30.1.06

Super Bowl Moments (say it like Jim Nantz and it's sort of funny)

It is Super Bowl week and I couldn’t be less excited and just to annoy me ESPN.com’s Page2 is running a blog this week by none other than… Chuck Klosterman! (btw, am I the first person to write website.com’s? Can websites show ownership over another website? Am I breaking some sort of English grammar rule or are we going to look back on this and say VFLOAB was the first to correctly show a .com can show ownership over…) Anyway, back to Chuck Klosterman… I think I like Chuck, but I also think I don’t like Chuck. I really enjoyed half of “Sex, Drugs, and Coco Puffs”, and I found the other half boring and page upon page of ‘everything that is popular sucks’ crap which gets old quickly. His other various articles and the such I’ve either loved or hated… there is no middle ground when it comes to Chuck Klosterman and me. But I’ve got to say, good start here from him with the XL Blog (plus anything that gets Simmons away from the Super Bowl is probably a good thing. As he even admitted today, he couldn’t say anything that he’s already said and need I remind anyone that his Super Bowl blog last year sucked).

But I can’t just sit here and pretend I hate the Super Bowl because I don’t. I’m just sick of it… if that makes any sense. But to try and get myself in the mood and last Saturday being the 20th anniversary of my first memory (that’s right the first memory I can date and place is the Challenger explosion), and this being the 20th anniversary of Super Bowl XX let’s recap the last 19 Super Bowls from the memory of Bobby Otter (for a list of the games go here)!

Super Bowl XX – I don’t remember a thing, but I’m sure I did the “Super Bowl Shuffle” and in case you were wondering I also own the DVD.

Super Bowl XXI – Ummm… no memory.

Super Bowl XXII – I remember this one because I went to my dad’s friend was having a Super Bowl party. I don’t think I really watched the game, but I remember the food, Brio train, and the fact that the ‘Skins were killing the Broncos.

Super Bowl XXIII – Watched this one at my house with the fam and my uncle. I have nothing to add besides that it was a good game. (I’m sorry, this sucks so far doesn’t it?)

Super Bowl XXIV – Wow, a lot happened here. The game stunk, but I remember being asked if I wanted to go to see Back to the Future III with my sister and babysitter and declining the invitation because of the game and… squares! This was the first time I had heard or seen squares. I don’t think I fully understood the beauty of squares, but I knew it well enough to know that a cheap Niner score at the end of one of the quarters cost me money.

Super Bowl XXV – Honestly, I really don’t remember this game. I should, but I don’t have any memories of it.

Super Bowl XXVI – Once again, no good memory of this game. I remember Mark Rypien that year though… but that’s it. I should make something up shouldn’t I?

Super Bowl XXVII – Was this the one where Don Beebe made Leon Lett look like a fool? Even though the Cowboys were winning by 900 points that’s all anyone remembers about this game… why is that? I was probably at my house for the record.

Super Bowl XXVIII – I think the entire nation was sick of the Bills by this point but could anyone bring themselves to root for the Cowboys? It is still today it’s weird to see them lose four in a row. I just remember being happy that Thurman Thomas lost his helmet… I was a vengeful kid at times.

Super Bowl XXIX – Looking back this game was one of those ‘I’m growing up moments’ days in my life. I went to a Super Bowl Party at a buddy of mines place. He had a bunch of us over and we watched the horrible game while eating chips and drinking soda. To be honest, none of us knew what we were doing. Your first Super Bowl Party is sort of like a first kiss… you have no clue what you’re doing, but you like it, not because of who you’re kissing (usually) but because you’re kissing. But there we were, a bunch of 13 year old kids in a basement watching the Super Bowl. History would do the rest… (BTW, the kid who hosted this party, Dave, should have been my first gambling buddy (I’m still looking for one in fact). Back in 6th grade we would sit in class and pick lines and also rank our top 25 in college football. But we went to different high schools and I lost touch with him… until like two months ago when the powers of Facebook brought us back together… of course he’s in Chicago and I’m in DC… anyway the moral is we were both robbed of years of what I assume would have been gambling and gambling stories and it bums me out a little… there’s still time though)

Super Bowl XXX – Another SB, another party, another basement… everyone was rooting for the Steelers in this game. I’m still surprised the Steelers didn’t win because I swear the entire country was trying to will them to victory. It didn’t happen, but we tried. Anyway, this was probably the last Super Bowl party before half our friends would start to go insane. In fact, I’d love to get everyone that went to this SB Party back together and find out what happened to them… you know one guy would be married, another guy would either be in jail or have done time, three of them would be too high to show, four of ‘em would get high during the game, two of them would be drunks, five of them wouldn’t come because their girlfriends wouldn’t let them, three would be in law school, and the other four guys would be like me… that would be an awkward party. The only thing more awkward would be a party of all your ex-girlfriends.

Super Bowl XXXI – As I said, I went to a different high school than pretty much everyone else in the town I grew up in. The school I went to (St. Ignatius if anyone cares) is far from the ‘Dale so hanging out with people from high school was out of the question unless my ‘rents would drive me. Plus most kids at Ignatius could careless about sports, so I ended up… you know what, I don’t know where I watched this game. I was probably alone at my house… that was the same week that SI did a story on Teemu Selanne which I thought was cool.

