By Edward Master
First off, I must admit that I am not now, nor have I ever been, a "Swifty." I cannot name any of her pop hits, even those from her country western days.
I did see one analogy comparing the Swift-Kelce romantic matchup to the one, slightly before my time (memory), between Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe. Whether wedding bells ring is still unforseen, but Kelce is the famous athlete (pro) and Swift, the popular icon, though not in the movies (yet). Regardless, that romance, especially the rapido flight from Japan for the Super Bowl drew some unexpected fans and/or viewership, as if the event needed any help. Any chance for a line of Swifties in line for football tickets at $9000 per?
The SB is now history with KC notching a comeback back-to-back over favored San Fran (aka the Whiners). I've never been to an SB and don't plan on ever being at one. But, I have one SB-related tale.
My wife and I were living in Indiana, PA, as she was attending graduate school. My older brother (Jack) and his wife (Nila) were living northwest of the bay area in California (northwest of San Fran). The 49ers had just one their first SB and those two thought it would be funny to call us after the game and gloat. It was probably 3 A.M. our time and still fairly early evening west coast wise. They laughed and enjoyed the victory; they weren't laughing when they got a return call from us about 3 A.M. their time. They never repeated the phone call bit for subsequent 49er victories. Ha! Ha!
No word on impending nuptials coming out of KC yet, post game. It's a shame though the couple must live their romantics in the media but that's the price of fame.
I did watch the first-ever NFL-AFL championship game on black-and-white TV in 1967. Green Bay whipped Kansas City 35-10. A sobered-up Max McGee caught a Bart Starr touchdown fling for good measure for the Pack. Tickets were $12 per to a non-sold out Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles. My how times have changed!
The SB didn't become the Super Bowl until two years later when KC owner Lamar Hunt made it happen.
And while we're in football mode (recently saw the 'Waterboy'), my sister (Shari and hub Larry) just made their first trip to Canton and the HOF. They got to see a special Steelers exhibit. I've been there twice; my wife was a big Steelers fan (football in general also Eagles as she was from Philly). We really liked going to Canton. When we resided in Indy, we made the trip to Latrobe training camp often (then to Sharkey's cause we were hungry).
When we lived in Glassboro, NJ, we shot over to West Chester to the Eagles training site once. Up close and personal, Randall Cunningham (QB) was very, very tall; Keith Byers (TE/RB) was a very big guy. The linemen were huge as you would expect, but the defensive backs were much smaller than we expected.
I didn't watch much of the SB; I didn't really even miss the commercials that much. I can easily wait for the draft and training camp. Lily Tomlin pontificating I don't need. I guess the Steelers Way didn't work again this year; I guess the Kansas City Way is the way to follow and has been for several years. Oops.