I found myself throwing an impromptu Super Bowl party at my place on Sunday because I didn’t know one person who was having one. Anyone who didn’t have anything else to do came over. I was thinking: does anyone even throw Super Bowl parties anymore, or is it just too much work?
The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. My “misfit” friends came over and we spent the first part of the day sitting in the sun and cracking open ice-cold beers. Then the fun was cut short when I realized we were supposed to go inside and start watching the game. Not only did the game start, but also what I call the “Food Olympics,” where you see if you can medal in various categories of eating. The spinach dip was being consumed at alarming rates, while the beers kept going down easy. I wondered why I don’t do this every Sunday.
As the game started, a few bets were thrown across the table. (Single Gal picked the Steelers of course and cleaned up!) Then even more food was consumed. This time it was seven-layer dip washed down by more ice-cold beer. The room was full of chatter during the game, which was somewhat boring, then silent during the commercial breaks. We were waiting for the next funny commercial that, sadly, never came (except for the GoDaddy.com ad that caused all the men in the room to drool). The game came back on and, yes, it was still pretty boring. But luckily all was not lost—someone cooked up some piping-hot pigs-in-a-blanket.
Halftime rolled around and an impromptu game of football began outside. The quarterback was an ex-athlete who takes the game seriously, while the wide receiver was an out-of-shape programmer who we feared was about to rip his Achilles tendon with every step he took. The offensive line was rounded out by women in flip flops and four-year-olds who just wanted to run up and down the street spiking the ball.
The game came back on and, except for a span of about five minutes where Seattle almost took the lead, it was still boring. Everyone stuck around just long enough to see the trophy awarded and then they headed home. All I was left with was a bloated stomach, sore feet, and a home littered with beer cans, half-eaten slices of pizza, and globs of spinach dip and ketchup all over the floor. I guess the best way to describe the Super Bowl is that it is like New Year’s Eve, a lot of buildup only to be disappointed and let down in the end.
Now I know why no one has Super Bowl parties anymore.
I never missed the opportunity to attend or even host a Super Bowl party when I was younger. Now that middle age has caught up with me, I’ve been avoiding them parties, quite frankly. I soon realized that a few weeks is not enough for me to recover from Thanksgiving and the Christmas holidays. Gee, I still have a hang over from New Year’s and you want me to drink again?
Anyway, I heard on the radio that some people are asking that the Monday after be declared a national holiday. The population is aging alright. It seems a lot of people need an extra 24 hours to pass out all the beer and all the nachos they’ve stuffed the day before. But if people really need that extra day, why not move the game two weeks early to coincide with MLK weekend or two weeks later during Presidents Day weekend.
And speaking of holidays, the period of time between Presidents Day and Memorial Day is too long. That is the time that we need another holiday. And I am sure that around March, I would already have forgotten about the terrible hangover I had on New Year’s Day.
S.G. How many of your guests were busted for DUI after all of the beers consumed at your boring Super Bowl party? And for your dirty home let me advise the “man in the shiny black van”, the COIT man.
My super bowls are a bit different. First the name for mine is Souper Bowls and I serve up a soup that is befitting each team. One in the first half and a totally different one for the second half.
I was going to prepare Seahawk Noodle Soup when I learned that there were no such birds as Seahawks and if there were, they would have been a protected species. Sort of like spotted owl stew for the Foothill College teams.
Anyway, I decided on Pacific Clam Chowder in defference to Seattle’s famous Ivar’s Acres of Clams dining rooms. I also tossed in some dungeness crab and a shrimp ring with my own cocktail sauce. with a coupla’ sodas, everybody settled down to watch the first half.
Halftime came and went, thank God, and we settled down for the second half with a rich and hearty Burgundy Beef and Onion Soup cooked in a stainless STEELER pot. Thats about as close as I could get to thinking up any food for which Pittsburg is famous. I served this soup with small loaves of sour dough french bread and a fine Mondavi Burgundy wine, the same wine I had used in the soup. Interesting pairing, I thought.
My guests didn’t spill anything on my floors except a few bread crumbs and an occassional piece of crab shell.
I guess the best way I describe a souper bowl party is as a place for friends to gather, try new dishes and new wines, try to get a little excited about the game and just kick back and enjoy each others company.
Maybe I’ll invite you next year. What a challenge if Indiana and The Carolinas are players or are they in the sam league? I forget. I just love the challenge.
Is this the best we can do today? Our city is in crisis, the inmates continue to run the asylum. Cindy is actually supporting a proposal to give the former (lame) city manager Borgsdorf a raise. The list goes on and we’re talking about drinking beer and eating nachos.
Too bad. This blog once looked like it could be a contender. Now it looks like SJLite.
Wondering… SJLite huh? Sounds like a new beer for Single Gal to sample.
When I see it is an article by “single gal”, I think maybe it will be better this time…wrong, wrong, wrong.
Is this article designed to encourage political debate, discussion and change in our city, started by people who value San Jose and are interested in her future and in this valley’s place in the state and nation? Has single gal read SJI’s Mission Statement?
gelvey—yes it does. maybe next week’s column will provide us with her tasting comments.
We all know the problems facing San Jose. How is SanJoseInside going to help us find the solutions? The first step is electing the best mayor. Why no mention of last night’s candidate forum at city hall? Glossy mailers and the Mercury News do little to educate voters. SanJoseInside could have played a much needed role in providing insight into the candidates. I say “could have” because the after a great start, SanJoseInside seems to be floundering.
