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20 Questions to ask before the Super Bowl

  1. Will there be a super-duper storm for the Super Bowl as predicted by the Farmers’Almanac?
  2. If there is a storm, will Peyton Manning, who is said to have trouble in the cold, be affected by the weather?
  3. Will the rest of the Denver Broncos be affected by the weather?
  4. Will the Seattle Seahawks be affected by the weather?
  5. Will the fans be affected by the weather?
  6. Will anyone talk about anything but the weather before, during and after the big game?
  7. Why is the blogosphere just now waking up to the fact that the Super Bowl is going to be played outdoors?
  8. Why can’t the blogosphere understand that though Super Bowl XLVIII is being played at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, the teams that play in that stadium have New York in their names, hence New York is co-hosting the Super Bowl?
  9. Why can’t the blogosphere understand that Metropolitan Opera star Renée Fleming is more than capable of singing the National Anthem?
  10. How many people in the blogosphere can sing the National Anthem, getting all the words right? (Bonus question: How many know the second verse?) Read more

 

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Time for the NFL’s young guns?

Well, I’m disappointed that Colin Kaepernick and the San Francisco 49ers lost to Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks, but I had a feeling it was going to be the Hawks. And it may well be their year, though I’ll be rooting for Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos.

The press, of course, will be looking at many storylines for this Super Duper Bowl. There’s Peyton playing and possibly winning at MetLife Stadium, bro Eli’s home, just as Eli and the New York Giants beat Tom Brady and the New England Patriots at Lucas Oil Stadium, Peyton’s then home as the Indianapolis Colts’ quarterback. Then there’s the possibility of a major storm – the Farmers’ Almanac says so – which may prove nothing compared to the cold front that might greet Gov. Chris Christie. (Will his fellow pols like Gov. Andrew Cuomo be treating him like he has cooties?)

But perhaps the biggest storyline will be the possible changing of the guard. Read more

 

 

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Bury our hearts at (her) wounded knee

Well, what a weekend it’s been for rivalries – the subject of my novel “Water Music” just released last week.

Peyton (Manning’s) Place proving too much for The (Tom) Brady Bunch. Young Guns Colin Kaepernick and Russell Wilson squaring off. (See separate post.) Former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic taking it to current No. 1 Serena Williams at the sweltering Australian Open, where the 100-plus temps have turned out to be a formidable opponent. (Last year, the players slipped and slid their way out of Wimbledon. Now they’re going under Down Under. What’s up with that?)

But here our thoughts turn from the court and the gridiron to the rink and another era to discuss “The Price of Gold,” Nanette Burstein’s fascinating new ESPN documentary about Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan, which aired on ABC Jan. 18. If you were of a certain ago 20 years ago almost to this day, they need no introduction. Read more

 

 

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Mother and child reunion

How heartbreaking that new film “Philomena” sounds. It’s the story of a woman in search of the love child she was forced to give up by the Irish nuns to whom she was sent after her “indiscretion.” The Sunday New York Times had an excellent, spoilers -riddled article Jan. 12 about the fate of the real child, Michael Hess, a gay man who perhaps not so improbably became a Reagan-era lawyer in Washington D.C. and died of AIDS. The emotional kicker was that he was buried in his mother’s native country in the hopes that she would find him.

Which she did. But all those years when they could’ve had a relationship. All that waste. I could weep. Come to think of it, I did.

There are few more complex relationships than mother and child, which plays a part in my just-released first published novel, “Water Music.” I’m not here to judge why women get pregnant outside of marriage, why they keep or give up their children or why they have abortions. I’ve never been pregnant. The whole thing is beyond me.

But I would like to comment  on something that struck me in The Times’ article, and that is the idea that Hess’ friends and associates found him ultimately unknowable. Read more

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