Terry Blount, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Seahawks enjoyed hosting the Marysville-Pilchuck football team

RENTON, Wash. -- Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman said Tuesday was a day he won't soon forget. Receiver Doug Baldwin said it made him think about the importance of family.

The Seahawks organization hosted the Marysville-Pilchuck High School football team Tuesday, welcoming the players to their facility four days after a tragic school shooting left three students dead.

"It was incredibly unique," Sherman said about spending some time with the kids. "You can never picture yourself in that position. You can sympathize with them to a degree, but you've never been in their shoes.

"You want to do anything you can to help them forget about that moment, to help them experience a little joy. It's whatever you can do to help them feel a little bit of joy and just zone out for a minute. When you have a tragedy like that, you want to do anything to get your mind off of it."

Tuesday usually is a day off each week for the Seahawks players, but some of them took time to meet and greet the high-school team.

"For me, I've got a 12-year-old brother [Devon]," Baldwin said. "What I thought about a lot is you can't take for granted the amount of time you spend with them and talk to them. You have to appreciate the people around you, loved ones, family and friends, because anything can happen. It makes you appreciate more the people you care about."

The Seahawks players signed autographs and took pictures with the players, along with just taking the time to talk to them about football.

"Well, they were kind of shocked to see us a little bit," Sherman said. "But they seemed like some excited kids. They seemed like for a moment in time, they forgot about everything that happened and everything that was going on and were able to enjoy the moment and take pictures and smile and laugh and have a good time.

"Obviously, the reality of the situation is what it is and it's going to be a tough road getting back to normality for them, but I'm glad we could take a little stress off them."

Sherman said he got as much out of the day as the high school kids did.

"It brought me joy," Sherman said. "It brings you joy just to change someone's day like that. To bring a smile to someone's day who has obviously been frowning and crying and having a lot of sadness, just to change the momentum and make them happy for a moment."

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