It can’t happen in baseball. The Red Sox cannot play the Yankees in a World Series. It is not in the rules that way. They are in the same league and in the same division. But, we get a symbolic representation that is not even available to us in basketball, in the final game of the football season.
This is a game that will divide families create crazy wagers, cause speculation across a continent, Facebook arguments – all of which mean nothing by the time the 11 0’clock news rolls on February 5th. Yes, families will make some wagers that come from their depths of despair that somehow betting crazily will drive the outcome as we want it to be. Facebook posting that span the US from California to New Jersey and New York will have a taint of some “in your face” attitude. I guess that is the East Coast style!
So many fans of the Red Sox Nation are on the west coast, it is hard to imagine the vitriol in the greater Boston area if this is the way it is in laid back California! Yes, the Giants are sentimental favorites, so many greats played for them long before there was an AFL and then later and AFC. But those days are just a distant memory and sentiment is rooted in regionalism. The Red Sox Nation is just such regionalism. I am not sure that it is a coincidence that the Red Sox just started to distribute their 2012 season tickets and the teams for the Super Bowl have been determined. The Super Bowl is being played in the same month that pitchers and catchers have to report. (See my blog on How Long is Too Long).
The fact that the game is being played in the mid-west does not tone down the biased rhetoric. There will be people attending the game from both coasts – mostly the east that believe that Indianapolis is a fly over city, an excuse for the airlines to charge more for coast to coast flights. I have friend that lives there – just relocated from the Boston area. My friend was not used to living in a city that harbored the worst team in the NFL – but his dreams are being answered. He is living in a city where his team (Patriots) is playing for the championship. Problem: on Monday February 6th, it will be Indianapolis again, not the Super Bowl city.
I hear that Indianapolis is quite a beautiful city. I have been there a few ties, but many years ago. The lure of Indianapolis has not reawakened and except for the Super the lure will still be just dangling in the water.
It is a good thing I learned to text. That way I can stay in immediate touch with those of like minded loyalties and can nudge those of opposite loyalties. Of course, I will have suffer their comments if my team does not perform as expected or hoped. In a sixty minute game that will span about four hours there will be texts of varying intensities based upon what is happening on the field of play. We all understand that we have absolutely no control over the play – we can just comment on it.
February 5th will be a great day, I can’t say “no matter who wins.” My loyalties are with the Patriots.
That is my take, you decide.
This is a game that will divide families create crazy wagers, cause speculation across a continent, Facebook arguments – all of which mean nothing by the time the 11 0’clock news rolls on February 5th. Yes, families will make some wagers that come from their depths of despair that somehow betting crazily will drive the outcome as we want it to be. Facebook posting that span the US from California to New Jersey and New York will have a taint of some “in your face” attitude. I guess that is the East Coast style!
The fact that the game is being played in the mid-west does not tone down the biased rhetoric. There will be people attending the game from both coasts – mostly the east that believe that Indianapolis is a fly over city, an excuse for the airlines to charge more for coast to coast flights. I have friend that lives there – just relocated from the Boston area. My friend was not used to living in a city that harbored the worst team in the NFL – but his dreams are being answered. He is living in a city where his team (Patriots) is playing for the championship. Problem: on Monday February 6th, it will be Indianapolis again, not the Super Bowl city.
I hear that Indianapolis is quite a beautiful city. I have been there a few ties, but many years ago. The lure of Indianapolis has not reawakened and except for the Super the lure will still be just dangling in the water.
It is a good thing I learned to text. That way I can stay in immediate touch with those of like minded loyalties and can nudge those of opposite loyalties. Of course, I will have suffer their comments if my team does not perform as expected or hoped. In a sixty minute game that will span about four hours there will be texts of varying intensities based upon what is happening on the field of play. We all understand that we have absolutely no control over the play – we can just comment on it.
February 5th will be a great day, I can’t say “no matter who wins.” My loyalties are with the Patriots.
That is my take, you decide.
Saul...you captured it! But OFD ( Originally From Dorchester) will be there sitting with Parilli,Cappaletti,and the ghost of Ted.
ReplyDeleteAs the current resident of Indy it doesn't matter to me which Manning is playing ... BUT I do hope we get our hands on Eli ! See you at the G&G celebration.
Mike S
Saul. a little confusing as I am sure you know, the Pats started out as the Boston Pats in the AFL. This was before they moved to where is it, Provincetown, Nantucket? The Jets, nee Titans, of my beloved Queens, were the AFL entry from NY. Growing up in my hometown, the true home of champions, I used to get into the Center Field bleachers at Yankee Stadium (where number 7 held sway in the summer from both sides of the plate) for 50c to watch Yelburton Arthur Tittle tear up the original NFL or NFC as it became.
ReplyDelete