The Rory Gilmore Book Club discussion
Music, Movies, & Miscellany
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Super Bowl
Super Bowl Sunday is my favorite day of the year, so I am pumped. It's even better than Christmas. I am not sure who to root for. I would love for the Giants to win, because Eli Manning and his family have a strong Mississippi connection. He is a big supporter of the children's hospital where I work. We even had a pep rally for him today here at the hospital! But, seeing the Patriots go undefeated would be amazing. I think the chances of that happening again are a million to one. Eli will certainly have many more chances to go to the Super Bowl, but to go undefeated in the NFL is incredible.
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I hate the Pats so I guess I'm rooting for the Giants. I wanted to have a party because we just got a new big screen TV, but Brent has a matinee and I have a book club meeting!
Okay, I'm a party pooper. I don't want either team to win. I don't want Brady to get his 4th SB ring (that's only allowed for Montana and Bradshaw!!) and I don't like the Giants. Darn you Packers for losing that game!! sigh.But hopefully there will be some good ads.
The only reasons I want the Patriots to win is so the '72 Dolphins get their record beaten (sorry Dolphin fans) and because I can't stand Eli Manning and the Giants (sorry Giants and Manning fans). Otherwise, I would love an upset! I'm a Chicago Bears fan though, so I don't really care too much (although seeing a Manning lose the Super Bowl on Sunday would kind of heal some wounds caused by a Manning during the last Super Bowl). I do love the commercials as well!
Ok, here is my Super Bowl story:About six years ago I was with some girlfriends in a Del Taco late one night. Two guys stumbled in from the dance club on the other side of the street and somehow or another they ended up giving me and my friends money to buy stuff from the quarter machines. I ended up with a Patriots keychain, which I tossed in my car and forgot all about until a few months later when I heard that the Patriots were going to be in the Super Bowl. I miraculously found the keychain and reminded my friends of that night in Del Taco and we decided to throw a Super Bowl in support of "Our Team." It was great; we even had a giant Corona pinata! So the Patriots won that year and ever since they have been "My Team," and I root for them every time they make it to the Super Bowl.
I'm anti-patriot for a couple of reasons. The first is that I'm a Steelers fan. The second is that Brady went to the University of Michigan. As a Spartan (Michigan State), that automatically makes him my enemy.
I'm an Eagles fan who hates both teams, but I have to root for one team on SB Sunday and that would be the Giants. First, I generally root for the underdog. Second, I hate the Patriots, Tom Brady, Bill Belichek, and especially, Rodney Harrison. I think that the Patriots are arrogant, dirty cheaters who don't deserve the distinction of going undefeated, because they exhibit poor sportsmanship. Plus, Boston really doesn't need another winner. 'Nuff said.
Oh Sera, I don't know if we can be friends any more! Really? The Eagles? oy (I kid)But I'm totally with you on the cheating part. If you get fined and suspended for steroid abuse how can Bellichek not be fined and suspended for obvious misconduct?! It doesn't matter if it "helped" or not, it's still wrong!
Robbie - Amen to the green and white!
I'm a New Yorker, so I am obviously rooting for my Giants!
Patriots! Even if I do want to cheer for the Giants, but the Patriots have had an AMAZING streak this year and I don't want to see it broken. I don't disagree with the arrogance Sera mentions, but if I were on a streak like them you'd smell my arrogance states away too.
My boyfriend and I are going to his godparents' to watch the Superbowl. I've been threatened with pig's knuckles as a football food snack--I'm thinking I'd rather lick the fur off the back of my dachshund.
Aww, Meghan, give a long-suffering Eagles fan some love. If you deem my rooting for that team to be worst quality thus far - I'll take it!I grew up about 40 minutes from Philly in South Jersey so I root for what I know, except for the Phillies. Until about a year ago, I had a 20+ year grudge against them, of which I finally let go. So I don't root against them anymore, but I'm still a diehard Yankees fan.
Football became a foundation in which my father and I grew our early relationship. We talk sports all the time, and since moving back to the NE, each year we have gone to one Eagles game together, compliments of my former company. Now, that I have switched jobs, it looks like that gravy train is over. Well, I'll just have to shell out some funds to keep the tradition going, since it is one of our favorite days of the year.
SB Sunday is always a bittersweet day for me, because the football season comes to a close. However, on the bright side, I get my Sundays back, and it means that Spring is just around the corner. I so look forward to warmer weather. Plus, I am eager to see whether the bulbs that I had planted in the fall bloom.
49er fan here. Can I get an amen? Michele, maybe? Tom?
Sera - Dang it...how can I rag on your (terrible) football choice when you give a heartrending story about your father and childhood memories and favorite football moments!! Argh.But yes, other than your misguided (albeit sweet) affection for this team (who shall remain nameless), I think you're pretty darn fab-u-lous!
Now please pass me some chicken wings!
