The Seahawks website, which repurposes Russell Wilson’s “Let’s Ride” catchphrase, is mysteriously shut down

Seattle Seahawks legend Lofa Tatupu and actor Brett Davern found the perfect way to turn Russell Wilson’s “Let’s Ride” on its head — until their page was mysteriously shut down.

According to Brett Davern, the co-host of the Take 12 podcasts.

“It’s like a novelty parody shirt that kind of harks back to them Bronco Busters old shirt,” Davern told FanSided. “We came up with the idea weeks ago because we thought it would be fun to make shirts for the games and especially the home games, maybe go down and give out a few and try to drum up listeners and stuff. ”

“So we just came up with the idea based on the line that Russ said,” Davern continued. “After we recorded one day or something like that, we just tossed around ideas. And we were just like, ‘Hey, what if we say almost exactly the same thing but turn it on its head?’ And just tease it, have a parody of it, really.”

That parody morphed into a T-shirt emblazoned with a Seahawk riding a bucking bronco and Wilson’s “Let’s Ride” slogan with a slurred “let’s ride— three i’s for Seattle’s longtime No. 3, laughed Davern. Davern and his Take 12 podcast co-host, legendary Seahawks linebacker Lofa Tatupu, had a blast airing their snappy t-shirt to Seattle supporters.

That is, until someone ends their fun – literally. Davern reached out to FanSided after the website selling her Let’s Riiide t-shirts mysteriously shut down on August 31st. All listings of their “Let’s Riiide” shirts have been removed and removed from their website without notification or explanation. according to Davern.

That Teespring website running again after Davern manually reposted each shirt – now they are the “NOT Let’s R***de” shirts to avoid being flagged.

Here’s what the Take 12 podcast had to say about the website closure and the true motivation behind their now infamous t-shirts:

“Unfortunately, our shop actually closed last night. We have no idea why. We had sold so many shirts so quickly we thought the site had collapsed. But this morning we’re thinking it might be because we scratched a nerve somewhere or someone…? However, these shirts sold for so little money that our profit per shirt was only $2! It’s not about making money; it was about having fun at our silly little show. At the very least, we hoped to use our small profit to buy more local marketing and advertising to attract listeners, and if we made more, we’d happily donate to charity, which Lofa is always willing to do. To date, our show has raised thousands for several charities in the Seattle area.”

Davern further explained what happened to the site:

“At first we hoped we’d only sold enough to crash the site. We all did high fives and said, ‘Oh man, we broke the internet.’

But then, I don’t know, all our entries were deleted. And we tried to get in touch with them but we still didn’t even get an answer. So I just re-uploaded everything with asterisks and tried to be funny with that and hope to reassure anyone out there making decisions or whatever. And it has stayed until now.”

Lofa Tatupu and Brett Davern piss off the wrong people with the Let’s Riiiide t-shirt

Understandably, proud Seahawks fans were suspicious of the fact that a jersey sporting Russell Wilson’s catchphrase was virtually removed from internet shelves. 12s felt offended and rallied to support Davern and Tatupu.

“A lot of people have approached us like, ‘Hey, what happened to the store?’ and ‘Who’s after you?’ and ‘We are with you!’

And it just created that bottom line of a Seahawks fan army. I’m from Seattle, born and raised, and we’re a warm bunch up here. The Northwest is ours. We stick together up here so it was really nice to see everyone having their backs online.”

Davern joked that the likely culprit is Jeff Bezos as it seems there are already fake designs on Amazon. It’s no surprise that the shirts are popular with Seattle fans, as well as resonating with loyal Russell Wilson fans in Denver: a lot of thought went into the design of the t-shirts, allowing the 12’s to stand out on several to connect levels.

“In the 1980s, when the Seahawks and Broncos were in the same league, there might have been a fan shirt — I’m not even sure where it came from — but it was Broncos Busters t shirt If you try to find one on eBay, they’re $400 or so for vintage models, so they’re just kind of a thing.

And then, when the Seahawks moved to NFC West, that kind of old rivalry died. Or not died but fell asleep I guess. Now that Russ has gone straight to them, and it’s week 1, like, hey, the Broncos Busters thing is back.

So this shirt has this circular design, it has this old school feel because it’s old. We just tried to smear it. And then the ‘Let’s Riiiide’ just came to me Lofa. First we wanted to put the whole thing on the t-shirts. It should be called “Seahawks Country: Let’s Riiiide”. But we were like, ‘Okay, well, we didn’t want to put Seahawks on it.’ So we just went with “Let’s Riiiide” because I feel like everyone else fills it in, and once you see the Seahawk is on the Bronco — and I think he nailed the Broncos’ eyes. A picture says more than a thousand words, and that’s the beauty of a picture. And that creates a feeling. And I think we did it, which is great, it’s so fun to watch.”

Seahawks podcasters give back to the Seattle community and poke fun at Russell Wilson

There’s already a lot to like about the jerseys for Seattle fans, but knowing the intent Tatupu and Davern are working with only makes them all the more appealing. The podcast duo didn’t design the shirts to maximize profits — each only makes about $2 per sale, according to Davern — but to unite their community with a little humor while giving back. Tatupu has one T-Shirt by Simply Seattle that benefits tree houseand Tatupu also works with the Seahawkers of Renton on a project to feed the homeless.

Tatupu is revered by Seahawks Country for giving so much to the Pacific Northwest community and beyond as a player and as a philanthropist. Back in 2009, the linebacker suitably offered the first $10,000 raised for post-tsunami disaster relief efforts in the Pacific region.

And these shirts were designed to give back too, with proceeds going to local charities. Davern stresses that the shirts were all made for fun, even if they struck a chord with some disgruntled Broncos fans.

“However, some people on the internet take it like we’re shooting at him or something. We do not photograph personally, certainly not a person. Russ, he’s so charitable, he’s done so much great work in the area. He’s a great guy. It’s not at all. It just pokes fun at the cheesiness or the way he puts the stuff all over the place. And we just thought it was funny to say more, ‘No, we’ll show you how we Ride.’

The podcast hosts are giving away their jerseys to fans for free before the game outside the lumen fieldand they will stop selling the shirts after tonight’s game so 12s need to act fast before the shirts are gone permanently.

While the Seahawks community is relatively gracious after a bitter breakup between Russell Wilson and Pete Carroll, no one feels sympathetic enough to agree with a Week 1 Broncos win. Wilson just reignited an old AFC rivalry and the 12s are ready for it.

If Wilson wants to take Broncos fans on a journey for the next decade, Davern and Tatupu will be determined to hit back immediately with their own rendition of “Let’s Riiiide” — even if their website shuts down.