38 Comments

There is no more cynical thing in America than the presumption that a box of 24 valentines will be enough for one elementary school class. Thank you for pointing this out Scott.

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when I student taught, I think my smallest (of 6 or 7 classes) had 24 students.

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I mean, I think it's doable but in many cases, unlikely. Get it to 30 and you have a lot fewer issues. Or make it two sixteens.

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There’s a charm in the Super Bowl being one of the last bastions of monoculture (or as close as anything can get to that now).

Also, since you mentioned the Bills/Giants SB, I’m going to go cry into my Bruce Smith jersey from that era, thanks.

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For a native Clevelander, being jealous of people from Cincinnati for reasons other than relative annual snowfall is a wholly unnatural and unpleasant experience.

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I can't say I care for it!

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This may be one of the first times I'm actually looking forward to the halftime show. The NFL should just eat the FCC fine and not censor out any words just this one time. The over-reactions of the pearl clutchers would be worth it.

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I hope they bring out Colin Kaepernick to kneel for the entire performance. I also just hope the inevitable Tupac hologram isn't too cheesy.

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In general I think we should all fight the urge to weigh in on everything, particularly when it comes to hating on stuff. With sports specifically, no one knows more than NFL fans about how the owners and Goodell suck, just like no one knows more than college sports fans about how the NCAA sucks.

And the smugness of this too, “Shall I go on?” Yes, please enlighten us with your wisdom oh wonderful Blue Check Mark.

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Yes, yes, let’s just abolish sports and take our competitiveness to another arena like politics, local school board elections, grocery shopping? Come on man. These types of tweet authors are individuals who crave attention and will say anything but secretly want to be loved by someone.

I want to see what decadence someone makes out of the lowly chicken breast. The smell of smokers going all day in the neighborhood. 10,000 versions of cheese dip and chili. The halftime show that will cause outrage because the pearl clutches are upset that it wasn’t a chamber orchestra playing twinkle twinkle little star.

If the super bowl didn’t exist what would you do with a crowd of people between New Years Eve and Memorial Day?

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The Super Bowl is the necessary reset after the self-flagellating asceticism of January. Friendship ended with Dry January; Seven-Layer Chili Dip is new best friend.

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Avoid them like most other weekends, if I'm being perfectly honest 😂

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You don't avoid them on weekdays?

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How dare you! (My excuse is that I'm working those days)

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it is a gift.

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two words: green beer.

/belks

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I might have said this before but you do an amazing job articulating why sports are so meaningful to me, in a way I've never been able to explain to friends and acquaintances who scoff at the whole concept. Both the NFL and NCAA have SO MANY PROBLEMS, yet that doesn't have to stop me from enjoying it.

P.s. Pretty sure I still have stray "Cars" and Thomas the tank engine valentines in the desk drawer from having to buy two boxes and my son is aboit to graduate high school. (Yeah, should probably clean that out, huh?)

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RE: P.s., give him one each year until the stock is depleted. Or, each year you remember they're hiding in the back of the junk drawer.

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Off topic but swinging in to say that the barrel-aged cocktail I posted about a couple weeks ago (mezcal-amontillado bensonhurst) turned out perfectly, highly recommend

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That's awesome! Still been meaning to try that.

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I'm not quite sure how this Sunday will go. As a life long Bengals fan and Cincinnati native now living in Oakland — will I be able to enjoy the game? I won't have other Cincinnati fans to look over at when things go right or wrong. My true reactions to what is happening will have to be self contained. If things go well (really well, because any true Cincy fan expects the worst) I know I'll be having the time of my life. Honestly I think I'm still in disbelief that this is even happening, but I think sometime around pre-game preparation I'm going to start feeling like I've had too many cheese coneys regardless if that is true or not.

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This is much how I was positioned in 2016 as a Cleveland native / lifelong Cavs fan living in Louisville, and I'll tell you I was an absolute basket case. During the second half of Game 7 my Fitbit logged a workout even though I was sitting still.

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slouching toward Inglewood to be born

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OK, that fan video made me cry. Also, the tiger striped onesies . . .

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Unless you're from Detroit.

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one day, the Browns-Lions Super Bowl will happen, and the seventh seal will be opened

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Great. So you're saying the Jags STILL aren't gonna be in the Superbowl?

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That day will never come. The Earth itself will be dust, cast across the universe as a whole long before a Lions-Browns Super Bowl ever happens. Monkeys will write the complete works of Shakespeare, get up, and perform them, speaking parts and all, long before a Lions-Browns Super Bowl. The very fabric of the universe itself will be sought out, found, and destroyed by man long before a Lions-Browns Super Bowl happens.

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Have you seen the comedian talk about why the Buffalo Bills are the perfect team? I'd think you'd understand that routine very well.

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The comedian is Joe Pera:

https://youtu.be/7sEHv-iKrYU

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I read the article twice to see if I could figure out a deeper context for the reference to Clinton-era one hit wonder Deep Blue Something (who I like to believe are newsletter subscribers and maybe Bengals fans).

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As a Lions fan, watching Matthew Stafford hoist the Lombardi trophy is going to be the closest I ever come to watching my team win a Super Bowl and I am so damn happy for him

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I'm okay with your being wrong and enjoying {what ever}.

Not sure when I stopped w/ pro-sports, although w/ college sports the pandemic pretty much tapered my paying attention to a seldom occurrence. Might pick up euro soccer again at some point although I'd probably like the lower leagues more than the top leagues at this stage in life.

I'll be happy for the fans of whatever team wins and hope the win occurs in the most stupid memorable series of plays or even just a play; that folks will have something to talk about during the late winter.

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I do a fantasy football league/pick 'em thing my buddy organizes where we all basically pick the winner of 11 matches that he chooses from any level in England, Africa, South America, Liga MX, Serie A, Ligue 1, Bundesliga, etc. it's so much fun and I've learned a lot about the sociopolitical impact football, er...futbol, has in many of these countries. It's been such a blast.

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I tried fantasy football w/ NFL stuff (which might be why my interest went away) and once I figured out the way win, my friends were not happy that I started trying to lose because I had lost interest in it (I like puzzles).

Random soccer/football league would be interesting as you'd never know how good of players you'd have. Glad you friend has enough knowledge to do this. I have the idea post-pandemic of a trip to England (and probably Scotland) to see matches at different levels to just enjoy the atmosphere in the different stands and maybe even splurge for expensive seats at one match.

Now I'm wondering how much fun it would be to do this for a bunch of different countries.

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I feel like the sweet spot is league one/league two. high enough to have decent talent and low enough to skirt past all the glitz and glam of the premier league. really into the muck of it!

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Now I'll need to figure out the best method to watch the lower tiers. I enjoyed EPL for a bit but never picked a favorite which made for nice no stress viewing of matches.

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In re: the Superbowl: the interest in this house for some time has been limited to my daughters watching ads, but I have found over the years that other people enjoying things I do not enjoy has no actual downside for me (for things like sports and other elements of pop culture, I would not enjoy an enthusiastic purge of immigrants but I think that's understandable)

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