The Super (read: Mediocre) Bowl

While tonight's Super(ish) Bowl falls somewhere short of No Easy Way Out in Rocky IV in terms of inspirational, that doesn't mean it wont be a good game. Good offense versus great defense is potentially a great watch. I am not gonna break it down because A) I don't care too much B) The Cardinals are hard to predict C) There's five hours of pregame on ESPN and four more on NBC, but there are four things we can all look forward to today.

• Bruce Springsteen- While the excitement leading up to the Halftime performance always prevails over the actual act, The Boss has the potential to change all this. It was fun sending a bevy of Springsteen setlist predictions/analysis emails with friends like we were breaking down the newest LOST episode, but when Bruce takes the stage, his "12-minute party" should be the greatest non-football Super Bowl moment since Bono's American flag jacket in 2001 or Janet's nipple in 2003. For the record I'm thinking we get some mix of Born to Run, Rosalita, Glory Days, and Working on a Dream and if it were up to me it would be Rosalita, The Promised Land, Streets of Fire, and Born to Run.

• The Food- Last year and in other Patriots' Super Bowl's I am usually too nervous/focused to eat so on nights like tonight I can take some time to enjoy our spread. There's nothing better than football food and the only thing better than football food is lots of football food. Three years running I've brought out my A-game Buffalo Chicken Dip. It's the unofficial yellow line of Super Bowl food, I can't remember life before it. Also on the docket, our friend's killer Spinach-Artichoke dip, homemade potato skins, and rumors of "best chocolate chip cookies ever."

• John Madden- NBC has the game tonight which means we get Madden/Michaels doing the game. Two big things come with Madden: the obligatory Frank Caliendo Madden impressions and the memory of Madden's comical idea that the Patriots should have run out the clock and waited for overtime with 1:51 left in the 2001 Super Bowl.

• The Refreshing Lack of Girls- This is the Super Bowl and there's nothing worse than having to explain football rules, having to ask them to stop talking about whatever US Weekly has told them they must discuss at critical junctures of the game, or having to conceal burps, farts, profanity, or other football conducive man behaviors. Super Bowl is like men's Valentines Day, and the only gift we want is to be left alone to watch the game. Plus everytime you make a mistake and watch with girls, they end up winning the Super Bowl Boxes gambling game, that's karma.

• Some wildcards for the game today: Will Troy Polamalu get taken down by his hair? Will Larry Fitzgerald make more highlight reel catches? Will any Cardinal get McGahee'd by the Steelers D? Will my prop bets hold up (coin toss heads, no team will score three times in a row)? Will anyone's jersey at the party overshadow my Bud Bowl one? Will the 1 second Miller High Life commercials actually be worth it? Will any commercials break the two year void of good ads? Will people laugh at me if I show up with the 3-D glasses for Monsters vs. Aliens? How many times will I wonder if the Patriots would be in the Super Bowl if they were in the NFC?

The Snubbiest Oscar Snub of All

Leaving the Academy to decide awards for movies is like leaving Florida to decide a presidential election. This week I heard more about snubs than about acclaim for the nominees. Bruce's them for The Wrestler missing best song is downright offensive for two songs from Slumdog? I hate that Wall-E was left off the best picture list, like for the lack of live action, since it appeared on as many 2008 Top 10 lists as any other movie. Others feel that Leo, The Dark Knight, and The Wrestler were also given the Heisman (knee up, stiff armed) unjustly.

However those are just minor parole violations in comparison to Oscar's snubbiest snub this year, the omission of Young@Heart from the best documentary category. Usually I apply to the theory you can't tell me its not one of the five best if you haven't seen the others, but here's where I'm throwing my curveball, I have already seen one of the nominees. I saw Man on Wire, and am now motived to check out a couple more to prove myself right. MoW doesn't come close enough to Y@H to even sniff its old person smell. Anyway, there is very little to dislike about: It is relatable if you have or had grandparents its enjoyable if you like music, and its inspiring if you possess a heart. Kinda minimal pre-requisites.

