Not So Random Super Bowl Thoughts…

First

Somewhere back in the misty halls of my memory I remember that Americans need a communal celebration, a party, about every month or two. That sounds about right, if only because companies need new marketing opportunities and retailers need new merchandise to stock their “seasonal” swing racks.

How else to explain Cinco de Mayo? That Halloween has become more or less an adult holiday? That doesn’t mean it’s all just sacrilegious and fun. Thanksgiving has become the American secular family holiday and Easter is well on its way, fully stripped of its religious significance, to being celebrated as a combination of a paganistic arrival of Spring and a family ham dinner.

So it is with the Super Bowl. The growth of the Super Bowl as a cultural phenomenon of course has matched that of the NFL. However, as the date of the actual game has been extended later into the calendar, its cultural significance has actually grown. Through 1980 the game was generally played on the third Sunday of January, placing it in the uncomfortable position of being a cure for a post-New Year’s hangover.

Now, thanks to an extended regular season, a bye week or two, and an extra round of playoffs, the game is held on the second week of February where it reigns alone. New Year’s Day is long in the rear view mirror, the pall of winter hangs heavy, and America is ready for another party (Valentine’s Day doesn’t count). Given the communal nature of watching sports on TV, the game essentially functions as a combination of a secular holiday and an indoor version of a backyard BBQ.

Second

A bit of family history.

My mother was never a football fan, She liked Buddy Ryan, the former coach of the Eagles. When we were on the East Coast, she would listen to his weekly radio show because it came on after Rush Limbaugh. I was watching an Eagles game and the safety blitzed off the edge and just crushed the QB. My mother called from the kitchen, “Buddy said they were going to scheme loose on the weak side.”

I never looked at her in the same way again.

She did have a certain timeline as to decorating for the Christmas season. The decorations went up a few days before Christmas, but they didn’t come down until the day after the Super Bowl. We were allowed to watch the game, but we never celebrated it. However, it did for my mother mark the end of the “Holidays.”

Needless to say we didn’t have an HOA.

Third

A piece of advice on planning ahead.

A few years ago, we had started to eat a lot of avocados for dietary reasons. Last year the missus decided on Super Bowl Sunday to make guacamole. Big mistake.

Every store I went to, five of them, were completely cleaned out not just of avocados but of plum tomatoes, jalapenos, and limes. Even the loose cilantro scrapings at the bottom of the store produce cooler were gone.

Plan ahead, people… or just buy more beer.

As for the game itself? Whatever.