Things are terrible. I think most of us can acknowledge that.
I’ve had a bad week on top of a bad month (and a not-so-great end of 2024). That, along with the ambient noise of evil and the creaking of the collapse of American Democracy, has been weighing on me a lot.
I’m told that today is the Super Bowl. And I believe this because if there’s one thing the media is good at reporting it’s hyped-up events that seem to be about a million different things but actually are really about selling products most of us don’t need.
I was a football fan when I was a kid. I remember once going to a Jets game maybe when I was 10 or so. It was fun being in the stands, but I remember not being able to see very much (and this was in the time before every stadium had Jumbo screens to show replays).
I vaguely remember some players like Larry Csonka and Tom Dempsey (a New Orleans Saints kicker born without toes on one foot and fingers on one hand who held the NFL record for longest field goal for more 43 years). I remember seeing the movie Brian’s Song more than once and probably crying at least once.
I remember going to a Super Bowl party maybe 30 years ago thrown by a bunch of ex-jocks who insisted on playing touch football in their back yard during halftime. That struck me as weird back then and made me realize I had nothing in common with the people there.
As a kid and up until my 20s, I tried to be interested in football because that’s what I was told you should do. Everyone in my family loved football and most of my friends did, so I tried.
But I was never good at sports and found it hard to really care.
As soon as I let football go, I felt better and less alienated. And I found friends interested in the things I’m really passionate about.
I haven’t followed football in decades. The last time I watched more than 45 seconds of a game (either college or NFL) on TV was probably 15 years ago. I don’t remember who was playing, but there was a blizzard and the field was covered with snow and no one could see much. All I can remember about the game is wishing I was in the snow.
I recognize that I’m in the minority. I know that many of you love football (or at least love football once or twice a year). And I’m not hear to make fun of that or take away any of your enjoyment.
For those of you watching the game today, I hope your team wins. (I won’t remember which teams are playing, so don’t bother telling me.) For those of you watching only for the commercials, I hope your commercial wins. For those of you going to parties to watch with others, I hope you have a great time.
But unless there’s a blizzard or the Duluth Eskimos (an NFL franchise that folded in 1927) come back from the dead to play the Providence Steamrollers (an NFL franchise that folded in 1931), I won’t be interested.
Ha! So happy the damn thing is over! Perhaps the military helicopters roaring overhead for about two hours, circling low, so that I couldn't hear my friend next to me, nor the voices of neighbors on their porches, though I could tell they were yelling by their mouth movements. Hopefully the state of Louisiana will let the homeless return to their site near the Super Dome, and we'll only be out $11.4 million for putting them in a warehouse for 60 days (they did get port-o-lets after a day there, and I think maybe even cots). Maybe money will be spent on locals, on streets we use (and those streets are bad. My husband watched a truck going to fill in a sink hole, drop as a new one formed).
We did watch the halftime show, and cheered when the singer told us to turn off our t.v., complying immediately!
Hope you're doing better, and this week begins well.
I haven’t watched televised sports in a very long time and don’t miss it at all. It helps that we don’t have a TV. 😊