American Football holds its Super Bowl match tomorrow (New York Giants vs. New England Patriots – my money is on the Patriots, BTW), from which the winning side will emerge as 
“World Champions”. Not to be confused with the real “World” of course – given that American football is almost exclusively American.
For those of you outside North America, who snicker and consider it folly to call a game “football” in which the “foot” rarely connects with the “ball” – and, which employs a ball which is not a ball at all – but an elongated egg-shaped object similar to “balls” used in Rugby - you may have a point. But, I digress.
I love the Super Bowl – an exhibition of not only expert sportsmanship – but, a show of American patriotism seldom seen outside this venue. On top of that – entertainment galore (Madonna is scheduled to perform at half-time tomorrow). So, you can be sure I’ll be glued to my Monitor, or perhaps my Tablet – beginning at 6:30 PM ET.
Normally, I wouldn’t post on a sporting event but, good friend and regular reader Michael F., designed a header for a friend’s site – Socratic Mama – in honor of Super Bowl Sunday. Naturally I dropped by the site to have a look ….
and, got caught up in in the lead post – Joe Theismann- Blooper, Blunder, and Bingo!
Not much of a surprise, since I remember Theismann from back in the day – from his time as a Quarterback with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (Go Irish!); his career with the Toronto Argonauts (yep – he played in the Canadian Football League – 71/73), through to his Washington Redskins days.
A journey which ended in disaster when Theismann suffered a career-ending injury during a Monday Night Football game. An injury so severe, that it has taken a place amongst Football’s most gruesome injuries. If you saw it, I think you’ll agree.
I’ve often wondered if, this hit affected Theismann’s memory – since his career as a sports commentator has been so uneven. He does tend to confuse things. Here’s one of his more famous misquotes – “Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein” . I wonder what Albert would have thought about that. 
I will be watching the Superbowl tomorrow, Im not going for either team as I wanted the New Orleans Saints to play! It will be a very good game and that half time show will be amazing.. I also want to see that Sketchers commercial with the greyhounds in it lol. Nice
.
Site you have here btw, this is my first time here but I will be back
-Carlton Pecot (Founder GameNTech.com)
Hey Carlton,
I hear ya! NO had a fantastic team this past season. The game against San Fran was one for the record books. Unbelievable!!
Should be a good one tomorrow – looking for the Pats to squeak by the Giants. Maybe.
Thanks for dropping in.
Bill
Bill,
I’d say you pegged (or rather “nailed”) us pretty accurately. We do seem to think the world of football revolves around the USA. And that goes for our “World Series” too! Hope you enjoy the game tomorrow, I certainly plan to…I’m rooting for the Giants.
Best,
Paul
Hi Paul,
The Giants huh? We’ll see.
Should be a good one.
BTW, you do know (I hope), that you’re on my invite list for the “My 7 Links Challenge”
Best,
Bill
Hi Bill,
I don’t follow American football (or proper football either – had to get that dig in
). Over here the six nations rugby union contest has just started with the Calcutta Cup, between Scotland and England, at Murrayfield in Edinburgh. Normally there are huge patriotic displays, particularly from Scotland, but the crowd was strangely subdued this year. Could be something to do with the fact that Scotland did their usual trick of getting themselves into good positions and failing to capitalise. England ended up winning 13 to 6, which was good for them as they have a new head coach and captain, and virtually a new team. It’s not often you hear the strains of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” echoing round Murrayfield!
Ireland play Wales today, should be a good one.
Enjoy the Superbowl.
Kind regards
John
Hi John,
Yes, you slipped that one in nicely.
Crowd dynamics – now there’s a strange beast. Volatile; subdued; crazy like the recent Egyptian fiasco – all good reasons I stay far away from the (Madding) maddening crowd.
Will check out the Ireland/Wales match. Crazy Celts going at one another – perfect!
Best,
Bill
Hi Bill,
Wales ahead by a try to a penalty after 15 minutes. Shaping up nicely.
Kind regards
John
Hi John,
The Irish will have to do better than that! :0
Thanks for the update.
Best,
Bill
They did! 10 – 5 at half time
. Great game too.
