Watching the 2017 Super Bowl

As noted on this Blog last year, I passed up the Super Bowl, what with the 10-hour time disconnect and my obligations the next day.

This year was different.  I got to watch it.  As noted in the prior posting to this Blog, I had a gig that ran through the end of January and that had prospects of an extension. Well, the gig was extended to the end of March.  One of the Vice Presidents of the company is an American and a football fan, so he made arrangements in the next town over (where he lives) for a company Super Bowl get-together.  Employing the legal fiction that the event held in the back room of the establishment was a private party, he was able to skirt the alcoholic beverage control ordinances and bring a few cases of beer, which the proprietor of the establishment obligingly put into his chiller before game time.

The company VP, as host of the event, was only too happy to nod and wink as members of the public joined in, and as the proprietor opened the track partitions separating the back room from the main dining area.

Approximate body count:  About 85 people total; 40 Americans, 15 Anglos from other places, 15 Israelis, and, perhaps a bit surprisingly, 15 from Former Soviet Union.  Of course, we gave the Russians grief about the Putin Super Bowl Ring incident.

Last year, I ducked out of the Super Bowl on account of my work obligations the next day.  This year, the company VP told us that he himself would not arrive at work until about 1:00 PM Israel time.  I arrived at about 1:45 PM, and the VP had yet to show.

Tomorrow we all play catch-up at work.

(Not) Missing Super Bowl 50

I did not watch the Super Bowl this year, primarily because I am 10 hours ahead of California time, and I had two important appointments the next day.  I needed the sleep more than the thrill. I could have gone over to a local establishment in my town, frequented by a largely Anglo crowd and possessing a large screen TV; I understand from acquaintances who did attend the all-nighter there that it was pretty good as far as Super Bowls go.  On account of the local alcoholic beverage control regulations, there were limitations on the service of intoxicating drinks during gametime hours.

I am not a fan of Lady Gaga, but, to her great credit, she at least did the National Anthem justice; unlike Beyonce, who insulted true Americans (and who was never a candidate for my adulation).  Quite frankly, I am more interested in the athletic aspect of the Super Bowl than in the show business aspects of the pre-game and half-time entertainment (though athletics has long morphed into show biz, including and especially at the Super Bowl.  The Romans had their Bread and Circuses, we have the Super Bowl and similar events).

The best football game I ever watched was back in the late 1970's, while I was in Georgia on business.  It was between two high school teams, and devoid of the hype and show production typical of major athletic events today.  Everyone on the field was there to play football, and the half-time show was just the respective schools' marching bands, who were there to play patriotic music.

Those were the days.

Need Some Sleep

Nothing earth-shattering to blog about.

Most of this past week I have been sleep-deficient, due in no small part to that virus bug I picked up. I believe that I have mostly shaken it, but it seems that my wife is now coming down with something. In any event, I woke up tired at about 10:45 this morning, but was able, for the first time in more than a week, to get in a good workout run.

Yesterday, I did get in a relatively good Shabbat nap. I fell asleep on the couch, and my wife said that I was really, really out of it. Maybe I won't be so sleep-deficient this coming week.

The sleep deficiency and virus wouldn't have been so bad, except that it was the first week of the semester, so I had to go in and teach. Whatever voice I may have brought into the classroom with me was totally shot by the time I got out. Fortunately, my assistant department chair gave me a ride, so I didn't have to drive.

As with any semester, I have already spotted some students who are on the ball, and some students who are totally clueless. So many have no conception of what it means to write a term paper -- those students had better get a clue real quickly or they will take a nosedive in the courses I teach! This is college-level work! In my day, I had a real battleaxe of a junior high school English teacher who taught all of us how to write term papers. Has our elementary and secondary educational system been dumbed down THAT much? [Apparently it has.].

Fortunately, there seem to be students who are well-postured and directed towards success. One of them happens to have an on-campus job as a student assistant in my own department. She approached me as I came in the second day of my classes, so I explained a few things to her. She is a transfer from one of the 2-year community colleges, where the courseload for Business Law is not as intense. She'll have to work hard, but I think that she will give it a go.

I am not a big Stupor Bowl fan. Understand that I have nothing against athletics per se (and in fact pulled a varsity letter while in high school). But the Super Bowl is not about athletic performance; it is about keeping the masses entertained and occupied, and about softening their brains so that they can be controlled by Big Brother! The teams are subsidized with lots of taxpayer money. The best thing that I can do is just not watch it! So I didn't!

The best football game I ever watched was two junior high school squads in an unofficial non-league scrimmage game. Their hearts were really into it, there was no TV audience to please (with the accompanying commercial advertisers), and they all accomplished something. Many of the players from that game have now gone onward to achievement in their respective life fields; they are role models, unlike the vast majority of the big league professional athletes of today. But I digress.

During the Stupor Bowl, I was not sitting in front of the big lobotomy screen. What I did was to begin to get my paperwork in order to do my income tax returns. I am now missing two receipts from charitable donees, so the appropriate reminder faxes and e-mails were sent, and need a few more pieces of documentation. But I knocked off lots of the organizing of papers. I am looking to get my tax returns finished sometime during February or early March.

I hope to get some good quality sleep tonight, because I have some interesting lectures and demonstrations planned for my classes this week.