Super Bowl Sunday and Philip Seymour Hoffman

Today is Super Bowl Sunday. This is an unofficial American holiday that celebrates the last professional football game of the season. There will be parties all over the country, people will glue themselves to endless hours of pre-game hype that turns the stomach, and they will chatter endlessly about commercials and the halftime entertainment.

I am a football fan. Last year, my 2 favorite teams, the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens were the teams playing. That didn't change my opinion about the endless hype, or the commercials, or the halftime show but at least it made the game itself of interest to me. This year the feeling just isn't there. I really don't care much for either the Denver Broncos or the Seattle Seahawks. This means that I will probably not be watching any of the game and will have to find something else to occupy my time.

I have always thought that the Monday following the Super Bowl should be a holiday since the game is always on Sunday night. If that is impossible, then I think that the game itself should be moved to Sunday afternoon, or even Saturday night. I have been involved in parties that lasted well after the game on Sunday night well into Monday morning, and I know that the absentee rate on Mondays following the Super Bowl are usually very high.

With reduced interest this year, I am locked into college basketball and waiting for baseball to begin. I hope that the 49ers and the Ravens will both be more competitive next year and that at least one of them will reach next year's Super Bowl.

One thing that is already casting a large shadow over the Super Bowl this year is the fact that it is being played in a cold-weather city outdoors for the first time. So far, the weather will not play a factor in the game. It would have been fascinating to watch the impact if this year's game had been played in Atlanta after their bad experience with a little snow last week in the midst of the Super Bowl hype. Of course this year the game has another sideshow and that is New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Christie casts a large shadow at all times, but the spotlight on him over Bridgegate has been something to see. Imagine if the traffic problems instigated by Christie, or at least by his staff, had occurred during the Super Bowl festivities?

It is a beautiful day here. The warm weather continues but there is a change coming tomorrow just in time for the work week. Forecast is calling for snow tomorrow with possibly 2-4" of accumulation. After the disaster in Atlanta, I wonder if the DC area will over-react? Of course it will. Sadly, I do not get days off that are given to the government and I will be up at 0500 to get myself to work regardless of the situation. At least there is never much traffic around that time.

I did make a trip to Costco for some items that we need around here. No, this was not a trip related to the forecast. This was the trip that I put off yesterday. I am back before 1200 and I will let the rest of the population panic if they choose to do so. I am going to rest now and probably listen to some music and perhaps watch the news.

I was very sad to hear about the passing of Philip Seymour Hoffman this afternoon. He was a tremendously gifted actor who seemed to blend into whatever role with such grace and effortless style. The movie that I first saw where I remember Hoffman was "Flawless" a 1999 film that saw Hoffman play a drag queen who was the speech therapist for a cop (Robert DeNiro) who had suffered a stroke. Hoffman played the role of the drag queen with exactly the right amount of style along with the seeming tiredness of the role that made it so believable. So many other actors would have taken the easy approach and gone for laughs with a flamboyant and comical portrayal of the character, but Hoffman gave substance to the role and made it a character that the audience could identify with. That performance impresses me to this day and I am sad that such a talented actor is no longer with us.