Superbowl Horror Story

Tags: Steelers | NFL | Football | Superbowl | Seahawks

Finally! After years of saying "next year", last year I was finally right! Because last year's "next year" was this year, and this year they lived up to last year's "next year"! Although I'd loved to see them do it next year as well! Who wouldn't?

Okay, enough exclamation marks. But seriously, who wouldn't? An average of 45.85 million American homes tuned in to watch the Steelers win their fifth Superbowl title—the second highest total in TV history, second only to the final episode of MASH, which was the center of attention in 50.15 million US homes in 1983.

Speaking of television, I watched the game on a nice big Panasonic at friends' house. Admittedly, the first half of the game was somewhat lacklustre overall. However, as soon as they upheld the ruling of Big Ben's rushing touchdown, that beautiful TV went snowy and the surround sound blasted out that fuzzy "chrrrrrr" sound that's saying "you have no cable".

Panic struck the hearts of Steelers and Seahawks fans alike. We had cold beer in the fridge, hot & teriyaki wings cooking in the oven, spin dip, 4 layer dip, and every other dip, chip, and things to sip. It was all there for us to enjoy—and then the cable crashed. A quick phone call to Shaw Cable determined it was due to the recent wind storms along the coast. It looked as though we were going to have to abandon our well-stocked fiesta and find a bar with a connection.

Then an angel appeared from across the street. She came in the form of a middle-aged suburban mom with satellite! She heard our tale of woe and invited the whole lot of us. We were truly blessed! However, just as the third quarter was getting to start, our cable came back on and we were saved from having to make the complicated pilgrimage across the street. We only ended up missing The Rolling Stones half-time show. We were doubly blessed!

We saw Charlie Parker make Superbowl history. We saw Ben Roethlisberger do the same. We saw the return of the Amazing Gadget! We saw Hines Ward become MVP! We saw Jerome Bettis and Bill Cowher finally get their due.

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!