Running from The Knowledge

Shutting down Internet/news as best I can for a bit as I run from The Knowledge. I am playing #lastman, where I try to be the last person to know the winner or score of the Super Bowl. It's harder than you think.

Wish me luck! I'll be back on the site once I blow it. (My record is four days).

Jeb

I live near the Super Bowl. It can get the fuck right on out of my town.

Are the Falcons even playing?

Jen don’t you still live in LA? You’ll know by 10:30 pm when the honking, looting and cars burning starts.

The LA metro area is almost the size of Connecticut. The Rams have spent ten of the last fifteen years in St. Louis (and split their fan base with the Raiders for 10 years before that).

I really don't think neighborhood rioting is going to be his tipoff.

The Saints are up by six at the moment.

It's still going, I think, so I am safe. I am doubly at risk this year. My relatives are from NE and big fans of the Patriots, and the Rams HQ is literally about a mile away from my house. Some of my kids' classmates moved here when the Rams came to LA. Some co-workers are HUGE fans either way and have warned me they will be in high or low spirits tomorrow. I plan to work on another floor, in the library.

I still don’t know. I actually didn’t even know the game was happening. I spent the day with my kid, then dropped her at a birthday party, “waited” at Guitar Center, picked her back up, went home and made dinner, recorded some music, then finished up watching The Pick of Destiny with my eldest spawn.

I found out the game was on only because a guy at Guitar Center mentioned it. I was told the Patriots and Rams were playing. That was news.

Yeah, can we please not lower ourselves to this? You know: that thread where everyone tries to prove how cool they are by not even knowing that the Super Bowl was played?

Here. I'll show you how cool I am. I hadn't watched a single minute of NFL play this year. I suppose I might be an NFL fan if I'd grown up in an NFL town, but I grew up in Detroit. I'm a hardcore fan of the other kind of football (Liverpool) and a fading fan of college football. But I enjoy all kinds of sports because- shhhh -I have interests outside of board games.

So, despite not having any real interest in the NFL or the Super Bowl, I am a) aware that many, many other people do have such an interest and b) am also friends with people who do. Consequently, I was at a Super Bowl party last night (made smoky chili and my famous sour cream cornbread (See? Other interests!)) for about the 12th year in a row. I can tell that about half of the two dozen people that were there have no real interest in the NFL but treat it as kind of a cultural event, anyway. I don't begrudge them that any more than I begrudge anyone enjoying the Super Bowl for what it is. People like what they like. As long as it's not hurting anyone else, why should I look down my nose at them?

Just as an aside, I can tell you that the Rams were clearly unprepared for the defensive looks that the Patriots were giving them; showing a lot of 4-3 Under (shaded inside of the TE), which is something you often see with teams trying to protect their linebackers, which were apparently the strength of the Patriots' D this year. It confused the Rams whose vaunted offense couldn't get started (8 straight punts at one point in the game.) One moment kinda crystallized it for me when I looked up from the amazing spread of food and saw the Rams try to run a trap to the right side. Their LG pulled and executed a perfect trap block with the RT. But the left tackle there is supposed to downblock (toward the play) to handle the interior linemen. Instead, he slid out to pick up the DE, which gave DT Malcom Brown of the Patriots a paved path right to the tailback in the backfield. Three yard loss. Later it emerged that Belichick (New England's coach) was determined to force the Rams to throw outside passes to keep their offense from picking up a rhythm. In that case, the 4-3 Under is ideal.

Jackwraith wrote: Yeah, can we please not lower ourselves to this? You know: that thread where everyone tries to prove how cool they are by not even knowing that the Super Bowl was played?

Yah lets get back to that thread where everybody tries to prove how cool they are by how few games they own.

That makes me the most uncool person -- I watched the Super Bowl and own a shit ton of games (albeit, they are all in a storage area in the unfinished part of the basement)

What disappoints me most about this thread is Jack's snarky remark about not growing up in an NFL town. Although, perhaps he means that he was in Detroit proper while the Lions played in Pontiac. In taking the piss on Detroit he betrays his 'I'm uncool' schtick.

I see your hipster, cool guy colors, sir, and I am not impressed.

The Lions deserve nothing more. There are few organizations in professional sports that have been more poorly run, at least partially with intent, as the Detroit Lions. A member of the Ford family was overheard a few years back saying that they were fine just "being"; not striving to be a champion, because that costs money and Detroit, like all NFL franchises, can virtually print money just by being part of the NFL, while Lions fans will still be slavishly loyal to a franchise that regards them as eminently disposable. The Lions are less a football team and more a football simulation that fronts a banking enterprise.

Like every year around this time, someone last night made the comment that, of the teams that have been in existence for the entirety of the Super Bowl's 53 years, two are undefeated in the game: The New York Jets (1-0)... and the Detroit Lions (0-0.)

Jackwraith wrote:

Just as an aside, I can tell you that the Rams were clearly unprepared for the defensive looks that the Patriots were giving them

FTFY

Still running! I didn't look at any of the replies here, for fear of The Knowledge. Just letting you all know I still don't know.

Jeb, I believe it was the Packers of Green Bay that won. Sorry.