Yesterday marked my Carnegie Hall debut. Yes, it was as a ringer in a high school chorus, but we are not focusing on that right now. The point is, I sang on stage at Carnegie Hall. For some of you though, yesterday may have been about a different special event. I am talking, of course, about National Weatherperson’s Day. Okay, no just kidding, I was talking about the Super Bowl.
You may recall that I spent last Super Bowl desperately running around town looking for a party, or at the very least a working television. It is my personal tradition to watch the game, with or without friends, make a gigantic sandwich, and enjoy the commercials (and sometimes part of the game). This year, it just wasn’t possible.
They tried to be reasonable. The concert was at 3, and we were out by 5. Plenty of time for most of the people to get home, or to find a bar anyway. Nobody was going to miss the game because of this concert. Unless you lived in Vermont and had to be home for Monday morning. In that case, it was going to be extremely difficult.
I spent from 5:30 to 7:15 sitting at Penn Station waiting for train. Then, from 7:15 to 9:45 I rode said train to Albany. From there it was a three hour drive home (or so) and I finished my trip at 1 am, exhausted, and Super Bowl free.
Now, I had plenty of offers of assistance. My mother offered to DVR the game for me to I could see all the commercials. Others suggested the DVR route as well. And if the commercials were really all I wanted, they are all available online anyway. But I don’t actually care that much about the commercials. And I would never DVR a football game of any kind, just to sit through it later. What I crave is the excitement of a shared national moment. I want to be a part of something bigger! But really, I only wanted the sandwich.