So even that "one or two a month" thing turned out to be a little ambitious. You would think a guy who's been away so long would have more to say. And it's not like things haven't been laughing. Canada made up for a boring-ass election with some good old fashioned parliamentary chaos. There was an historic inauguration that, against all odds, might be best remembered for a hat. You got clean cut Olympic swimmers photographed with bongs, a crooked Illinois governor with sub-Trump hair, one Simpson at the center of an earth-shattering debate about whether or not she is fat, another switching allegiances from Krusty the Clown to L. Ron Hubbard. But you didn't hear anything about any of this from me.
But here I am again at last. Why? Because I want to applaud Barack Obama for bravely going against the grain and risking alienating millions of voters...by unapologetically stating his preference that the Pittsburgh Steelers win the Super Bowl.
It would have been so easy to sit on the fence on this one. His beloved Bears (for whom I also will admit a certain fondness) aren't in it, so he could have just brushed off the question. But he didn't. He went with Ben Roethlisberger & co.
His stated reason was that the Rooney family, the Steelers' owners and longtime Republicans, campaigned heavily for him in Pennsylvania, helping him hold the one Kerry state it was thought he might have been in danger of losing. The jaded might surmise that the pick was also one more jab at a certain Arizona senator who once referred to him simply as "that one." (We might have a test to that theory if Hockey Mom's favorite NHL team ever makes the Stanley Cup finals and the President picks against them...but oh wait, we still don't know who that is!) Me, I have a third theory: payback for the fact that the team's win over Washington on the eve of the election guaranteed his victory. Whatever the reason, he backed them, and they won. Whether that bodes well for the success of the stimulus package or any Mideast peace efforts remains to be seen.
Myself, I was rooting for the Cards. I had to. Kurt Warner is one of the few NFL quarterbacks who wear gloves while playing, so needless to say, I feel a kinship with him. I really thought they had completed the miracle there, but I'm telling you, Obama's got the touch. Still, an excellent game. The commercials were disappointing (yes, Pepsi, the way to get me to switch from Coke is to bastardize Dylan with that hack will.i.am), but Springsteen was Springsteen, and that's always a good thing. Though I wouldn't be surprised if he was accosted by representatives of NBC's corporate parent immediately afterward and admonished for not ending his set by saying "I'm going to Universal Studios Orlando!" I'm sure there are people in that boardroom who found his mention of Disney much more offensive than Janet Jackson's boob.
Monday, February 2, 2009
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