Superbowl Fireside

 

Joe was so excited to watch the Superbowl this year. He would have preferred to be cheering the Cowboys on but y'all saw how da'boys blew up and did not even make the playoffs. The contenders this year were the AZ Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers. So Joe had a really hard time trying to decide which team he was going to cheer for. On the one hand, he wanted to be in solidarity with Chris Beatty, the really great brother in law who is from Arizona and loves the Cards and has been a devoted fan for about 20 years, most of which were losing seasons. But on the other hand, Joe's Peewee coach actually played as a third string quarterback about 15 years ago for the Steelers. All of Joe's friends were cheering for the Steelers. Joe decide to cheer for the Cards.

Having no appropriate licenced Cardinal apparel, he took a red t-shirt and used tape to write CARDINALS. He also used the tape to put the numbers 00 on the shirt. He found a red baseball hat and covered the Frisco Rough Riders logo with masking tape. He put the Cardinals logo on the hat too. He had to give back his football pants at the end of his season so he turned his pajama pants inside out and rolled them up to simulate football pants. He was all ready to watch the game.

I fixed up the appropriate football feast chicken wings, meatballs, jalapeno poppers, queso,3 types of chips, and cookies. In a desperate attempt a be a little healthier, I added Diet Pepsi and carrot sticks.

What was funny about watching Joe watch the game was how willing he was to take off his shirt and change his allegiance. He did this about 4 times during the game. He always put his homemade Cardinals shirt back on when there was a glimmer of hope. He ended the game wearing the Cardinal shirt and yelling at the TV that the refs were watching the game with eyes that were not as keen as his young eyes which would have DQ'd the last Steeler's TD because Holmes clearly had only one foot on the ground before he fell out of bounds.

I too was a disappointed. Most Dallasites were rooting for the Cards because now the Steelers hold the record for the most Superbowl victories, knocking Dallas off that perch and making it just a little harder for us to regain the title. All in all it was a great game. It seemed that most of the commentators were predicting a Steelers blowout. But what happened was a game that was exciting from beginning to end.

Before Joe went to school today I gave him a lesson in good sportsmanship. I gave him the script for when his friends say to him, "Ha, ha! The Steelers won!" He is to say, "The Steelers played a great game."


Joe just got home from school and I asked him if he had to take a lot of teasing today. He told me that most of the kids had changed their minds and were cheering for the Cards because their parents let them in on the fact that a Steeler's win would mean they have broken the Dallas Cowboys Record for Superbowl wins. So he didn't have to practice good sportsmanship after all.