F.I.’s First Guest Blogger Post by the one and only Uncle B:

As I write this who knows if it’ll make it to the blog, G’s blog, Formulate  Infinity. He invited me to add a little bit of commentary to his NFL playoff  stream of consciousness. He’d admit that it’s been a pretty weak week by week exercise. 50/50 Sports Center justifications regurgitated aren’t that  compelling. I don’t have much to add. I’ll even detract. So, I’ll follow his lead and try to relate, I couldn’t drop dimes ‘cause you couldn’t relate… We’re  a tribe… Woolyams Represent.

The Superbowl is awesome. Apathy be damned. Odds are your team ain’t in it.

What?

At this point most of us couldn’t give a crap, but strangely we do. The whole deal has reached holiday status in this country and there’s so much more to root for than just the teams playing the game. We now root for good commercials (4 mil a pop this year) and we look forward to slamming the ones that don’t measure up. We anticipate the halftime show… One more booby please! An excuse to imbibe doesn’t hurt. Getting together to eat and drink and BS with each other is the best, especially with family and friends. Even more awesome would be for your team to be one of the finalists.

G and I haven’t experienced that level of Super Bowl excitement in over 20 years when the Washington Redskins beat the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVI.

It’s all about how you want to relate. If your team ain’t in it. You pick a side to hate or that you hate less. Or, maybe the side upon which you placed a wager. Maybe we root for a player or players, or against them.

1992 was great, but the ‘Skins Super Bowl I remember most was when the ‘Skins whipped the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXII.

I think back to age 10. I hated the Broncos – for one game (or at least one quarter). My cousin Ashton, also a big ‘Skins fan, told me on the phone of some kid at their school who wore an ‘Orange Crush’ t-shirt the week before the game. I was too young to understand how a kid who lived and went to school minutes from D.C. could root against the Washington Redskins. We were all excited about the game and it was cool to have relatives that lived so close. The fact that they supplied us with fan gear was pretty cool, too. We forgive the Russian belts.

As for the game, I was a punk – I cried when the Broncos jumped on my beloved Redskins for an early 10-0 lead in 1988. The rest is history. Doug Williams, Timmy Smith, the most points scored in a Super Bowl quarter, etc. In so many ways our Redskins fandom was solidified.

So, for Super Bowl XLVIII I choose to root for the Denver Broncos and I think they’ll win. If they had beaten the Redskins years ago I can honestly say that I would still hold that grudge. To this day I still hold a slight one against the Raiders for Super Bowl XVIII.

Like a ton of folks, I’m rooting for Peyton Manning. Another Super Bowl ring would help cement his already incredible legacy and go a long way towards quieting his nitpicking detractors. And say this knowing that at age 20 I was one of the idiots who said Ryan Leaf would be the better NFL QB. For some reason I disliked Tennessee and I despised the smug, goofy look I perceived Manning to have. I’m still embarrassed to admit it.

It’s weird that Manning and I are pretty much the same age. He seems like an old man to me. It’s funny how professional sports, football especially, makes guys seem older than they are. And as I get older my rooting interests in teams that aren’t mine are less motivated by hate and dislike. I’m more interested in a good story, a good game, an exciting finish. So here’s to a good game. I’m looking forward to spending the time with my family.

Go Broncos – at least this once.