I Made it Through the Whole Game!

I watched my very first Super Bowl game last night. I admit I have watched little bits of past games and a few half time shows including the infamous wardrobe malfunction incident but never a whole game. It really wasn't as long as I thought it would be. I watched it because my girlfriend invited me over to her house for the whole party thing. She invited me knowing full well I am not a sports fan. I did promise to behave and not start the the whole ethics of sports conversation. I went to be a friendly friend. And it was alright. I do like wings and I never eat them or order them so they were yummy. Something different. Mary Beth and I are kind of proud of ourselves that we have been able to forge a friendship despite our huge political and social differences. And I feel bad for her living in a household where she is outnumbered by males. She always has to watch action movies and sports. I am not sure I could survive that. Oh yes and there are guy things all over the house. Golf clubs in every corner. Football banners and mascots on every TV set. Stray punching bags hanging around in spare rooms. Tiny garbage cans on the end tables for their scraps.

I decided to root for the red team because I had never heard of them ever being in the Super Bowl before. Also they were from the West and not Buffalo. Karl, of course, told me they were going to lose. Things went pretty much as expected. I was surprised that the big football fans in the room actually didn't know all the rules either and they weren't always paying that much attention to the game. Most of the time but not always. Lots of the players were, you got to say it, FAT. There was plenty of thuggish behavior on the field and some gorilla chest pounding. But there seem to be four or five players on the field who were all about the playing the game with exceptional talent. I like Larry Fitzgerald. No lame showboating or thuggishness. And Damn that boy was fast! I think he could catch a ball too. Didn't win but not for lack of trying. So I managed to suspend my lack of understanding of the amount of money and effort spent on these games, wondering at the ethics of winning at all costs and how that's working for us on Wall Street right now, dismay at the violence in the lame sexist commercials and what that says about our society, not yawn too much at Bruce Springsteen or comment that I didn't care too much if he sang Born in the USA, and pretty much enjoy the game. Stranger things have been accomplished.