A superbowl is a really nice container
By Alex Carrier


Down stuffs pillows and duvets. Tackle is used for fishing. Yardage is a piece of fabric.


Game time. Aaron and Aretha wow us with a stirring, soulful national anthem. Kick-off. Frenzied fans watch Seahawks fight Steelers for bragging rights.

Hidden behind platters of snacks or settled between computer monitor and plasma screen, other fans yearn for a different play. They wait with quiet anticipation for their double delight: commercials and half-time show.

We are many, these fans who salivate for that conversational caviar of the water cooler and coffee klatch. We drool over every half-time mishap or malfunction. We chew our way through new commercials to find the ones that satisfy and the ones that leave a bad taste.

The commercials begin and we appear with platters of flavor to distract others from our attention to the play between the plays. Half-time arrives and we eagerly await the one moment of performance disaster that will fuel gossips, newscasters and tabloids for days or even weeks to come.

Some of us will suffer silently through color-commentary, second-guessing, instant replays and armchair quarterbacking. Many of us will simply hide far away from the broadcast blast.

But, late tonight, huddled expectantly over savory reheated leftovers; we will scan past our recordings of the game to replay, review and rewind every exorbitant, expensive second of new commercials and half-time entertainment.

Photo by Alex Carrier of Greene County’s William Monroe High School mascot – the Greene Dragon.

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