Miscellaneous: A Not So XL-ent Adventure

I don’t know much about football, but I do know this: when you control the ball and the tempo for the first two quarters but go in at the half down by four, something’s not working.

The Super Bowl wasn’t pretty, other than the Steelers’ trick play, but at least it was competitive. The Seahawks had plenty of chances to win it. You won’t hear any complaints from me about the officiating. A team has to play better than the ‘Hawks did before they can claim they were robbed.

I skipped the pre-game show entirely. The official kickoff time was 3:18 PM, so that’s when I turned on the TV. Just in time for Harrison Ford’s rendition of “Oh, The Places You’ll Go!” Considering that there was a later spot featuring NFL players reading more Dr. Seuss, I can only assume someone at the Geisel estate has compromising photographs of league commissioner Paul Tagliabue.

As for the rest of the spectacle, I muted the TV during the commercials so I could finish reading the paper and blew off the halftime show to fix drinks. Bad pop culture observer! Bad!

The high point of Seattle’s Super Bowl experience had to be the ‘Seahawks Sprinkle’ doughnuts available at the one and only Top Pot. I picked up a few on Saturday afternoon and Rosemarie said, “They taste like victory.” Clearly that was the sprinkles talking.

It was fun while it lasted. Besides, I’m more of a baseball fan anyway. Pitchers and catchers report in ten days.

Book: Portnoy’s Complaint, by Philip Roth (1969)

This novel, a middle-class Jewish man’s rantings to his analyst about his overbearing mother and his sexual obsessions, is perhaps the filthiest book I’ve ever read. It also may be the funniest. I don’t know how you’d turn it into a movie - and judging from its reputation, neither did the people who made it.