Super Bowl

When I was a kid the Super Bowl was just as important as my birthday and nearly upon level with Christmas. During the week leading up the big game, the anticipation was too much to bear. I was worthless in school. The teacher would call on me in class and I would be daydreaming about Terry Bradshaw throwing a touchdown strike to John Stallworth, and the subsequent Steelers' big win. It was so huge for me that I couldn't sit still to hold another thought.

On the day of the game, I would wake up really early to turn on the television and watch the marathon of former Super Bowl games, really focusing on the four that Pittsburgh won. I had every highlight memorized, the accompanying music, and the deep-voiceded vernacular of John Facenda, the overvoice specialist for NFL Films. There would be a break for mass, another for lunch, and by three in the afternoon, my father couldn't stand to hear me or my brother ask one more time, "How long until it's on?"

Buttoned up from head-to-toe, we would be sent outside to re-enact the Immaculate Reception (yes, I know that was not in a Super Bowl game,) Lynn Swan's tiptoe dance along the sideline, or even the folly of the play that the tight end from Dallas created when he dropped a sure touchdown to put them ahead of the Steelers. What was that guy's name again? I should send him a thank you card.

Anyway, the stress of the day would get to me. By the time the Super Bowl came on, I had another tradition. My migraine headache would be so bad that I would have to lay down in a dark room until it abated or the game was over, which was usually one in the same. What a big letdown after all the anticipation.

I watched every Super Bowl with my father until 2003 when it just wasn't feasible to have one of us drive so far. Nevertheless, every year I call Dad on Super Bowl Sunday to get his prediction. Every year he pretty much nails it. About five years ago my brother Chris and I started a tradition. Each year, he calls me or I call him minutes before the game and we place a wager on it. The loser pays the other's out-of-state fishing fees for our annual Colorado fly-fishing trip in July.

Whether it's for the love of the game, for tradition, or for the commercials, the Super Bowl is more than just a contest between the two best football teams in the world. It's a social event that's big enough to cause Wal Mart to move snack items to the center aisle. Whatever your tradition, and whether your team made it or not, I hope your Super Bowl Sunday is a good one.