Random Thoughts: The Pre-Super Bowl Edition

Jean Knows Cars links you to previews of the commercials car companies will be running during the game.  I recognize that adding that link at the beginning of this post may lose you all to teary, nearly-maudlin, smile-through-the-sighs, advertisements, but I'm willing to take the risk.

The 6 minute, extended version of Toyota's tribute to good fathering is worth every second.  "All that love stuff"..... "What kind of father do you want to be?"  "THIS KIND" (as he pats his dad's shoulder).... not a puppy in sight, and I was still gob-smacked.
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It's true that the commercials are usually the best part of the game.  By the time the hoopla has died down and the players have taken the field, the game itself is anti-climactic. I was in Chicago for the 1985 Bears, and in the Bay Area for the 49'er's reign, but since then there's been no real rooting interest firing in my breast.

This year, I'm stuck between cheaters and the 9'ers' worst enemy.  Can I cheer for the Seahawks when I've spent years opposing them?  Can I root for an at-best-disingenuous quarterback and a coach who sees nothing wrong with anything he's ever done? 
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It was easier when Daddooooo was still alive and making nickel bets with Big Cuter and TBG.  He'd choose a side, and I'd be his local, in-house, cheering-section.  A life-long Jets fan, he rarely had his team in the big game.  He was always willing to take the other side when we had a genuine interest; he took fiendish delight in diminishing our chances and extolling his own.

He thought he knew more about the game than he did, but we never mentioned that fact.  Our relationship was purely a sporting one - there was a lot riding on that nickel.
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There aren't very many fans at FanFest in Scottsdale, it seems.  The talking heads are outside on raised platforms, but the hordes of screaming, sign waving fans behind them, ubiquitous at their college game day appearances, are curiously absent. 

Cancelled flights?  Lack of enthusiasm?  Bored with the whole thing?  One wonders.
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There was a young man with a sign connecting his testicles, Tom Brady's wife, and deflation standing in the sparse crowd yesterday afternoon.  His grin showed that he was very proud of himself and his clever note.  I wondered if he had a mother or a sister who might show him the error of his ways.

Were I next to him, his note would not have been in any condition to be shown on the screen.  Were there no production assistants nearby to spare the rest of us from his puerile musings.
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I've posted on Kroger's Facebook page that I won't be doing my Super Bowl shopping in their stores.  Fry's has many discounts, but I really have no interest in encountering an assault rifle over the turnips and pears. 

I don't spend much time wondering who has a concealed weapon in her purse; life is too short to be that terrified all the time.  On the other hand, seeing a holstered gun without an accompanying badge sends me galumphing quickly to the parking lot, abandoning my goods in the cart in the aisle.  I have yet to see an assault rifle amidst the laundry detergent.... Thank God.
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The 12 packs of soda are arranged in goal post formation at the store I can shop in safely.  The entry foyer is filled with chips and ice covered tables holding guacamole and salsa. The liquor department has had an explosion of excitement - there are streamers and balloons and all manner of not very subtle encouragement to BUY ME NOW. 

Blue Apron sent me chicken drumsticks, a spicy coating, and blue cheese.  I have beer left from Big Cuter's Christmas visit, and my trusty bottle of Stoli in the freezer.  Chili is easy and quick and can sit in the crock pot all afternoon and evening.  I bought TBG fresh chips and onion dip, and I have baby carrots tucked away in the veggie drawer of the fridge.  As long as no one invites herself over, we're set.
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Richard Sherman is everywhere, being Richard Sherman.  I'm glad that he has good grammar and a snarky sense of humor.  Otherwise, he'd get very old very fast.
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Former Commissioner Paul Tagliabue called out his successor, Roger Goodell, for focusing on profits rather than the game and the players.  He's not surprised that Goodell is scorned by the NFLPA.  He recognizes that the current commissioner sees interchangeable drill bits instead of sentient human beings when he looks at what keeps the league in business - the players. 

Has success spoiled the NFL?  Without it, what would my boys do on Sundays.... or Monday evenings... or Thursday nights.... or Saturday night?  Goodell may have injected football into every nook and cranny, but at what cost? 
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