Monsoon Bowl Update
Brought to you from the wilds of Michigan, where I drove through a blizzard to get back home in time to watch the Super Bowl (This one, number XLI, is taking place in Miami, Florida as I type this) sprawled on my own sofa.
I can’t believe the entertainment value that I’ve gotten here. The first time in a long time that I decide to watch the half time show - and it’s Prince doing a spectacular show. Purple Rain being done in actual purple rain is quite impressive. The ability to stage the show in the middle of a monsoon even more so.
Oh, and the opening kickoff was returned for a touchdown by the Chicago special teams monster Devin Hester - so Indianapolis has squib kicked almost every kickoff since then. The Keystone Kops decided to let Rex Grossman wear one of their uniforms from time to time during the game, twist Cedric Benson’s (and John Tait’s) knees on one of Chicago’s early series, and stepped in and helped out with a record number of turnovers - in the first half.
Right now there’s a lull in the monsoon, and a lull in the game. It’s Indianapolis over Chicago 29 - 17 at the two minute warning, and Peyton is handing off to Dominick Rhodes, who’s scored a touchdown and ran for more than 100 yards in the rain. The groundskeepers, and audio and visual tech geeks are also among the stars of today’s broadcast. They took a bunch of grown men playing in the rain for a couple of hours and turned it into one of the largest grossing spectacles in modern mass theatre.
But the best thing was that the entire drama took place in the pouring rain. From start to finish - I didn’t make it in time to hear Billy Joel (so my roommate says) massacre the national anthem, but I got to see the kickoff replay just after it happened live, and watched the rest of the slip sliding, rip roaring, wildly entertaining spectacle. Except for the time spent getting this spot report from the Funny Farm Sports Burro ready for you, dear reader. Hope you managed to check some of it out for yourself!
Last Word: It’s all over but the shouting, and the cleaning up . Final score 29-17 Indy. Congrats to the Colts for finally getting back to the show and taking the Super Bowl rings this year!
