Holy #@!&, What a Superbowl!

I cannot claim to be a football fanatic, but being raised a Giants fan by my Dad and now living in the Patriots-Are-Gods Boston area sure made for some schizophrenic and expletive-filled Superbowl watching. I don't think I have ever seen a better-played, more suspensful Superbowl (unless you count the one in 1991 when the Bills lost to the Giants, which was yet another expletive-filled game when I watched in my dorm room in NY). I was only half-interested in watching it really, but the game just grabed you by the shirt and pummeled you into submission. Even the kids were glued to the TV.

So Emma, being Pop's Best Girl, fretted about rooting for the Giants when everyone within a 100-mile-radius rabbidly rooted for the Pats. And me, being Pop's Second Best Girl (I know I got bumped as soon as she was placed in his proud Grandpapa's arms), sat there screaming and cheering in every big play, alternately for the Pats and then the Giants. It was a little bittersweet - I wish my Dad could have been there. I am secretly thrilled the Giants won - perfect record be damned. So sue me.

The Superbowl game was like a primer in football basics for the kids - 1st downs, extra points, sacks, and field goals were broken down and fed like crumbs into their sports-curious minds. Lily was quietly outraged that women don't play football professionally. Her injustice radar was piqued, though we soothed it with the reassurance that she could someday play professional soccer. That seemed to balance the scales in her mind.


Henry was mostly interested in the double-necked guitar one of the musicians played during the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers halftime show. I think he recognized Tom and the gang from their appearance on the Concert for George DVD. He played air guitar with each song, then "took off" his guitar, bowed, and then said into the "microphone," - "Thank you. Thank you much! Bye!" Over and over again, much to the amusement of all of us in the room. He is good for a few laughs, that one.

Lily fell asleep in front of the TV Sleeping-Beauty style, and Henry and Emma finally fell asleep around 11, up in our room after the game. So much for getting the kids to bed early on a school night. Who the @#!% needs sleep?