Why is the consumption of alcohol always mentioned in Single Gal’s posts?
I quit watching sports when I stopped drinking beer every day. Beer is a Friday night only ritual, so unless the NFL moves the Super Bowl to Friday night then I won’t watch it. Oh wait, I forgot that, other than BattleStar Galactica, also on Friday night, I stopped watching TV. Now my TV watching consists of HBO shows (Sopranos, Sex and The City, Deadwood) that have been released on DVD. When is season 2 of Deadwood going to be released?
Anyway, why aren’t we talking about how the terrorists have won the war on terror now that the press is afraid to publish material about Islam?
Wow, people are a bit testy this week…..maybe they should be cracking open a beer themselves!
In an effort to expand my appreciation for diversity beyond the menu items at the Pho house and the Taqueria, I decided to follow the lead of two of our would-be mayors and don a traditional Vietnamese robe before sitting down to watch Sunday’s Super Bowl.
Man, did I feel stupid.
What it is about my psychological make-up that makes me so uncomfortable in a foreign costume? Is it that I’ve been conditioned to see decorative, brightly colored fabrics as unmanly? Or flat, head-bandage shaped party hats as ridiculous? And what was it about that robe that made me feel like Elton John awaiting gender reassignment surgery?
SJI, I ask you: am I hopelessly intolerant of other cultures, or am I just a regular guy with a culture of his own? Am I, who had enough sense to remain behind closed doors in my party outfit, the one with the problem, or are the real whack jobs Chuck Reed and David Cortese—the guys who made their stupidity front page news?
If you have something else to talk about – do it. Did they post rules on this site? My thoughts are with Coretta Scott King. What a woman.
Having absolutely no interest in the game this time around, hell, most times around, and having been turned off a la Xmas by all the hype building up to it, I didn’t even care about the commercials and didn’t watch any of it.
No, I planned a super “bowl” party with my trusty pipe and enjoyed the weather out in the back yard with my partner.
Finfan, there is no question. Reed and Cortese are the whack jobs. That look on Cortese’s face on the front page is priceless.
You can draw the conclusion from what I did on Sunday that I’m a guy with a (sub)culture all his own (well, I actually have a lot of company), but I stayed out of public view.
You wisely did likewise Finfan, and doing what you want under your own roof is what this country is supposed to be all about. Don’t beat yourself up over this. It only would have been a lapse in judgement if you had gotten up on a stage like the whack jobs did.
Amen Finfan,
Those two guys lost my vote. We are down to two almost real candidates and two clowns. Oh and some other guy.
They should just get roller skates like Bill Chew!
OK! Enough is enough all already! Last night was a joke and this site is stuck in neutral! Doesn’t anybody care about what’s about to happen to San Jose! Come on let’s wake up!
What happen to the other candidates? Why aren’t they getting invited to speak at these so-called open forums? San Jose is getting ripped off! Please stand up and fight with us! San Jose is seventy six million dollars in the hole! AND GROWING! PLEASE DO NOT ELECT AN INCUMBENT FOR MAYOR! GO TO THE CITY CLERKS OFFICE AND SEE WHO IS SUPPORTING THESE INCUMBENTS AND YOU WILL AGREE!
Gas stations are supporting one incumbent; another is getting money from big development companies, PLEASE DON”T GET FOOLED INTO VOTING FOR THEM!
We need a change, out with the bad in with the good! LET’S WISE UP!
Go to http://www.larryfloresformayor.com and ask him why he didn’t get invited!
Again I support the underdog of the candidates.
As a community lets stand together and fix San Jose! I’m a student at San Jose City College, stand with me and Vote for Larry Flores for mayor.
Thank you,
GM
5 murders in San Jose and it’s only Febuary, thats something to talk about.. It’s time to find another city to live in..
TO # 17 NOT A NEW CITY A NEW POLICE CHIEF ITS TIME FOR CHIEF ROD U-LESS TO GO
Single Gal, you are doing fine. The title of this site is San Jose Inside—A look inside San Jose politics and CULTURE. Culture includes Super Bowl parties. I enjoyed the look into your San Jose cultural experience. My only suggestion would be to switch to red wine. Beer is a barbarous, toxic, vile liquid, and a vexation to the spirit, while red wine is elevating. White wine, like beer, is a waste of precious time. Lohr Winery is a local winery worth investigating. Indeed it is located in San Jose. Good sippin’ Cab.
Why shouldn’t Single Gal talk about parties and beer? People care more about that then the problems that we are having in our city. Criticize her if you must but she is not the problem. It is the apathy of our voters, particularly our younger ones, as they turn the other way and stay uninvolved in the direction of our city.
Eric: Hard to appreciate beer when you’re smokin’ crack… Nice sticking up for SG, though.
Irreverent: I’ve also heard talk about making that Monday a national holiday; people I’ve talked to have brought up moving the Super Bowl to Saturday, which I feel to be unpure (those Thursday night season openers are almost blasphemous). Judging by how the keg at the party I attended was cashed by the third quarter, I can understand why people push for the holiday… As for a “filler” holiday between President’s day-Memorial day, St. Patrick’s day wouldn’t be so bad, or we could celebrate the surrender of Germany during WWII.
Single Gal: If there’s anything I’ve learned in my short time on earth, it’s not to throw a party at your own house – wreck someone else’s.