Sweet Revenge

The regular football season is officially over now. It was a strange season since neither hubby or I could stomach certain personnel changes on the Vikings.

While hubby threatened to become the world's biggest Lions fan when Favre signed, he couldn't really get into it. They just don't air many Lions games here.

So we'd watch the occasional Vikings game when they were actually on TV and cheer for a victory for the whole team. We just couldn't bring ourselves to say, "Great throw, Favre!" Instead we'd be more apt to say, "Nice catch, Rice!" or "Way to go, Adrian!"

We've been sort of watching quietly and haven't really felt the excitement of winning and heading to the playoffs that we have in other years. But I will say today was a longtime coming.

It was 9 years ago now that the Giants handed our butts to us on a platter in the NFC championship game. They beat the Vikes 41-0! Today, when we were seemingly running up the score, I didn't care what it looked like to the casual observer. Viking fans know we needed to stick it the Giants -- and stick it big. A 44-7 victory was sweet revenge, indeed. I only wish it happened during a more critical game... like, say, something post-season!

Oh well, beggars -- and those set on revenge -- can't be choosers. We'll take what we can get. (And hope there's more where that came from!)

Mrs. Potato Head

The commercial asks something like: "How are you going to get away with watching 9 hours of football this weekend?" The answer: "Skip the Saturday afternoon game."

If you're a fan of the game, like we are in our household, humor is not lost on you. We all know during playoff time, it's easy to watch a minimum of 12 hours of football in a weekend. It doesn't matter who is playing. We are couch potatoes and we are not ashamed.

This year -- yes, due in part to the need to lick my purple and yellow wounds -- my heart is just not into it. Sure, I watched parts of the games this weekend, but probably only 6 or 7 hours. That's certainly not the level to be Mrs. Potato Head. Not by our usual standards.

Today, hubby was off to work and Carter and I were off to church and Sunday School. We normally go to 8 a.m. church, but today he was singing at the second service so our routine was out of whack. That's weird getting home at noon practically. It feels like we're running behind.

So we watched the kickoff of the Giants-Eagles game and then took a time out. Carter had to get that book read -- with no interruptions or distractions -- so I shut the TV off, got some laundry going and hopped on the treadmill. One load and 3 miles later, Carter was just about done with his book. When I checked the score of the game on the Internet and it was 13-11, I urged him to finish those last pages quickly so we could see the rest of the game! Priorities, ya know.

I whipped through his book so I could quiz him on a few things, then we watched some of the second game. Jim went to a friend's house close to work to watch the games when his project was done. So he missed a visit from a high school friend of his who was in town from Colorado just for the weekend. Pete and his wife stopped by on their way to the airport and would have had only 5 minutes to visit (whether Jim was here or not). I think the last time we saw them was last year at this time, so of course they remarked at how tall Carter is getting -- and how short I'm getting! Hopefully next time our schedules will align better. They are neat people!

Jim got home for supper and the end of the Steelers-Chargers game, which isn't going to his liking but I'm OK with the Steel.

Now I am just waiting my turn to reclaim the couch so I can flip back and forth between the two-hour season premier of 24 and the Golden Globes. We'll see if either can hold Mrs. Potato Head's attention past 9 o'clock!

Super Sunday

Although today is considered the most important football day of the year, most people focus on good snacks and great commercials. And parties abound.

Jim went to the house of a friend who has had a Superbowl party probably as long as he's had a house. Carter and I stayed home and had our own special supper (pizza, of course) and snacks.

Carter was rooting really hard for the Patriots to win. Jim had some Fantasy Football players on both teams he needed to do well. And I just wanted a good game -- and it finally was in the fourth quarter.

In our household, we are all sort of anti-New York fans (except when they played the Packers). The Giants have killed the Vikings in more key games than I care to remember. In fact, the last game Jim and I went to at the Metrodome, the Giants just crushed the Vikes. We vowed that day we were not going to invest any more -- money or emotions -- in our Purple Pride. (We're not fairweather fans. We're just frugal fans.)

At any rate, you'd think I would have been rooting against the Giants. But I have this thing about those Manning boys. I thought it only fair that if Peyton won the big game last year, it was Eli's turn. After seeing him scramble out of the would-be sack near the end of the game to complete a very long pass, I think he deserved it.

Carter doesn't quite see it that way. He's mad that Randy Moss didn't catch the play at the end of the game. Well I guess if you are going to take your anger out at someone, it might as well be an ex-Viking.

At least the pizza was good.