Well the Steelers won Elliott's first Super Bowl and, although I was mildly rooting for Arizona by the end of the game, it's probably for the best. I don't think it would have been a good omen for my son to have been born in the same season that the Cardinals won a championship.

On the whole, the game was wildly entertaining, marking yet another impressive Super Bowl. For a guy who grew up on the Niners and Cowboys trouncing whoever happened to draw the short straw in the AFC year in and year out, it's a bit odd to be entertained by the Super Bowl on a consistent basis. So here are some pros and cons from Super Sunday:

Pros:
1. Shelbi's teriyaki chicken skewers. You know they're good when a relatively strict vegetarian downs one.
2. The bevy of 10-to-13-year old girls in attendance who probably would have paid us to hold Elliott and even offered to change diapers. Their presence freed up my beer arm which was starting to cramp up.
3. The host family's DVD collection. If 20th Century Fox has been frantically wondering where it's one purchased copy of Swimfan went... it's in Camas, Washington.
4. Bruce Springsteen's ill-advised power slide. Everyone at our party was worried about The Boss's crotch. I was a lot more concerned about the poor cameraman's head.
5. The G.I. Joe movie preview. Had this movie come out 22 years ago when it should have, my head would have exploded. Poor Shelbi has no idea that there is an extremely good chance she is going to end up watching this with me and I currently have no idea how wildly disappointing the movie is going to be.

Cons:
1. Shelbi's inability to find a suitable football-themed outfit for Elliott which nearly ruined her entire weekend.
2a. Santonio Holmes making one of the most ridiculous catches in NFL history and potentially costing me $80 as, had the game gone into overtime, a field goal by either team would have won the scoring pool grand prize for Shelbi and me.
2b. Santonio Holmes apparently becoming one of the greatest receivers in history this postseason and even winning the freaking Super Bowl MVP award after 16 games of regular season suckitude for my fantasy team.
3. Super Bowl pre-game. Sure it's a cliche but on Saturday night at 12:30 a.m. while waiting for my mother to be bussed down from Seattle after her flight from Boston was rerouted, I flipped over to ESPN where there was live coverage of a truly inexplicable Super Bowl Gospel Celebration. The only good news to being up that late was catching the majority of the fantastic Australian Open final between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. And yes I just incorporated tennis into a Super Bowl post.
4. The game ending which sets up the upcoming weekend in sports. Thank God the Blazers are playing such ridiculously exciting basketball right now. Otherwise it's the Pro Bowl (one of the few sporting events in existence that couldn't distract me for 10 consecutive minutes if I happened to stumble across it. Seriously... I've even watched 20+ minutes of those dog jumping competition on ESPN2 before. It doesn't take a lot) and the NFL Flag Football National Championship. You think I'm kidding.
5. The officiating. As my friend Mike said: "The officials couldn't have at least pretended to review the last play? They didn't even need  to turn the camera on under the booth." And that was just the latest of about 10 egregiously bad calls to benefit the Steelers in a Super Bowl dating back to its last championship over Seattle in 2006. Yeah, way to go Greatest NFL Franchise Ever, you guys are two bad breaks away from giving titles to both the Seahawks and the Cardinals.



Who wants to to shell out $9.50 to see this
with me?