It was an awe-inspiring run, but it didn't exactly make the earth move.

Well, it did, in the sense that your footsteps, or your fart being smothered by your desk chair makes the earth move in a slight but perceptible way. This isn't as if a blinking light and siren started up at USGS headquarters, as some well-meaning but overworked bureaucrat rushed to the phones to find out what was happening in Seattle. No, this only came to light after the director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network noticed some shaky YouTube footage, and decided to check the seismic monitoring station located a whopping 300 feet from the stadium.

Of course it registered 100 yards away. "But it probably didn't travel very far," Vidale concedes. Anytime you've got tens of thousands stomping and cheering, it would register. It just so happens that someone checked the seismograph this time. (LSU's earthquake game in 1988 was another instance.)

Lynch had a truly spectacular run, and Seahawks fans went justifiable nutso. But not natural disaster nutso, just yet.

The one where the 12th Man shook the Earth [Seattle Times]