Not-So-Super Bowl, and Yet

Oh, February Break is coming, and despite the December holiday still lingering in my rearview, I—and I venture to say my students—will welcome the respite. I, if only to plan for those six unbroken school weeks that await—they, because they’re kids!

And the first Sunday will feature Superbowl LV . LV, I think of it as text-talk for love, and hope that’s a harbinger for 2021. Make no mistake, my husband and I are not football fans. My father-in-law plunked himself in front of the television on the weekend for the games, as to a much lesser degree did my father. My mom loved the ’49ers—a connection that came from her love of San Francisco more than anything else.

When our son was small, I passed that to him—and he caught it. Oh, my gosh! We would watch games together in New Jersey; I felt like I was gently indoctrinating him to the “West is best” philosophy. (And it took, a story for another post.) At one point I even bought “Dish,” so we could watch the Niners play blacked-out contests.

Last year, if you follow the game at all, you know “our” team, went to the Bowl. But it was not a year of love, was it? The Chiefs trounced San Francisco, and I was hosting my wonderful neighbors and friends to tapas while we watched the red and gold go from victory to defeat.

What I did not know then is that my great friend whose support of the Chiefs piqued me (embarrassingly) would soon be diagnosed with lung cancer. The ’49ers would not find any gold that year, but goal posts would come to mean so very little. And our world would close tight its neighborly doors; no party reprise for 2021.

And yet…Amanda Gorman will perform a poem, yes folks, a poem at the Super Bowl (chills course through me). This is a GOLDEN time for poetry—and I dare hope for what’s coming. Though my good friends and I will be physically apart, we remain close; thank the resilient, enduring bonds of friendship, and my son and his wife will be moving here from New Orleans. (The Saints may have been defeated, but this is an unequivocal WIN for us.)

When we gather in front of various screens, yet again, for this 60th contest, I still will be celebrating…LV.