All things considered, it was a damn good football season. I'd rather go to the AFC championship and lose than not go at all. Some of you may disagree - to those I prescribe a hair of the dog that bit them. I'm not the least bit bothered by the fact that Cowher hasn't won half the Championship games he's been in. Better than not getting there at all.
As a young boy I bawled my eyes out watching the Steelers lose in the snow and the cold to the Browns. It was some kind of season-ending loss. That's the memory. I've searched for the game - and can't find it. My memory of my first Pirates game turned up in Retrosheet just as I remembered it, but this memory looks pretty faulty. Maybe it was the 1977 divisional playoff at Denver. Maybe it was some other team that lost? Inconceivable, but not impossible. I watched a lot of football in the 1970s and while the Steelers were #1 with me, I also developed attachments to other teams and had a list of favorite teams.
Anyway I remember one of the players, someone who looked like Jack Ham, in the big coat they wore on the sidelines, with his head down. I was watching the game by myself. My father came into the room. He was always more of a Penn State fan than a Steeler fan and mainly watched football on Saturday, not Sunday.
"Why are you crying?" he asked. I think he knew why but wanted to make sure.
"Because the" I blubbered.
He pointed to the TV. "That was a football game," he said. He also said, without saying it out loud, "it's not something you cry about." He was part mad and part gentle about it. Point made.
That's the memory.
I always like the end of the football season. The end of the football season signals the end of television watching for a few months. I doubt I'll watch the Super Bowl. Who gives a damn? Not me. If there's another wardrobe malfunction, I can find the video on the internet if I really want to see it. I'm not a fan of television, which is why I keep a blog, I think, because TV is not an efficient way to get information. I'm on the internet a lot when I want to answer questions.
With TV, there's too much interruption and foot-dragging so that we can see more ads. It's almost as bad as the nationally-syndicated talk radio shows. So long, stupid Levitra ads. So long, stupid car ads and beer ads. I won't miss you. So long, semi-moronic television analysts. There were two ads I enjoyed watching all year - the one where the guys are slacking off and dancing to Salt n Pepa in the office, and the one they showed yesterday with the athletes wearing "warrior" headgear. The rest of it was a huge expanse of wasted time. I know it's trite to bitch about television and it's tired to brag about not watching it. But that doesn't change the way I feel about it.
Another thing. The end of the football season also signals the start of the fantasy baseball season. And the start of that signals the start of spring. So long, old man Winter. Your days are numbered now.
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