Super Bowl XXXII – I remember this game because… I was on the phone the whole game. Ouch… I know. 1998 was not a good year for me I was fully under the influence of girls and I’m pretty sure there was some sort of drama that I found myself in. The Packers lost at least…

Super Bowl XXXIII – Luckily I was so dramaed out by the end of 1998 that I pretty much swore off drama… and I’ve done a good job not getting caught up in bs. Anyway… I’m sure I went to someone’s house for the game. I just don’t remember. (This was a good idea when I thought of it earlier, I swear. It seemed cool and interesting… oh well…)

Super Bowl XXXIV – I remember this one because I was being all depressy and wanted to watch it alone in my basement. For some reason I was bored by it all and decided to drive around Chicago for an hour and a half in the middle of the game listening to it on the radio. I did make it back for the great ending. But I’m almost ashamed about these last four SBs… I should be like my Man Card wasn’t revoked.

Super Bowl XXXV – On the list of “Things You Never Forget” along with First Kiss, First Super Bowl Party, and First Time You Watched “Karate Kid: Part III” is First College Super Bowl Party… we had no clue what to do, I’m serious. There was at least seven of us in one small dorm room trying to sit comfortably watching the game, there was beer, but not a lot of it. One of the priests actually watched half the game with us and bought us pizza (wow does that sound BAD in today’s world. Yet in 2001 it was some how not kinky). Anyway, if the Giants did not play in this Super Bowl, I think the media wouldn’t have covered it… but this was the height of the RAY LEWIS ERA which I sort of miss even though he’s still playing.

Super Bowl XXXVI – One of my buddies is from Boston and I think he found out the Pats were in this game when we told him five minutes before the game… his dad was there too and watched the game with us in the dorms which was really cool because he bought us pizza. This was also right after 9/11 so the whole Patriot angle was being played to death and U2 put on a fantastic halftime show. But what I remember the most is being a raving lunatic about how bad of a coach Mike Martz was in this game… remember this? He refused to give the ball to Marshall Faulk. I mean refused to hand the ball off to him… and it pissed me off so much (also the Pats defensive players openly jumping the Rams receivers was a just a bit annoying). But it led to the Pats winning, the amazing Tom Brady story, and the winning team that I think we all agree is the 1988 Dodgers of the NFL, aka the Worst Championship Team Ever.

Super Bowl XXXVII - I was in London and all the people I went with were still friends at this point. We bought tickets to the one place that we knew would have the game on TV dropping way too much money for crappy food and a bad seat to watch a game at 2 in the morning... the game was a blow out and we didn't stay for the end. I lost 10 quid to one roomie since I took the Raiders and gave him like four points on top of it...

- Super Bowl XXXVIII - The first half was a bit of a dud. I won the first quarter square (0-0), but still managed to lose money over all. We had a keg or two and someone had a deep fryer and a few guys just sat outside and cooked turkeys and wings for us all night long (btw, I think that sums up college better than anything else "Someone had a deep fryer." There will be no other time in my life when someone will just have a deep fryer laying around) . The game also gave us more ‘great moments in college’ material since we had jerririgged a TV to work out of the back of some one's SUV... and yes that meant we had beer, electricity, a running car, and a deep fryer all within ten feet of each other). I had a good seat on the couch with 30 other people and probably got half drunk and ate a lot of food... Probably my favorite Super Bowl because of the entire situation.

Super Bowl XXXIX – The old roomie’s brother flew in to watch the game with the roomie (they’re both Philly guys)... that Saturday they watched about 10 hours of old Eagle games at my parents house while we drank the fridge. I was sick of the Birds before the game even began… (though it did lead to one of the most important decisions of my life. Before Game One of the World Series, I was talking to the old roomie and he asked me how I was getting ready for the game. I told him I was going to watch Sox games that I had DVRed over the year… and he pauses and says, “Don’t do that. That’s what we did before the Super Bowl and the Eagles lost remember.” Knowing he had just made a fantastic point, I didn’t watch those DVRed games and the Sox went on to win the World Series. I often wonder what would have happened if I had watched those games…) Anyway… I knew that for Sunday I would have to be half loaded to even be able to tolerate three Philly fans... I was drunk by the second quarter text messaging everyone random stuff while watching the game (my favorite was SOUTH SIDE when ever McNabb did something good, which if you remember was some what often until the 4th quarter), picked up Bibs and Ribs for everyone, and rooted for the Birds just because I knew it would make so many people happy (plus we had just started reaching “My God, the Red Sox winning was the worst thing to happen to this country since 9/11, Bush, and the Iraq War!” point and I don’t think anyone could tolerate another Boston team winning). After the Birds lost I quickly lost my place as 'most intoxicated person in the room'.

A few interesting stories, and I’m beginning to wonder what this weekend will bring? But this has done the trick, I’m now sort of excited for the game. So much so that I’m thinking about makin’ some chili for the game. Will I do it? We’ll just have to wait and see.

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