I don't follow football...but since i'm from NY i'll have to go with the Giants :PI like hockey or lacrosse or soccer better. But i'll also watch men's diving/swimming/gymnastics (but only for purely drooling reasons)
Sera, the Yankees? I hate them more than any other team of any sport with only one exception (the Lakers)!Ah, well, I love ya anyway.
I'm in MA so it's the Pats for me. I know other teams are tired of them (the way I've felt about other teams in the past) but I still love them. I don't get the arrogant vibe from them at all (of course maybe that's because they're my home team but Brady just still seems humble in interviews.)
Ok, so then I guess I should avoid any Eagles talk with Meghan and any Yankees talk with Sarah - check. Fortunately, we have hundreds of other things to discuss and mutual affection and admiration
Thank goodness for books!And Sarah, GO LAKERS! ha ha
Meghan if you weren't my best friend I would smack you! Heh
So, I don't really follow football or any particular teams of any sport at all honestly, but I am vehenmently ANTI PATRIOTS! The reason for this, and Sera I think you will get where I am coming from indicated by a comment you made, is that Boston cannot handle a win! Every time a team of theirs wins a major sporting event, someone in Boston gets killed and it is a direct correlation between the 2 events. I went to school there and one year the Patriots won the Superbowl that I was there (I think it was 2003) I couldn't get home cause the morons set bonfires up right by the train tracks of the T, so I had to hoof it the rest of the way! Another time a guy that was stupid enough to wear a Yankees hat the night of the last Yankee/Red Sox match one year, got killed, for wearing the damn hat! This is a fact published in the paper. And every year that they win anything cars get overturned and all kinds of crazy mess. Boston has proven to me that they are not mature enough to handle and thus deserve a win!
Although this year I am worried that they might go nuts and kill someone for wearing a Giants shirt whether they win or lose since losing will piss them off for losing on a perfect season. I am sooo torn, which way means saving more lives??
Oh, and for those of you watching the Superbowl, please try to pay particular attention to the PRE game show, because Pepsi is airing a one minute commercial in American Sign Language (it will be captioned for those hearing folks who don't understand). This is a great coup for ASL and the Deaf culture. The commercial was designed by and features Pepsi employees who have direct ties to the Deaf community and it is kinda groundbreaking. Ok, enough of that! Enjoy!
Erica, I'm from Boston and there has not been a death with every win-that's a gross exaggeration. Although someone did die after the 2004 World Series, she was killed by a pepper bomb set off by the police, not trampled by fans or anything. While I certainly agree that it's ridiculous that anyone would feel the need to get that out of control over a sporting event, Boston is certainly not the only state to have had something like that happen. Please don't act as if some crazy fans (who may not even be from Boston) are a representative sample of the vast majority of us Boston sports fans.
Joanie, I hear you about exaggeration and not making blanket statements and I do apologize because I realize I was doing that (the blanket statement part) but it is not true that it has happened only once. Because I was gone in the spring of 2003 and it happened a couple times while I was there. A man who was wearing a Yankees hat was jumped on the street (maybe he was mouthing off, who knows) and died as a result of the beating. And many cars got turned over (I will grant that this was near my college campus) and people DID get beat up and bonfires WERE set in the middle of the street, and so on and so forth. These are things that I either saw with my own eyes or saw on the news and in the paper the next day. Maybe it is just that it happens more often because New England teams win big events more often (?), I don't know. I also have been in the bars around the times of these games, and on the streets, and the T. I have seen people be told that if they value their life they would be smart NOT to wear a Yankees hat. I have seen some pretty darn obnoxious behavior by New England sports fans, while I know many sports fans can be obnoxious about it, the examples I have seen were just on another level. I know it isn't EVERY Bostonian but I am still AntiPatriots because of this. Sorry, my experience and my opinion.
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LOL, okay really I am but it will be over before the Superbowl starts... and then I don't know what to do. (FANTASTIC game, though!)
When I WAS still a fan of football, Sarah, Niners were my HATED team. Sorry, but I was first an LA Ram fan, and there is no way on earth I could be that sort of traitor! I loved the sport so much, I did actually work for the 49ers, though, in DeBartolo's day. After seeing how those players act and live, then having them go on strike... THEN having my team move, I truly had nothing left to cheer for. I was over the sport for which I wanted to be the first female to play professionally.
What's great, though, was that my brother and dad both have become huge hockey fans, something my passion ignited, so we still talk sports constantly and even all actually root for the same team! (My brother chose random football teams growing up and I stuck with my first love while Dad was a "traitor" and became a local boy Niner fan when we moved north.)
I did used to like the Seahawks and the Patriots on a lesser level obviously, but I don't know if I'd be cheering for them now. I'd be torn between the record and being one of "my" teams, and as a typical American, loving the underdog and the Manning story.
But I don't care. I don't watch.
Go hockey! Hee!
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Joanie, I don't get that arrogant vibe from them either - and they're not my home team. I was surprised to hear that. To me it just seems like a quiet confidence, if that makes sense.
Jordin Sparks did a great job with the National Anthem. She looked really nervous! I think she was a good choice though, since she's from AZ and her dad played for the NFL.
