Super Sunday February 11th 2024

    It's that day.  Super Sunday.   And at some point today you may actually see some football.  The Super Bowl gave me a terrible fright two weeks ago.  I got the dates mixed up,  which isn't all that unusual for me.  I thought we may be heading to California today,  which meant driving right past the stadium in Las Vegas  where the Super Bowl is being played.  Could you imagine?  I make a point every year of hitting Las Vegas right around noon on a Sunday.   Mostly because I am very much a country boy now and I don't like rush hour traffic amid a bunch of panicky gamblers trying to get in one last pull of a one armed bandit before going back to Los Angeles and facing the family.   Having no consideration for the Super Bowl when we booked our dates, it was merely good luck that saved us from todays Vegas traffic.

     Last year I filled up at a mega gas station just outside of Vegas.   A dude pulled up beside me while I stood at the pumps.  He stopped his BMW and leaned out the window.  He offered me his watch and rings for money for a tank of gas.  He said he needed to get home.  I wasn't filling him up.  I wasn't giving him the fifty or sixty bucks for gas.  I had a fiver in my wallet.  I gave it to him.  He took off a ring and held it out to me.  I didn't take it.  And I wasn't fooled.   Maybe the fiver did nothing for that guy.  Maybe he went inside the gas station and played the slots.  Don't know, don't care.  It didn't break me.   If the dude was an actor,  well he is pretty good.  I don't think I ever saw someone look so broken.   And in my old life, broken people were kinda with whom I spent my working days.

     I do love football.   But overall sports have changed in recent years.   Legalized gambling has become the focus of major sport.  Especially football, Baseball, and Basketball.  Hockey is a close forth by the way.  Sports commentators spend almost as much time on the over/under as they do on the actual plays and players.   Pro sports and particularly N.F.L. have pretty much abandoned anything remotely pure and organic.  It is business.  HUGE BUSINESS.   And Major leagues have discovered the real money may be in the side shows.  The glitz, and glam.   It is about the over/under.  It is about who is attending and who they are wearing.  

     Growing up, I was a CFL fan.  Canadian football is good football.   Three downs, wide field, deep end zones.  It is made for offence.  It is built for the pass, which is a million and sixty times more exciting than three times into the centre of the line before a punt that goes through the end zone for a touch back.  But there is much much more to my love of the CFL.    In Canada, in a city like Edmonton, or Calgary, or Winnipeg, and especially Regina,  it is nothing to run into a player who is grocery shopping, or filling up his car,  or eating in a restaurant.  When I was in training in Regina a million years ago, I sat down in a cafe on Albert Street on Sunday morning while waiting for my girl friend (who is now my wife).   Ronnie Lancaster strolled in and sat down almost beside me.  The waiter said "Hi Ronnie"  He said "Hi (whoever).   He brought Ronnie a coffee and an order of toast with lots of peanut butter and jam  which Ronnie Lancaster applied to his toast with great gusto.  People, all regulars came in and greeted Ronnie Lancaster to which he returned salutations by name.  When he was done,  he had a refill and a smoke.

      In the CFL local heroes are exactly that.  Ronnie Lancaster and George Reed both owned homes in Regina.  They were both in the phone book which included their address.  Kenny Pleon, Jackie Parker, Wayne Harris,  Tom Wilkenson all lived in their respective communities year round.  You can still take your family to a CFL game and pay more for a dog and a beer than you do for the ticket.  You can get into the grey cup for a hundred bucks.    Today,  the average ticket for the Super Bowl is nine grand and the cheapest ticket is seven grand.  Tickets for any of the major league sports these days are all unaffordable to the upper middle class person.  Even Baseball which was always affordable because of the number of games in a season has become exclusive. 

     When you go to " A" league baseball, the CFL , or junior hockey,  you are going to see players who are playing for the love of the game.  Most of them are putting their careers or future on hold to play.  And you can take your grand kids.  You can get a seat close to the benches. You can actually talk to the stars.   I like heroes who are local.  Who are human.  Who still want to play.  Not for ninety million guaranteed for two years,  but for rent money.  For the thrill of the grass, the cheers from the crowd,  the comraderie in the locker room,  and for the chance to talk to your fans face to face.   Of course some of them are playing for more.  For a crack at some of those millions,  and red carpet moments, and rubbing elbows with the who's who.   But most of them are just like us, except with a little more athletic talent and a lot more drive.  

    So today,  sometime between the most expensive commercials ever that come in such rapid succession that you cannot keep track of what is happening on the field,  between shots of  celebrity row, and a half time show that goes on so long  you can rent your favourite movie without missing a play, we will see some pretty spectacular athletic feats.   

    And as for the game?  Well it is an excuse to pour a pint.  And I will watch it.   I am pulling for San Francisco for no other reason than they are playing maybe the best quarterback I have ever seen, and it is in my nature to cheer for the underdog.  Only natural thing to do when you are a Vikings fan.