Quick dummies guide to Y@H: Young @ Heart is the name of a chorus of extremely senior (is that any kinder than saying super old?) citizens in Northampton Massachusetts who live to sing and sing to live. Sounds cheesy and boring, I know. Here's the twist, they sing cool songs, popular music. Things like James Brown, Coldplay, The Ramones, Bob Dylan, Jimmy Hendrix, Sonic Youth, and more. Try imagining your grandparents even knowing songs by all them. The documentary follows the chorus as they prepare new songs for an upcoming set of performances and deal with deteriorating health.

At different points, the film is funny, sweet, heartwarming, serious, and carefree. It works as a date movie better than another chick flick, its great on a lazy afternoon, and even goes well with a few friends and a few beers. The interviewer/producer may become a bit too involved and irritating but its easy to forget that with the corny old jokes from the corny old men and the not so innocent candor from the sweet old ladies. Y@H runs the gamut of emotions without becoming heavy or lengthy and by the end you almost consider visiting a grandparent (and that's saying something). And for my money, there may not be a better scene in film in 2008 than when the chorus visits the jail.

In the end, who cares about awards? Who can really name all of the past Oscar winners anyway? Those trophies probably end up in your parents attic with all of your old soccer participant trophies, right? Okay, maybe not, but if you want to do some cinematic justice, and you like movies that make you feel good, throw Young@Heart on your Netflix queue or take your first trip to Blockbuster in years and pick it up off a dusty shelf.

Obama-palooza

Welcome back to your Internet destination for breaking news. Today's gem: Barack Obama is about to be inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States.

You may have heard this, just as you may have heard about the tremendous Inauguration "We Are One" Concert held on the National Mall yesterday. I get to go to a lot of cool events/games in DC with press passes but yesterday's show was completely different, starting with the fact that I had no connections for any press passes, basically I was on my own to brave the cold, the crowd, and the unknown.

So off I went yesterday with a hangover, semi-plan of where I was going, and a screwdriver (the liquid kind); this weekend in DC has been like a cold, more mature version of Spring Break. The only things I was lacking was a Snuggie and one of those Amish Fireless Fire Places. I had low expectations, was mostly interested in hearing the Boss, and then getting out for the end of the Eagles/Cardinals game.

I couldn't have been more wrong about it all... except for the Snuggie part, one of those really would have been tremendous. First, I was shockingly underwhelmed by Bruce. Maybe it was the cold open he had to endure but something wasn't right. Another mistake I made was thinking that lacking a credential would be ruinous. Being in the mobs was refreshing. Its corny and cliche but we met out of towners, ran into friends, and enjoyed strangers we usually would complain about.

The show gained momentum with almost every performance, but that wasn't what I'll remember. Obama-stock ranks up there with the 2002 Patriots SuperBowl Parade and the Pope's funeral as huge rally moments that surpass all others. Each event has been driven by human emotion. For the Pats rally it was a sense of accomplishment, for the Pope it was overwhelming grief, and yesterday it was a massive celebration. There was camaraderie, pride, brotherhood, and patriotism; the things you often hear in Americana verse and so seldom witness in person.

That was the overwhelming revelation for me, the sheer bliss of those in attendance. It wasn't a celebration of the end of eight Bush years and it wasn't just a grand homage to Obama. The gathering seemed more like an epidemic of excitement, a new hope rushing through the crowd. The performers preached it all day, but I would argue the buzz was a grass roots thing. An imminent belief that we could have a direct impact, that change was up to us, that the torch was being passed on; symptoms of the Obama Effect. Maybe everyone didn't feel that way but enough people did, and in the end, it was contagious enough to create the weird euphoria.

So much so that all day there was a distinct absence of cold weather complaints, of line cutting and pushing, and personal squabbles. In a city built on systematic strife and constant debate, it was invigorating to miss it. I walked, possibly floated back to the GW campus and reality for an afternoon of football. At McFaddens, the scene couldn't have been a bigger juxtaposition. As people shouted, stressed, and shoved through the bar, I sat in the back, like Andy Dufresne in the Shawshank yard, physically feet away and cerebrally miles away.