Right smack dab on the top of Kurt Larson’s bucket list is “see the Seahawks play in the Super Bowl.”

He thought he might be in his 50s before he saw that happen. But this is the year. And Larson’s going to Super Bowl XLVIII.

“It’s a life-long fantasy for me,” said Larson, 38, who is director of sales and marketing for Silver City Brewery in Bremerton. “I’m a life-long fan and this is what I’ve been waiting for.”

Larson, who grew up in Kitsap County, has been at about half the home games this season, both playoff games, and the Jan. 18th NFC National Championship game. He isn’t a season ticket holder, but splits tickets with someone he knows through his work who is.

After the win against the 49ers, Larson and his friend, Willy Berry, from Boise, who attends the games with him, decided to “see if we could get tickets” to the Super Bowl.

“We were talking about it and saying ‘wouldn’t it be great to go,’” said Larson. “I said ‘Heck, yeah.’ And we just started looking for tickets.”

Through a friend of a friend, they learned of two tickets that were for sale for $4,000.

“That’s pretty steep,” he said. “But I told my buddy Willy to see if he could get them for $3,500.”

They negotiated with the seller and settled on $3,700 for the two tickets. Ticket prices are up to $8,000 a ticket online.

In all, the weekend trip to New York is expected to cost each of them about $3,000 a piece, plus another $500 for “beer and souvenirs.” But, Larson said, he doesn’t have anyone to answer to for spending that kind of money.

“I’m single — free and clear,” he said. “So I don’t have to explain this to anyone.”

Larson will begin his trip on Saturday, Feb. 1, with a flight to San Francisco and then to Newark, New Jersey. He has a two and a half hour layover in San Francisco and has something special planned.

“I’m just gonna sit in the airport in my Seahawks gear and smile at everybody,” he said. “If they ask, I’m gonna tell them ‘I’m going to the Super Bowl and you’re not,’” he added referring to the win over the 49ers.

He’ll meet up in New York with Willy, who is flying from Boise, to Seattle and then to New York.

“We had to take the best flights available and that meant not flying together,” he said. “Flights were pricey and we aimed at whatever we could get for the cheapest price.”

They’ll stay in the Hilton in Times Square and plan to party with other 12th Man Seahawk fans, although they don’t personally know anyone else going to the game.

“Seahawks fans are the best,” he said. “You don’t have to know them, to know them.”

They have a shuttle “party” bus to the game on Sunday and then back to the hotel where the celebrating will continue. Larson predicts a 31 to 24 win if the weather is cold and clear, and a 24 to 17 win if it’s snowy or wet.

“Manning has Super Bowl experience,” Larson said. “But our defense will win out.”

He said the fact that this is Peyton Manning’s last game makes the Denver Broncos the sentimental favorite, but he thinks Manning isn’t as good in cold weather games.

“And they have five of their defensive starters out with injuries,” Larson said.

Larson’s love for the Seahawks goes way back to his childhood, when he attended games with his brothers.

“When I was 6-years-old, I met Jim Zorn,” he said. “It was after a game and I was wearing his jersey (number) and he came up to me and said ‘hey.’ My brothers were all excited and I was like, ‘Who’s that?’”

But since those days, Larson has studied the team and been a loyal fan. Even through the years when people called them the “Sea Chickens,” he said. And even while he lived in San Diego.

“I actually quit my job down there so I could come back here to be at the 2005 playoff games,” he said.

And he knows the current players very well.

After the NFC National Championship game on Jan. 19, Larson and Berry were leaving the Alibi Room when Larson saw Tarvaris Jackson, Seattle Seahawks backup quarterback, on the street. Larson knew him right off, even though he’s not one of the Seahawks whose face is often in the news.

“He was with two other team members and I knew they didn’t really want people coming up to them,” Larson said. “So I just gave him a fist bump and said ‘nice work guys.’”

It’s all a big brotherhood, he said, of men and football.

“It’s something else,” he said. “I mean, where else would you see grown men crying and hugging each other?”