Full time = Ireland 21 – Wales 23. Wales took the lead with a penalty in the last 2 minutes of the game. Brilliant game, Wales deserved the victory, despite a nasty off-the-ball incident.
If the Superbowl is half as entertaining, it’ll be great. Might stay up and watch; then again I really need my beauty sleep
.
Kind regards
John
Thanks John,
I tried to pick the game up on the Net but, no luck. Every site I went to wanted $. Even tried RTE, but the vid player wouldn’t load – rats!
You might consider taking your laptop into the sack with you (if the missus won’t object
), and watching live at – http://www.nfl.com/superbowl/46/live/sunday
Best,
Bill
Thanks Bill. Being a civilised and multi-cultural country, the Superbowl is broadcast live on BBC1 TV. That means no ads and no money (apart from the licence fee).
How smug am I? Will have to stay up and watch it now as it would be rude not to. The missus will be delighted
On the other hand, perhaps it proves the truth of “The ‘World’ Is Us”!
Kind regards
John
Hi John,
Got to hand it to you guys(you, and Michael F.) – there’s no grass growing under your feet.
“The missus will be delighted” – an exceptionally lucky man!
I read recently, that the NFL will soon be launching an expansion program which will include Europe. Can’t see it making much headway unless there’s a massive scheme to introduce the game at a grassroots level. But, I’ve been wrong …..
Best,
Bill
Meant she’d be delighted I’m staying up! J.
That Theismann injury video ~ ouch!
I’m going with The Pats too because of the Boston/Irish connection to my family history [although we have a black sheep Uncle Peter in NYC]. Kick off is 2325 hrs in the UK & it’s freely** available live on BBC TV. I have my beers cooling in the fridge & I’ll watch the WORLD championship with interest.
Thank you for the Socratic Mama shout out gentleman Bill
** OK, there’s an annual £145.50 receiver licence for colour TV that partially finances the BBC, but Attenborough alone is worth that plus no ads ~ heaven
Hi Michael,
I saw that injury happen live back then – definitely a vomit trigger.
Good man – I need a little help on my side in support of the Pats.
I’m with you on the BBC license fee – worth every penny. I watch a lot of BBC stuff, and it generally times out at 50-52 minutes. The balance of the hour is used for commercials (of course) in North American markets. Back in the day, commercials were restricted to 6 minutes per hour (3 minutes per half) by regulation. Corporate greed naturally, had those regulations axed.
Happy to link up with Anne – I wish her great success.
Best,
Bill
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01brdx3
Commentators: Al Michaels & Cris Collinsworth
Presenter: Mark Chapman
Participants: Mike Carlson & Danny Amendola [St Louis Rams wide receiver]
Hi Michael,
I was going to pass this along to John B., but I see (from his new comment) he’s picked that up.
I’m going to tune in to the BBC broadcast as well – just to do a comparison. Should be interesting.
Best,
Bill
Bill,
No, I hadn’t seen your invitation. I’ll do so shortly, though I don’t have a candidate for most beautiful. I haven’t checked out the rules; do I send it back to you? Rick?
Paul
Hi Paul,
Nope – just publish on your own site, and then (if you choose to do so), pass on the invitation to 5 other bloggers. There’s no “rule” that says you have to. However, I think it may be a good way to get noticed. And, it could be a bit of fun.
As for a “beautiful” post – we’re in the same boat on that one.
Best,
Bill
Good morning Bill. I’m afraid I gave up at half time, which was 1.15 am here. I guess being used to 80 or 90 minute games, my attention span is not up to it. Mind you, test cricket can go up to 5 days, so that can’t be it.
Anyway I recorded the Superbowl and have just finished watching. Must admit a lot of it was lost on me, but what a finish! The Patriots came so close, only to be denied in the end. Fantastic entertainment.
Kind regards
John
Hi John,
It’s often been said that the Super Bowl is really all about the last 2/3 minutes of the game. This game fell right into that pattern – exciting, but a disappointing ending pour moi.
Still, it was as you pointed out – “Fantastic entertainment”.
Ended up watching in HD on the Bravia since NFL.com was blocked here – as was the BBC feed. Will have to write a piece on what amounts to economic censorship here in Canada. Really disgraceful.
Best,
Bill