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I am now at work and have no idea what's going on with the game. I did see a shot on my way out the door of big brother Peyton looking a little dismayed from the box. Anybody notice his wife is never with him? I wonder if he wants to keep her out of the limelight, or she wants to stay out of the limelight. Think about how many pictures you've seen of Tom Brady & Gisele vs. how many pictures you've seen of a Manning & their significant other. Makes you think you CAN avoid a media frenzy if you choose to.
It's 7-3 Pats in the 4th guarter and has been since about five minutes into the game.SNORE.
Yay! Go Giants! Down with the Pats!I've hated the Pats for years because I couldn't stand Bledsoe.
The last quarter was good, yeah. The first three were such a snooze! But I think the most exciting Superbowl in my memory was in '89. Of course I'm not at all biased. :)
I feel so sorry for Cooper Manning.
Sarah, I guess you don't get into the defensive aspects of football eh? I love a good defensive battle, and then the 4th Quarter was the icing on the cake. My voice is hoarse, and I'm worn out as if having played the game myself, but I will sleep well tonight. Yes, I will sleep well.
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I wish I was in New York right now.
Sarah, I wasn't logged on yesterday to read this but - AMEN!!!!I'm a 49ers fan too!!!
:)
Ok, not the best superbowl I've ever seen, but very good. The best (as I am a Niners fan) has to be when Joe Montana and the team came back to score in the last 2 minutes to beat Cincinnati. '89 I think that was!Now, on a different note--I REALLY enjoyed the halftime show. This worries me as I think it indicates I'm getting old. The NFL *never* puts on a decent "hip" halftime show! (Do you love that word 'hip'?)
Heeheehee!
Tom
Yeah, Sera, I like a good defensive game, but I don't find it as exciting unless the defense is causing a lot of turnovers or blocks at the goal line. Only two possessions in the first quarter and I was nodding off. (Actually, I was reading and listening and would look up when something interesting was happening.) Just not a whole lot of tension until the 4th quarter here.
Erica, I know it has happened more than once, I didn't say it hasn't and I agree that there is some pretty obnoxious behavior on the part of sports fans in general-my point is that it's not only New England. That's terrible that a man was beaten for for wearing a Yankees hat. Did you know that back in September a man beaten badly for wearing a Red Sox shirt in New York and that there was a similar incident in Baltimore? You don't have to like New England teams but I think that if you went to college in any other city you would see similar behavior around major sporting events and team rivalries. I know for a fact it happens around college games in some cities too. People use sports as a way to justify apalling behavior, it happens all over the world (just look at soccer games for evidence of this) I'm not saying it makes it right, but I truly don't think it's any worse in New England. Okay, sorry to get so far away from the topic of books!
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This is the first year in I don't know how many years I could have cared less about the super bowl. We didn't even go anywhere. We recorded the game and skipped through it to watch the commercials - lol!
Thanks Shannon. I love that word, Serendipitous. =)
It's all cool Joanie, I hear what you are saying, although I still don't root for the Patriots! And I must say it, yay Giants! I don't understand a lot of the rules and such in sports, but I really enjoyed that game! What an edge of your seat final quarter! Great win. I do have to say that I was fairly disappointed with the commercials this year! Not that many new ones and a lot of borings ones. Although the LifeWater with Naomi Campbell and the lizards was great. And I did enjoy the Justin Timberlake Pepsi one. Oh, and the Budweiser Draft horse with the Dalmation training him was cute. But that was about it that impressed me. Kinda sad, guess they are just getting too expensive these days!
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I think the WORST fans are Yankees fans and Raiders fans. As a kid I had beer dumped on me by Raiders fans, and that wasn't the worst of it. Having worked for two years for the 49ers, I have experienced NFL fans from many places... whether in LA or Oakland or Timbuktu, their fans SUCK.
Now, in saying that I'm not saying every single fan of these two teams are that way. My cousin, for instance... or perhaps someone reading this. But when it comes to rude, unkind, and/or unsportsmanlike behavior in fans, Yankee and Raider fans have a MUCH higher percentage.
Phew! That was a tall soapbox, wasn't it?? Hee!
Yeah, don't even THINK about wearing a San Francisco team jersey to Oakland Coliseum.
Whew, I am sooo glad I am not really much of a sports fan. I like going to a game and getting that energy off of the people who are really into it, when it is positive energy, but I just can't see getting soooo worked up over a darn game! Not to the point of hurting someone or being as obnoxious as we know they can be. Has anyone mentioned yet that no matter the state, the general obnoxious fan is male? I am SURE there are some bad female ones, but males have the controlling interest in that one! Men! Luckily my hubby only gets worked up over sports once every 4 years, for the soccer (or Futbowl, as he says it) World Cup! I can put up with it that often!
BTW Michelle, wasn't that a great episode of House!!??
I'm rooting for the Patriots myself. Though really I have no reason to love or hate either team. Alaska doesn't even have a team. Seattle is as close as it gets to a home team for me, and they're out of the picture.