Super Sunday, Coming Right Up!

So now, as it is the duty of all Monday morning quarterbacks, I must accept as history the way things turned out in yesterday's NFL championship games.  Naturally I had many thoughts while watching the games, using my vast experience (never played a football game in my life!), my laser focus (catching parts of many plays while visiting with friends over a relaxing beverage), my sports announcer's insight (I have the voice for it, and possibly the razor wit and sterling vocabulary, but never ventured into that world at all), yet somehow this morning, I don't have the urge to pompously bore you with my summary of the games nor proclaim my pick for the ultimate winner of next month's Super Bowl.

Were I a true football fan (short for fanatic) I might be hustling to still try to procure a ticket for the game, which I understand was settling in at a price of about $650 and will go for twice that by scalpers at the gate.  But I'm not really a true fan.  Years ago I discovered that no matter which team won any event, my personal life did not change remarkably in either a positive or negative direction.  In this area of life, our amazingly hyped world of sports enthusiasm, I have long been extremely neutral.  (How's that for oxymoron?)  Having been a quasi athlete in a few types of participation sports, I naturally notice and enjoy the great plays as they unfold in a game.  I simply don't become too glandularly involved with the various games or the teams themselves. 

And the use of the word glandularly here is purposeful and meaningful due to a still vivid memory of severely swollen tonsils and a week of laryngitis I suffered back in high school after too much vocal support for my team.  That true physical suffering directly resulting from too strong a show of support cured me of fanaticism for sports.  In much the same fashion, about two years following that event, I had my bout with too much show of drinking support for a familial celebration, and the resulting days of nausea and revulsion toward food or drink cured me of the desire to over-indulge.  Fifty years of ability to enjoy moderate alcohol intake has made that one misstep an advantage to living my life of neutrality.

What all this is telling you is that for many Super Bowl parties, I would be a drip - an uninteresting unemotional observer of the game, not a rabid fan of my chosen team, shouting and throwing high fives with others who happen to choose the same team.  An occasional vocal burst will erupt from me when an amazing catch or some other impressive play is accomplished in the upcoming game, but as a reveler, I will be less than raucous.  And probably will consume less alcohol than will the average guest at the party.  Oh, I will certainly enjoy some good scotch and/or brandy during the day, but more likely I will fill up substantially on some great chili. 

And as to the game, yes, I have already revealed a slight tendency to favor the Giants over the Patriots because of the Manning name connection (though no family connection).  Still, truly good play will get my attention and deserve my approval in the end.  I do hope that the winning of the big game will be decided by good plays rather than those fumbles and misses that seemed to determine the outcomes of both championship games yesterday.

Enjoy the Super Bowl in whatever way best suits your true nature, and drive carefully if you choose to leave home.  Remember, many others on the road will NOT be terribly responsible as drivers on the big day for American sports fans.  And I am no fan of driving at all on that day, but I will dutifully drive an hour to visit with family and friends who use the game as a linchpin for a gathering.  The chili will make it all worth while!