SUPER BOWL BOUND (by Steve Nadis)
Pack your bags, Patriots fans. (And that includes snack bags, potato chip bags, donut bags, what have you, if you chose to watch the game from the comfort of your own home.) I'm getting ready for Jacksonville. For, you guessed it, Super Bowl #_____??? (Never was good at Roman Numerals. Can anyone help me out here?) It's never easy getting into the Super Bowl, mind you. But this time I earned it the old-fashioned way, the hard way--watching on TV, what else? It can be grueling, at times, with nothing to relieve that mind-numbing tension but an endless assortment of snacks and junk food and the occasional nap. Then there are all those sleepless nights, pre- and post-game, as you endlessly review plays in your head, including those yet to be played. Training is tough, to be sure, but nothing matches the challenges of game day itself. It's not easy to stay glued to the TV set, for hours on end, while the rest of your house is going down the tubes. I can't tell you how many times I was tempted to drop what I was doing and help out one of my screaming kids, possibly seriously maimed, but I stuck to my resolve, never for a second turning away from my 32" HD screen. I successfully blocked out the rest of the world, including my wife's constant entreaties ("I need some help here!") and kept my eyes on the prize, in this case the AFC Championship. I don't know about you, but I've earned my trip to Jacksonville. There's much work to be done, of course, before the big day. The Pats will have their practices--the usual head-bashing stuff, combined with their video workouts, scouting reports&whatnot--but I'll be even busier, getting together all the things needed to make Super Sunday a huge success. There are the beverages, the condiments, and the little touches--Patriot napkins and autographed paper plates--that make all the difference. Come February 6, I'll be ready. I'll have my A-game. Let's just hope my team can play up to the impossibly high standards I've set.
