By Jim Coffman
Generally I am not a fan of watching sports in the middle of a big loud group. Unless of course I am at the game. If the contest involves one of Chicago’s teams, I generally won’t do it. You simply can’t see and/or hear what is going on nearly as well when there is a lot of chatter in the room and friends and distractions from what’s going on at any given time.
But when it comes to the Super Bowl, I do it every year. Some very good friends throw a party and it just can’t be missed.
So I can’t tell you which were the best and worst commercials, although that hummus thing looked grim. Usually you can’t hear the sound unless you are right up near the TV at my friends’ house. And we still have a few kids in the group and you really can’t plop yourself down in front of them.
And I can’t weigh in on the quality of the broadcast because I couldn’t hear most of it either. I was generally able to follow the game but I am definitely not your guy regarding whose clever strategies paid off in which areas of the game.
I can say that my friend’s young daughter won the squares three times. Unbelievable. Fortunately the stakes are low so no one is demanding an investigation.
And we have a competition where many of us fill out our picks on a sheet featuring about 30 prop bets. My friend pulled that one out and delivered a reasonably believable “I can’t believe it! I’ve never won anything before” as he accepted his winnings.
We had a lot of fun with the prop bet regarding which number would be higher, Pat Mahomes’ rushing yards or Jimmy Garoppolo’s passing attempts. And that one went right down to the wire as Mahomes subtracted more yards than usual with his kneeldowns at the very end.
I can also say that the Two Brothers North Wind was delicious. I also had some Lagunitas IPA and it was about as non-descript as an IPA can be.
I have a friend whose wife whips up some fried rice with just a whisper of dangerous heat and that was the highlight of the potluck dinner for me. Oh, and I should also note that my wife’s spinach dip was quite popular. Way to go honey!
My guy Phil is a big queso guy and he decided to whip up a double batch this year. I enjoyed a serving but it wasn’t a big hit. So I think he has about a year’s worth of queso to go with his prop winnings.
That halftime show was something eh? Great to toss a few glorious Latin American performers in the face of the anti-Latino immigrant crowd.
The game remained exciting until Damien Williams broke off that 38-yard touchdown run that gave the Chiefs a virtually insurmountable lead in the final two minutes. We’ve been spoiled with a remarkable number of competitive Super Bowls the past decade or so but I remember blowout after blowout in the years before that so I’m still appreciative of any drama.
My friends all seemed good other than a few who had been under the weather with seasonal stuff. We are all just trying to navigate the minefield of life with our kids and so far so good as far as I can tell.
And so football wound down for another year. And pitchers and catchers report in a week.
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Jim “Coach” Coffman welcomes your comments.
Posted on February 3, 2020