Super Bowl Ramblings

As many people know, the only drawback to Twitter are the people who Tweet way too much. I like people who Tweet occasionally or maybe in spurts for big events. I do not need 25 updates from one person in one day. It is the main reason I am so selective about who I follow. Because I can recognize how annoying the over-Tweeters are, I didn't Tweet throughout the Super Bowl. Besides, somethings require more than a 140 characters. So, here are just a few of the thoughts I collected while watching the game... (I just wish they were happier thoughts.)

-I like to think of myself as a pretty smart guy. One of the ways I think you can know how smart you are is to recognize when you do dumb things. For example, as I ran around my house yesterday, going through all my absurd and superstitious pre-game rituals I was fully aware that they were both absurd and superstitious as well as totally meaningless. What I do at my home has no connection whatsoever with the Patriots. There is no way in hell that Bill Belichick spent the final team meeting going over the game plan and then closed it by saying, "We've also got confirmation that Tom is wearing his lucky boxers and got his blog post done for the day, so we're good to go." (By the way, I wish I only had those 2 pre-game rituals.) I know this. However, that doesn't mean I wasn't going to do them. Basically, I'm smart enough to know they aren't going to help, but dumb enough to feel like I have to do them anyway.

-As a National Anthem aficionado, I give Kelly Clarkson's Super Bowl effort a solid 7. Not as good as Whitney Houston's all-timer, but at least she didn't mess up the words like Christina Aguilera. She kept it simple and straightforward, which is the way to go. Also, I think she was singing live, though I cannot be sure. What I am sure of, however, is that the children's choir with her was absolutely not singing live. The voices didn't match-up. There is no way those kids got that loud or had that much soul in their voices. It may be the first time in history that back-ups were taped, while the lead vocals were not.

-However, I'm much more certain that Madonna was lip-syncing. (Again, I think her fans should be comforted by the fact that she's not a good lip-syncer.) So, here's what is weird: I can't stand Madonna. Yet, as everyone is ripping her today, I find myself in the unusual position of defending her, because I thought her performance was much better than expected. I guess fully expecting it to suck was the way to go, because anything above a D+ was going to be a passing grade. Also, I did not see M.I.A. flipping off the camera, probably because I have no idea who M.I.A. is. Apparently my musical tastes have aged in dog years.

-Conversely, everyone is talking about how great the commercials were and I did not think this was a particularly strong year for the ads. I liked the Clint Eastwood one, but thought he could have used a throat lozenge. Most of the time my favorite commercials ended up being the movie trailers. (G.I. Joe, June 29th. I am so there.) But, of the traditional ones, my favorite commercial was the Bud Light, "Here, WeGo" one with the adopted dog. You can never go wrong with so-ugly-it's-cute dog who brings people beer and tells them to get a pet from a shelter.

-While I didn't think the announce team was that great (missed some obvious stuff and sounded like they didn't do enough pre-game research), the thing that was driving me the craziest about them was when they talked about the Patriots being the slight favorites and how they didn't understand why, considering the level both teams were playing at coming into the game. C'mon - we're all adults here. Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth have been around football for about 60 years combined, they have to know betting lines are set to get the most action, not to reflect the teams. I know the NFL doesn't want them to highlight betting (mostly because they don't control it), but can the announcing teams stop insulting our intelligence by pretending like they have no idea what this "gambling" you speak of is all about?

-For all the talk that football is about strategy and teamwork, what no one stresses enough is that you also need a lot of luck. I'm not saying that the Giants were lucky to win last night, I'm just saying that every team needs some good fortune to win a championship and when you don't have it you can tell pretty early. For example, when the Giants fumbled three times and got all three back, I got the feeling it was not the Patriots night. When Wes Welker dropped a pass he would normally catch 97% of the time I turned to the people I was with and declared that we were about to lose. When it is not your night there is almost nothing you can do to but wait for the dagger.

-That was the worst part of the game: knowing we were going to lose with about 5 minutes left to go and just having to wait for the Giants to make it official. There was no doubt in my mind that they were going to march right back down the field once the Patriots were forced to punt. Watching the game slowly slip away was like water torture. Much like you can concede a hole in golf, occasionally you should just concede regular sporting events.

-Not that this is a skill I want to be very good at, but at least I don't take these loses nearly as hard as I used to. I think it is just the Celtics fan in me who watched too many 25-win seasons rounding back into shape after being spoiled by success for so long. Following last night's game I just had to let out one loud, primal, expletive scream that probably would have woken the neighbors if they weren't already up (trust me, they would still be getting the better end of that deal) and I was good. Got all the negative energy out in one action and felt much better. I wouldn't suggest any Giants fans come up looking for a hug right now, but I'm pretty good.

-The key to getting over these kinds of games is to forget the other stages of grief and essentially skip right to denial. ("What game? There was a game last night?") However the only way to really do that is to avoid pretty much every sports TV channel and website, because for the next week it is going to be all about the Giants victory parade and their place in history. What makes this very difficult for me is that those kinds of channels and websites make up about 75% of my viewing and reading sources. So, if anyone has a new blog or website they want me to check out, this would be the week to send it my way.

-There was one last thing I had to deal with before I could truly move on. As I often do with big sporting events, I had been burning the game straight to DVD. (Ironically, I had a very hard time getting the recorder to set up. It was like the universe was trying to warn me. I should have listened.) Now, I obviously didn't want to keep a copy of the game once it was over, but rather than just erase the DVD so I could use it again, I thought I would be a melodramatic idiot and destroy it. In my mind I envisioned a clean snap in half, like a villain in a movie destroying evidence which would exonerate the hero. So... did you know DVDs are much harder to break in real life? Yeah, rather than get the clean snap I was hoping for, the DVD actually splintered and pieces went flying all over the room, with one plastic missile catching me just below my eye. I managed to pick most of them up, but I am almost positive I didn't get them all. Now, I know I will be stepping on a shard someday, but let's all agree that can only happen when I am barefoot. It will be a nice reminder of the Super Bowl when it happens in three months and despite the fact that I will vacuum numerous times before then. Insult, meet injury.