I
watched my first Superbowl on TV this evening. Seattle is a hip city,
but there have always been fans, encountered on the light rail after a
game, or impeding progress on my favorite sneaky car route when driving
from the Northend back down to the Southend, where I live. But now
Seattle was playing in the Superbowl, so tonight, I became one of the fair-weather fans, a Superbowl virgin.
Oh,
years ago I might have walked into a room once when the game was on,
but I think I just dropped something off and went on about my business.
Of course, I've watched the original Superbowl ad where Apple Computer
intorduced the Macintosh to the world countless times, but not during
the actual game. I modified that Ridley Scott ad to make one for
PepperSpray. It's one of my favorites of all times. Truth be told, a few
years back, at the height of our video activism, I watched the
Superbowl ads on my computer, after the game, studying what made them
effective. I don't have a problem with sports, other than sharing
everyone's concern for the players' health. But watch the football game?
Nope, up until now, not even close.
But this evening I was
eager to join every person in Seattle drawing breath to watch the game.
Kay and I went over to our neighbor Rob's house to watch on his fancy
TV. I don't have a TV, and Kay watches on one that somebody purchased
shortly after they went from black & white to color. Hardly
sufficient for such an occasion. In preparation, I had Rob brief me the
other night, so I'd have some sense of what was going on.
The
most important part, I figured, was the food. I made two different kinds
of chicken wings in the oven; Buffalo wings, made with Franks hot
sauce, and some ginger-honey wings that I marinaded overnight, and then
topped with some peanuts and scallions after cooking. I also made a big
party platter of veggies for dipping, and got Blue Cheese and Ranch
dips, along with onion soup dip, hummus, and some home-made asian plum
sauce. Couple bags of chips and an electric skillet full of hot dog
coins, speared with toothpicks, cooking in BBQ sauce rounded out my
contributions. Kay made one of her great all-from-scratch apple pies
this morning and had sharp cheddar cheese and vanilla Hagen Das ice
cream for sides, while Rob had steaks, beer, and two kinds of Safeway
cake at the ready. It might have been overkill, but I heard that the
game goes for a long time, and it didn't seem good to run out of
anything.
I had barely sat down in Rob's living room, plate full
of party food, when the Denver guy hiked the ball right over their
quarterback's head. The instant replay was a close-up of the agonized
quarterback, mouth gaping, watching the ball go by in slow motion. Wow,
this IS fun! I watched every minute from then on.
After each
Seattle score, I tried to remember to solemnly exchange a single firm
handshake with Rob, whose TV we were watching. I had read in one of the
Seattle alternative papers, of an effort to start a Seattle tradition of
the dignified handshake to celebrate a touchdown, rather than all that
jumping around and banging each other on their already-overworked
helmets. So I did my best to be a good Seattle fan, and shake hands.
I
didn't have any Seahawks spirit wear, but figured my vaguely-green
Boeing sweatshirt would have to do. Silly, I guess, Seattle people think
Boeing and Seattle are sort of synonymous, even though everyone else in
the world seems to know that Boeing's home is now in Chicago. Zarya's
husband, Steve, paints airplanes for Boeing, which makes us--like so
many Seattle families--a Boeing family. She gave me the sweatshirt some
time ago, probably just to mess with me. So even though Boeing just
stole her husband's pension in a power play that would have made the
Seahawks offense jealous, still, it signified "Seattle" and it was
sort-of green. Besides, it was already dirty, as were my fleece house
pants. I've seen enough commercials to know that a guy should be wearing
a team sweatshirt, and some loose-fitting house pants, like sweatpants,
or in my case, fleecy bottoms. Sports fans and stoners seem to share
this affinity for comfortable pants, so that part was easy.
I
believe in proper attire. Last night, the three of us went up to the
Royal Room, in the Columbia City neighborhood, about a mile from home,
to watch a great eight-piece Brazilian band. We were out on a Saturday
night, so we all wore black leather jackets, and spiffed up a bit. The
crowd was diverse, and dressed really well. We shook our booties until
the band shut down. Hell, Rob was dancing with two women at once. Proper
attire is always important. I wear an apron when I'm cooking or washing
dishes, and I try not to vacuum without my hearing-protection ear
muffs. So naturally I suited up for the big game.
The score, in
Seattles's favor, kept climbing. At a certain point in the second half,
we all started rooting a bit for Denver. Oh, we wanted a Seattle win,
but nobody wanted to belittle Denver with a rout. In retrospect, I guess
we could have shaken hands when Denver finally scored, but we missed
that opportunity for ultimate sportsmanship. Nonetheless, we were
relieved when Denver finally got on the board. Seattle always has a
heart for an under dog, even while we're kicking their ass. Kind of like
those stories of the father who tells the child he is about to whip
that "this is going to hurt me a lot worse than it will you!" We
especially felt for Colorado, our legal-dope club comrades. We wanted to
beat them, not shame them.
After the game, feeling the flush of
victory, we went outside while a couple young fellows from across the
way lit off a small string of lady fingers, and then peppered the street
with poppers, those little "pop cap" balls. We applauded their
pyrotechnical rejoicing and called "Go Hawks!." It wasn't exactly a
yell, but was loud enough to reward them for their efforts. On TV, local
news crews were downtown, covering the victory street party. The
crowds, as one would expect, were boisterous, but not violating
community standards. After all, Seattle folks often stand patiently in
the rain, waiting for the pedestrian light to change, even though there
is no traffic.
It was a glorious Seattle evening, cheerful, and
friendly, with the gentle aroma of ganja overpowering the scent of
gunpowder, a perfect First Superbowl. Besides, they had an actual TV ad
for "make love not war" right in the middle of the game. I got to see
it, in context, real time, real Seattle. Go Hawks, indeed.
No comments:
Post a Comment